SM-Reports: Tutorial

SM-Reports Tutorial

This is a tutorial to help you produce an outcomes based report with a sample template included with the trial copy of SM-Reports.

Installing and starting SM-Reports

To install SM-Reports on your computer, do the following steps:
Close any applications that are already running

Click on the Start button, and then select Run.
Choose the Browse button to change to the folder with the downloaded file Smrtrial.exe.
Select Smrtrial.exe and choose Open.
Choose OK.
Follow the prompts until the installation is finished.

The first time you install SM-Reports it is recommended that you accept the standard destination of the C:\SMREPORT folder.

Once installation is complete you are ready to run SM-Reports for the first time. You can start SM-Reports from the Windows Start button by choosing Programs|SMPCS Apps|SM-Reports.

Password

When starting SM-Reports choose Supervisor in the Name list and use the default password for the Supervisor of sunshine.

Importing the school information

Three sample files are included with SM-Reports for importing. These contain lists of students, teachers, and classes.

From the Windows Start button, choose Programs|SMPCS Apps|SM-Reports.

These steps include starting SM-Reports, although you may already have it running, or have an icon on the desktop to making it easier run.

Select Supervisor in the Name list.
Click on the password line to position the cursor there.
Enter the default password which is sunshine, unless already changed, and choose OK.

All copies of SM-Reports initially have the Supervisor password set to sunshine, which can be entered in upper or lower case. It is recommended that this password be changed later with the Options|Passwords command.

Choose the File|Import|School data command.
Change the List Files of Type to Delimited files.
Select aclass.csv and choose OK.
Wait for the classes and students to finish importing.

You could check that information has imported by using the School|Classes and School|Student's classes commands.

Entering the outcomes

The report template defines the layout of each report, but does not include the outcomes for each subject. This means the outcomes can be changed without making changes to the templates. For each subject in a year, the course outcomes must be entered. These are entered with the Outcomes command.

For each outcome, two bits of information must be entered:

The column heading that appears in the work file.
The outcome that appears on the printed report.

The column heading should be a short abbreviation that indicates to the teacher who uses the work file which outcome is being entered in the column.

Entering the Course Outcomes

Choose the Outcomes command in the Report Menu.
Select the Year of the reports.
Select any Subject in the year.
Select Strand 1 from the Strand list.
Enter a short (two or three words) heading for the first learning outcome to appear on the report in the Strand name box.

Note that the options for Levels 1 to 10 are not used for this style of report and should be always left set to one.

Enter the complete outcome in the large details box.

Repeat steps 4 to 6, each time choosing the next strand for each different course outcome. Up to five strands can be used for the course outcome.

Choose OK.

Defining the work file

The columns that appear in a work file must match the information that will appear on the printed report. These steps must be followed before creating a work file for use by teachers.

The report definition explained in this topic is for the following templates:

Y.H.S. Subject 2001
Y.H.S. Cover 2001

These steps are designed as a sequence that must be done once only. The steps may look long and complicated, but they are listed in detail to make it easy to set up SM-Reports correctly. Also, once a report defintion is done and a set of reports have been successfully produced, the report defintion can be stored for re-use in the future.

Setting the columns

Choose the Report|Definitions command.
Select the Year
Select a subject with six course outcomes.
Select Y.H.S. Subject 2001 in the Template list.

Turn on Teacher's comment.
Right click on Teacher's comment and turn on Used for statements.
All other options should be off.
Choose OK.

Turn on the Strand 11.
Right click on Strand 11 and enter Cooperates for the name
All options should be off.
Choose OK.
Turn on the Strand 12.
Right click on Strand 12 and enter Participates for the name
All options should be off.
Choose OK.
Turn on the Strand 13.
Right click on Strand 13 and enter Well prepared for the name
All options should be off.
Choose OK.
Turn on the Strand 14.
Right click on Strand 14 and enter Completes work for the name
All options should be off.
Choose OK.
Turn on the Strand 15.
Right click on Strand 15 and enter Is punctual for the name
All options should be off.
Choose OK.

Turn on Strand 20.
Right click on Strand 20 and enter the name Achievement Level.
Select 100 in the Number of levels and 100% in the Range.
All options should be off.
Choose OK.

Choose Copy
Choose All and turn on the Every detail option.
Choose OK.

Turn on the first course outcome.
Right click on the outcome and turn on Automatic outcomes and select 5 in the Number of levels.
All other options should be off.
Choose OK.

Repeat steps 37 to 40, five more times, each time choosing the next outcome.

Choose Copy
Choose All and turn on the Every detail, except the names option.
Choose OK.

Following these steps gives every subject in the year six outcomes. Some subjects may have less than the maximum number of outcomes. To make the work file show only the correct number of columns for each course it is now necessary to turn off the outcomes that are not needed.

Choose the next Subject in the list.
If necessary, turn off the course outcomes that are not needed.

Repeat steps 44 and 45, for each subject in the list, each time making sure only the correct learning outcomes are turned on.

The cover page for the year adviser must now be set. This is done with the roll class.

Select the Roll class subject.
Select Y.H.S. Cover 2001 in the Template list.

Choose Clear to turn off all the options.

In the next steps the Teacher's comment option is used, not the Adviser's comment. Although this may seem counter intuitive, it makes for simpler work files and summary printouts.

Turn on Teacher's comment.
Right click on Teacher's comment and turn on Used for statements.
All other options should be off.
Choose OK.

