The RISC Extras page contains details about RISC add-on tools that you may find useful:
- The RISC Batch Photo Import Tool
- The RISC Student Database Editor
- Checking RISC for Data Corruptions
- Upgrade RISC Data Structure from v4/5/6/7/8
- Update Existing RISC Databases to work with ERN (NSW Public Schools only)
The RISC
Batch Photo Import Tool
Almost as soon as RISC v7 was released, schools, in particular high
schools, started asking whether it was possible to import existing
student photo files into RISC instead of using the RISC PhotoCapture!
utility. Of course, at the time, the answer was no. So, we went to work
on developing such a tool and realised it was not such a simple thing to
do because between them, schools will use various different sizes for
their source photos and they will also be named in all sorts of strange
ways. So this tool needed to be quite clever. Here's what we came up
with:
This tool will not only transfer your existing photos into RISC, but it will resize them, rotate them (if required) and rename them automatically, without disturbing the original copies. And it will do it all for your whole school in a few minutes! Full instructions for accessing and using this tool are in this User Manual (PDF)
The RISC Student Database Editor
The Student Database Editor for RISC has been supplied to allow schools to
make minor changes to their student database (as opposed to the
contacts database). The student database is normally imported from
your School's main Administration system, but with some systems, it is
difficult or impossible to export the student enrolment data. For these
schools, this utility is helpful. It will allow you to either create a
RISC Student Database from scratch, or edit an existing RISC Student
Database when minor changes are needed.
To use the RISC Student Database Editor, run the RISC Admin program
and choose Utilities...RISC Student Database Editor. The
following screen will be displayed:
The process for using this editor is fairly self-explanatory. If you
have an existing Student Database in RISC that you want to edit, click the
"Import Data from Existing Studbase.dat File" button which will
bring in all the existing records for editing as shown above. If you are starting from
scratch, just fill in each field at the top and click the "Save As New
Record to List Below" button.
Once there are records in the list, click on one to display it in the
fields at top. Edit the details in these fields as necessary then click
the "Replace Highlighted Record with Above Data" button. This
effectively edits existing records. You can also Save the fields as a New
record, but be sure to avoid duplicates in the list.
Deleting records when a student has left is as simple as highlighting the
desired record and clicking the "Delete Highlighted Record" button.
When you have finished editing, you can then transfer the new student
database back to RISC by clicking the "Replace Studbase.Dat File with
this Data" button. If you do not Replace the student
database, none of your changes will be saved when you exit the Student
Database Editor.
NOTE: Every user of RISC MUST CLOSE RISC before you can use the button to Replace the Studbase.dat file in RISC.
Checking for RISC Data Corruptions
There is an option in the Utilities menu of the RISC Admin
program to Check for Data Corruptions in the main RISC database (the
RISC.DAT file). It is very useful in the event that a
data corruption is reported by RISC or suspected by the user. If it
appears that a specific contact record has become corrupted (i.e. you
cannot display it on the screen), use this module to check for errors
in the RISC database.
If the module finds corruptions that it can repair itself, it will do so. Any repairs made by the checking module will be reported one by one on the screen. Take note of all corrected contacts and when the process is complete, load RISC and call up each of the corrected contacts. Usually the corruption is found in the Student Name at the top of the form. If you find a "Fixed" message for the Student Name, you will have to reselect the appropriate Student Name and Save the Updated Form. Remember, the best way to avoid problems associated with data corruptions is to backup the RISC database regularly.
It is possible that a corruption of the
database (usually caused by poor-quality power, hard disk crashes or poor
network connectivity) is so
severe that this utility cannot fix it. In these cases, if you do
not have a backup of the database, please stop using RISC and contact RISC
Support, preferably by e-mail.
Update RISC Data Structure from v4/5/6/7/8 - (for upgrade
to v9)
This option must be used if upgrading RISC from ANY previous version of
RISC to v9.
There is no option to update v3 and earlier data structure directly to v9.
There was a
major data structure change for the main RISC database that occurred with
the release of RISC v9.0. For existing RISC users with RISC v4.0 or later,
this option in the Utilities menu of the RISC Admin program
has been produced to allow for the conversion of all RISC databases
(current and archived) to the new v9 format.
This process must be run before using RISC if you have data from a previous version. You must also re-export your student information from your school admin system and import it into RISC before you can take advantage of the new system. You will be notified of the need to do this during the installation of your RISC upgrade to v9. It is expected that this function will only ever need to be run once. If you choose this option when your data is already in v9 format, it will do nothing.
Update Existing RISC Databases to work with ERN (NSW Public Schools only)
From late 2007, The NSW Education Department
commenced a rollout of a new Student ID/Enrolment number, referred to as
ERN. A new, unique 9-digit enrolment number is being allocated
centrally to every student in the state and that number replaces the old
OASIS Student ID.
This will affect any school that used RISC v7 or v8 BEFORE the
school changed over to the new ERN ID numbers. To correct the data
discrepancy that will occur when the school changes over to ERN, a new
tool has been produced to update all old Student IDs stored with
previous contact records to the new ERN. The tool needs only be run once
to update all RISC data created prior to ERN.
You can access the ERN conversion tool from the RISC Admin program, in the Utilities menu. Step-by-step instructions are provided in this User Manual (PDF)
The Register of
Individual Student Contact (RISC) is developed & distributed
by Marillion Designs.
Copyright © 1995-2010 Marillion Designs. All rights reserved.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
