UK Data Archive SN National Child Measurement Programme, National Child Measurement Programme 2012/13

Transcription

1 UK Data Archive SN National Child Measurement Programme, National Child Measurement Programme 2012/13 Upload Tool: Guidance for users September 2012

2 National Child Measurement Programme Upload Tool 2012/13: guidance for users Contents. 3 Introduction 4 Quick Guide 5 Important information regarding date formats 6 Detailed guide 6 Downloading the NCMP upload tool 8 Using the NCMP upload tool 11 Step 1: Checking and editing your PCT s schools list and providing pupil totals 13 Step 2: Entering data 14 Methods for entering data into the upload tool 15 Method 1: Copying and pasting data 16 Method 2: CSV Import 17 Method 3: Typing in data individually 18 Step 3: Validating data 19 Step 4: Summary reports and supplementary data 20 Step 5: Transferring data 22 Frequently Asked Questions 27 Annex A: Troubleshooting 28 Annex B: Error messages 29 Annex C: IT Queries Page 2 of 29

3 1. Introduction The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) produces a tool for the collection of data for the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP). The NCMP Upload Tool allows Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) to collect child measurements and upload them to the HSCIC s NCMP database. The NCMP Upload Tool should be downloaded from Until the 31 st March 2013, PCTs retain legal responsibility for collecting and returning NCMP data for all eligible children attending state-maintained schools within the PCT boundary. From the 1 st April 2013, this responsibility will transition to local authorities (LAs). Because the transition is taking place midway through a school year, LAs will need to upload data for the 2012/13 school year on the basis of the organisations in place at the beginning of the school year. In areas where PCT and local authority boundaries are not co-terminus, NCMP leads will need to collaborate to ensure that data is aggregated to allow a single upload through the tool, by PCT boundary. The Department of Health will be in contact with these areas in due course to discuss this and offer support. This document provides guidance about how to download and use the NCMP Upload Tool for Excel 2002, Excel 2003, Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 (Please note, the tool will not work with Windows 2000). The deadline for submission of 2012/13 NCMP data is Friday 16 August, 2013 Page 3 of 29

4 2 Quick guide Download the upload tool (before downloading please note the system requirements shown on page 6). Select your PCT, enter your contact details and then: Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Step 5: Check and edit your PCT s schools list and provide pupil totals. Enter data (by CSV import, copy and paste or individual record). Validate data by correcting or commenting on any flagged records. Check the overall dataset quality through the PCT Summary Report, then complete your response rates and any supplementary information. Transfer the data to the Health & Social Care Information Centre. These steps are explained in more detail below. Page 4 of 29

5 3 Important information regarding date formats. Analyses of NCMP data submitted by PCTs to the Health and Social Care Information Centre for recent collections revealed instances where the date of birth field was entered in an incorrect format by users. This issue has the potential to cause the tool to carry out computations based on an inaccurate date of birth. In extreme cases, this can affect the BMI category assigned to a record, which is carried through to letters sent to parents and the national dataset held by the HSCIC. Such instances were confined to a small number of PCTs in but as a precaution we are nevertheless informing all PCTs, as the existing year s parental and upload tools currently in use would also be affected by this same issue if users did not take the preventative steps. The issue occurs when dates of birth formatted as text are entered into the tool. We believe the problem may arise when data entered into the tool is obtained from a Child Health System when the output format is text. Dates that are directly entered into the tool manually are never affected by this issue. We advise all users to identify any date of births that may be formatted as text and correct them prior to entering them into the tool. This can be achieved by following the steps below. Please note these steps will only work if carried out in a standalone Excel spreadsheet outside the NCMP tool. If dates of birth have already been entered into the tool, they will need to be copied out of, and then back into, the tool once all steps have been completed. 1. Highlight all data in the column of the spreadsheet which contains the DOB field. This can be done by clicking on the first DOB in the list and then pressing Ctrl+Shift+Down. Select Format -> Cells. Change the format to Number and press OK. 2. All dates should now have been converted to numbers which are all around 40,000. Scroll through the full list of dates to check for any dates which were not converted to a number. Such dates are text format dates that need to be converted to the conventional date format before being transferred to the NCMP tool. 3. If any text dates are identified, the fix to convert them to date format is described at HP aspx Please be aware of the importance of using correct date formats for all date fields in both the Parental Tool and the Upload Tool. Once transferred into the tool, we encourage all users to carry out cross-checking of a sample of records held in the tool against the original source data to ensure accuracy. Page 5 of 29