Turn on Absences.
Right click on Absences and enter the name Days Absent.
All options should be off.
Choose OK.
Turn on Custom 3.
Right click on Custom 3 and enter the name Unexplained Absences.
All options should be off.
Choose OK.

This ends the report definition.

Choose OK.

Creating a Work File

The work file is where the teacher enters the information for the classes they teach.

Choose the File|New command.

Note the setting of the current folder it is probably set to c:\smreport, or where you have installed the program. For now you do not need to change it, but later when using the program fully, you may choose to create the work files in another folder on you system.

Select Year 8 in the year list.
Enter yr8rep for the name and choose OK.

Later you may use some of the options in this command, but for now all options should be kept off.

Wait for the work file to be created.

When making a work file for the first time it will be stored in the same folder as SM-Reports.

Using the Work File

After making the work file there are a several steps to do before you can open and use it.

Choosing a teacher with password

Choose the School|Classes command.Select the year being used for the example.
Select one of the classes from a subject where you have entered the outcomes.
Note the name of the teacher.
Choose OK.

Next you must find out the password for the teacher you have chosen to be.

Choose the Print|Teacher's passwords command.
Enter the Supervisor's password, which is sunshine, unless it has been changed.
Choose OK.

The printed page has the passwords for all the teachers that teach a class.

Choose the File|Exit command.
Choose Yes to save the work done so far, if prompted.

Using the SM-Reports Work File program

From the Windows Start button, choose Programs|SMPCS Apps|SM-Reports Work File
Choose the File|Open command.
Select the file yr8rep.sda as created in the previous topic and choose OK.

It is assumed that the work was made in the default folder of c:\smreport. If you created it elsewhere, you need to change the Drive or Directory to find the work file.

Select your chosen name in the Staff name list.
Click on the password line to position the cursor there.
Enter the password that was printed earlier and choose OK.

The class that the teacher teaches is shown on the screen with students and columns shown. Use the key below enter the level for each outcome and profile item. Note that each outcome is represented by a single column, and the number entered into the column is translated to a tick when the report is printed.

Decide which student will be reported on in the this trial and note their name so you remember it for later printing. You can now fill the row for a student by following these rules for entering the results.

For the course outcomes:

Entering a 1 puts a tick in the Excellent column
Entering a 2 puts a tick in the High column
Entering a 3 puts a tick in the Substantial column
Entering a 4 puts a tick in the Satisfactory column
Entering a 5 puts a tick in the Elementary column

For the personal profile.

Entering a 1 puts a tick in the Always column
Entering a 2 puts a tick in the Often column
Entering a 3 puts a tick in the Sometimes column
Entering a 4 puts a tick in the Rarely column

For the achievement level a number between 1 and 100 should be entered.

For the teacher comment the text should be entering in the box below the main grid.

Choose the Save button.
Choose the Close button.
Choose No when prompted about making a copy.

Updating from the work file

The information in the work file must be copied into the main SM-Reports program before printing a report.

From the Windows Start button, choose Programs|SMPCS Apps|SM-Reports.
Select Supervisor in the Name list.
Click on the password line to position the cursor there.
Enter the default password which is sunshine, unless already changed, and choose OK.

Choose the File|Report|Update command.

It is assumed that the work was made in the default folder of c:\smreport. If you created it elsewhere, you need to change the Drive or Directory to find the work file.

Select the yr8rep.sda file as used previously.
Choose OK.

As the information is copied into the main database, progress messages appear in the main window. You can expect to see the name of the file and the class that you entered the results in.

Choose the File|Save command.

It is always a good idea to save after doing on or more updates.

Setting report date and preparing to print

Information such as the date of the report that must be the same on every printed report must be set before printing. It is recommended that the titles be checked before each final print run, so they can be changed if necessary.

Entering the report dates

Choose the Print|Report Page Setup command.
Select the year from the Year list.
Enter the report name of issue in the Title line, for example, Yearly Report - 2004

Repeat step 3 for each year.

Choose OK.

Subject Order

The order of the printed pages can be set with the Subject Order command in the Report menu. Generally, the Roll class should be at the top of the list because that subject is used for the cover sheet.

Year Coordinator

To ensure the name of the year coordinator prints on the cover page the Year adviser teacher must be set for the year in the School|Years command.

Setting the page offset

The same Report Page Setup command also has options for entering a left and top offset. The numbers entered here specify, in millimetres, how much to shift the printed area to the right and down the page to correctly centre the report. To shift the printed area to the left or up the page, negative values can be entered.

Printing a report

Finally the report can be printed.

Choose the Print|Reports command.
Select Year 8 in the year list.
Select the student that you previously noted when entering information into the work file.

In the student list, if no students are selected then the entire year will be printed. Note, you can select students that are not adjacent by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking with the mouse.

Choose OK.
View the print preview.

If you do not get a preview, you could turn on the Preview reports before printing option in the Options|General command. The preview window show the name of the printer that SM-Reports is currently connected to. If you need to change the printer, use the Print|Printer setup command before printing the reports.

Choose the Print button to send the report pages to the printer.

This completes the steps required to print a sample report after installing SM-Reports. The same steps are used when printing school reports with a custom report template designed for your school and with data imported from the school database.

The end

You now know enough to use SM-Reports to produce a set of reports. You can:

Import school information
Enter outcomes
Define the work file
Create a work file
Use the work file
Update from a work file
Set the report date and prepare to print
Print a report

Reading all the new SM-Reports Guide is highly recommended at this stage, for more specific procedures to use with SM-Reports.