Entering pupil data

Pupil data can be entered by manual input or uploading from other sources such as electronic Child Health Systems.

This table shows the data items required along with any relevant notes such as validation rules.

Mandatory items are marked with a *

Non mandatory items required for data matching are marked with **. 

1. From the NCMP Public Home page, click Schools on the top menu.

2. Click the pupil grid link for the school where you would like to add the data.  

3. The pupil grid for the selected school is shown. The list will be empty if no pupils have been added.

4. The pupil grid is made of 5 tabs

• child identifiers (default)
• address details
• measurement
• pupil notes
• parent contact details

5. To add a new pupil manually click the add new pupil button and a new blank role is added to the pupil grid. 

6. The following fields are mandatory indicated by a * and are located on the child identifiers tab. It is not possible to save a record with missing mandatory data. (date of birth and sex).

7. Once the 2 mandatory fields and any other pupil data have been completed in this, or in any of the other four tabs, either

• click back to school list or
• click add new pupil to add more pupils  

The data is automatically saved to the database when exiting a field.

Any pupil records with invalid or missing data are shown with red shading and the invalid/missing data is highlighted with red borders. The reason for the error is shown if you hover the mouse pointer over the highlighted box. Examples of invalid data are

a) empty mandatory field

b) a date outside the range set for the collection year.

To delete a pupil from a school:

1. Within the pupil grid for the selected school, click X for the pupil to be deleted.
2. You will be requested to confirm this action. Click yes to confirm.

Data from other systems, such as Child Health Information Systems, can be uploaded into the NCMP IT system, saving time spent on data entry.

When creating your CSV file it must follow these rules

• be saved in CSV format with 22 columns of data in the exact order and titles as shown below
• all columns must have field names in the first row
• do not enter any data except for a column heading in the first column.  This column is for the NCMP system ID. If you want to add your own child ID number then please enter this in the third column
• columns can be empty of data except for data of birth, sex and school URN which must contain  valid date for each pupil.(shown with *)

You can also also export data from the system and amend/add data before re-uploading. In this case the field names and “Id” column will be populated (as shown below). Please do not change the ID numbers as these will be used to match the records that you are uploading with the records in the system.

You can also upload data from the NCMP data entry aids.  You can learn more about this process by reading the producing offline data capture tools. The data is initially uploaded to a reviewing/staging area where the data are validated and any errors corrected.

If all School URNs are valid, but some other data is invalid for example. Date of Birth), the data is uploaded and you can make the required corrections in a staging/preview grid before the upload is complete. Alternatively,  you can make the amendments in the source file and reupload the file into the system. 

There is no limit to the number of times you can upload the pupil file to the system - each upload will overwrite the previous matching pupil records. However please note, this does not include updated school URNs (for example, if the child has moved schools), this will create an additional record.

When you upload data for records that have previously been entered, either pre or post-measurement, the system will match records using the following hierarchy (moving on to the next option if there is no data entered for the relevant field):

1. NCMP system ID (this is generated when records are exported from the system).

2. LA pupil reference

3. NHS number 

4. first name, surname, sex and date of birth

When the system finds a match it will update any fields that have changed but blanks will not overwrite existing data.   You can be confident to upload your records as long as you are content that any fields that are different in your new upload file will overwrite the data in the system.

If you want to upload reasons for non-measurement, please use the following codes

1. Navigate to the Pupil Data tab in the top menu.
2. Click the browse file button, to search for the CSV file to upload from your computer.
3. Navigate and select the file to upload.
4. Click open.
5. The filename of the file to upload is shown, click upload.
6. The uploaded data is shown in a staging preview grid. So you can review the data and correct any errors. You can
   • change the number of pupils per screen
   • sort the pupils by a specific field in ascending or descending order
   • delete a pupil 
7. Correct any errors.  
8. If you are happy with the data and no errors are showing click complete upload. Or cancel the upload by clicking cancel upload.
9. If you have completed the upload, you will then receive a report detailing the number of new pupils uploaded, existing pupils updated and the total records in the CSV file. 
10. Click the View uploaded pupils’ link to see the new pupils added.