Service Level Agreements for 2011-12

Thank you to all schools who signed up for support by the Education ICT Service last year. We hope you have been happy with the support we have provided and will continue to use our service next year.

This year we shall be asking all schools to sign up using the online form which we piloted successfully last year. This will help us to keep costs down and can save you a significant amount of time in completing the SLA form.

If you would like more advice or guidance on which services your school requires or how to complete the online form, please contact our Customer Service Team on 01480 376655.

Fire Safety Guidance for Schools

With the universal use of electronic registration systems, we have been following up the question of the use of registers when schools have to evacuate the premises as the result of a fire alarm.

The advice we have received is as follows: ‘A school must have an evacuation procedure but it does not have to check pupils against a register unless the risk assessment identifies this as a necessary action’.

Guidance on CCC policy and guidance for a school model fire policy can be found via the Portal. http://cye.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cye/Health_and_Safety/homepage/home/

There are two links to follow up. The overall policy document is accessible from the right hand (Latest News) panel:
http://tinyurl.com/32hz7zt

and the model policy is in “H&S in schools” item 15
http://tinyurl.com/5v4ga7n

FMS6 - Preparing for Year End

The End of the Financial year end is fast approaching. Now is the time to start Spring Cleaning.

Begin by investigating Outstanding Purchase Orders and Invoices. Investigate any Aged Debtors in Accounts Receivable and check Non-Invoiced income for un-posted receipts.

Think about giving all staff a Purchase Order cut off date of Half Term, making sure that the school has sufficient Copy Paper, Toilet Rolls, Soap and ink cartridges etc. to last into the next financial year.

Guidance notes on Preparing for the Year End in FMS6 and how to edit your structure in preparation for the nextfinancial year have now been posted on the FMS planet from the SIMS Home Page on the Portal. Resource ID: 6831

Central Hosting Scheduled Downtimes

Centrally Hosted systems will be down for essential maintenance on the following dates:

• 29th January
• 26th February
• 26th March

Dealing with Adopted Students in SIMS .net

A plea to all schools to contact the Helpline as soon as you are notified that a Student is to be/has just been adopted. There are specific guidelines that need to be followed with the SIMS .net Student Record to ensure continuity.

Any delay in making the necessary amendments can cause major problems unpicking attendance, dinner money and assessment records etc.

Address Validator

There was an issue that affected Address Validator for some schools at the end of last year.

This problem should now have been resolved and Address Validator should be working again. If you encounter any further problems, please contact the Helpline.

Scam E-mails

Several schools have reported receiving an e-mail purporting to be from Barclays and asking them to use the link in the e-mail to fill in identity information. This is yet another scam! Do not respond and definitely do not click on the link or complete the form. Delete the e-mail at the first opportunity.

The Basic rules are:

1. If you do not have an account with the firm then it is a scam

2. If you have a personal account with the firm how did they get the school's details? It is a scam

3. If it is a government body claiming to want to pay back money, why would they contact the school? It is a scam

4. If it is a large prize in a lottery or similar in another country it is probably a scam

5. If it is a really sad story told in broken English purporting to come from accountants, lawyers or other professionals then it is probably a scam

6. If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is a scam

In all cases - delete immediately and NEVER, EVER click on any links.

Delete Unlinked Contacts

The Autumn SIMS upgrade has fixed the Delete Unlinked Contacts Routine in SIMS .net.

As this has not been working for a while we would recommend all schools run this routine to clear out any contacts in SIMS that are not attached to a current student record.

Use route Tools Housekeeping Delete Unlinked Contacts.

Monthly Tasks in SIMS .net

Below is a suggested list of tasks that need carrying out on a weekly/monthly or a periodical task we are suggesting is carried out during the coming month that over time will lead to improvements in your school’s data quality.

Helpline guidance notes for these tasks can be found on the SIMS Home Page of the Portal - the index offers an easy way of identifying the guidance you are looking for. Alternatively why not use the Documentation Link from the Home Page in SIMS .net.

This Month’s Checks Tick sheet

[] Start preparations for Year End in FMS6
[] Renew SLA online
[] Delete Unlinked Contacts in SIMS .net

Data Quality in SIMS .net

Why not spring clean your SIMS data?

Use Update Parental Salutation/Addressee in SIMS to check parental responsibility is correctly assigned.

Routines Student Update Parental Salutation/Addressee. Students not living with parents can be removed from the list such that manually assigned addressees are not overwritten.

Check all the boxes to overwrite existing information then generate new addressees and salutation. A list of students and Parental Addressees can then be printed, where students have
no Addressee or only one where both parents live at the same address as the student, the contacts on the student record need investigating.

Parental responsibility may not be ticked.

Student and Parents attached to duplicate addresses.

Parent record may not have a title (eg Mr, Mrs).

Run a report showing Student names and family links. Where siblings do not show as having family links, duplicate contacts may have been entered into SIMS, with each studentattached to a different version of the contact.

Key Dates Jan - Mar 2011

To book on a course listed in Key Dates, telephone 01480 376670

• SIMS .net for New Users - 31st Jan & 7th Feb
• SIMS .net Reporting for Primary Schools - 2nd Feb
• TOPP Reporting - 8th Feb (WB), 17th Feb
• Advanced Dinner Money - 9th Feb
• Attendance & Dinner Money - 10th Feb
• RaiseOnline for Senior Leaders - 15th Feb
• FMS6 Year End - 16th Feb (WB), 7th Mar
• FMS6 Refresher - 17th Feb
• FMS6 Advanced (The Next Step) - 1st Mar
• FMS6 Reporting - 8th Mar
• Fischer Family Trust - 8th Mar (WB)
• SENCO - 9th Mar
• Primary User Group (PUGs) - 23rd (ML), 29th (CPDC), 31st Mar
• Secondary User Group - 31st Mar

All courses based at Godmanchester unless otherwise stated. Other venues: (OC) = Oliver Cromwell, March; (ML) = March Library; (CPDC) = Cambridge Professional Development Centre; (WB) = ICT Service Waterbeach; (BMC) = Buckden Millennium Centre; (OV) = Over Community Centre.

Preparing FMS6 For Year End and Editing Your Structure 2011

The Process of Year End actually covers almost half the year from the start of preparation to Final Close. It usually starts shortly after Christmas and continues until around Mid-June. It is not continuous and can be done in small segments throughout this period.

These notes have been extracted from the Main FMS6 Year End Manual. They will guide you through the preparation procedures leading up to Year End.

Click here to read these new notes now.

These and other finance helpsheets can be found on the Finance Planet of the SIMS Home Page.

Census Spring - 20th January 2011

Tomorrow is Census day! To guide you through this process, please read the documents below. If you have any queries or errors that you are unable to resolve, please contact the Helpline on 0845 045 0973 or email ict.helpline@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

• HELPLINE School Census Spring 2011 Notes:
  Word Document


• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Census Spring 2011 Prep Notes:
  Primary - Secondary - Special - Nursery - PRU
  
• CAPITA Preparing the Census Spring 2011 Notes:
  Primary/Special/Nursery - Word PDF
  Secondary - Word PDF
  Pupil Referral Unit - Word PDF
  
• CAPITA Producing the Census Spring 2011 Notes:
  Primary - Word PDF
  Secondary - Word PDF
  Special - Word PDF
  Nursery - Word PDF
  Pupil Referral Unit - Word PDF
  
• Errors & Resolutions - Version 1.0 (Nov 2010) PDF Document