There may be a need for your school to complete several tasks to ensure that you do not lose required data pending the end of your current SIMS and FMS license. This must be actioned with the utmost urgency as you will lose access to your SIMS and FMS systems on 31st March 2025. If the tasks listed below are not completed, there will be no way to retrieve the data past this date.
Please forward this on to the relevant parties at your school or federation.
SEN Data Retention
All schools should have a policy in place which defines how pupil data will be held and when that information will be confidentially destroyed in compliance with the terms of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We have created a series of reports which will assist you in gathering archive data for pupils who’ve left the school that might fall out of the standard data migration scope but still be relevant to keep as it is covered by the regulations and/or your own internal policy. These reports are not designed to be the perfect solution, they are entirely customisable and we recommend you do so to suit your requirements if needed.
Click here to read our FAQ for the SEN Data Retention.
Historical Finance Data
The recommendation is to retain 7 years of data, so to ensure your data is complete for the previous 6 financials years (not including 24/25), you will need to export it from FMS using the Detailed Cost Centre Transaction report. Due to the nature of the report, it must be run through FMS. We have created a how to guide which can be found at the following link. Exporting previous financial year’s data from FMS – Frequently Asked Questions
Linked Documents
You will need to explore your linked documents and export only those that are useful to you or relevant for data retention purposes. Further information on exporting Linked Documents can be found at the following link. Saving Linked Documents from a Pupil Record – Frequently Asked Questions
Using File Manager
All of our methods of extracting data require you to save your information away from your SchoolName F:\ drive through File Manager. We have put together a detailed guide on how to use File Manager at the following link. Using the File Manager shortcut on the Hosted Platform – Frequently Asked Questions
While saving data to your secure location with File Manager, other important locations include:
F:\Public\sims\star\ascout – For Census files
F:\Public\SIMS\TRANSFER – For additional Finance files
F:\Public\Updates – Miscellaneous files
F:\Public\sims\EXAMIN & EXAMOUT – Exams results and entries
F:\Public\sims\snova – Nova Timetabling files
We cannot advise what needs to be saved, we recommend looking through these locations and saving whatever information you deem necessary. These are the standard locations, your own schools locations may vary. We recommend looking through the F:\Public directory in File Manager and the F:\Public\sims\ folder especially, for things that may be relevant to you that is not covered above.
A full .ZIP export of your F:\Public directory can be provided upon request. Please note that this will be a large file and will have storage implications. Please ensure you have adequate hard drive space before attempting to download.
In the event that you do not have the space to accept this .ZIP file immediately we can store it on your behalf.