SIMS (Schools Information Management System) – SLA.
Software Support
Bristol LA holds a license enabling Bristol maintained Primary, Secondary, Special and Nursery Schools to use the SIMS software (Core and Curriculum products) supplied by Capita Education Services (CES). The software suite is designed to assist schools with most administrative, assessment, reporting and statutory functions. The product allows schools to buy additional 'modules' such as Lesson Monitor and Dinner Money to support a wider range of administrative and reporting processes. An annual maintenance payment by the LA to Capita contributes to continuous development of the software, so that regular upgrades are made available to meet new information requirements. The software modules are highly integrated so that core data such as pupil records and assessment are available to all modules without the need for repeated data entry.
The following elements of the software are fully supported:
Primary/Special
· Pupil records and contacts
· Reporting
· SEN
· Attendance
· System Manager
· Assessment Manager - data tracking
· Profiles – reporting
· Staff Performance (where purchased)
· Dinner Money (where purchased)
· Pupil Achievement Tracker
· Groupcall (paid for by LA)
· Integrating third party products including text messaging and VLE’s
· Statutory processes within SIMS .net, e.g. CTF and Census and Workforce Census
· Performance Indicators/Analysis
· Discover
· SIMS Teacher app (where purchased)
· SIMS Activities (where purchased)
· SIMS Agora (where purchased)
· SIMS Parent and Student App (where purchased)
Secondary
In addition to the primary modules above:
· Nova-T timetabling
· Cover
· Modelling and Construction
· Exams
· Lesson Monitor (where purchased)
· Learning Gateway (where purchased)
· Partnership Exchange (where purchased)
SIMS Helpdesk support and technical advice, including telephone, E-Mail,
Remote desktop management through VNC or Terminal Services (where installed) and on-site support to school staff. This service has substantially expanded to help schools meet new statutory targets, for example, Census,
Workforce Census, Common Transfer File (CTF) and Assessment.
Evaluation and installation of new SIMS software. Upgrades of existing software on schools’ networks will normally be carried out remotely for Primary schools and, by Systems Managers, in Secondary schools, in accordance with releases from Capita SIMS. Major upgrades (for example, the conversion to new versions of the software) and new installations are supported and rolled out.
Installation of SIMS .net remote desktop for remote working will be carried out by TwS in schools. In the case of Primary schools, this support will form part of a managed roll out or, in the case of Secondary schools, after a visit by - or instructions from - a SIMS Officer, it is expected that this work will be undertaken by System Managers or IT Technicians in those schools.
Remote dial-in support/Terminal Services for computers that meet an agreed specification (Specifications are freely available on request).
Staff Development and software training in the products listed above including the Assessment Manager Suite, Profiles, and SENCO. Training for these curriculum-related products will be offered by us in consultation with the School Improvement Team and included as part of the annual SIMS subscription. Course availability will vary over the academic year as appropriate, and according to the releases of new software.
Production and Distribution of SIMS instructions: to assist with statutory and other returns.
Helpdesk support with secure electronic data transfer, for example Census and the CTF.
Dissemination of information about SIMS developments: including access to the SIMS Support Web Site.
Support for the SIMS SQL database environment.
Support, including installation and training for Dinner Money: (Primaries only), Lesson Monitor (Secondary’s only) and SIMS Learning Gateway available only for those schools that have purchased the software.
Enhanced SIMS Service: Secondary schools may choose to buy in to SIMS On-Site described later.
IT/Administrative Office Support (to support school MIS): schools may choose to buy in to SIMS Additional Support described later.
Hours of support
User support is obtained through the SIMS Help Desk which can be contacted during the following operational periods:-
Monday to Thursday 8am – 4:30pm
Friday 8am – 4pm
SIMS Helpdesk Call Procedures
All calls should be logged either at our helpdesk by calling 37999 and selecting option 1 for the SIMS team or by logging on to the TwS website.
Your call information will then be recorded on OTRS and you should receive a call reference number.The logged call will then be dealt with as quickly as possible depending on the call priority.Priority is allocated using the priority table shown below.
Priority1 / Within 8 working hours.Priority2 / Within 2 working days
Priority 3 / Within 5 working days
Priority 4 / Within 10 working days (excluding data sent to CAPITA)
No SLA / If data is sent to CAPITA then the priorty call rating is moved to no SLA as the case is out of the SIMS team’s control.
Priority
1 / Admin Office users are unable to access SIMS (Third party supported SIMS Clients cannot be supported after upgrades, but will investigate if full access is granted. Charges may be incurred if Client and access rights to client are not as specified by Capita. Specifications are freely available on request).
There is a Security risk to data.
If SIMS is unavailable to all users in the school.
·School Census & School Workforce Census calls during the 10 working days preceding the return due dates.
·Examination submissions in the 10 working days preceding the submission due date.
· Examination results during the summer break.
· Statutory reports to parents.
·Adding Staff access to SIMS (a logged call by email from the Head teacher or SLT will also be requested before giving staff access to SIMS data).
· Timetabling issues during the 10 working days of the new academic year.
·Adding a new student to SIMS.
O Ofsted Inspection SIMS data calls.
·Assessment Data inputting problems.
·E-profile during October and June.
·End of Year procedures during last 20 working days of the academic year.
