Year End Procedures in SIMS.net

As the Academic Year will soon be reaching an end, the Year End Procedures documents has been made available.

The procedure will follow last year, so read the notes and contact the helpline if you require any guidance. The notes may be subject to change, so check the SIMS Home Page and this blog regularly.

Notes on how to import an ATF (Admissions) file into SIMS.net are also available.

Click the links below to read the documents:

• Year End Procedures in SIMS.net
• How to import an ATF file

These and other SIMS-related helpsheets can be found on the SIMS Home Page.

Census 2009 - Preparing the Learning Aims

A new Powerpoint Presentation has been uploaded to the Secondary Planet, to guided SIMS users through the learning aims for 2009.

Click here to be directed to the Learning Aims panel.

These and other Census notes can be found on the SIMS Home Page.

Scheduled Sunday ICT Service Break 19.4.09

The following services will be unavailable on Sunday due to Service break work:

• Corporate SQL cluster servers
• ACOLNET
• CCC Citrix
• Cloud Amber
• Corvu
• Estart
• Cambridgeshire.gov.uk (Read only)
• Cambridgeshire.net (Read only)
• Camweb
• Internet access
• Aspire will be down due to upgrade
• Swift will be down
• Corporate Netilla will be unavailable for all staff

Remote Access Services

Corporate Netilla will be unavailable for all staff. NHS Netilla and Schools Netilla will be unaffected on Sunday.For your information there are three Netilla services operated by the County Council:
Corporate Netilla is used by County Council staff accessing County Council IT systems via the public internet. Access to the system is granted by authentication using a keyfob in conjunction with normal County Council network login details.
NHS Netilla is used by NHS staff to grant access to County Council systems from a PC on the NHS network via the secure link between the networks. No keyfob is required for this service.
Schools Netilla is used by Cambridgeshire schools staff to access County Council systems. Access is granted by authentication using a keyfob.

As soon as each service becomes available we will advise the Out of Hours Helpdesk (01223 717333) so that they can answer any queries you may have. Should you have any queries regarding the availability of services on Sunday please contact the Business Support Helpdesk on 01223 717333.

Information is posted and updated with details of upcoming Service Breaks on CamWeb. Please follow this link to go directly to the IT Service Break Information page

Census Summer - 21st May 2009

With the Schools Summer Census a month away, new Capita notes have been uploaded to the SIMS Home Page to guide users through producing the return.

There are four versions of these notes for each school type:

• Primary/Middle Deemed Primary Schools
• Secondary/Middle Deemed Secondary Schools
• Special Schools
• Nursery Schools

There is also a new version of the Census Errors & Resolutions notes, click here to read these.

These files may be subject to change, so keep checking this blog and the SIMS Home Page for further updates.

Dinner Money Backup Instructions

New updated backup instructions for SIMS Dinner Money have been uploaded to the SIMS Home Page.

Click the links below to read these notes:

• Dinner Money Backup - Word Document
• Dinner Money Backup - PDF Document

The Dinner Money Year End notes will be uploaded as they become available. Keep checking back with the SIMS Home Page, Blog and Helplines Newsletter for further updates.

Scheduled Sunday ICT Service Break 5.4.09

This weekends Service Break will be to allow a firewall change to be completed. Services will be affected between 08:00 and 09:00 on Sunday. There will be no access to any County Council services whilst this important work is carried out. Services that will be affected by the Service Break from 08:00 until 09:00 on Sunday include:

• All shared Data
  
• Exchange e-mail
  
• File and print services
  
• Blackberry e-mail access
  
• Intranet and internet availability
  
• Remote access (Netilla)

Remote Access Services Netilla will not be available during the Service Break on Sunday.For your information there are three Netilla services operated by the County Council:

Corporate Netilla is used by County Council staff accessing County Council IT systems via the public internet. Access to the system is granted by authentication using a keyfob in conjunction with normal County Council network login details.

NHS Netilla is used by NHS staff to grant access to County Council systems from a PC on the NHS network via the secure link between the networks. No keyfob is required for this service.

Schools Netilla is used by Cambridgeshire schools staff to access County Council systems. Access is granted by authentication using a keyfob.

As soon as each service becomes available we will advise the Out of Hours Helpdesk (01223 717333) so that they can answer any queries you may have. Should you have any queries regarding the availability of services on Sunday please contact the Business Support Helpdesk on 01223 717333.

Information is posted and updated with details of upcoming Service Breaks on CamWeb. Please follow this link to go directly to the IT Service Break Information page

New SIMS Home Page - March Release

Those of you who have upgraded to SIMS March Release 7.116 will notice some new functions on the start page. You will now be able to view live school data on the front page.

This screen is fully customisable, and you can view attendance data statistics, school bulletins, behaviour, upcoming school diary dates and much more.

Click the links below to read the notes:

• Mini Guide (2 pages)


• Full Guide (63 pages)

These and more SIMS guides are available on the SIMS Home Page.

SIMS latest upgrades

The March Upgrades have been released for schools. SIMS will be going up to version 7.116, and FMS will be at version 6.116.

Be sure to make full backups as per normal before logging into SOLUS. There will be new reports to import into SIMS once that has upgraded to March.

Click the links below to read the update notes:

• SIMS March Release 7.116 - PDF


• FMS 6.116 - PDF


• SIMS Permissions - Excel

These and more notes are available on the SIMS Home Page.

New SIMS Helpsheets

Several SIMS helpsheets on the SIMS Home Page have been updated to reflect the changes in March Release 7.116.

As the SIMS module now has a redesigned front-end, this will affect some of the functions you use in your current system. As well as the updated sheets, there are a few brand new ones such as:

• How to design a Web Page report


• How to design a Word mailmerge report


• How to withdraw an applicant


• How to set up promotion mapping

To view the whole range of SIMS helpsheets, click here.

New ESPO Catalogue 2009

The new ESPO catalogue has been made available on the SIMS Home Page for you to download and import into your FMS.

Notes and videos on how to download, extract and import these files are available by clicking here.

If you have any queries regarding this file import, please contact the helpline.