[sims] FFT Data into SIMS

[jrma91]

Hi All,

 

Does anyone know of an easy/quick way to get the data from FFT Live website into SIMS? As the spreadsheet that is exported is not condusive to easy importing.

 

Regards,

 

jrma

[tmcd35]

SIMS FFT Estimates | capita-sims.co.uk

 

We've just bought in to this which is about £6-700/yr on a 3yr contract (from memory). I used to create my own Aspect and import them one at a time by hand - very long winded!

[Brucy]

Id' be interested in this, my current method is to export as a CSV and then change the data, add admission number etc, and import from there

[number34]

The procedure I use is as follows:

Set up a marksheet template in SIMS containing the FFT aspects, eg EstD Maths GCSE etc.

Add a mark sheet for the year group, eg year 10

Export the formatted mark sheet

Export the data from FFT as an Excel sheet and tidy it up so that it contains the data I want.

Match the data in the FFT sheet with the data in the formatted mark sheet and copy into the correct columns

Import the formatted mark sheet using the Import from Spreadsheet. As I am using a formatted sheet the columns will match

 

It seems a long winded process but I use macros to tidy the exported FFt data and it does not take too long once this has been done, perhaps 5 to 10 minutes per subject.

The more complex part is making sure that the pupils have only got the FFT grades for subjects they study. What I do keep the FFT data in a different aspect to the GCSE target. Eg every pupil will have a grade for the Est D FFT Spanish aspect but this is only copied into the Spanish GCSE target aspect for those studying Spanish.

[jrma91]

I have the aspects all set up in SIMS, as I have entered the data before from a spreadsheet. But the person who retrieved the data and put it into a spreadhseet has left since last year without telling me how he got the data from thr FFT Live format, to a more managable one to import into SIMS.

 

I have now used VLookup -> Pivot Table-> VLookup to get the format that I want!

 

number 34, I do not know enough about Macros to be able to do it that way! But thank you for the help!

 

regards,

 

jrma

[vikpaw]

I did it exactly as @number34 described, and still use the same method for other imports, e.g. our iGCSE grades which get sent in on Excel.

[number34]

number 34, I do not know enough about Macros to be able to do it that way! But thank you for the help!

jrma

 

This is not as difficult as it sounds. As all of the Excel sheets I export from FFT are exactly the same size and format I just used the record macro when doing all the initial tidying before copying and pasting into the formatted mark sheet. Once I have completed the first, 'Art' say, I export the Biology data from FFt, copy it into the Art sheet and let the macro do its work. Nothing fancy or clever. Just remember to save the 'Art' one as macro ennabled and you can then use it again and again. It is just a transient sheet that is used to get the data in the correct format to be copied into the formatted mark sheet. It is worth trying as once it is sorted it saves a tremendous amount of time.