The FrogPlay SIMS extractor is a utility that a school will install either on their SIMS server or any machine that has the SIMS client installed on it. It allows you to extract data from SIMS and send that data to your Frogserver for import. 

The current version of the Frog SIMS extractor is 3.8.8 and has been designed to work with SIMS version 7.186 and above. Please note that if your SIMS version changes (due to an upgrade for example) you may need to update the SIMS extractor - please check with our Frog Service Desk Team if you are unsure.

System Requirements

The following minimum specifications are required to run this application:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 (at the time of writing this document 09/04/2019)
• SIMS.Net

Part 1 - Installing the FrogPlay Extractor 

Install the extractor by double clicking the executable file to begin the process. Click next on this popup to continue. If you have a previous version of the Extractor installed then this will upgrade it to the latest version while keeping your configuration settings. 

Click "Next" to proceed:

Enter the location of where you would like the SIMS Extractor to be installed. The default locations are:

• 32 Bit OS: C:\Program Files\Frog\Extractors\<Extractor Name>
• 64 Bit OS: C:\Program Files (x86)\Frog\Extractors\<Extractor Name> 

Once you are happy with your configuration, click "Next" to continue.

Following this you will be ready to install. Click "Install" to start the installation process.

The installation will then begin, as indicated by the progress bar. This may take a few minutes depending on the specification of your system.

Providing the installation is successful you will then be asked to click the Close button to end this process. Click "Finish".

The Extractor will now be installed in your “Start Menu” in the “Frog” folder. You can normally open your SIMS Extractor configuration page by visiting the following location from the start button on your task-bar:

• Start-->All Programs-->Frog-->SIMS Extractor

Part 2 - Configuring the Extractor

Create a School

The first time you start the extractor you will be required to create a default school. If a school has been added previously, then the main configuration screen will display, populated by the default school data. 
To open the “Add School” dialogue from the main configuration screen, click the Schools button in the top left corner of the screen. This will open the Schools dialogue that lists all the schools currently configured for this extractor. 
To create a new school, click the "New" button along the bottom of the screen. From the school dialogue, you can enter the schools basic details as well as proxy information if applicable. 
The available fields for the basic school info, as of v3.8.8, are:

1. GUID: A unique ID created by the extractor to identify your school. This is automatically created and cannot be edited or deleted.
2. Name (Required): The name of your school.
3. Description: This field can be left blank.
4. LA Code (Required): The old DfE Local Authority code for the school
5. School Code (Required): The DfE code for the school.
6. End Point: Change this to "IAmLearning".

It is also possible at this point to specify whether to send the data to your Frog server. 
If you’re sending the data over the internet then it is highly recommended to turn on the SSL option.

On the right hand side of this page you will see it is asking for Proxy information. If you know that the school uses a proxy, then please enter the Hostname and Port number (Username and Password shouldn’t be needed). 
If you are unsure if the school uses a proxy, then please ask someone at the school who might know, and we can come back to this if we run into any problems that could be caused by skipping this step. 
Once you have entered the details you can click the Save button, this will return you to the Schools dialogue. To open the schools configuration settings, highlight the school, the row should turn blue, and then click the Select button in the bottom right hand of the screen.

Authentication 

Now you should see the main screen with your selected school name at the top. 
For the MIS extractor to be able to send data to your Frog server you will need to authenticate the MIS extractor with your Frog server to confirm access permission.

In order to authenticate your Frog Server, enter the school's Frog hostname which is "Iamlearning.co.uk this must not include the ‘http://’ prefix, and click the "Authorise" button. 

NOTE: due to certain changes by the developers [ Update the URL from iamlearning.co.uk/www.lamlearning.co.uk to www.frogplay.net  ]

You should now be faced with ‘Authorisation successful’ and a green tick to the left of it and you should see something that resembles the screenshot below:

The ‘Server’ and ‘Database’ fields should have been auto filled – as the extractor will pick this up from the Server / PC it is installed on. If however these aren’t auto filled, you will need to enter this information manually. 
For ‘Username’ and ‘Password’ this is where you will need to enter login details for a SIMS administrator. This has to be an administrator level user in SIMS, otherwise the extractor won’t have enough permissions to pull through the data required into your FrogLearn Platform. Leave the ‘Group Code’ check box blank. 

Once you have filled in all 4 boxes (Server, Database, Username, Password) just click ‘Test Connection’ at the bottom. 