6 4. Detailed Guide to using the upload tool 4.1 Downloading the upload tool: To download the tool, go to To access the webpage, you will need to enter your username and password. If you do not know your PCT s username or password, please call the HSCIC Contact Centre on Once you have entered your username and password, the NCMP homepage on the HSCIC website will then be displayed: System requirements For the tool to work correctly, you will need a computer that meets the following requirements: Microsoft Windows operating system. Microsoft Excel 2002, Excel 2003, Excel 2007 or Excel 2010 (NOT 2000) If your system does not meet these requirements, please contact your IT department to ask for advice and guidance. If using Windows 2007 or 2010, please ensure VBA tools - one of the optional components of the Excel installation - are installed. They may not be installed as standard. Please contact your IT administrator if you do not have the rights to do this yourself. Data can only be submitted for one PCT per Upload Tool. If you need to submit data for more than one PCT, please download additional Upload Tools from the website. Log-in or password details are not required within the NCMP Upload Tool but we will capture user contact details as part of the tool download process. Page 6 of 29

7 Before you open the upload tool, open a blank Excel workbook and set security levels to medium (Annex C shows how to do this) a) Click the Download upload tool button on the NCMP webpage page to start the download. b) Register the details of the person carrying out the data submission and the child obesity policy lead for your PCT if different. As well as registering your details as part of the tool download, you will be asked to repeat this within the tool itself. This is to ensure the contact details are accurate and will assist us in tracing the most appropriate person in case the contact leaves the organisation. c) Click on download and then Save to your computer. Please ensure you save your upload tool regularly in the usual way by clicking on. d) Once the file has saved to your computer, click Open to open the tool straight away or Close to use later. e) When opening the upload tool, select Enable macros when prompted. Please download the file and save locally before entering any information. Page 7 of 29

8 4.2 Using the Upload Tool Welcome screen When you open the NCMP upload tool, you will be taken to the Welcome screen. A a) Click Continue (A). Page 8 of 29

9 Main screen A C D B a) Select the PCT for which you are entering data (A). You can amend your PCT s name by clicking on Edit and following the instructions b) Complete all the contact details fields (B). It is not possible to proceed before filling in all the fields in this section. c) If you have already entered data into the parental feedback tool you can transfer the data across to the upload tool by clicking on (C) and following the steps d) The number of schools allocated to your PCT (by postcode) is shown at (D). You can edit the initial list of schools, where necessary, to add and remove schools in the next stage. It is only possible to submit data for one PCT per Upload Tool. If you change the PCT from the one that you initially selected you will receive a warning: You have already selected a PCT. If you change the PCT all data entered will be cleared. Please note that this includes all data already entered and saved. If you need to enter data from more than one PCT, please download a separate Upload Tool for each PCT. Page 9 of 29

10 The right-hand side of the Main screen shows the five steps required to submit your data to The HSCIC. Buttons are enabled only after the previous step has been completed. Page 10 of 29

11 4.3 Step 1: Checking and editing your PCT s schools list and providing pupil totals Click Schools list >>. E B C D A Correct school list totals The default pupil headcount totals in the tool are a snap-shot provided by the Department for Education and must only be used as a guide - you are likely to find that the totals listed do not match your records. It is important that you update this list with the on roll pupil figures you have, in columns M and N (A). This can be done before or after visiting the schools. These figures can be obtained from the school on the day of measurement, or from another reliable source depending on how you gather this data. The figures in columns M and N are headcount (or on roll) figures for each year group (including eligible and non-eligible children) and not the total measured. The tool will work out how many children have been measured and will present this information when you click on the Update Totals button. Page 11 of 29

