Importing data with MySchool

With the MySchool import tool, schools have access to a powerful tool, that can be used for onboarding and rollover. It can also be used to update existing profiles with new details in bulk.

The import tool has multiple upload options;

• Staff and guardians' profiles
• Student profiles
• Relationship between guardians and students
• Class creation import
• Class enrolment
• Subject creation import
• Course creation import
• Course enrolment

Each import will follow a four-step workflow. Upload the import data, map the data fields to available fields on MySchool, confirm the import information and rectify errors, and finally validate and publish.

Uploading the information

Each import will have the option to create new records or update existing ones. Choose the appropriate upload option.

• Your data needs to be on an excel or CSV file.
• It must align with the data formats in your MySchool system. (Date of birth, email, country. gender, and language labels etc)
• There is a check in the unique value fields which are primary email and legacy ID. 
• Add headers to your data columns as it will make the mapping step easier
• If you update existing records then this is live and immediate. No rollback feature is available after validation.
• Empty fields on the update existing will still be imported.
• Note that for large imports it may be advisable to break these down into school levels or smaller import files.
• Student custom fields must be created before import for them to appear as an option.
• For enrolment and relationship imports, we would suggest inventing a legacy ID or using the MSM UID to avoid potential duplicates with names.

Map columns

The next step is to match your entries against the fields that are available for import. The tool will take the column headers from your import sheet and list these on the left.

The middle column with the options is the actual target fields on the system. They are broken into sections and should be mapped accordingly. The grey suggestion box tries to match the import to the best fit. If you cannot find the target field in the drop-down options, then do not map a field and the import tool will ignore that column.

Once you map like for like then proceed to import and validate steps. Depending on the amount of data this can take some time. Do not exit the tab whilst importing and the processing screen appears.

Validate and resolve issues

When the upload is confirmed, you will be shown a grid which will ask you to validate the import actions if no issues are detected. 

A summary of issues will appear in red guiding you to check and edit the problems to be able to publish your data.

Potential issues are ;

• Email already in use. Primary emails are unique across the system. If an email is already used, you must check using the advanced search. Either add a new email or delete the duplicate entry.
• The email is not in the correct format. All emails need to have a legitimate format to be accepted in the primary field. No validity or duplicate check exists on secondary emails.

• Legacy IDs are unique. You will need to check your import list to eliminate these and reimport them.
• Exact nomenclature is expected when importing to fields using drop-down options. Such fields are gender and country of birth. It is the same for custom fields using set options as well. 

Top tip: Instead of manually updating the fields, then it may be easier to delete the import and rectify the error on your excel sheet in bulk. You can use the excel replace function to make this easier. 

• You can interact directly with the error window. Click on a line and it will move the grid to the problem cell, making it easier to resolve the issue found.

• Use the filter options on the top of the column to isolate errors or organise the column to show empty fields.
• Save once you have resolved any errors, and validate the corrected rows. This will turn the import button blue and allow you to process the sheet and complete your import.

View results

On successful completion, the system will confirm the count and allow you to view the imported records. The import is now complete.

What about...?

• Class & course creation and enrolment have a target year, to help for rollover and also when creating historic records. To view, the final import users can use the year filters in the appropriate list view to check that the import was successful.

• When you upload guardians, you will not be able to search for them using super search. They have not been attached to a student so have no guardian context. You will need to run a relationship import or manually assign them from, an advanced search.
• The same with students, after import you cannot use super search to find them, as they are not yet enrolled in a class. You can find them using an advanced search.
• To make it easier, why not create an intake class and add all imported students directly to this holding class until you can enrol them in their actual classes?

Further details are available in each section;

• Student import
• Staff/Guardian import
• Relationship
• Course creation & enrolment
• Class creation & enrolment
• Subject Creation