SDMS Adviser Exchange Server Connect

	SDMS Adviser and School Support for Windows			SDMS e-Adviser for the Web			SDMS Adviser Outlook Integration and Synchronisation Module		SDMS Adviser Systems Options

The Module

This module allows Advisers to schedule School Visits on their mobile phones or PDAs and for them to be automatically logged in the SDMS Adviser for Windows central database. Likewise, appointments made in SDMS Adviser by administration staff are automatically notified to Advisers on their mobile or PDA.

“Only Connect”: SDMS Adviser Visits

The need to plan School Support Services provided by Education and Children’s Services Departments has never been greater. How and when Advisers are scheduled to work with Schools, making the best possible use of their time and skills, is essential in providing leadership in achieving improved quality and School performance.

Hitherto, one of the most common difficulties has been that the systems in place have tended to be paper based or only partially computerised. School Visit Report Forms and Word templates are completed by Advisers and data may or may not be entered into Excel from such documents. MS Outlook may be used in certain respects to log visits for individual Advisers and perhaps shared with some other Advisers – with data and information difficult to report on. And where increasingly mobile and wireless technologies are used, again it is difficult to extract information even when MS Exchange Server™ is a corporate choice because of the difficulty on extracting data from MS Exchange Server. Because of the poor linkage between systems then it is often difficult to produce a corporate view of what Adviser Visits have taken place, what have they been about and who have they been provided for.

No two Local Authorities run and manage their School Support Services in exactly the same way. While they have many features in common, each is unique. That is why we offer a range of fully integrated products and systems for planning, scheduling and reporting on all School Visits by Advisers.

And amongst these, SDMS Adviser Exchange Connect provides solutions for Authorities who have standardised collaboration via MS Exchange Server and want Advisers to record and schedule School Visits via PDAs, Mobile Phones, Outlook for the Web or MS Outlook™ and at the same time pull together this information into a corporate service profile with seamless integration with SDMS Adviser for Windows and e-Adviser.

SDMS Adviser and School Support for Windows and e-Adviser:

SDMS Adviser and School Support for Windows provides an integrated system for the management of Advisory Services with the software’s individual Adviser or Advisory Team Diaries.  A simple and easy to use diary allows dates and times of Schools Visits to be logged.  At-a-glance calendar views show up-to-date on diary commitments.  Simple reports and notes of School Visits can be recorded – with optional School assessments with a full assessment and School status history.  Extensive details of Service Level Agreements and Contracts with Schools, where required, can be held with a comprehensive profile of the services delivered to meet them.  Full details of School Visits undertaken by Advisers can be recorded, including: subject priority, the type of work undertaken, the scope of the work, specific objectives, any associated costs and revenues, preparation time and reporting time involved.

e-Adviser provides a complementary browser and Web based system for Advisers to use and log their own visits and visit reports. Schools can also be given Web access to request meetings and view planned or actual visits by Advisers. Fully integrated with the Windows system acting as a back office, e-Adviser extends the capacity of Local Authorities to support Schools by a simple easy to use Web based system, recording School Visits and Adviser diary commitments. Massively reducing time-consuming paperwork, the simple process of recording appointment and School Visits leads to a comprehensive profile of support provided to Schools.

SDMS Adviser Exchange Server Connect

In combination with SDMS Adviser for Windows the Exchange Server Connect Module utilises the collaboration features of MS Exchange Server to synchronise data on the Adviser’s mobile or PDA with the SDMS Adviser database. School Visit appointments entered on hand held devices such as Palms, iPAQ, Windows Phones, Blackberries or local MS Outlook calendars are imported into the SDMS central database of Advisory appointment records, held in SDMS Adviser and School Support for Windows. The synchronisation is two-way communication – with appointments scheduled in SDMS Adviser for Windows or e-Adviser for a particular Adviser with a particular School about a particular topic appearing in Advisers local appointment calendar whether it is MS Outlook™, or a PDA’s generic diary.

The integration is automatic and seamless with no user interaction required to synchronise between SDMS and MS Exchange Server™.

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This provides a solution for a very large number of Local Authorities where the logistical and organisational issue is how they gather the information from the work done by all their Advisers and then generate a corporate profile. Often Advisers will complete School Visit Report Forms, which may need to be re-keyed into a Software Package to create this profile. Where MS Outlook™ is used to record appointments (as part of a corporate standard perhaps) this may be an individual tool and calendars not drawn together into a corporate profile of all Adviser appointments. Often the appointment information entered into MS Outlook™ is much less than is required either to plan the work of the Advisory Staff or to create a detailed profile of support provided to Schools.

Benefits of SDMS Adviser Exchange Connect:

• Will only scan "SDMS" appointments, ignoring all private schedules or any other business meeting outside the scope of SDMS Adviser diary monitoring – simply by using pre-defined Keyword as Prefix in Subject (e.g. “SDMS”).
  
  
  
• Synchronising with Exchange Server will populate SDMS database at the same time so no more double data entry or letting people know your appointments by additional means e.g. paper.
  
• Simple data entry - just unique SDMS Advisory Reference and optional location will create valid appointments. Optional location reference will fill in the Contract and, if contract based, the School details.
• From that just one Advisory Reference (max 15 characters) SDMS-Exchange Sync™ can determine the service type, the training area and specific area that applies to the appointment, creating a valid SDMS Diary entry thereby minimising the difficulties of incomplete or partial data.

   
• Keywords and Adviser Activity References don't have to be case sensitive e.g. if somebody types in “sdms” instead of “SDMS” it will still be synchronised correctly.

   
• New or updated appointments made by central administration staff in SDMS Adviser for Windows or e-Adviser are sent via MS Exchange™ and  appear in their appointment calendars as commitments.

