
SIMS Software and Administration Systems Support
About the Service
Lancashire County Council Education Digital Services provide a range of support options for SIMS. Our support service ensures your school's management information system effectively supports your staff to:
- Manage and administer student and staff data.
- Assist in curriculum, planning and academic performance monitoring.
- Financial management and strategic planning.
- Evidence compliance with statutory regulations.
What are the benefits?
Our SIMS Support services provides your school with access to a team of SIMS support and technical staff who will provide you with:
- Specialist support to help your staff understand and make the best use of your school's data using your SIMS system.
- Technical support to keep SIMS running smoothly, ensuring the effective management of your business-critical system.
- Support services designed with security and data protection as their underlying core principles.
- A service that is designed to minimise occurrences of downtime.
What's Included?
Service Features
Recommended Support Option
Support Option |
Description |
---|---|
SIMS Managed Service |
|
We also offer SIMS Software Only, SIMS Finance Only and SIMS Basic support options – please refer to the Features Comparison table below for more information.
Service Features Comparison Table
Our recommended SIMS Managed Service support option provides a comprehensive support package to ensure the effective running of your SIMS system. Our features table illustrates the differing levels of our support available on other options. Please note we have specific requirements that your SIMS systems and ICT will need to meet to provide you with our SIMS Managed Service option. These ensure that we can provide you with our highest level of support, protecting your data and system security (See Customer Requirements).
SIMS Application Support
Description of Features Included |
SIMS |
SIMS |
SIMS FMS Support Only |
SIMS Basic Support |
Support for School Staff Telephone and remote support for specific software problems and features as listed:
|
YES | YES | SIMS FMS ONLY | YES |
Software Management
|
YES | YES | YES | YES |
SIMS Software Managed Upgrade
|
YES | YES | YES |
NO (All patches and upgrades released to SOLUS only for self-serve installation by local ICT support) |
Reports and Filesets
|
YES | YES |
YES (Application level support |
YES (Application level support |
Documentation Access via our website to over 200 comprehensive SIMS guidance documents, all prepared by our SIMS specialists providing invaluable help for school staff. Topics include:
|
YES | YES |
SIMS FMS FEATURES ONLY (Documents for other areas of SIMS are excluded) |
YES |
Secure Server If your schools also subscribes to our Anti-Virus & Threat Protection (Sophos Central) service, we will apply Sophos server lockdown to help secure your server. |
YES | NO |
N/A |
NO |
SIMS NextGen Slices Enablement Support for setting access to the SIMS NextGen "Slices" |
YES | YES |
N/A |
YES |
SIMS Hardware Technical Support
Description of Features Included |
SIMS Managed Service |
SIMS Software Support Only |
SIMS FMS Support Only |
SIMS Basic Support |
Support for SIMS servers (Domain and Peer-to-Peer)
|
YES | NO | NO | NO |
Support for Admin office PCs and PCs/Laptops running SIMS or FMS
|
YES | NO | NO | NO |
SIMS NextGen Technical Support
|
YES | NO | N/A |
NO |
Feature | Description |
Support from our ICT Service Centre & SIMS Support Team |
Online: By our My ICT Incidents reporting form on our website Telephone: 0300 123 6797 Option 3 Operational from 8am to 5pm (Monday – Friday excluding Bank Holidays and statutory leave days) |
Notes:
- Customers on the SIMS Managed Service option should always contact us first for SIMS support for all devices covered by the support agreement. We will quickly assess the problem you are experiencing and identify the appropriate resolution.
- Customers on SIMS Basic support should initially contact their third-party ICT support to check the deployment schedule for SIMS upgrades on SOLUS and for hardware and technical support for SIMS devices. All SIMS application support calls will be taken by our ICT Service Centre – see tables above.
Customer Requirements for each SIMS Support Option:
Each of our support options has specific requirements that your SIMS systems and ICT will need to meet:
Requirement |
SIMS Managed Service |
SIMS Software Support Only |
SIMS FMS Support Only |
Basic (Default where Third Party Restricts our Access) |
SOLUS to be installed and available on the SIMS server so we can release upgrades and patches to it. |
Required | Required | Required | Required |
SOLUS scheduling to be switched on at all times (allows automatic deployment). |
Required | Required | Required | Not Required |
Our MECM (Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager) client to be installed on the SIMS Server and any supported desktops/laptops to allowing us to provide remote management of SIMS (additional licences required). |
Required | Not Required | Not Required |
Not Required |
Devices using ESS products must meet the minimum requirements published in the Technical Roadmap in the support section of our website (this includes Microsoft and ESS requirements). |
Required | Required | Required |
Required |
Devices must meet our build standards. |
Required | Not Required | Not Required |
Not Required |
We must hold unique administration level account credentials for the SIMS server and workstations, the SIMS application, SOLUS and SQL. |
Required | Required | Required |
Not Required |
All devices must have an active, current and up to date anti-virus product installed. |
Required (Must be Sophos Central provided by LCC Education Digital Services) |
Required | Required |
Required |
We must be able to use our preferred remote access tool to support school staff who use SIMS (currently ISL-Light). |
Required | Required | Required |
Not Required |
Your school provides an agreed remote access service e.g. ISL to enable us to remotely provide support for ESS products. |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
Required |
Your SIMS system must have been built by us. |
Required | Not Required | Not Required |
Not Required |
Full administrator rights to support SIMS installations on Class Teacher's laptops. |
Required | Required | Support for SIMS on Teachers laptops not offered with this option |
Support for SIMS on Teachers laptops not offered with this option |
Your system must be protected by our RBUSS backup Service |
Required | Not Required | Not Required |
Not Required |