·Cover calls, excluding reports.
· Personnel adding staff onto system.
2 / ·Admin Office users not having access to SIMS Modules other than Pupil Contact Data.
·School Census & School Workforce Census calls preceding the 10 working days prior to the return date.
·Examination issuesif not covered by priority 1.
·General Timetabling issues.
·End of Year procedures before the last four weeks of the academic year.
·
·Profiles during data collection times.
Te Teachers unable to take electronic registration.
3 / ·Cover Reporting.
· Problems running reports
·Profiles designing.
·Assessment design/creation issues.
Attendance monitoring, editing and letter issues.
Personnel general data.
·
4 / ·If a schools data has had to be sent to CAPITA then the call will be allocated to priority 4 as the SIMS team has no control over the time for these solutions.
·Report designing requests (note this is really a training issue not a SIMS problem, however the SIMS team will help time permitting).
Call Management:
All cases are to be logged as soon as they arrive on to OTRS and linked to the relevant customers (schools). If a solution cannot be provided at the time of call then all contact must be recorded under “notes” (so a complete profile of the case can be seen). Once a case has been solved this must then be closed successfully on OTRS.
Calls are distributed daily throughout the team depending on experience of module, if a case cannot be resolved then the team member must liaise with the rest of the team and either escalates to the School MIS Manager or Capita support.
Cases that are defined as a generic problem and will affect many schools are resolved as a matter of priority and communication is sent to all affected schools in case they are not aware of the problem either via email or telephone.
Statistics are available from the call logging system and schools can see all calls ever logged through their TWS website login. Monthly analyses are done and distributed to team members and published on Website.
Escalation Routes:
This guidance can help a user to raise a concern about a delayed resolution to an issue. This escalation route is not suitable for complaints about individuals which should be raised with the Schools ICT Services lead in the first instance.
Initial contact should be with the SIMS Helpdesk. The issue will be recorded in OTRS and a ticket number issued. The resolution time will be as defined above.
First Reminder (User requests an update or speaks directly to SIMS team member) should be via the SIMS Helpdesk. The issue will be discussed with the customer, requirements will be updated and if necessary a new deadline defined.
A second reminder should be directed to the SIMS team manager.
If issue is still not resolved, the school can contact the Schools ICT services lead.
SIMS On-Site - Enhanced SIMS Service
The following additional service should be read in conjunction with the existing
SIMS service currently described above. This service represents an enhancement to Secondary schools only and cannot be purchased separately.
Features of this enhanced service:
· A regular fortnightly half-day visit to the school to maintain the school’s SIMS Management Information System including supporting all workstation set-ups, running the SOLUS upgrade, overseeing module access requests and user rights, maintenance of the SQL Database, advising the school on data cleansing and data correction and support with off-line/remote working.
· Monitoring the effectiveness of the School’s Backup regime including checking Backup logs, carrying out ‘test restores’ at least once a month as part of the school’s disaster recovery plan.
· SIMS SOLUS update and enhancement releases as required.
· Inputting specific data for specific tasks, e.g. aspects in Assessment Manager.
· Support with End of Year procedures including a strategy meeting in June prior to the yearend to check that all processes are in place for the end of Year procedures.
· Annual overview with SIMS Manager and the School's System Manager and/or a member of the SMT to plan MIS developments for the school, identify training needs for colleagues and to discuss SIMS developments in the short and medium terms with an emphasis on how the software may be used to support school management activities more effectively.
· With the combination of fortnightly half-day visits and upgrades any Secondary school buying in to this service can expect a minimum of 80 hours of on-site support time per annum. Schools may choose to opt out of elements of this service at their discretion but this will not attract a reduced charge.
SIMS Additional Support - IT / Administrative Office Support for Schools MIS
Subject to availability, this support is from a trained SIMS specialist with many years’ experience working with schools - to help schools meet deadlines or if a school is facing staff shortages due to illness. Support on a number of SIMS and IT related activities including:
· Maintaining Attendance records.
· Supporting the Annual Statutory key stage processes.
· Supporting Examination Entries, results and analyses.
· Ensuring that student records are maintained and are accurate in readiness for the pupil level annual schools census and other data collections.
· Using IT to improve office efficiency, carrying out the end of year procedures in readiness for the following academic year.
Full catalogue can be found at http://tradingwithschools.org
Terms and Conditions
· All supported machines in schools on the BCC network must have VNC installed and configured, or an alternative remote access mechanism supplied.
· Any additional resources required to support machines outside the BCC network (e.g. 3rd party remote access products) will be chargeable.
· Resolution of reason 0 errors relating to 3rd party setups are chargeable.
· Additional charges are applicable if data has to be restored from backup due to errors by the customer or the customer’s contractors.
· The school must nominate a person as a main point of contact for dissemination of SIMS information by TwS.
· The school must ensure that the relevant administration staff are trained in the use of SIMS software. See SIMS training pages for available courses.
· The school must use the Help Desk to log calls (where not part of the on-site support) and ensure the person making the call has both sufficient information to enable the Help Desk to make a diagnostic judgement, and time so that the Officer can take them through relevant diagnostic checks.
· The school must ensure straightforward, unimpeded access to equipment and network. (Impeded access will result in delayed response / resolution);