   
• New or updated appointments entered by Advisers on the mobiles or PDAs are sent to SDMS Adviser for Windows or e-Adviser are sent via MS Exchange ActiveSync.

   
• Use “Deletion” keyword in the subject field to trigger the Deletion of the appointment from both the Exchange and SDMS Adviser for Windows or e-Adviser Central database. Similarly use “Cancellation” keyword in the subject to trigger the Cancellation of the appointment in both the MS Exchange data store and SDMS Adviser for Windows Central database. Data integrity is maintained throughout.

   
• Appointment “body text” in Mobile Outlook and non Microsoft Calendar products on mobiles and PDAS can be used to enter the Visit Report or Scope of the meeting and of course appears in SDMS Adviser for Windows for use in School Visit Word Templates.

   
• SDMS-Exchange Connect scans Personal Calendars and no additional set ups or special customised forms are required on remote Outlook, so Advisers use the data entry methods they are already used to.
  
• Invalid appointments (where SDMS Advisory Reference is not recognised as valid) will trigger automatic email to the appointment organiser and won’t by synchronised to SDMS Central database - they can be viewed by the administrative staff via special Exceptions Errors log screen.
  
  
  

These are just a few of the detailed features and ease of use features of the SDMS Adviser product set with Adviser Exchange Server Connect. It connects what has hitherto been very difficult to connect - technology and working practice.

Technology - ActiveSync™ from PDA to Exchange Server

SDMS Adviser Exchange Server Connect provides integration between Mobile Phones, PDAs and Outlook by using Microsoft Standard ActiveSync™ Technology, installed for use with MS Exchange Server™.

This is installed on central MS Exchange Server™ (it can also sync to local PC’s Outlook and to Exchange Server at the same time). This synchronisation process may be called something different depending on the proprietary hardware used (e.g. HotSync in Palms).

ActiveSync™ acts as the gateway between Microsoft Windows - powered PCs and Mobile devices and allows synchronising MS Outlook™ information, Microsoft Office documents, pictures, music, videos and applications to and from hand held devices.

The Screen Story above depicts the data entry procedures, required for converting PDA appointments into valid SDMS Diary Entries. This process will work in reverse cycle too – anything created via SDMS Central database will end up being synchronised into local MS Outlook™ clients and PDAs. The data entry screen may vary depending on PDA models used but the main principle will be the same.

Case Study: Advice on Using Windows Phones, Mobiles, PDAs, iPAQs, Outlook and Web Outlook to Record Your School Visit Appointments.

Of course SDMS Adviser Exchange Server Connect requires standard ways of working to be agreed. But then this is the case whether we are completing Word documents or entering an appointment in our mobile phone!

The following is a sample of advice for the use of mobile phone calendars developed and used by an Advisory Team using SDMS. It is designed to establish these common practices to ensure data integrity with valid and complete records of School Visit appointments across all Advisers using the system:

1. Enter Date and Time of the Appointment.

    
2. Do not use re-occurring appointments as some devices have problems synchronising them. Do not use All Day Events – specify real times.

    
3. Enter the Title/Subject of Appointment. This must be prefixed with a prefix SDMS[space] (the keyword to be decided via SDMS-Exchange Sync Config Set-up, including whether it is case sensitive) to make it a valid SDMS Diary Entry. The subject of appointment must contain a valid Advisory Reference (max 15 characters of prescribed Advisory References for SDMS Diary entries. e.g. SDMS[space]UGMH will be translated by synchronisation process as appointment under UGMH advisory reference number. The space is very important – i.e. the Advisory Reference must not be a part of another word – it must be “standing apart” from the prefix.

    
4. If available, go to more details screen and enter Location – this must match either School Reference (for non-contracted appointments), for the synchronisation to pick it up or the Contract Reference for a School (where contract reference is specified, separate Schools Reference is not required). Location may be left blank for non-school related appointments. If you wish to enter Location for non-school related appointments you must use exception Keyword (e.g. OTHER – as defined in SDMS-Exchange Sync Config). Locations containing a text that is not a valid School or Contract Reference, and where no exception Keyword was used, will trigger an “Invalid Location” email during the synchronisation process. However, the appointment still will be synced into SDMS (without the Location) as long as valid Advisory Reference is present (see point 2).

    
5. For the synchronisation to correctly identify the School or Contract Reference, these must be unique (i.e. do not use exactly the same Reference for Contract and School).

    
6. If available, in more details screen, enter Notes or Body Text – this will be Scope/Nature of Visit (max 1000 char) or Visit Report Comments (max 5000 char), depending on Sync configuration decided during implementation.

    
7. Perform Synchronisation to send the appointment to central Exchange Server. SDMS-Exchange Connect will pick it up from there during the next scan and import it into SDMS Central Database where the appointment can be seen and reported on.

    
8. Once appointment passes SDMS-Exchange Connect synchronisation, the Subject/Title will display the full activity title, and the contract reference, if specified, will display full name. For School-based, non-contractual appointments, School name will be displayed - this will be an indicator to the Adviser that their appointment has been saved successfully in SDMS Central database. Optionally, the colour of the appointment may change (for PC’s Outlook users, where available).

    
9. Additional Attendees are ignored by SDMS-Exchange Connect – only main organiser and their appointments are scanned for the purpose of analysing in SDMS Central Database.

    
10. If Main Adviser needs to be changed, e.g. because of substitution, it is advised to delete/cancel the existing appointment and create new one for new Main Advisers, so that the change can be triggered and synchronised to all PDA diaries.

For Further Information:

Customer Testimonials

Case Studies