12 Take responsibility for a school currently assigned to another PCT If when checking the list of schools assigned to your PCT, you notice that a school your PCTs works with is not in the list, you can add this to your schools list using the following instructions: a. Click on Assign School (B) b. Select first letter of school. Find the school that you wish to add from the list, select it then click Assign School to my PCT. c. If the school is not on the list, click Add New School. d. A form will appear: please fill in all the school details including pupil totals. This will generate a temporary URN for this school. Please ensure you use this temporary URN for all records belonging to this school (please refer to page 3 for more information regarding school allocations). Remove a school from your school list If, when checking the list of schools assigned to your PCT, you notice a school on your PCT s school list that you are not responsible for, you can remove this from your schools list using the following instructions: a) Click on Remove School (C) to remove any schools which are currently wrongly assigned to your PCT - select the school to remove by clicking a white cell on the school s row (i.e. Year R or Year 6) and click Remove. b) Click on Update Totals (D) to provide you with the current number of measured pupils entered into the tool for each school c) Proceed to step 2 by clicking Return to Main (E). School List data will be subject to further validation by the HSCIC. Please refer to The NCMP Validation document for guidance. Page 12 of 29

13 4.4 Step 2: Entering data Data to be entered The following data fields are all mandatory items: URN date of birth sex date of measurement height weight ethnicity Age in months is calculated automatically during the upload process based on the date of birth and date of measurement. First name, surname, NHS number, and date of birth are not held by the HSCIC. If postcode is not available for a child, you will need to put an explanation in the comments box. All ethnicity codes are case sensitive and must always be input as they appear in the tables contained in annexes f to i of the validation process document. If ethnicity is not known, type Data Not Available or enter Z in the Ethnic Code field. Key information on the 2012/13 collection exercise can also be found on the FAQ section of the NCMP website ( and in the guidance released by Department of Health (DH) in April 2012 and found at: idance/dh_ Page 13 of 29

14 Methods for entering data into the upload tool copy and paste, CSV import by keying in individual records (A). Each of these is described in more detail below. A You can save data at any time using the Save Data button (providing it has been validated). Saved data can be accessed on the read only All_School data sheet. If you wish to edit records that have been validated and saved, you can do this by clicking on the Individual button and pulling down one school s data at a time. We strongly advise that you save your tool regularly by clicking on the save symbol:, and you must always save your Upload Tool when closing down. When entering your figures, do not round your child measurements, please enter them to one or two decimal places. This is particularly important to ensure that a child s BMI is calculated accurately. Page 14 of 29

15 4.4.1 Method 1: Entering data using copy and paste A B C D E a) Copy and paste your data into the appropriate columns. Please take care to ensure that the correct variable is being pasted in the correct column each time and that you are only pasting in a maximum of eleven columns of data. Please also take note of formatting issues that may occur during pasting. It is recommended that you paste values (edit, paste special, values) in order to retain the formatting in the copy and paste sheet. b) Data can be cleared at any time (A). This will remove all data in this sheet c) If you want to delete a record, click anywhere in that row then click on Delete Single Row (B). Please do not delete rows using any other method. d) When the data has been pasted in, click Validate Data (C). This will carry out a range of validation checks on the data. Any check W (warnings) will need to be corrected or explained before saving the data and check E (errors) corrected or removed. This correction process is explained on page 18. e) Click on Sort on Column A (D) to bring all those records with a Check to the top. f) Click on save data (E) Note: If when you have clicked on Save, a message appears saying Unable to save, please check that you have placed comments beside all those records with a Check W and corrected all those with a Check E as something will have been missed. Page 15 of 29

