School IT Systems Support Newsletter - Spring 2013

Transcription

1 School IT Systems Support Newsletter - Spring 2013 Part of Standards and School Effectiveness Microsoft Windows XP and Server URGENT The SIMS Autumn 2013 release will not be supported by Capita on computers / database servers running Windows XP or Server If you are still running SIMS on either of these operating systems and do not already have plans in place to upgrade or replace the computer - you need to investigate and action as a matter of URGENCY. Please see page 4 for more information. Are you still running either Office XP or 2003? If you are still using Office 2003 or XP on any computers running SIMS you need to be thinking of upgrading. Whilst we do not expect any issues with running SIMS reports you should be aware that Capita state their Spring release of SIMS is not compatible with Office 2003 or XP. Schools using Schoolcomms for Parental Payments should be aware that banking reports do not run in Office For assistance please call the Schoolcomms Helpdesk. Important information for Headteachers and Senior Leaders are marked with: Contents: 1. Microsoft Information 9. Is your browser up to date? 2. SIMS System Managers 10. Biometrics 3. Admission Transfer Files 11. School Workforce Census 4. Microsoft Information 12. Absenteeism 5. Secondary Intake 13. Exams Officers 6. Primary User Groups 14. Microsoft Office SOLUS 2 and SOLUS SITSS Courses 8. Primary AM7 Update 16. Data Collection Team Distribution List Head Teacher Admin/Data Manager Network Admin Senior Management Team Attendance Officer Standards and School Effectiveness Six Hills Way, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2FQ School IT Systems Support Technical Support Centre Accredited by the Learning and Performance Institute Approved RM Support Partner Fully Accredited by Capita SIMS for Proven Quality of SIMS Support

2 For the attention of SIMS System Managers Page 2 SIMS Technical Roadmap The SIMS Technical Roadmap is available from the following link on the SITSS website: The purpose of this Technical Roadmap is to provide customers with a detailed overview of any software infrastructure they might need to deploy in order to run the SIMS Product suite. This has been developed to enable Local Authorities, Schools and Academies to effectively plan their future support of SIMS over a two year period. Headline News Operating Systems Windows Server 2003 support ends from Autumn 2013 Windows XP support ends Autumn from 2013 Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 support commences from Spring 2013 SQL Server SQL Server 2008 Support ends from Summer 2014 SQL Server 2008R2 Support ends from Autumn 2014 SQL Server 2012 Migration utility will be provided alongside the Summer 2013 release to assist migrating to SQL2012 providing support for SIMS, FMS, Discover, InTouch & SOLUS3. SOLUS Support for SOLUS2 has been extended to include Spring SITSS have already started a project to get SOLUS3 installed in Hertfordshire schools. Microsoft Office Office 2003 Support ends Spring Office 2007 Support ends Spring Office 2013 Support starts Autumn 2013.

3 Page 3 Admission Transfer Files (ATF) Document S1269 Downloading and Importing Nursery Admissions Transfer Files (ATFs) from NOLA is now available on the grid at: Key dates for downloading ATF s from NOLA: 11th February to 22nd March Parents apply online 30th April School offers places 8th May Parents acceptance date After 8th May you can import the ATF from NOLA for new Nursery pupils only. Document S1269 is on the Grid. If your school do not have a Nursery you can download the ATF from SEAM for your reception intake now. Herts for Learning Last month was the first chance Hertfordshire schools had to demonstrate their support for Herts for Learning by expressing an interest in buying a share in the new schools' company. We are thrilled with the response and are pleased to report that over 450 schools purchased a share. A shadow board is currently overseeing the establishment of the new company. The next step in the process is for candidates to stand as a non-executive director between 25th February and 1st March An election will take place between 18th March and 29th March 2013 allowing shareholders to vote for a non-executive director from their school phase. The search has also started to appoint a Managing Director to head up Herts for Learning. Accountable to a Board of Directors, the Managing Director will lead the new company through transition to ensure that it builds on its significant potential. This role presents an opportunity to build an innovative new model of school improvement services in a commercial and enterprising context. Full details of the Managing Director position, including a job description and person specification can be found on:

