How to Add Notes and Attach Documents

Applicable to SIMS .net version

7.20 onwards.

Permissions required
In order to add notes or attach documents in SIMS .net, you must have appropriate Permissions to the
particular area within SIMS .net where the note/document is to be added/attached.

Introduction
The facility exists in various areas of SIMS .net to add notes and attach documents (or any other electronic
file) to records in the database. This allows you to provide much greater detail by attaching any document/file
on your PC to SIMS .net and making it available to other SIMS .net users who have appropriate
Permissions. Documents which do not originate from a PC can be scanned as required, stored as a
Microsoft® Word document or graphic and then attached.
Documents/files are stored and made available through the SIMS .net Document Management Server. Once
a document/file is attached to SIMS .net, it can be deleted from your PC (leaving the attached copy on the
Document Management Server) if you do not require a locally stored copy,
Currently, notes and documents/files can be added via the following routes:
Menu Routes/SIMS .net Area Examples of Use
Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Pupil (or Student)
Details (Medical panel)
Medical Notes Letters from/to parents, copies of vaccination certificates, etc.
Medical Conditions Details of a specific condition, advice documents/procedures
on how to deal with the condition such as anaphylactic shock,
letters from GPs/consultants, etc.
Medical Events Copies of Accident Book entries, scans of vaccination
certificates, etc.
Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Behaviour Management
Achievement panel Copies of achievement certificates such as excellent
attendance, scans or copies of work, letters of commendation,
etc.
Behaviour panel Copies of detention letters sent home, copies of incident
reports, etc.

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Capita Education Services, 5 Franklin Court, Stannard Way,

Priory Business Park, Cardington, Bedford MK44 3JZ
1023-001
Menu Routes/SIMS .net Area
Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Exclusions
Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Special Educational
Needs
Basic SEN Details panel (Full Descriptions)
Reviews panel
Events panel
Statements panel
Provisions panel
Focus | School | Rooms (Documents panel)
Focus | School | School Details (Documents panel)
Focus | Person | Staff (Documents panel)
Focus | Person | Contacts (Documents panel)
Focus | Person | Agents (Documents panel)
Examples of Use
Details of the exclusion incident, letters to and from parents,
witness statements, minutes of any Governors Discipline
Committee Meeting, minutes of any appeal/correspondence
with the LEA, etc.
Details of the special educational need, etc.
Copies of letters sent regarding the review, minutes of the
review meeting, official notifications sent to/received from the
LEA, etc.
Minutes of any meetings, copies of letters sent/received
regarding the event, etc.
Official notifications sent to/received from the LEA, copy of the
SEN statement, etc.
Supporting documents regarding the provision provided,
documentation detailing additional support provided.
Room layout, instructions on use of equipment within the room,
fire evacuation procedure, etc.
Copies of maps, school prospectus, marketing literature, etc.
Copies of educational certificates, information on courses
attended, copies of CVs.
Copies of letters sent/received regarding the contact, etc.
Copies of letters sent/received regarding the Agent/Agency.

Types of files that can be added

There is no restriction on the types of file that can be attached within SIMS .net. The following is a list of the
most common types of file that can be added.
ƒ Microsoft® Office files (.doc, .xls, .ppt)
ƒ Audio and video clips (.mp3, .avi)
ƒ Web pages (.html, .asp)
ƒ Graphics files such as photos (.jpg, .bmp)
ƒ Adobe Acrobat files (.pdf)

Adding notes
The following example shows how to add notes to School Details. The same principle applies to all other
areas of SIMS .net in which notes can be added.
1. Select Focus | School | School Details to display the School Details page.
2. Click the Documents hyperlink to display the Documents panel.
3. Click the New button to open the Add Note/Document dialog.

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 The Type drop-down list allows you to select the type of note (and/or document) that is being
added. This is optional and is used to advise the reader about the type of information that has been
added. Options include Not Specified, General Document, Letter, various SEN notes, Student
Medical Note and EMA Appeal Document. Further defined types may be added to this list in
future releases.
4. Enter a brief Summary describing the details of the note (and/or document) such as Dealing with
Admission Enquiries, which will be displayed in the Documents panel. This is a mandatory field
and must contain at least one character.

TIP: It is worthwhile keeping the Summary as short as possible as this appears in the Documents
panel and is used to identify the content of the note.

5. Enter the contents of the Note in this free text field. Please note that no formatting options are
available. If you type beyond the size of the field, scroll-bars will appear allowing the reader to see
the additional content.
6. Select the Read Only check box if you wish to prevent any other user editing the content of the
note.