16 4.4.2 Method 2: Entering data using CSV file import F E A B C D a) Click Import File (A). In the resultant dialogue box, select File>>, navigate to the CSV file containing your data, open and then click Start Import When creating your CSV file, please ensure that your raw data in the CSV file 1. is in the correct order (as the CSV import sheet of the upload tool) URN, NHS number, first name, surname, date of birth, sex, date of measurement, height, weight, post code, ethnic code. 2. does not contain any headings as these will be imported across with the data b) When the data has been successfully imported, click Validate Data (B). This will carry out a range of validation checks on the data. Any check W (warnings) will need to be corrected or explained before saving the data and check E (errors) corrected or removed. This correction process is explained on page 18. c) Click on Sort on Column A (C) to bring all those records with a Check to the top. d) If you want to delete a record, click anywhere in that row then click on Delete Single Row (E). Please do not delete rows using any other method. e) Data can be cleared at any time (F). This will remove all data in this sheet f) Click on save data (D) Page 16 of 29

17 4.4.3 Method 3: Entering data individually B C A a) Select a school from the drop down list (A). b) Complete all fields for each record. c) Click Save Data (B). d) Repeat for all schools in your PCT. Entering data individually is useful if you want to edit / amend data that has already been saved into All_School data. Pull the school down from (A) and from there you can delete a single row, delete all school data or clear data below (C). Save data (B) when you have completed your amendments. Page 17 of 29

18 4.5 Step 3: Validating the data Correcting check E s and check W s The upload tool will perform validation checks on entered data (children outside expected age ranges, weights, heights, etc). Any record failing a validation check will be flagged Check E or Check W in column A of the Data Entry screen. The total number of such records will be displayed at the top of the relevant Data Entry screen. Click on Sort on Column A to bring all those records with a check flag to the top. Check E is an ERROR message and can mean that data is missing or has failed the validation criteria. Check W is a WARNING message and can mean that data is not within an expected range. The two have different methods of resolution. For each record flagged with a Check : a) Check the reason(s) - displayed to the right of the data (columns R-AC). b) Provide correction(s) if possible - when data are correct, the Check flag will disappear. c) If it is not possible to correct, provide a comment in column Q. This will not remove the Check W but will allow the record to be saved. d) It will only be possible to make a comment in a record flagged with Check W. Records marked with Check E must be corrected otherwise a save will not be possible). e) Please do not place a comment in the Validation Comments field if there are no Checks for that record. This will prevent a save. Saving and validating data may take a few minutes. This is due to the number of validation checks being performed. Please be patient and do not shut down your PC whilst this is running Validation Summary The Validation summary provides an updated list of all records which have failed validation, along with any comments already provided by the PCT at the data input stage. Please note that each validation failure for a record will be listed and some records will therefore appear more than once on the Validation Report. This list can be accessed from the Main screen: click Validate>> Checking your totals Refer back to Step 1, School list, and click on Update Totals. You can then compare your measured total with your headcount total. Please allow for there being only one column for Measured total, and two columns for headcounts. Please ensure that you have entered your edited Yr R headcounts in column M and Yr 6 headcounts in column N and that there are no instances where the sum of the edited Yr R and Yr 6 headcounts is less than the measured total in column G. Page 18 of 29

19 4.6 Step 4: Summary reports and supplementary data The NCMP upload tool provides a PCT Summary Report. This report provides a highlevel summary of your dataset that allows you to check what data you have entered. To view the report, take the following steps: a) On the Main screen click Summary>> and then Produce Summary Report b) Check the following aspects of your dataset: 1. Check that the percentage of records submitted for each school (in the school summary) and for the PCT as a whole (in the PCT summary report) is in line with what you expect. 2. Records that do not meet the required specification for age, sex, date of measurement and ethnicity. 3. Duplicates records. 4. Male and female pupils in year R and year Pupils with extreme values for height, weight or BMI. Substantially higher than expected values for any of these variables can be an indication that an error has occurred in data entry, and so you may want to double check your data before submitting it to the HSCIC. c) Response Rates: confirm the number of pupils the PCT considers eligible for measurement (this may be different from the figures you provided in Step 1, if, for example, some pupils could not be measured and are therefore not eligible for measurement Step 1 should include all pupils on roll whether eligible for measurement or not). d) Supplementary Information: complete the information requested here. Page 19 of 29

