Importing Student Data
To set up a new year group in Connect, you can export your MIS data to excel and upload it into the Connect Data Management area. Please note the process for importing Student Data is the same for KS4 and KS5, the only difference being the Prior Attainment options.
Please note this data can be pulled into Connect using our MIS integration. For further details on this please see this article: Alps MIS Integration
Roll-Over Student Details
If you have existing Student Data in Connect, you can automatically roll this over into the next academic year. Roll-over works for years 13, 11, 10, 9 and 8, you will need to upload your new year 7 and 12 students manually. Please see the following article for further guidance: Roll-over Student Details
Exporting MIS Data
To prepare the new data for import, you will need to first export your data out of your MIS. We have custom report definitions available for SIMs, Arbor and iSAMS users, and Excel templates available for alternative MIS users:
Importing into Connect
Please watch our video guide, or see the step by step guide below:
Navigate to the Data Management tab and select Cohorts from the menu. Please note if you do not see the Data Management tab, you may not have access to it in your user permissions and any of your Alps admin users will be able to give you access.
In the Cohorts screen, select Add Year Group in the relevant academic year:
The import wizard will appear, and ask you to select the year group you wish to import, then press Next:
In the next page select your Prior Attainment Type and press Next. For KS5 our prior attainment options are GCSE and CAT4, for KS4 you can use KS2 or CAT4.
In the next step, it will ask you to prepare your data. If you are a SIMs school you can download the SIMs report definition in this screen, or follow the links at the top of this article for the SIMs, Arbor and iSAMS reports. If you use an alternative MIS you can click the Excel Import tab to see an example of what your data should look like. Once you have the file ready, press Next.
In the next step, you will need to either drag and drop or open your Excel file in the top box, or you can copy and paste the file into the bottom box. A good tip for copying and pasting from Excel is to press CTRL + A, then CTRL + C and then in Connect press CTRL + V to paste.
Once the data is uploaded, you'll be able to see a preview. If you have made an error, simply press the Clear Data & Import Again button.
The next step is Column Mapping, where you need to map the columns from your Excel file, to the defined fields in Connect. Any columns in green have been automatically recognised, but we recommend just taking a look through and checking they are correct. Any columns in yellow are unrecognised and you will need to either press the Skip button to remove them or press Map to map them to a field. Please note if you have Year Group in your Excel file, as in the example below you will need to skip it as it is not required.
If you press Map, the box will turn blue and allow you to select the matching field from the drop down list. Once you have found it, press Save and the box will turn green. If you are importing a Custom Column or you can't see a field that matches your column, please select Create New Custom Column from the list.
Once all columns are mapped you can press Next, and this will take you to the Fix Errors screen. In here it will flag any missing data in your Excel file. There are two types of error in Connect, Critical Errors and Non-Critical Errors. A critical error requires attention before you can proceed, such as a missing Student ID. Non-critical errors flag any missing data that is not required for import and you can progress without addressing it. In this example below, the students are missing forenames which is a non-critical error. Using the edit pencil, you can manually add in any missing data, or you can progress to the next step.
The final step will show a preview of the data that you are importing, and your mapped columns. If you are happy with the preview press Finish to complete the upload.
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