DMSA for SIMS provides the ability to batch scan documents alongside records for pupil and staff members found in SIMS. The software was designed to help schools clear their paper archives in favour of storing documents electronically, making the most of their investment and unlocking the potential of their school management system, SIMS.

DMSA allows you to upload single or multiple documents with just a few simple easy to follow steps, provided the user has a SIMS username and password, making what was once a task which was avoided or extremely time consuming into a task which can be carried out within minutes.

Scanning

Scan single or multiple documents for pupils or staff quickly

Drag and drop

Already have a file on your PC? No problem, just drag and drop

Search

Scan single or multiple documents for pupils or staff quickly

Import & Export

Import assesment data and securely export linked documents with a CTF in an encrypted or secured PDF format

Mail Merge (Embedded barcode)

With SIMS mail merge, print a unique barcode directly on to letters and documents for easy scanning upon return

Audit

A record of all user activity for scanning, searching and deletion is retained

Quick and Easy scan device integration

Did you know?

DMSA also features a unique indexing system, this allows for quick recovery of documents by way of searching for key words/contact which relate to a required document.

All activity on DMSA is recorded, track who has uploaded data, searched for it, what key word was used to search and who has deleted data.

When performing a CTF, linked documents are NOT included, with DMSA, you can securely package linked documents with your CTF.

GDPR Ready

Help your school be GDPR compliant. DMSA will assist with storing documents electronically while keeping record of all processing activities around documents through the system. Data retreival is quick and easy and exportable in a common format.

Case Study

Think about if your school decided to invest on a quick class trip to a nearby country, and let’s say each classes has at least 20 to 30 students. And your task is to scan the relevant forms for each student and add it to their individual records.

The following schema below describe the process in two ways, one is a standard manual way of scanning documents and adding to a student, while the other is a DMSA aided scanning.

Manual Scanning

Using a copier/MFP device, scan records in as individual files

Scan to computer

Re-name every file to the student name for easy ID

Locate student record

Open linked documents and add new document

Select the type of document it is, in this case a ‘General Document’

Type in a summary of the form i.e. ‘Trip to France’

Find the unique file to that student and upload

Then submit this

This process after logging in would have to be repeated 29 more times, for only one class.

DMSA Scanning

Select all students to scan documents to

Select the type of document you wish to scan, in this case a ‘General Document’

Type in a description of the form i.e. ‘Trip to France’

The scanner will prompt you to scan each student record

Which method do you think is will save you time?

What's new?

Multi-Site Single Install

The support for multi-site single installs, gives the ability for 1 install which links with multiple SIMS databases (A licenses is still required per SIMS instance). The user is then able to select the database they wish to connect upon opening DMSA.

Embedded barcodes - SIMS Mail merge

By adding an additional field to the mail merge template which is then converted to a barcode font within SIMS, when documents are printed, each document will feature a unique barcode, meaning that documents can be sent out to specific contacts, for example, a medical information request form featuring a specific pupils details, upon return, a user simply needs to be place the document on scanning device to then let DMSA take care of filing it in the correct pupils linked documents area in SIMS.

When scanning a batch of documents for a class of 30 pupils, using the above method would take seconds to setup and then scan in to SIMS once all documents are returned, without DMSA, the process would be a task that would take time, impacting on staff efficiency, costing time and possibly end up with documents not being stored electronically and with the impending GDPR rules fast approaching, schools need to be considering doing this sooner rather than later.

Help meet GDRP guidelines

In light of GDPR, right to data portability forms one of the guidelines. Storing documents electronically is key, having the ability to export documents in a structured, commonly used and machine readable form is part of complying. All processing activities are recorded through DMSA, a log is retained of who has scanned, searched for and deleted documents, keywords used to search for documents is also retained. DMSA forms an essential tool in GDPR compliance.