20 4.7 Step 5: Transferring data The transfer is done in two stages: 1. Up to six CSV files are created (depending on the PCT s data) 2. Data are transferred to the HSCIC via the website: Once all data has been entered, and all records in the Validation Report have been corrected or commented upon (as necessary), return to the Main screen and in step 5 click the create CSV Files >> button. The following window will appear: A B To transfer the data, you will need to: a) Select the directory where you wish to save the CSV files (all the files will be saved in this directory) (A). b) Click Produce Files >> button (B) to start creating the files for your PCT s data. c) After the files have been created, please go back to the website to transfer the data to the HSCIC. d) On the website select your PCT from the drop down list and then click on Upload CSV files. e) Select the relevant directory for each CSV file (A). The files called NewSchools.csv or RemovedSchools.csv will not be available unless you have added or removed a school in your schools list. f) Click (B) to transfer data Page 20 of 29

21 A After a short while (usually no more than ten minutes) you will be able to review your submitted data by logging back into the website ( and clicking on Check Your Uploaded Data. You will have received an automated following upload (based upon the address you entered on the main page of the Upload Tool) that will tell you what you should be checking. You can re-upload if you wish to make any changes. Changes will need to made in the Upload Tool, followed by recreation of CSV files, and re-upload. When you are happy with your submission, click on the Final button at the foot of the Data Quality page If you have any queries or need further information about using the NCMP upload tool, please contact the Health & Social Care Information Centre on: (9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday) enquiries@ic.nhs.uk Page 21 of 29

22 5.0 Frequently asked questions (please also see for updates) Please ensure you save your Upload Tool regularly in the conventional way by clicking on the Save symbol or through FILE, SAVE. DO NOT USE SAVE AS. ONLY USE SAVE AS if you would like to make a copy of your Upload Tool to save in another directory. MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED UPLOAD TOOL QUESTION: 1. In Step 1 (school list) of the Upload Tool, what figures do I enter into columns M and N, the total number of children measured in each year group per school, or the total number of children on roll in each year group per school? Please enter the number of children who are ON ROLL in each year group at each school. Totals have been provided by DfE in columns J and K but these are a snap shot taken some time ago and may be out of date. Providing the total number of children on roll will enable us to accurately calculate the participation rate by school, and ultimately, your PCT. 2. I am attempting to paste my raw data into the Upload Tool but I keep getting a read only message (the cell or chart you are trying to change is protected and therefore read only) Are you pasting your data into the wrong sheet? If you are attempting to paste your data into the All_Schooldata sheet, STOP. This is not for data entry, it is a means of display once your data is saved. The data entry sheets are for data entry!! Step 2 on the Main page is the correct method of gaining access to these sheets. Please consult page 12 of the Guidance for Downloading and using the Upload Tool 3. I am in the correct data entry sheet, but I am still getting the read only message Are you attempting to paste data into read only columns? You will be unable to paste data into any columns shaded yellow. Please check that your raw data is not more than 11 columns wide and matches EXACTLY the format in the copy/paste sheet of the tool. 4. Where can I find out more information on ethnic codes? This can be found in Annex A of Guidance for downloading and using the Upload Tool". Please also see list below: NHS code and description White A British B Irish C Any other White background Mixed D White and Black Caribbean Page 22 of 29

