File Submission: Export SIS Data & Format Graduates File (3 minutes)

Learn to import into Excel your exported student information system data.

This session is intended for secondary schools active with StudentTracker.

Resources

• Sample Graduates File (XLS)
• Submit a Graduates File Guide (DocX)
• The Difference Between a Graduates File and a Request File
• Formatting and Submitting a Graduates File
• Common Graduates File Submission Errors

Transcript

Now that we know the sections of the graduates file, it's time to create and format the file. Many StudentTracker subscribers export the student data from their student information systems or SIS. The student information system used by schools, districts and state agencies vary as does the extract step of our process that pulls student information out of your SIS. Therefore, you'll need to rely on your own technical person to initially extract the data. If you plan to export the data, please let your technical person know how the student data must be formatted for the detail rows. You can refer your technical person to the graduates file formatting detail rows from exported data video or the graduates file submission guide. You also need to determine if you want to provide any of the optional data elements then work with your technical person to determine what can be exported from your SIS and what will need to be filled in or adjusted by you after receiving the file. In other words, you should ensure the extraction process is thorough in order to pull all the required and any optional data. The export file you receive from your technical contact should contain much of the information you need to submit although some required pieces will be missing including the header and trailer rows. Even if your technical contact provided a .txt file, it's not ready to submit. If the exported file you receive from your technical contact is a .txt or CSV, double click on the file name to open the file. You should get a prompt asking if you want to remove the leading zeros. Select don't convert to retain the leading zeros. If you don't receive a prompt when you open the CSV or text file, you'll need to import the data into Excel and format the file in Excel. Formatting the file and it cells appropriately helps ensure your file will be read correctly by the Clearinghouse's system and reduces errors. We call this transforming the data. Because student information can vary significantly from one SIS to another we must ensure that all data coming into the Clearinghouse has the same format so it can be successfully read and processed. Now that you have your student data, the remaining videos of this series will guide you through proper construction and formatting of your file.