4 Page 4 Microsoft Windows XP, Server 2003 and Office 2003 running out of time! Capita will soon be releasing new versions of SIMS that will not run with older (more than 10 years old) Microsoft products. We have issued several warnings to schools over the last months and if your school is still running SIMS on a computer with either Microsoft Windows XP or Server 2003 operating system you will be unable to install the Autumn 2013 release of SIMS. This is only a few months away. Unfortunately taking no action is not an option. You need to budget for an upgrade to, or replacement of, your SIMS office master / database server during the next few months. The following table shows the proposed end of support dates which have significant impact on your computer requirements, in particular for those running SIMS. Microsoft software Microsoft end of extended* support SIMS end of compatibility Recommended action(s) Windows XP Service Pack 3 8th April 2014 Autumn 2013 release Upgrade to Windows 7** or replace your Office Master Windows & 64 bit Service Pack 2 14th July 2015 Autumn 2013 release Replace the SIMS database server*** * End of extended support means Microsoft do not issue any further security patches, etc. It means you should take immediate action. ** Windows 7 needs a higher spec machine in order to run efficiently so you may need to purchase new hardware. If you are considering upgrading any existing computers to Windows 7 you can check compatibility using the Microsoft Upgrade Advisor which can be found here: This utility will check your computer and advise if Windows 7/8 will run on it. *** We do not recommend you upgrade from Windows Server 2003 to 2008 or 2012 (to avoid carrying forward any legacy problems). If you do decide to retain your existing server, providing it is of high enough specification, a complete rebuild will be needed. Windows Server 2008 and 2012 need a high specification machine in order to run efficiently. Cont...

5 Page 5 Are you still running either Office XP or 2003? Whilst we do not expect any issues with running SIMS reports you should be aware that Capita state their Spring 2013 release of SIMS is not compatible with Office 2003 or XP. Microsoft software Office 2003 Service Pack 3 Microsoft end of extended support SIMS end of compatibility Recommended action(s) 8th April 2014 Spring 2013 release Purchase Office 2013 Office 2007 October 2017 Spring 2014 release Plan to replace next year. Both Windows XP and Office 2003 are over 10 years old and, regardless of the impending compatibility issue with Microsoft s partner Capita SIMS, Microsoft recommend you try to keep within at least one version of what pupils are likely to have at home (ie Windows 7 and Office 2010). SITSS are very happy to provide quotes for the supply & installation of new SIMS Master PCs, SIMS database servers, workstations, whole school networks, etc. Simply call our Technical Support Service Desk, Option 1 Option 3 or sitss.technical@lea.herts.sch.uk. Secondary Intake - September 2013 A letter has recently been ed to Secondary and Middle schools outlining the relevant dates for the September 2013 intake. A copy of the letter can be found on the SITSS website at: In brief initial allocations were announced on 1st March and a list of those pupils initially allocated to your school can be obtained from the web based Schools Electronic Admissions Module (SeAM) from that date. Primary schools are able to obtain a list of the school places allocated to their pupils (from SeAM) and SITSS will be advising them to create and upload to the s2s website CTF files for pupils transferring to another school in September. SITSS guidance documents to help you with the process include S1094 Applicants and Admissions groups in SIMS, S1095 Importing Common Transfer Files (CTFs) and S1339 Guidance on Using the CTF Matching Screen (if applicable). All of these documents can be found at: Further details on the Admissions process, SeAM guidance etc, can be found on the Hertfordshire Grid for Learning at:

6 Page 6 Primary SIMS User Group Meetings These meetings are held each term around the county and if you have a Sims support contract there is no charge to attend. Refreshments are provided on arrival and lively discussions are guaranteed! You get a chance to meet with other SIMS users and with the School IT Systems Support (SITSS) staff. Attendance at these meetings could be viewed as part of your own personal and professional development and included in your annual performance management development scheme. These meetings are very informal and we keep you up to date with tasks for the coming term, SIMS hints and tips and new features. Other HCC teams or software companies are invited to make presentations if relevant to the school office. If you are new to the school or an oldie you will be made welcome by the SITSS team and the other delegates. This term over 200 people attended the User Groups. Comments from Schools: I always learn something new, Ideal local venue. Keeping HCC green! Less time out of school, My first session as a new secretary and found it very helpful, will come to all further meetings, As usual very interesting hints and tips, even after 13 years in the job, I can learn something new to make my job easier, Presentation very good and totally user friendly to cater for both new and old users Summer Term Primary User Group Dates Date Time Phase Location Monday 10th June 10:00 until 11:30 Primary Wheathampstead Wednesday 12th June 13:30 until 15:00 Primary Little Hadham Thursday 13th June 13:30 until 15:00 Primary Baldock Tuesday 18th June 13:30 until 15:00 Primary Greenwood Park Wednesday 19th June 13:30 until 15:00 Primary Potten End If you do not attend these meetings please tell us why. We are always keen to hear how we can improve. sitss.mis@lea.herts.sch.uk