23 E White and Black African F White and Asian G Any other mixed background Asian or Asian British H Indian J Pakistani K Bangladeshi L Any other Asian background Black or Black British M Caribbean N African P Any other Black background Other Ethnic Groups S Any other ethnic group R Chinese Z Not stated Data Not Available Data Not available The tool will also allow you to enter 4 digit ethnic codes (that do not appear in the NHS list above), that are used by the Department for Education (DFE), for example WBRI = White British. A full list of the DFE codes can be found in Annex F of "National Child Measurement Programme: NHS Information Centre validation process for NCMP data" which contains all the 4 digit DfE codes. The tool will now fully support ethnic codes used by the RiO and System One Child Health Systems. 5. Should children of parents who opt out still be included in the overall denominator? Please do not input any details for pupils who opt out of the programme, (because of individual, parental, or school-level opt-out) but ensure that they are included in the headcount figures only for their school and year. This means you should not supply partially completed rows of data on the DataEntry_ tabs, such as inputting name but not supplying weight or height, you will be unable to save your data. 6. What do I do if a pupil was absent for measurement? Please see the answer above. 7. Should children who are unable to be measured because of disabilities be included in the overall denominator? No, children who are not measured because of disabilities should not be included in the denominator. If any children have not been weighed and measured because of disabilities, you should adjust your denominator number on the response rates sheet of the Upload Tool. You should then add a comment in the box on the response rates page saying "x number of children with disabilities excluded because NCMP guidance states they should not be measured". The PCT edited total on the PCT schools list sheet should not be adjusted for children with disabilities. This will ensure any differences between expected and actual denominator can be understood. Page 23 of 29

24 8. I have placed comments beside all those records which have a red Check W beside them, but it will still not let me save. Please ensure you have not placed a comment in the Validation:Comments box where a Check E is displayed or if the record has no check mark at all. Check E is an error flag which means there is an error in that row of data which must be corrected otherwise a save will not be possible, even with a comment in the comments box. Check W is a warning flagging up a potential problem with the data but if you are happy that the figures are correct, a comment in the comments box will facilitate a save (if a comment is placed here but no check mark has appeared, this will prevent a save). If it is still not saving, please look at your records again, it is more than likely something has been missed. Do not worry if the Check W does not disappear once you have made your comment, this will remain for reference, but a save will be possible. 9. When I have entered my data into the Upload Tool, it all disappears from view after I saved it. Where can I check that all the records have been saved? Once saved, all data is transferred to a read-only sheet called All_Schooldata. Here, you can view all the data you have entered. If you wish to amend any of this saved data, go to the Data Entry Individual sheet, pull the desired school from the drop down, make your amendments, and re-save. 10. There is a school missing from my Schools list. How can I add it to my PCTs allocated schools? In Step 1 of the Upload Tool, click on Assign School and followed by Add New School. A form will appear. Please fill in all the school details including pupil totals. This will generate a temporary URN for this school. Please ensure you use this temporary URN for all records belonging to this school. Please see pages of the Guidance for Downloading and using the Upload tool, which provides greater detail on assigning schools. 11. I am currently inputting the NCMP data for my PCT and when I check the PCT summary report, it states that there are potentially invalid entries relating to whole or half number heights and weights. Please don t be too concerned by the term invalid records. It is basically telling you that any records in that column are either whole number heights / weights or half number (those which are.5). If column M (the percentage column) is indicating around 10% are whole or half numbers then this is normal as there is (obviously) a 10% chance a child will have a weight or height that is a whole number. When we carry out our analysis later in the year we will be looking at figures that are much higher than 10% as this will be an indication of multi-rounding and therefore, potentially invalid. 12. I have saved all of my records and they are now in the AllSchool_data sheet but I would like to amend some of my records, how can I do this? In this situation, if you would like to change a record that has gone through the save process, go back to Main Screen and in Step 2 Enter data, go into Data Entry Individual and pull down the school(s) you would like to adjust. Then all you need to do is find the record(s), make the necessary amendments and re-save. Page 24 of 29