7. Once you have completed the Note field, click the OK button to close the dialog. A summary of the
note will be displayed in the Documents panel.

8. Click the Save button on the toolbar to save the note.

9. To view the note at any point, highlight the required note, and then click the Open button.

Attaching documents/files
Although the term ‘documents’ is used throughout SIMS .net, it is possible to attach any type of file.
1. Select Focus | School Details to display the School Details page.
2. Click the Documents hyperlink to display the Documents panel.
3. Click the New button to open the Add Note/Document dialog, or to attach a document/file to an
existing note (such as the one added in the previous section), highlight the required note, then click
the Open button.

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4. The Type drop-down list allows you to select the type of document/file that is being added. This is
optional and is used to advise the reader about the type of document/file that is attached. Options
include Not Specified, General Document, Letter, various SEN notes, Student Medical Note
and EMA Appeal Document. Further defined types may be added to this list in future releases.
5. Enter a brief Summary describing the details of the document/file such as School Prospectus.
This is a mandatory field and must contain at least one character. It is advisable to keep the
summary short as it is displayed in the Documents panel once added and has limited display
space.
6. If required, add any notes about the document such as Please post to any parent/guardian
requesting information about the school and record in the enquiry book.
7. Click the Browse File button to open the Add Attachment dialog.

8. Locate the required file and then click the Open button.

9. Select the Read Only check box to prevent other users editing the document/file.

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 10. Click the OK button to add the attached document/file. A summary of the attached document/file is
displayed in the Documents panel as shown in the following graphic:

11. Click the Save button on the toolbar to save the record and attach the document/file to the
Document Management Server.

Viewing and editing attached documents/files

Once a document/file has been attached to a specific record, it is available to be viewed by other SIMS .net
users with appropriate Permissions. If the Read Only check box was not selected when the document/file
was attached, other users can make changes to the document/file and then upload the changed
document/file to attach it to the Document Management Server.
The simplest way of viewing attached documents/files relating to pupil/students is to use the Links menu as
follows:
1. Select Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Pupil (or Student) Details to display the Pupil (or Student)
browser.
2. Select the required pupil/student by entering their Surname and Forename and then clicking the
Search button.
3. Click the Links button down arrow and select Linked Documents.

The Documents Linked To: dialog is opened and displays a list of all the document/files attached to
the select pupil/student record.

4. Highlight the required document/file and then click the Open button.

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 NOTE: It is also possible to attach new documents/files via this dialog by clicking the New button or
to edit the document as described from step 4 onwards in the next section.

Editing attached documents

In the following example, a medical document on anaphylactic shock (attached as a medical note) is being
edited.
1. Select Focus | Pupil (or Student) | Pupil (or Student) Details to display the Pupil (or Student) Details
page.
2. Select the required pupil/student then click the Medical hyperlink to display the Medical panel.
3. Highlight the required attachment in the Medical Notes frame and then click the Open button to
open the Edit Note/document dialog.

4. Click the Open button to view the attached document/file which will be opened in its source
application such as Microsoft® Word. If the document/file has not been set as read-only, you can
make changes to the document/file and save in the usual way.
5. Close the file to return to the Edit Note/Document dialog and then click the OK button.
6. If changes have been made to the document, when you click the Save button on the toolbar you
will be prompted to upload the amended document/file as described in the next section.

Uploading edited documents/files

Any attached documents/files that are edited and saved, must be uploaded again to the Document
Management Server. This is because the changes are initially stored on the SIMS Workstation PC and will
therefore not be available to other users.

NOTE: If you do not have suitable Permissions, you will need to save the attachment with a different name
and attach the document separately.

1. You will normally be prompted to upload a changed document/file when you attempt to save the
record to which the document/file is attached, with the following message dialog being displayed:

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 2. If you intend to edit more documents/files during your current SIMS .net session then you can elect
to ignore this message by clicking the Close button.
3. To upload this and any other documents/files listed, click the Check All button and then click the
Upload button.

4. The status of the document/file changes to Uploaded. Click the Close button to complete the
process.
5. If you have several documents/files to upload, select Routines | Documents | Upload Documents
to open the Upload Modified Documents dialog and complete the process as previously
described.

Deleting notes/attached documents/files

To remove any notes or attached documents/files, from the Documents panel, highlight the note/attachment
to be deleted then click the Delete button.

For more information, please refer to:

ƒ Managing Pupil/Students in SIMS .net handbook (double-click Managing Pupils on the SIMS Help
shortcuts panel in SIMS .net).

Help sheet revision history

Doc. Version Change Description Date
1023-001 Initial Release 22/08/2005

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