Re: Import/Export from/to NovaT6/SIMS

[Liviu Lalescu]

have you ever attempted to export FET data into NovaT6, the timetabling component of the school management software called SIMS?

No, because I am mainly interested in the algorithm of generation, and also I have no access to other timetabling software, apart from the free or demo ones. Also, Volker is more interested in import/export.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Okay, thanks.  I'll just wait for Volker's response.

My school uses SIMS, a fairly common system in the UK, to schedule their classes.  Nova T6 is the timetabling component of SIMS.  It is nowhere near as good as FET!  But, it does have other advantages, e.g. it ties in to an online area where teachers can enter grades, or send feedback to parents, etc.

Currently, my administration is manually entering FET timetables into Nova T6/SIMS, and I'm wondering if there's a way to automate the process.  If not, manual entry isn't a terrible problem, but it's a bit annoying.

[Volker Dirr]

You are talking about http://www.capita-sims.co.uk/ , don't you?

Very interesting. I checked their page a bit, but i can't find a download for the software nor a description of their csv file format.
But if you are interested in that, you can maybe help me a bit and export a few samples. (Not your whole data set, that is not needed and also not allowed by privacy data law).
Just 2 or 3 sample students with a few subjects is enough. I need to see a sample of an activity with a class (for example math), an activity of a course (for example religion) and an activity that is shared with a students from an other year. 
I need to see information about the ID (or students name and birthday), information about his subjects and teachers and about the number of hours per subject. This information might be scattered in different csv files, but that doesn't matter as long as i am able to sum them up.
So if you can sent me a few sample csv lines, i will check if a can write an import/export filter. (for export i also need a csv sample where i can see the day and time of an activity).

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Hi Volker,

Thanks for your reply.  My import/export situation is a bit strange, because I'm using tricks in FET to schedule many activities, so they won't import perfectly into SIMS even if you wrote perfect code.  In another thread (months ago), you, Liviu, and I came to the conclusion that the best use of FET for me is to set students as individual subgroups.  I never actually went ahead and did this because it was a lot of work and ultimately wouldn't solve any problems since I was going to manually enter activities into SIMS anyway.  (http://lalescu.ro/liviu/fet/forum/index.php?topic=1855.0)

At the very least, I can see if I can get some CSV files for you.  I appreciate your willingness to help.  I'll update you when I get the files I need.

[Volker Dirr]

I contacted the guys from SIMS and asked for some information 2 weeks ago. I received an answer pretty quick. They asked me if i am a customer and why i need that information. Sadly they didn't respond after my answer any more. So it looks like the guys won't help me. I don't know exactly why, i guess because i am not one of their customers and/or they fear that we "steal" them costumers as soon as there is an import/export filter (but that is of course a bit stupid, since we are only a timetabling tool and not a school administration software. So we might even bring them new customers.)

I still like to write import/export filters, but i can't do that without help. I need at least a few sample lines of the CSV files.

[ChicagoPianoTuner]

Hi Volker, thanks for your work.  I've been looking at SIMS, but it's very tricky.  Apparently there is no true import function, and the only way to make the timetable importable is to make a file that is identical to the SIMS files and convince the system that the CSV files (which are actually .dat files for SIMS, but are still editable with a text editor) are actually SIMS files to begin with.  Do you know what I mean?

I am still working on getting you exactly what you need.  Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have something.

[Volker Dirr]

You forgot the other direction. I am thinking about exprting from SIMS. So you can import that data with FET. So you won't need to add data about teachers, students and activities into FET. Most needed data will be in that SIMS database (if you print credentials with SIMS). The only maybe missing data might be number of hours (duration). I can't tell that without knowing their csv files.