25 13. When I have pasted my data into the tool, the formatting seems to change - my dates have become 5 digit numbers and the heights and weights appear as dates. This has become increasingly common recently, possibly due to changes in Child Health Systems. If problematic formats have already entered the tool, this may have corrupted it in which case you may need to download another tool. Please be aware that raw data can appear to be perfectly normal and it is not until it enters the tool can its formatting change. This is a quirk of Excel and care needs to be taken. Please download the Important Information regarding correct date formats document on the NCMP Tools page of this website. 14. I have had to delete some records from my data entry screen but I am now left with blank rows. What do I do? Rows will need to be populated otherwise a save will not be possible. Please ensure you populate these rows with a new record or if you have no new records, COPY and paste the last record in the list into the empty space. However if you have already validated your data, do not remove the last record that you have just copied as this will present you with an error message. This will leave you with a duplicate record but this can be removed in the next step. 15. I am trying to import my Parental Tool data into my Upload Tool but it is taking a very long time and appears to just be hanging and flickering occasionally, what should I do, has it crashed or should I be more patient? Depending on the speed of your server and number of records, this transfer can take some time. We have spoken to some PCTs about this and they have confirmed it to be effective, although they may have had to wait some time for the process to complete (it took about an hour for one PCT who has around 5000 records). If you prefer to use an alternate method, you could utilise step 7 of the Parental Tool (export data to CSV file), then (taking care to remove the columns not needed in the Upload Tool) copy and paste into the copy paste data entry page of the Upload Tool or import it as a CSV file. 16. The NCMP Upload and Parental Feedback tools do not appear to work properly on Excel 2007 or Excel Please ensure VBA tools - one of the optional components of the Excel installation - are installed. They may not be installed as standard. Please contact your IT administrator if you do not have the rights to do this yourself. Also please ensure Macro security is set appropriately as set out in the guidance documents. 17. Due to security implications, we do not want to insert first name into the Upload Tool, however, in some cases, primarily when twins have been measured, the tool wrongly identifies the records as duplicates. If you reach the stage of the tool where you are identifying and removing duplicates, take care that they are genuinely duplicates. The Tool uses first and surnames to identify duplicate records, if you have not entered any first names, you may need to refer back to this record, insert names, re save and the record will then not be identified as a duplicate. Once the process is complete and you have uploaded to the HSCIC, you can then remove the names if you wish. Page 25 of 29

26 18. I have entered accurate postcodes for all of my records yet when I log on to check my uploaded data on this website, I am told that some records have unrecognised postcodes. It is possible that the reason the system does not recognise these postcodes is due to omissions in the national postcode directory (eg a postcode that only recently came into existence). In such circumstances, the HSCIC will try as far as possible to match such postcodes to a Local Authority using the first 3 or 4 characters of the postcode at the detailed validation stage. 19. There appears to be one or more schools missing from the tool. This generates an error when I enter the records as it doesn t recognise the URN These are not new schools and they haven t closed, should I add them as new schools even though they are not? Yes, these schools will need to be added in manually via the Assign stage in Step 1. Occasionally schools can be missed off the list. We receive a list from the Department for Education but this is only correct at the time of publication and details are subject to change. So if the school is missing from the tools for any reason, please add it as you would for a new school. 20. I have uploaded my data for my PCT and received the upload confirmation but on checking the upload data it appears not to have uploaded correctly as the Summary and Data Quality etc are all zero. The insertion of comments in the boxes in the supplementary information page of the upload tool may have prevented your transfer - for some reason there is bug which is affected by pressing enter when in these boxes - try replacing all of what you have written in these boxes with 0 or just a word or 2 - we do little analysis on information here, just a housekeeping function really so not as crucial as the data itself. 21. Why do we have to upload by PCT boundary and not LA boundary for the 2012/13 school year? Until the 31 st March 2013, PCTs retain legal responsibility for collecting and returning NCMP data for all eligible children attending state-maintained schools within the PCT boundary. From the 1 st April 2013, this responsibility will transition to local authorities (LAs). Because the transition is taking place midway through a school year, LAs will need to upload data for the 2012/13 school year on the basis of the organisations in place at the beginning of the school year. In areas where PCT and local authority boundaries are not co-terminus, NCMP leads will need to collaborate to ensure that data is aggregated to allow a single upload through the tool, by PCT boundary. The Department of Health will be in contact with these areas in due course to discuss this and offer support. Page 26 of 29