If everything is okay, you will see the message go from ‘Connection failed’ to ‘Checking’ (with a yellow circle to the left of it), then to ‘Connection successful’ with a green circle once the extractor has established then connection to your SIMS database. 
If when you click ‘Test Connection’ it appears to do nothing at all, this is usually to do with the SIMS username and password you entered. Try entering it again, and test the connection again. If still no luck, try another username and password. If the problem persists, get in touch with the Service Desk.

Once it says ‘Connection successful’ the extractor should now resemble the screenshot below:

Now that the extractor is connected to your SIMS database, you just need to choose what data you would like to bring across into your FrogPlay platform. You do this by ticking the checkboxes on the right hand side of the page. 
However, first of all, we will just test that the SIMs user that we entered previously has the correct permission to extract this information. To do this we will choose a field that we know there will definitely be data for in SIMS – ‘Active Students’. 
What you need to do is just tick ‘Active’ underneath where it says ‘Students’ in grey. Ensure that this is the only checkbox that is ticked. Then near the bottom right of the extractor, just click ‘Run Test’. You will see a yellow circle appear next to ‘Active’ under students, and this is the extractor finding what is available from SIMS to pull through. This is just a test, and isn’t actually importing anything yet.

If everything is okay, you will see a green tick and ‘Success’ next to it now, and a number of rows that looks like the amount of students you have at your school. For example, in the screenshot below there are ‘1027 rows’, meaning 1027 active students.

If it comes back with a green tick and ‘Success’, however it says ‘0 rows’. This simply means that the SIMS user you entered needs a few extra permission adding to it in SIMS. You will then need to either enter an administrator username and password that is active in your SIMS database,or alternatively contact your SIMS Manager to provide the account with permission to the 3 below groups in your SIMS Database;

1.)Third Party reporting

2.)Third Party User Management

3.)TP Superuser

Okay, so now that you have established that the SIMS user has got the correct permissions, you need to tick all of the other boxes for the data you want to be pulled into your platform. The easiest and quickest way to do this is to click the ‘Select All’ tick box near the bottom of the extractor.

Once you’re happy with the data that will be pulled through, click ‘Run Test’. This will start testing the data that is available for you to bring through into FrogPlay, and will take a few minutes.

You should see a Green tick with success next to all of the ticked boxes, with a number of rows to the left to signal how much information there is for that specific field.
For any that come back as ‘0 rows’ with a green tick, just untick these as it means there just isn’t any information in SIMs for this field.
For any that come back with a red cross and ‘unsuccessful’ make a note of these and untick that box.

Once all the test have finished, click ‘Save and Exit’ at the bottom right. The reason for this is to let the extractor refresh before we start the actual extract.
Open the Extractor again, there should be a shortcut in your Start Menu, and if not just navigate to the start menu, then ‘All programs’ and there should be a Frog folder in there containing the extractor.
With the extractor open again, you now need to go to the Extract/Export screen, so click on ‘Extract/Export’ at the top left.

On this page, you simply need to click ‘Run Now’ at the bottom right hand corner.

This will start the Extractor, which will open a log box to show you the progress of the extraction.
If you leave the extractor for 2 – 3 minutes, and then look at the log box, you should see something along the lines of ‘Extraction Completed’.
That means that the extraction has taken place, and has sent information to the server that your platform sits on.

Create a scheduled task

Finally, we need to set up the scheduled extractions that will keep your platform updated whenever a change takes place in SIMS (new students / staff etc).
At the top right of the ‘Extract/Export’ page in the extractor, click on the blue button ‘Create Schedule Task’.

Then give the task a name, something along the line of ‘Daily Extract’. Make sure the ‘Daily’ button is selected, and then before clicking ‘Create’, make sure to choose a time of the day for the extractor to run. It is important that you select a time of the day where the PC / Server you have installed this will be turned on. If it isn’t turned on, then the extractor will not be able to run, and your platform will not be kept up to date with changes made in SIMS.
The reason for choosing ‘Daily’ rather than weekly, is because if for some reason the PC / Server is turned off when it tries to run, you’ve only got to wait another day for it to be updated, rather than a whole week.

Once you have clicked ‘Create’, this will take you back to the previous ‘Extract/Export’ screen. Where it says ‘Scheduled Tasks’ click on the box with the drop down arrow next to it, and you should now see the scheduled extractor that you just created somewhere on that list.

If you experience any issues with the Frog Extractor or the above guide please contact our Service Desk Team as soon as possible and they will investigate the issues further.