Students#

Students are synced from SIMS if you have any module enabled.

What Data is Imported?#

The following details from the student are imported, they are imported as a user.

  • Admissions Number - Mapped to the school identifier field.

  • Date of Birth - Mapped to the date of birth field.

  • Forename - Mapped to forename.

  • Free School Meal Status - Mapped to free school meals.

  • Gender - Mapped to gender.

  • Home Address - A single address with the type “H” (meaning Home) is mapped to the address field.

  • Home Postcode - The postcode matching the address is mapped to the postcode field.

  • Home Telephone - A single telephone with the type “H” (meaning Home) is mapped to the telephone field.

  • Mobile Telephone - A single telephone with the type “M” (meaning Mobile) is mapped to the mobile number field.

  • Person ID - Mapped to Third Party ID.

  • Personal Email Address - A single email address with the type “H” (meaning Home) is mapped to the personal email address field.

  • Preferred Email Type - Mapped to the email type communication preference.

  • SEN Provisions - Mapped to SEN Information.

  • Surname - Mapped to surname.

  • Work Email Address - A single email address with the type “W” (meaning Work) is mapped to the work email address field.

Important

When a student ceases to be a current student at the school their account will be disabled the next time the sync tool runs. This will not clear any personal data (or any data) from the system but will disable their login so that they can no longer access the schools systems. That means it’s important that your SIMS configuration accurately represents your current student roster at all times.

Important

A users preferred contact methods are only imported once (when the account is first created) this is because the user can update their preferred contact method directly online and therefore the one stored in SIMS would be incorrect. In an upcoming release we will update this preference in SIMS as well allowing both systems to remain in sync.

Tip

Gender is only mapped if a matching gender can be found. If a gender with a matching name isn’t found, the gender is not added to the user.

Tip

If a user has multiple home addresses in SIMS, the one with the most recent “Start Date” is mapped. Any other addresses are ignored.

Tip

If a user has multiple home or mobile telephone numbers in SIMS. A single one is selected using the following criteria:

  1. The telephone marked as “Primary”.

  2. The telephone marked as “Main”.

  3. The first telephone in the list.

Tip

If a user has multiple home or work email addresses in SIMS a single one is selected using the following criteria:

  1. The email address marked as “Primary”.

  2. The email address marked as “Main”.

  3. The first email address in the list.

Tip

A users email preference is determined using the following criteria:

  1. The type of the “Primary” email address if present

  2. The type of the “Main” email address if present.

  3. A default of “Personal” is assigned.

(Users can update this via their My Account section)

Tip

If your school have selected admissions number as the default username or active directory username then this will be used. In the event that the student does not have an admissions number the email address will be used as a fallback. (For example, dual subsidiary and guest students do not have an admissions number)

After the students data is synced a final check is performed ensuring that all student accounts are for active students and any additional student accounts are disabled.

What Records Won’t be Imported?#

There are certain circumstances where a record won’t be imported. These are generally rare and are usually caused by some required data not being present on the record in SIMS.

The likely scenarios for a record failing are:

  • No Forename - Required in all cases.

  • No Email Address - Required in all cases. The user must have at least one email address (it should be marked as primary too).

  • No Surname - Required in all cases.

Tip

We produce an output of the records that error so that you can see them and their errors. Allowing you to fix them and sync them successfully. These errors are also sent to us so that you can view them online.

Common Reasons for Failure#

Even when items pass the on site checks listed above there are still some reasons that they may fail to import successfully. The common reasons that we have identified are listed below:

  • Username already in use - When creating a new user, if the username is already in use the record won’t be imported.

Permissions#

The following SIMS permissions are required for the sync to complete successfully:

  • All People -> Address Details -> View (All)

  • Students -> Additional Information -> View (All)

  • Students -> Basic Details -> View (All)

  • Students -> Ethnic/Cultural -> View (All)

  • Students -> Record -> View

  • Students -> Registration -> View (All)

  • Students -> Welfare -> View (All)