Video Tutorial: Importing data from SIMS

Opening the 'Import Management' Screen

• Click on the 'Management' Bar and then 'Import Management'. The screen displays a summary of the most recent import activity.
   
  
  

Edit Settings

• If you wish to change the import settings click on the 'Edit Settings...' button
  
   
  
  
• The screenshot above shows the default settings.
• Select whether to include pre-admission students in the import. If you make this choice then their details will be imported and groups will be available to enable you to contact pre-admission students in each of the application stages: offered, accepted etc.

NB. to import pre-admission student details, the user needs permission in SIMS to view admissions.

• Select whether to import all groups or only the Active groups in SIMS (this will make the import process quicker).
• You can choose how to register the contact details of your members, either by importing them from SIMS or by inviting your members and family contacts to register for themselves on the web site. Before making this choice, please read the help on 'Choosing how to register contact details'.
• Select whether to import contact details (email addresses and mobile numbers) from SIMS.
• If you do wish to import contact details from SIMS, select the recipient types; students themselves, staff and family contacts, and then choose whether to read SMS mobile numbers and email addresses.
• Remember that you can import the information but do not have to use it. For instance you can import the mobile numbers in case of emergency but not use the SMS messaging normally.
• The Import Contacts feature will import the following details from SIMS if you use the default selections as in the screenshot above:
  • The email address and mobile phone number for all School Members (students and adult school members) who are not already registered.
  • The Priority 1 contacts of all Students that do not already have a linked Prime Parent in Schoolcomms. Imported Priority 1 contacts will be given prime parent status.
• By default, only the Priority 1 contacts in SIMS will be imported. No parental contacts will be imported for students that already have a web registered or manually linked prime parent.
• The import will bring in details which are held in the email address field for 'home' or 'work' (but NOT 'other'), and the number held in the 'mobile' field for telephone contact in SIMS. This is section 4 in SIMS for the students' own details and section 5 for the parental contacts.

It is important that you have informed your school members and parents that you are going to use the data collected from them for this purpose, in order to comply with the data protection regulations. Recipients must be informed that their details will be used for email and SMS messaging in connection with school administration and they must be offered the opportunity to opt out.

• If you have not already informed your members that you will be using text and email, you can use Schoolcomms to inform them. If you tick the boxes for email and/or SMS text message 'Send to each new or changed….', then when you carry out the import every new or changed number or address will receive a confirmation email. The message informs them that they will be receiving messages in this way in future and how to opt out if they wish. This will use one SMS credit for each new or amended mobile number.
• For schools that have previously created links themselves or who have web registered links, use the flow chart here for guidance.
• When you are happy with the settings, click Save. If this is the first time you have used Schoolcomms select 'Run Import'.
• Select Run Import to refresh the data in Schoolcomms. This will update all the school members (joiners and leavers), the group composition, and the contact details (email addresses and mobile numbers).
• You can see the progress of the import on screen.
• If you have chosen to send SMS text notifications and you do not have sufficient SMS credits then the import will abort. You will need to purchase more credits and then run the import again.
   
  
  

Important Notes on Importing Contact details

Video Tutorial: Managing linked people

• If a student has more than one Priority 1 contact in SIMS, they will all be imported.
• If a recipient's details do not appear in Schoolcomms as linked to a school member there are a few possible explanations:
  •  The student already has a web registered or manually linked prime parent or the school member themselves is already linked
  • The contact is not Priority 1 in SIMS
  • The contact has been flagged as opted out
  • The details in SIMS are not in the correct fields. Schoolcomms will read the student contact details from the student telephone and email section (4 in SIMS) and the parent contacts from the relevant contact in Family (5 in SIMS). Any entries that do not satisfy some basic validation tests will be ignored. Examples include a mobile number that is too short and an email address without an @ sign.
• If a parent has their priority changed from 1 to 2 in SIMS, their details in Schoolcomms will continue to be updated unless you remove them by opting them out. Their status will be changed to non prime in Schoolcomms. If a link needs to be deleted altogether then this can only be done by removing their relationship in SIMS.
• The contact import should be repeated regularly to keep Schoolcomms up to date with the latest details from SIMS.
• If you repeat the contact import with, for example, email unticked, all the email details will be removed from the previously imported contacts. The default setting in Schoolcomms is for the same boxes to be ticked as in your previous import.
• The import will not affect links created manually by the Add/Edit link screen or those who have registered through the web site.
• Mobile numbers that are not standard UK format will need to be entered in SIMS with the full international format e.g. 33 628 123456 for a French mobile.
• Email addresses entered in SIMS as 'Other' will not be imported. If a contact has more than one address, the first main one will be taken from 'home' and 'work'. If the parent wants to choose a particular address for messages from school then they might be better to web register for themselves, or remove the alternative address from SIMS.
• Check the report of Queried SMS numbers to find data entry errors. This report shows numbers that have been imported that do not conform to the standard UK format. They are not necessarily wrong! They may be genuine international numbers.
• We can set your school to import other priorities as well as Priority 1. Other priorities will be imported as non Prime in Schoolcomms. If you would like to take advantage of this facility, please contact support@schoolcomms.com.
• When the import has completed, there may be some items in the task list.

Deleting Leavers

• If members have been flagged for deletion, click on icon in the task list or the Delete Leavers button on the top row.
• Members are flagged for deletion if they are people who were members in SIMS and are no longer members this time.
  
   
  
  
• Check the list to ensure that they are leavers.
• Select the names of the leavers that you wish to remove from Schoolcomms.
• Click Add to move the names to the right hand column.
• Click OK to delete the names.
  

NB. If you wish to retain the attendance contact history for any of the leavers, you must first print this from the 'Contact history by student' screen before deleting them. The attendance response history can be saved by going to Management, Management reports and opening and saving the Attendance response history. This can be sorted by student and only the relevant section saved and printed if necessary.

•  If you do not delete the leavers their contact details will remain in Schoolcomms and they may receive messages. They will appear on the leavers flagged for deletion until they are removed.
  
 

Dealing with Data issues

• The task list may show Data Issues. Click on the icon in the task list or on the button on the top row.
• The list will show you the details of any records that need to be checked because they have been queried in our validation checks.
  
  
  
  
• The report shows the school member to be checked, the linked person and the error type. Make the amendments to the records in SIMS and then re-run the contact import. These people's details will then be brought in.
• The error may be the number of digits in a mobile number, an email address without an @ or a . or an email with an invalid character such as an apostrophe or a space.
   

Installation of the licence key

• The licence key icon may appear on the task list.
• If you have not installed the licence key there are instructions on how to install it here.
• If you have installed it previously you do not need to install it again.

Import Members from CSV for non-SIMS users

Click here for more information