Squadron Information Management System

[woodsey115]

How do you download SIMS? Does it not work on a MAC Computer? I'm have looked and the links don't work.

[Eclipse]

SIMS is PC-Only as it requires either MS Access or an Access runtime, neither of which run on a MAC out of the box.

Yo might be able to get it to work using a product like "Crossover".

The way SIMS works is that you have to install it on a PC, and then download a CAPWATCH database and import it into SIMS.
Without a CAPWATCH, SIMS isn't very useful.

[cm42]

http://www.njwg.cap.gov/sims/

Your CAP-issued computer (one for every squadron?) has Windows and Access (or at least was provided with Microsoft Office installation disks which include Access). SIMS can work without CAPWATCH, but it makes for a LOT of extra data entry. Good thing downloading CAPWATCH is easy.

[a2capt]

Is this a take-over of the project? It used to be at a different location.

[cm42]

Sperry has had it for a while now, since the original developer (CO wing) left CAP. NJ wing has recently revamped their website, though, so maybe that's why the location is different.

[Walkman]

I've heard of SIMS before. How useful is it?

[Eclipse]

Very - it's the only way I'd manage a unit.

Caveats:

Have to make sure you're always doing a CAPWATCH update before using it for anything significant.

You're at the mercy of NHQ and the devs if NHQ makes significant changes to CAPWATCH.

It's still a single-user, non-shareable system - this can be managed with something like Dropbox and
some common sense usage rules, or it needs to live on a flash drive or similar.

I would say it was probably most effective in the days before internet was pretty common at meeting locations.
These days, anyone with a smartphone can get to eServices, though the reports generated by SIMS are nicer looking
with more customization.  The single-page view for a person's records is nice as well.

[Walkman]

Thanks for the info. I might give it a run.

I just started making Excel sheets on the unit laptop for cadet progression items (CPFT, drill test) so we have something more reliable and searchable than paper records.

[Eclipse]

You could turn those into Google sheets which could then be real-time shared
by anyone with the need.  This also negates back up issues and can be viewed "offline"
if connectivity is an issue.

[Walkman]

You could turn those into Google sheets which could then be real-time shared
by anyone with the need.  This also negates back up issues and can be viewed "offline"
if connectivity is an issue.

That's kind of my idea. We don't have any connectivity at our meeting building. My plan is to record the data as soon as each activity is complete, then I will upload the files to Google Drive for backup. If we had any sort of wifi, I'd just do it in Google at the beginning.

[NIN]

You could turn those into Google sheets which could then be real-time shared
by anyone with the need.  This also negates back up issues and can be viewed "offline"
if connectivity is an issue.

That's kind of my idea. We don't have any connectivity at our meeting building. My plan is to record the data as soon as each activity is complete, then I will upload the files to Google Drive for backup. If we had any sort of wifi, I'd just do it in Google at the beginning.

No no no. That can't be right. Everybody has connectivity!

/sarcasm