27 Annex A: Troubleshooting A1. If you are having problems saving your data and are experiencing the red check on the left of the screen please check: A) You have put a comment in the Validation:Comments cell for that record (if a Check W) or corrected the mistake if there was one. B) Ensure there are no blanks in the records (except for those which are not mandatory you need not fill in first name or surname, but you must complete URN, DOB, date of measurement, height, weight, post code and ethnic code). If heights and weights were not taken, the record must NOT be included, we only record measured children. A2. If you are attempting to copy and paste large quantities of data from your own records into the upload tool, but a message flags up Read only please check: That you are not trying to paste into read only columns only paste across 11 columns of data: URN, NHS Number, First name, surname, Date of Birth, Sex, Date of Measurement, Height, Weight, Post code and Ethnic code. A3. If you want to take a break from this exercise and return to it later, but you are not ready to validate and save the information you have recorded so far, please do the following: Click on the save symbol. When you initially downloaded the upload tool, you should have saved it to your computer so pressing save will just save it here. A4. If a child was absent for measurement, or was not measured for any other reason the child should not be recorded at all. The number of claimed pupils counts total children (in the School s list this is a fixed number of pupils who are in Yr R or Y6 regardless of whether they were measured or not). The actual number of measured pupils (that is recorded in the data entry sheets) will either be the same as the number of claimed pupils if all took part, or the figure will be less if some didn t. The number of measured pupils can never be higher than claimed; if it is, this will require amending. A5. If the upload tool asks you for a password this may mean your macro settings are incorrect or you are trying to type or paste into read-only cells. Passwords are not required for using the upload tool. If you are asked for a password, please ensure that you have enabled macros and are not typing into read-only areas. Page 27 of 29

28 Annex B: Error Messages Whilst using the tool you may experience some error messages. Do not panic most of these are highlighting that there is data missing from the tool and can be easily resolved if you follow the guidance below. If you experience an error message that is not in the list below, please contact the HSCIC contact centre at or B1: If an error pops up on your screen along the lines of Run time Error 13 : A) You may have too many programmes running on your computer taking up valuable memory. Try closing everything down except the upload tool and it should work. B) Refer back to the data you have entered and check that there are no blank cells in columns that are mandatory. It is likely that some blank cells have escaped validation. If a child s weight or height is not known, that child should be removed completely as we are not counting those who did not take part. C) If the message is still appearing check for incorrect date formats (dates must not be separated with full stops, only / or - must be used). B2: When copying and pasting my data across from my records to the copy and paste form within Step 2 of the collection tool, a read only message keeps appearing: D) Ensure that you are in column B before you attempt to paste your data (cell B16 if this is the first paste you have carried out) E) Ensure that you are not attempting to paste more than 11 columns. You will not be able to paste into any area of the form that is yellow. F) The 11 columns of information required are: URN, NHS Number, First name, Surname (even if first name and surname are blank, you must allow for these columns in your raw data), Date of birth, Sex, Date of measurement, Height, Weight, Post code, Ethnic code Please note: a. Ethnic description is not required as this is automatically calculated from ethnic code. Please refer to Annex F-I of the Validation Process document for a full list of supported ethnic codes and ethnic descriptions. b. Please also note that URN is a 6 digit number that you may know as a DCSF/DfE number. It is advisable to close all programmes on your computer except those you are using for this exercise. Using additional internet or applications etc may take up memory and be a cause of Run Time Errors. Page 28 of 29

29 Annex C: IT Queries C1: How do I ensure my Excel settings are set correctly? For the collection tool to work properly, you also need to ensure that your security settings are set to medium. C2: How do I set security levels to medium? 1. Open a blank Excel workbook 2. In the toolbar, click Tools 3. In the Tools menu, click Macro 4. In the Macro submenu, select Security 5. In the security settings window, select Medium <<Back C3: What do I do if I need to upgrade my version of Excel? The tool is only designed to work with Microsoft Excel 2002, Excel 2003, Excel 2007 or Excel If your system does not meet these requirements, please contact your IT department for advice and guidance. Page 29 of 29