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SITSS User News
Hello and welcome to your new edition of SITSS User News. We hope that you find this news letter informative and helpful. If you have anything that you would like to contribute to the next edition of SITSS User News please e-mail sitss.admin@lea.herts.sch.uk.
Preparation for January 2007 School Census - do not leave it until the last day.
Whenever SITSS is aware of a data collection coming along we do everything we can to help you by sending out relevant and timely instructions and guidelines about the data you need to ensure is complete and accurate within your school's Management Information System (MIS).
It is very noticeable that some schools find these data collections relatively easy to produce and other schools (unfortunately a majority of our schools) seem to find the whole process daunting and complex.
This is the first time we are collecting the "School Census" from all schools.
More importantly this is the first time we are collecting the January statutory return without a Dry Run
If you are one of those school administrators that does not worry about when the next data collection or MIS upgrade is going to hit you then read no further. For those who are possibly already dreading the thought of the MIS upgrade and all the work entailed in getting your School Census prepared, authorised and delivered to CSF I list a few points that may make life easier. They may seem patronising to some of you (and I apologise if they do) but I only list them here because of the experience we have on the SITSS helpdesk around the time of these collections.
- do read our instructions and guidelines carefully before going near the computer
- do set aside 'quality' time to complete the exercise (whether it be upgrading the MIS or running the School Census checks). We appreciate this is extremely difficult in a busy school office, but you really do need to be able to focus on the task in hand.
- do complete the School Census Preparation Document as soon as possible and not try to complete it on Census Day
- do check that you have entered the new Modes of Travel to School and First Language
- do check the School Census area on our website
- do tick each step (in the SITSS documents) as you successfully complete it - just in case you get called away for an emergency
- do check your data is complete and accurate before the end of the Autumn 06 term (SITSS has already distributed lots of guidelines, etc)
- do warn your head teacher that the usual January Statutory data collection (school census) is due to be sent to CSF Thursday 18th January 2007, explain the return must be checked and authorised by the Head teacher before sending off (you'd be surprised how many returns are received that have not been checked before authorisation)
- do let SITSS know if you foresee problems during December & January (for example - hospital visits can cause difficulty. If we know at SITSS we can usually help)
- do not leave everything to the last minute. Please remember the closer we are to the census date potentially the more calls and a longer response time will result.
During any major data collection exercise SITSS MIS staff are 'grounded' so that we have as many team members as possible available to answer the calls for help. This means we have 14 team members answering calls. I'd like to think this was more than sufficient but unfortunately as we get nearer to the deadline the calls become more complex and the callers more stressed. Whilst we do everything we can to answer the calls as quickly as possible we are only human - so please be patient and think 'Could you have prepared sooner?'
As an added bonus this year CSF are prepared to fund a SITSS training course for the first schools to submit a successful School Census return (2 off Secondary, 1 off Middle, 1 off Special and 2 off Primary / Nursery school).
SITSS Now Part of SSE
Those of you who are very observant will have noticed from our most recent course brochure, flyers and the Directory of Services to Schools, that School IT Systems Support has moved within the structure of Children’s Schools and Families, to now be within the Learning, Training and Research section of Standards and Schools Effectiveness.
The reason for the change was two fold :
- a recommendation of the MIS Best Value Review to 'Develop appropriate support to help schools improve their use of MIS'
- changes to the Commissioning Performance and Resources Portfolio (of which SITSS used to be part) as part of the ‘Keeping the Child at the Centre’ strategy, ‘Working Together for Better Outcomes’. “As the work of the team is highly specialised…” and due to “The strong links to the work of Advisers…” (Proposals for CPR Portfolio Sept 06).
- it was decided that SITSS would be better placed within SSE to provide improved support to move MIS from an 'administrative tool' to one which 'supports School Improvement'
This structure change will not affect the smooth day to day running of SITSS nor the Helpdesk, but it is hoped that it will help to form closer links behind the scenes and achieve better use of computerised Management Information Systems within Schools.