7 Page 7 SIMS Upgrades are changing! Changes will be taking place in all Hertfordshire schools over the next year that affect your SIMS upgrade process. At the moment a utility called SOLUS 2 is used to upgrade your SIMS system, but Capita will end support for this during The replacement, a product called SOLUS 3 will be installed in all Hertfordshire schools over the coming year and this process is already underway, starting with primary schools whose networks we manage. is being replaced by SOLUS 2 SOLUS 3 Among the benefits, SOLUS 3 allows the download and installation of software updates to be scheduled, and allows workstation upgrades to be performed before a user logs into SIMS. Installing this new software is a big task for us so please be patient - we are working through all schools in batches and will contact you when it is your turn! There is something schools can do that will help if you can, please make sure that all computers in school that have been used to run SIMS at any time are up to date with the latest version (7.148 at the time of writing). You can do this by logging onto the computer while it is connected to the school network, and running SIMS via Start (All) Programs SIMS applications SIMS.net. If no-one has run SIMS at this computer for some time, it will then spend some time running a workstation upgrade to update itself, after which you should be able to login to SIMS.net. More information can be found at: index.shtml SITSS Apprentices SITSS would like to welcome our two apprentices, Charlotte Taylor and Alex Jennings to the team. Charlotte and Alex joined us in November 2012 for a year-long ICT Advanced Apprenticeship in conjunction with Pearson in Practice. As well as being involved in installation and maintenance visits to schools, callers to the technical area of the Service Desk may already have spoken to one of them, as they are currently doing a fantastic job of assisting our 1st Line technical team. They will return to the training provider later in the year to finish their training and exams.

8 Page 8 Primary AM7 Update There will be major changes to the Primary AM7 reports in the Summer term, and all schools using these are advised to download the new versions AFTER the Spring upgrade to SIMS, which will be released to schools from the end of March through the beginning of the Summer term. Capita have confirmed that there will be a field for Pupil Premium in the Spring Upgrade, which means that this field will be included in all the reports as a vulnerable group. Further enhancements will also be made to the selection of vulnerable groups when running the reports; currently you can only select one group at a time, but the new versions will allow you to multi-select so that you could, for example, select Boys who are White British and FSM. Following requests from schools, the Date of Admission field has also been added as a filter. Other improvements are planned to ensure that the reports can provide data that may be asked for by Ofsted inspectors. The new reports will be available after the beginning of the Summer term. Please check our website then for details: A Date for your Diaries Sims Managers Conference Wednesday 3rd July 2013 This conference is an annual event organised by the School IT Systems Support Team to update secondary, middle, ESC and special (deemed as secondary) schools with developments in SIMS. The conference is aimed at the manager with responsibility for SIMS within the school. We would expect that normally this would be a member of the senior management team of the school, although it is also useful for the SIMS system manager and the senior member of the school administration team to attend. This year we are changing the format to a half day from 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. including lunch. A detailed agenda and timings will be made available on our website after May half term.

9 Page 9 Is your browser up to date? Internet Explorer 7 was released in October 2006! Microsoft are dropping support for Internet Explorer 7 with Office 365. We will be migrating your hosting from Live@Edu to Office365 (see page 14 for more information), so now would be a good time to make sure your browser is up to date. Microsoft are updating Office365 and Internet Explorer 7 will no longer be supported. This means that should you have an issue (with your for example) that would require raising a call with Microsoft they would not help until you have replicated the issue with a more up to date version of the browser. The current versions of Internet Explorer will change depending on which Operating System you use: Windows XP - IE8 Windows 7 - IE9 Windows 8 - IE10 To check the version you are currently using choose the About Internet Explorer option within the Internet Explorer menus. See page 14 for more information. For any help or assistance on changing your browser please speak to your technical support provider. Connectivity Team Please contact SITSS if you have a power cut. The Connectivity team will see your internet drop out on our monitoring system, and they will want to make sure everything is okay. The same goes for any planned electrical work that will see your router/modem powered off. Feel free to contact the Connectivity Team on (Option 1, and then Option 2) if you wish to discuss this further.

