How FACILITY CMIS and
E-Portal are used within the
organisation
Introduction
CMIS - This is the school database where
information about the school and how it
operates is held.
E-Portal - is a web based version of CMIS
which allows teachers to view student records,
complete registers and student reports.
This presentation concentrates on how CMIS is used in school
but does refer to E-portal.
The Dark Ages – Life before CMIS
Before CMIS life in a school was very different. Paper was used for everything, this was very
time consuming and often needed many different people to carry out tasks. Here are just a
few examples of how it worked:
Student Files
Huge amounts of filing had to be done regularly. Large central stores were used. Finding information
about individuals was very difficult. Hand written records could be very hard to read and easily lost or filed
badly.
Registers
These were paper base so checking an individuals attendance was very difficult. Statistics were all hand
calculated and riddled with errors. Absence records all had to be checked manually.
Mail Merges
Student addresses are often exported out of CMIS so that letters to parents can be personalised, before
CMIS this wasn’t available so letters were either not personalised or hand written.
Timetables
Staff, Student, Room and School Timetables were all hand written. So when there was a room change this
caused huge amounts of paper work as each timetable had to be re-written.
School Reports
These were hand written, if there was a spelling mistake the whole report had to be re-done which caused
lots of extra work for some staff.
Photographs
Photographs are taken when a student starts at school and stored in CMIS, they are used for many
different reasons. Previously photos were taken and then had to be stored in the file. If you needed to
identify a student you had go through each file to find the person you wanted.
How does Challenge use CMIS?
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Student Records
School Timetable
Assessment Information
Examination Information
Cover
Attendance
Complete Government Returns
Here is a screen shot of Facility CMIS
Here is a screen shot of E-portal
Who Uses CMIS?
• Teachers
• Admin Staff
In the future E-portal will be available for use by:
• Parents
• Governors
Users are given very limited access rights these are issued on a “need to
know bases”. This follow’s the Data Protection Act and protects student
and staff from being able to access confidential information.
How does the school use CMIS?
Here are just 2 examples of how the school uses CMIS
Student Records
When a student enrols they are asked to complete a data check sheet. This information is
entered into CMIS. Information is shared between schools and can be transferred if a student
moves to another school. From the minute a student begins at Challenge we build on their file
and record as much information as possible this includes:
Personal details
Name, date of birth and home address and telephone number etc)
Contacts
In an emergency the school must be able to contact a member of the family so their
personal details are stored here.
Siblings
Any brothers or sisters who currently attend
Attendance
This is automatically transferred when a teacher completes the register.
Assessment and Examination results
Prior attainment is recorded as is all school reports and any external exam results.
Statistics
It is very easy for the school to produce a wide variety of statistics that can be used by
students, parents, teachers, school governors and the government.
This window is where we store student information
The School Timetable
Each year a new whole school timetable is implemented. This is a huge task and although it
sounds simple and quick it actually takes many many hours of careful planning and
preparation.
CMIS is a fantastic help and is capable of writing and designing the timetable taking into
account the many restrictions that the school has in place.
Example: A teacher can only teach 1 group of students at a time this may seem obvious but if
you consider that we have 60+ teachers and 30+ lessons being taught each period for 25
periods per week it is very easy for a teacher to be double booked.
A less obvious restriction is that we only have 1 Drama Studio therefore we can only have 1
lesson of Drama taking place at any 1 time.
Using the software we are able to write the school timetable, adjust it as necessary and then
print timetables out for staff and students.
Once the timetable is complete it is used in many different ways throughout the academic
year. Main examples are:
Finding a free classroom, finding a teacher, finding a student, finding a group of students. If a
teacher is absent we are able to use it to find out which lessons they teach that day and cover
their lesson with either a free teacher or a supply teacher.
This shows what information is collated in CMIS to help design and write the
school timetable. It is very complex so users must be thoroughly trained
before they are allowed to use the timetable package – a badly written
timetable can effect every member or staff and every student for a full year.
Benefits of CMIS and E-portal for
the school
CMIS was specially designed to reduce paperwork by operating from a central data
store. Data is entered once and is available immediately for all management
functions, ensuring that the stored information is always up-to-date and accurate.
Changes can be made through various associated programs so there are no delays
or time lags. Whenever data is called up it is extracted from live figures and so
produces an accurate picture of the school at the time it is needed.
• One single system for all school information
• Single entry, multiple use saves time and effort
• Innovative functionality
• Ease of use
• Powerful, accurate data
How does it help?
• Reduces the time it takes to locate resources. Locate any
resource any time
• Manage room utilisation with maximum efficiency
• Maximise and manage the use of space
• Planning what could be done in the future
• Information is stored in one central system
• Clear and measurable cost benefits
• Build quicker relationships with new students
• Access to up-to-date timetable information in the format they
want, whenever required
• Record student attendance and assessment online
Future Developments
• Automatic SMS Text messages to
Staff/Parents/Carers
• More users with access to E-Portal (parents,
governors, students etc)
• A new finance package that links with the
school database
• Automatic Internet Data Transfer from one
school to another
• School Analysis – A programme that can
analyse the school and how it is performing
on a day to day basis
Conclusion
School life has changed dramatically since the implementation of CMIS. We
now have huge amounts of information available at our finger tips.
However, there are still a few areas of concern:
Untrained users can do large amounts of damage to the system, all users
have to be thoroughly trained before they are allowed to access the live
database. This is time consuming but essential.
There is a large amounts of information available to users so they must
ensure they obtain the required information – ‘not being able to see the
wood for the trees’.
CMIS is very flexible and can be customised to meet the demands of the
school but flexibility can be a problem if used by untrained staff.