Anti-Virus
We have recently sent out a form to schools who take out the NAI/McAfee anti-virus through SITSS. Our existing contract for the supply of McAfee anti-virus protection is due for renewal shortly and in order to negotiate a new contract we need to know how many licences are being used by our schools. If you have not done so already please return this ASAP.
Congratulations
Congratulations to the following SITSS Technicians and Network Consultants who have passed their RM Exams:
Network Exam
Alan Ramsbottom
Colin Skuse
Leanne Oudnie
Technical Exam
Alan Ramsbottom
Colin Skuse
Daniel Brookes
Dave Hurle
David Brennan
Iain Gordon
James Dixon
Leanne Oudnie
Ralph McCluskey
Richard Wilmot
Shahid Sahil
Steve Cutts
Special congratulations to Ralph & Dave who scored an amazing 95% in the exam!!!
SITSS is recruiting even more MIS Consultants
We are planning to improve the SITSS MIS helpdesk even more by adding 'first line' support to our MIS helpdesk process.
Currently we have 14 MIS consultants all of whom get involved in helpdesk duties, delivering & supporting training at HDC and on-site consultancy.
We have already made changes to the way we offer support to our Secondary colleagues by allocating one of our Secondary 'specialists' - Anna Hearn, Jim Borcherds and Katie Harris - to act as 'back office' helpdesk support. This is in addition to the usual helpdesk staff available to you.
Now we plan to improve / increase the support to all schools by adding a new 'first line' support. We tried this previously when we had a few volunteer school secretaries working in the team one day per week. We found this proved very helpful as the experience and knowledge of our 'volunteers' developed so now we are recruiting two new, permanent, additional MIS helpdesk team members who will provide first line helpdesk support and help support our training courses here at the Hertfordshire Development Centre.
If you are interested in finding out more please call Jenny Collins via the SITSS MIS Helpdesk 01438 844777 * 5
SITSS MIS colleagues strengthen their management structure
Over the last few years the number of staff supporting MIS has increased. This has obviously increased the responsibilities for Performance Management and Development within our team therefore, along with the ever increasing use / value of MIS within schools for School Improvement, we felt a change to the existing support structure was required.
The MIS part of SITSS now has the following lines of responsibility:
Maralyn Pomeroy - overall Project Manager for MIS in Schools
Anna Hearn - Manager Secondary MIS
Sally Cort - Manager Primary MIS
Jenny Collins - Helpdesk Manager
Remember if you have any suggestions to make about the quality and delivery of the SITSS services we are always very pleased to hear from you. You can contact either myself janine.bryant@hertscc.gov.uk or any of the above via e-mail
maralyn.pomeroy@hertscc.gov.uk
anna.hearn@hertscc.gov.uk
sally.cort@hertscc.gov.uk
jennifer.collins@hertscc.gov.uk
The personal email addresses should only be used for 'non support' communication, always use the helpdesk for support calls or you may find you do not get an answer for a few days.
Janine Bryant
Data Protection - Model Publication Schemes for Schools
The Information Commissioner has revised the ‘model’ publication schemes that you were advised to adopt in 2003, one is designed specifically for schools with students of Secondary age. The revised ‘model’ schemes and explanatory notes have been made available for download on the HertsGrid web site under the Admin tab, School Office, Data protection button (www.thegrid.org.uk/info/dataprotection/). The model scheme for Nursery Schools will also need amending and we will inform you when this is published.
I suggest you read the model scheme carefully to check that it correctly lists all the publications produced by your school and that it does NOT include any publications that your school does not produce.
If the model scheme accurately reflects the publications produced by your school you can simply personalise the scheme to include your school name, etc. and seek your Governing Body’s approval. Remember you must show where a charge will be made for the supply of any publications and where the publication is available on your school web site. (Where information is available on a website the Information Commissioner will still expect hard copies to be made available on request as not everyone has access to the Internet.)