10 Page 10 Information about biometric recognition systems The DfE has updated its advice on the processing of students biometric data. (19 December 2012) This will be particularly relevant for schools where pupils are already enrolled and using automated biometric recognition systems or schools considering such data processing in the future. There will be no circumstances in which a school or college can lawfully process, or continue to process, a pupil s biometric data without having notified each parent of a child and received the necessary consent after the new duties come into effect. What is biometric data? Biometric data means personal information about an individual s physical or behavioural characteristics that can be used to identify that person; this can include their fingerprints, facial shape, retina and iris patterns, and hand measurements. Schools currently using Biometrics From 1 September 2013 (when the new duties in the Act take effect), any school wishing to continue to process biometric data from that date must have already sent the necessary notifications to each parent of a child and obtained the written consent from at least one of them before continuing to use their child s biometric data. There will never be any circumstances in which a school or college can lawfully process a child s biometric information (for the purposes of using an automated biometric recognition system) without written consent. Will parents be asked for retrospective consent? No. Any processing that has taken place prior to the provisions in the Protection of Freedoms Act coming into force will not be affected. From 1 September 2013 (when the new duties in the Act take effect), any school or college wishing to continue to process biometric data from that date must have already sent the necessary notifications to each parent of a child and obtained the written consent from at least one of them before continuing to use their child s biometric data. Cont...

11 Page 11 Schools considering using Biometrics Are schools required to ask/tell parents before introducing an automated biometric recognition system? Schools are not required by law to consult parents before installing an automated biometric recognition system. However, they are required to notify parents and secure consent from at least one parent before biometric data is obtained or used for the purposes of such a system. It is up to schools to consider whether it is appropriate to consult parents and pupils in advance of introducing such a system. From 1 September 2013 there will never be any circumstances in which a school or college can lawfully process a child s biometric information (for the purposes of using an automated biometric recognition system) without written consent. For further advice and guidance please navigate to the DfE website: Notification and consent form templates are also available: School Workforce Census - Well done Most School Workforce Census files were submitted on time with fewer errors and call backs. This was due to: Improved Overlapping Absence Report Better checking of payroll reports Better checking of detail reports produced by the SWC Most of all due to your hard work. Thank you! The next School Workforce Census Return is due November 2013.

12 Page 12 SITSS help schools reduce absenteeism The Schools IT Systems Support team (SITSS) help Hertfordshire schools tackle unauthorised absences through the use of SIMS. All Hertfordshire primary schools subscribe to SIMS through SITSS and the Attendance module allows schools to record and monitor any patterns of poor attendance. There were 54 million missed school days last year in the UK and the absence rate in primary schools increased to 4.7 per cent. The earlier a school can address poor attendance, the less likely it is to continue into secondary school. Schools across Hertfordshire have been cracking down on poor attendance and unauthorised absences through technology that provides the data they need, when they need it most. When they receive notice of an Ofsted inspection, the SITSS team can help schools generate reports from SIMS. The reports break down attendance by age, sex and vulnerable groups and can be used to demonstrate pupil progress. Existing SIMS users are kept up to date through SITSS user groups. Anybody new to SIMS might benefit from attending one of the attendance CPD training courses. You will learn how to effectively record and maintain accurate statutory pupil attendance records and use the integrated reports to correspond with parents and analyse attendance trends and patterns, which can improve school attendance and ensure returns to the DfE run smoothly. For further details of forthcoming attendance courses visit: Book Online: SITSS courses Lesson Monitor is an additional product available from Capita SIMS designed for use in secondary schools, providing the ability to record lesson by lesson attendance. The SITSS team can support schools, usually through in-school consultancy, with its use. For further details about Lesson Monitor please contact Amanda Newmarch on Personnel Pay Scales 2013/ The 2013/2014 pay scales will be posted on the above link with guidance to download and import. Although support staff fringe allowance has been discontinued, the teacher salaries still include a fringe allowance, so it is important to select the correct fringe area for your school. The guidance will also have information to check and amend allowances if appropriate. Any non HCC service terms e.g. Hourly Paid will have to be manually updated if any pay awards are increased. If you are an Academy, School or Free School not using HCC Pay Scales we have produced a document S1353 Maintaining Pay Scales in Sims. This document will advise you how to update your scales manually.

