Exporting assessment data into SIMS

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For this tutorial, I will be using the EYFS Profile marksheet for all the Reception children on my SIMS account, and the EYFSP page on Tapestry for the same children. 

You can use the links below to skip to any of the steps within this tutorial.

1. Exporting the marksheet from SIMS
2. Exporting data from Tapestry
3. Preparing the file for SIMS
4. Importing the Marksheet back into SIMS
5. Using different marksheets

 

Exporting the marksheet from SIMS

The first step of this process will require you to find the marksheet that you want to add your data to in SIMS.

From SIMS, go to Focus (1) - Assessment (2) - Marksheet Entry (3).

 

 

Once you have selected the marksheet you want to upload the data to, you will need to select 'Export' (1). 

 

 

After selecting Export, a file should open on your machine in a spreadsheet program such as Excel. 

 

 

Exporting data from Tapestry

The next phase of the process requires you to login to your Tapestry account and go to Tracking - EYFS - EYFSP - Group View (1).

 

 

This will open up the group screen with all the results for the EYFSP based on your assessments made in Tapestry. Once you have checked through the results to ensure that they are as expected, choose the CSV option (1) to export the file. 

 

 

The file that is downloaded can then also be opened in a spreadsheet program, such as Excel. 

 

 

 

Preparing the file for SIMS

The next thing to do is to ensure that the names of the children and the order of the areas is the same in both of these Excel files. Any changes you need to make to the order should be made on the Tapestry file only. If the names are not in the same order, you may want to sort the data by the correct column that will place the children so the list is the same on both files. If the areas are not in the same order, you can drag them so that they appear the same. 

Once you are happy that everything is in the same order, you will need to transfer the data from the Tapestry file to the SIMS marksheet file. To do this, highlight all the data in the Tapestry file by selecting the top left corner of the data and dragging down to the bottom right corner of the data. 

 

 

Once all the data has been selected, copy this data to the clipboard. You will then need to go back to the SIMS marksheet file  and paste this data into the top left cell for data. 

 

 

This will then fill the relevant boxes with the data: 

 

 

Once the data has populated the Marksheet file, and you have checked through it to make sure all the data is correct, remember to save the file. You will possibly need to change the location of the saved file as you might find it hiding in a temp folder which is hard to locate after! 

 

Importing the Marksheet back into SIMS

 

The last step of the process is to now import the marksheet back into SIMS. To do this, from the SIMS menu, select Routines (1) - Data In (2) - Assessment (3) - Import From Spreadsheet (4). 

 

 

Locate the marksheet file that you previously saved (1) and select Next. (2)

 

 

The window that opens is for information only and can be closed (1). 

 

 

The next window shows the data that is being imported. Once you are happy that this is correct, you can select 'Next'. 

 

 

This will open up a pop up that shows how the data from your imported marksheet will match up to the data in SIMS. The column on the left (1) shows the data from the marksheet, and the column on the right (2) shows the data in SIMS. 

 

 

When you are happy that the children are correct, select Finish, and this will bring up a confirmation window showing how many assessments were imported. 

When you now go to your marksheet in SIMS, you should now see all the data that you have just imported appear. 

 

Using different marksheets

 

If you are using a different marksheet, such as one that has age bands and refinements, you will need to do a find and replace on the Tapestry exported sheet before copying it into the marksheet file. The data that you copy over must be the same as you would normally enter into SIMS. 

For example, in Tapestry, you may get a cell with the data "30 to 50" but in SIMS, you would enter "30-50". In this case, you would need to do a find and replace so that the data matches that SIMS entry data. 

 

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