When you have adopted the revised Publication Scheme it should replace your existing scheme’ and you should publish information in accordance with the new scheme’.
Secondary & Middle
Account Managers
As part of the services, offered by School IT Systems support, there is a yearly entitlement visit to your school (secondary & middle schools), to offer advice and support in the use of your Management Information System, for schools who purchase the MIS telephone support.
These visits are intended to focus on the data requirements of your school and to explore, with senior managers in school, the benefits of all functional areas of your MIS system and support the correct use, and implementation of the system, through consultation and project/action plans.
To date, 22 schools have taken advantage of a visit from an MIS consultant to talk about their schools use of ‘Management Information’ and received a working document, to move their schools forward and to increase the understanding of the MIS systems and what it might do for their schools. There has been a large emphasis on ‘behaviour management’ and ‘lesson by lesson’ registration, also assessment tracking and target setting for pupils. By working closely with MIS consultants from SITSS, schools are beginning to move their systems to be truly integrated and the power of the systems is beginning to be utilised.
The meetings have involved Head teachers and members of the senior leadership team, together with data managers and administrative staff all coming together to make the discussion based on a wide range of experiences. Account managers have been allocated to each school and you should have received a letter of introduction from them.
If you are still not sure who to contact, then please contact me on my direct number 01438 844899 or by e-mail at the address below and I will introduce your account manager to you.
We sincerely hope that you will find this service of value to your school, feedback from schools visited has been very positive. We will constantly review our services, and the way we deliver the service to schools, to meet the ever changing challenges presented to yourselves.
Please do not miss this opportunity to engage in a review of your Management Information System.
Maralyn Pomeroy
maralyn.pomeroy@hertscc.gov.uk
Note - Whilst we cannot offer an individual account manager to primary schools we could come along to heads consortia meetings - see below.
MIS Helpdesk Hours
Many of you will be aware that at present, the MIS Helpdesk is closed on Tuesday mornings from 8.30 – 9.30am and on Thursday afternoons from 4.00 – 5.00pm for staff briefings.
From January 2007 the MIS Helpdesk will no longer close on a Tuesday morning, but will close from 3.00 – 5.00pm every Thursday afternoon instead.
We have decided to make this change in an effort to cause as little disruption as possible to schools, and to enable all members of the MIS Team to attend staff briefings. In such a rapidly developing software environment, it is vital that all of our team are kept fully informed to enable us to provide accurate information to schools.
Please see the helpdesk opening hours in full click here
Fair Processing Notice Reminder
If you have not sent out your revised Fair Processing Notice (Yes all four or five pages) you will need to issue a fair processing notice to:
- all current pupils of the age of 12 and over and to their parents
- the parents of all current pupils under the age of 12
- as soon as possible and 'certainly during the Autumn Term 2006'.
Schools with students of 16 years and older are reminded of the need to reissue the Fair Processing Notice at the beginning of the term they reach 16.
Customer Feedback & Helpdesk Statistics
I would like to say thank you to all schools that have completed and returned Customer Feedback forms recently. This information is invaluable and really helps us to improve our service to you. We are issuing these forms more regularly now and as soon after the event as we can, as we are aware that it is not always easy to remember details of a particular call!
In addition to this feedback, we have also been analysing data from our call logging system to see how we are performing. Below is a breakdown of some of the statistics from the last few months, which we thought it would be nice to share with you.
Jenny Collins
Feedback on recent Management Information Systems Secondary School Survey October 2006
Only 20 Secondary School returns received by 3rd November 2006
19 Secondary & 1 Middle
4 schools moving or already using Facility CMIS
16 remain with SIMS (15 Secondary & 1 Middle)
Unfortunately the number of returns received are insufficient to offer my team, FSS, Serco or Capita an opportunity to plan resources to meet the potential needs of schools.