13 Page 13 Secondary and Middle School Admin User Groups This is just a reminder of the dates and venues for our Summer term user groups: These dates and venues are available to book NOW using our online booking system on Date Time Phase Location Tuesday 4th June 10:00 until 12:00 Secondary Little Hadham Wednesday 5th June 13:30 until 15:30 Secondary The Oval, Stevenage Thursday 6th June 13:30 until 15:30 Secondary Wheathampstead the Grid, and as always we would like to see as many of you as possible at one of these sessions. We appreciate that time is short in school, as ever, but we do aim to provide relevant information at the user groups, that we hope will save you time and reduce stress in school. An invitation and provisional agenda will be ed to all Secondary and Middle schools before half term. As always we welcome ideas from users, so if there is something you would like to see covered at user groups, please let us know via the Service Desk. FAO: Exams Officers We introduced a new SITSS Training course - Structuring Basedata on 7th February 2013 which we are pleased to announce was fully booked and very well received! The half day course covered topics including: importing and structuring basedata (in particular GCE basedata); implications for Post 16 result collections; how awards fit in with Course Manager and linking awards to courses; creating new awards and linking elements to awards; GCSE basedata (AQA); and other useful tips. Some comments from delegates received following the course include: Essential for anyone working in exams office, If you work in SIMS data or in Exams, you must go on this course, Very useful insight.., I would definitely recommend it to anyone who needed help with Basedata and Fantastic course, really helpful. Thank you. We are pleased to advise that we are offering another session of this course on Tuesday 9th July, 1:30-4:30pm. [Note, the Exams Results Course in running on morning of the 9th July] Bookings can be made online now.

14 Page 14 Microsoft Office 365 migration from Microsoft s Live@Edu (for information) Most Hertfordshire maintained schools and academies have been successfully using Microsoft s Live@Edu application for nearly two years. Microsoft has now developed a new application which includes more functionality called Office 365. Office 365 is being offered to all its existing and new customers (both business and education) and Microsoft wish to have all existing users of Live@Edu migrated to Office 365 by September The migration from Live@Edu to Office 365 will be considerably easier than the migration from RM s EasyMail to Live@Edu as it is an upgrade rather than a complete change of product, as happened previously. The look and feel of Office 365 is just the same as Live@Edu. School IT Systems Support (SITSS) are working closely with Microsoft to agree a migration plan for Hertfordshire schools. This means school staff will not be required to do anything to make the move. Further communications will be issued when we have more information. The ICT Festival, 6th March, includes seminars demonstrating Office 365. If no-one from your school has booked onto this event yet you can find the booking information at System requirements. To get the full Office 365 experience Microsoft recommend that customers meet the system prerequisites. The minimum requirements for Office 365 include, Office , IE 8 or above + Windows 7. For the full list of requirements please go to

15 Page 15 SITSS Summer Courses 2013 Course Title Phase Dates (2013) Assessment Manager 7 (AM) PRI Tuesday 30th April Assessment Manager 7 follow-on (PM) PRI Tuesday 30th April Dinner Money New Users PRI Thursday 2nd May Student List Reporting PRI Thursday 9th May Behaviour Management Primary PRI Wednesday 22nd May End of Year Primary (AM) PRI Wednesday 5th June End of Year Primary follow-on (PM) PRI Wednesday 5th June Inclusion Register and Beyond ALL Monday 22nd April SIMS Home Page and Student Teacher View ALL Monday 22nd April (AM and PM) SIMS New Users ALL Tuesday 23rd April SIMS Reporting Basics ALL Wednesday 1st May Personnel (AM) ALL Tuesday 7th May Personnel Reporting (PM) ALL Tuesday 7th May Attendance (AM) ALL Wednesday 8th May Attendance Reporting (PM) ALL Wednesday 8th May SIMS Reporting Advanced ALL Thursday 13th June Using SIMS to Manage SEN ALL Wednesday 19th June SIMS for Middle Leaders SEC Tuesday 21st May Academic End of Year SEC Thursday 20th June SIMS Managers Conference SEC Wednesday 3rd July Exam Results SEC Tuesday 9th July Structuring Basedata in SIMS (PM) SEC Tuesday 9th July Further Exams Analysis SEC Thursday 11th July

16 Standards and School Effectiveness School IT Systems Support New Address for the Data Collection Team Should you need to send to the Data Collection Team please note that they now have a new address! The new address for Data Collection Team is: data.collection@hertfordshire.gov.uk. Old versions of the address should work for a while longer but please update your records in school to show the new address. Contact Us For all enquiries please contact the: SITSS Service Desk us: sitss.mis@lea.herts.sch.uk sitss.technical@lea.herts.sch.uk sitss.courses@lea.herts.sch.uk sitss.admin@lea.herts.sch.uk sitss.contracts@lea.herts.sch.uk sitss.internet@lea.herts.sch.uk School IT Systems Support Technical Support Centre Accredited by the Learning and Performance Institute Approved RM Support Partner Fully Accredited by Capita SIMS for Proven Quality of SIMS Support