Nor do the numbers received offer me an opportunity to negotiate with Capita regarding charges for SIMS and Lesson Monitor software.
If I receive sufficient returns confirming a willingness to stay with SIMS for 3 years I will be in a position to 'fix' the Annual Maintenance charge for the 3 year period. (Serco already offer a 3 year fixed price where a school signs a 3 year contract with them)
If I receive sufficient returns confirming a proposed plan to purchase Capita Lesson Monitor and an indication of implementation date I will be able to negotiate a discount to the Lesson Monitor purchase price (currently £4,495)
A further copy of the survey can be found on our website
http://www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/news/index.shtml.
In order for me to enter into negotiations for the 2007 / 8 charges I need to have received sufficient completed returns by 17th November 2006. If necessary please send me a 'null' return.
If you are not sure whether your school have made a return please Email: sitss.admin@lea.herts.sch.uk
Janine Bryant
Attention Primary Schools:
SIMS can do a lot more than just produce statutory returns.
Class list – photos useful with supply teachers
Class list contact details with address, home phone plus all mobile and work numbers
SEN has to be entered for school census and reviews invite letters can be generated
Analysis of data for Ofsted, Governors and Senior Leadership Teams (e.g. SEF).
In addition SITSS has written many reports to help with:
Exclusion forms and letters required by County
School off-site visits
All available for download at:
www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/mis/sims/reporting.shtml
SITSS can design Achievement certificates for you, and lots more……
SITSS MIS Consultants are available to attend Heads Clusters/Consortia to help develop your understanding, as a Headteacher, of what value you should expect to get from your SIMS.
If you would like an MIS Consultant to attend your Heads Cluster/Consortia or make contact with you please contact Sally Cort at the address below:
Sally Cort
Primary MIS Manager
School IT Systems Support
Hertfordshire Development Centre
Wheathampstead
Hertfordshire
AL4 8PY
Helpdesk Customer Feedback
Below are graphs showing the results from our Helpdesk Customer Feedback from September. Thanks to everyone who responded.
Reminder
If you are purchasing items through SITSS and are having them delivered directly to your school, please remember to fax us a copy of the delivery note (Fax: 01582 830268) along with any serial numbers (so we can arrange to pay the supplier)
Tape Drives
If your school has a tape drive that is currently not on your support contract and you would like to discuss adding it, please contact Heidi Cutts on Tel: 01438 844777 * 2 or sitss.contracts@lea.herts.sch.uk
Welcome Back
Welcome back to Heidi after being on maternity leave. The new Mini Cutts (William) is already in training to be either a technician or an astronaut.
New Staff
We have two new technicians that have joined the SITSS team this term. Colin England and Stewart Sims.
Helpdesk Christmas Opening
The helpdesk will be closed in the afternoon of the 15th and 20th of December 2006.
We will be closed for the Christmas break from Friday 22nd of December 2006 to the 2nd January 2007
Christmas Snowman
Those of you luck enough to be visiting Hertfordshire Development Centre for a training course will notice our life size snowman welcoming you into D Block.
This snowman (as well as a variety of seasonal displays throughout the year) was created by our very own Helen Colliss.
Thanks Helen for a great seasonal display
SITSS Training Courses & User Groups
SITSS can offer a wide variety of courses to help schools use ICT as an effective solution to their administrative and management needs. We are now taking bookings for SITSS courses for the Spring Term 2007. Details of courses are available on our website:
www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/courses/
OFFICE 2003 – Has your school got it yet?
Version 7 of the Performance Suite (AM7 and Profiles 7) requires Office 2003 to be installed on any workstation used to design and print the reports or export marksheets to Excel.
Please check. The cost of purchasing the Office 2003 licence for each of these workstations will need to be planned for.
Sims .net Year Book
We have recently put together a Year Book, which lists month by month the main tasks that need to be carried out in the different areas of Sims .net and associated modules and programs. This will help you plan ahead, and remind you of some of the tasks required each month. The Primary Year Book will be available at:
www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/mis/pri_sims/yearbook.shtml
and the Secondary Year Book at:
www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/mis/sec_sims/yearbook.shtml
You can either download the full year in the form of a document, or just view the current month (plus the previous and next month) at these pages. We will try to keep these as up to date as possible.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR SIMS .NET USERS
SCHOOL CENSUS JANUARY 2007 AND ATTENDANCE
Just a reminder that ALL schools will be required to enter attendance figures into the School Census January 2007. These marks will be collected from the Attendance Module for schools who are using it. Schools that are not using the module will have to enter the marks individually in School Census for each pupil. Marks required are the possible number of sessions, authorised and unauthorised absences for the Autumn Term 2006. They will then continue to be collected termly with each Census.
Bewildered Bursars Corner
A reminder to school finance staff
During the summer term we issued instructions to schools together with a patch which converts the Income ledger codes that schools were previously using in FMS 6 to the new codes required by the SAP system. While most schools have completed this process without difficulty, it has come to light that a few have still not done so.
If you have not been able to do this yet, please do so as soon as possible.
The notes and the files required to apply the ledger codes conversion are still on the SITSS website at this address:
http://www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/mis/finance.shtml
If you should experience difficulties in applying the conversion or in understanding the instructions please call the SITSS helpdesk for assistance.
Importing Pupil Photos into Sims .net
Adding pupil photos into Sims .net can be carried out very quickly and easily using the batch import routine. However, you can only do this if you have a valid licence file supplied by your photographer.
A list of licensed photographers recognised by Capita can be found at:
http://home.capitaes.co.uk/sims/partners/photographers.asp
If you are not sure if your current photographer has such a licence, you will need to contact them and ask. If they do, they will usually ask you to supply a list of admission numbers for the pupils to be photographed. The admission number is then used to name the photo files, and enable the routine to match the correct photo to the pupil.
If your photographer does not have such a licence, you will have to add each photo manually to the pupil/student records.
Full instructions for using the batch import routine and also for adding photos manually can be found on our Sims .net Star 7 page on the grid at:
http://www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/mis/sims/star7.shtml
There are also some photo reports on the Reporting page at:
http://www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/mis/sims/reporting.shtml
Why is there no House showing alongside Contacts for a Pupil?
If you know that a parent is at the same address as the child but they don’t have the house symbol showing next to their name, then it could be that they are at another copy of the address. One of the most common problems is that there is more than one version of an address in the system – and if the pupil is at one version, and the contact is at another, then no house symbol will show.
To rectify this, you can delete the address from either the pupil or contact then add it back again – if you are then offered more than one version of the address you should try opening the first one then saving and see if this does the trick. If it doesn’t, delete the address again, add it again and pick the second one and save. If there are more than 2 versions, you will have to keep going until you pick the right one! At the moment there is no tool available for deleting duplicate addresses, but one may be available in the future.
Full instructions for this, plus more information on how to correctly add addresses and contacts to avoid this problem, are available on our SIMS.net Star 7 page at:
http://www.thegrid.org.uk/info/traded/sitss/mis/sims/star7.shtml
Internet Explorer 7
Starting on November 1st Internet explorer 7 will be offered for installation as a high-priority update by Windows Update. Not everyone that connects on this day will be offered the download; it will be rolled out over the course of several weeks.
We strongly recommend not installing this update until it has been fully tested to ensure that everything will still work. Specifically, we have been informed that there are known issues with RM Easymail.
The update will not install automatically even if you have automatic updates turned on; it will prompt the first local administrator that logs on after the update is ready to install. Simply select “Don’t install” and it will not prompt again. If it is accidentally installed you can roll-back to Internet explorer 6 from the “Add/remove programs” control panel.
We will be testing Internet Explorer 7 over the next few weeks and will advise again at a future date when we have completed the testing.
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