Exporting Student Data from Your School Admin System

Exporting Student Data from Your School’s Admin System

RISC can use either a full Student Database to refer to when entering individual student contacts, or it can simply use a student pick-list (lookup). The former is best in all circumstances except where enrolments change regularly such as in Hospital Schools. The best way to create the student database is by exporting data already entered in your school’s Administration system. The steps for exporting from OASIS (NSW) and CASES21 (Vic) can be found below. Export formats for producing standard comma-delimited files for RISC to import are also provided below.

Exporting from OASIS Admin Thin Client (New South Wales)
Exporting from CASES21 (Victoria - also similar to MAZE used in the ACT)
Exporting to a Comma-Delimited File - 2 choices (all other School Administration Systems)

If you would prefer to use a manual tool for the creation/updating of student enrolment information specifically for RISC, you should take a look at the RISC Student Database Editor program, however for NSW and Victoria, the Export option is by far the best to use.

OASIS Admin Thin Client (New South Wales):

RISC Admin can create a special export folder for OASIS that contains an OASIS Report designed for the OASIS Report Generator. This report is then run from the OASIS export folder with the results of the report saved to a file in that folder. The RISC Admin program then translates the OASIS report output to RISC format. It is recommended that you use a USB Flash Disk (or thumbdrive) to store the OASIS Export Folder.

OASIS Thin Client replaced OASIS in all schools in NSW during 2007. The process for exporting data for RISC from OASIS Thin Client is slightly different to steps provided in previous years. Please follow the steps below carefully.

In general terms, to create the OASIS Export Folder, plug a USB Flash Disk into a PC that has access to the RISC Admin program, then choose the option “Create an OASIS Export Report Folder” from the Utilities menu. You then need to extract the report to a folder on USB flash disk.
NOTE: These instructions will assume your flash disk maps to a drive letter called D: - it may be different on your computer. These first steps to create the OASIS Export folder will only need to be run once. In future, you can re-run the export from OASIS by simply referring to the folder on your USB flash disk as described after step 9 below.

Plug your USB Flash Disk into a USB port of a PC that can run the RISC Admin program and verify which drive letter is allocated (say D:)
Run RISC Admin and choose “Create an OASIS Export Folder” from the Utilities menu
Click OK for the two introductory messages displayed.
The default extraction path is D:\RISC-OASIS (Note – your USB disk may have been allocated a different drive letter). Click the button to the right with three dots on it [...]
This displays a folder browser. Click once on D: drive (or whatever drive your removable disk is in)
Click the New... button at the bottom to create a new folder
For the folder name, type in RISC-OASIS then click OK
D:\RISC-OASIS\ will be displayed in the Extract to box. Click the Extract button.
When complete (very quick), you will get a success message. Click OK, then a set of instructions for what to do next will appear. Since they are repeated here, close the window containing the instructions.

Once you have an OASIS Export Folder on your USB flash disk follow the steps below to run the OASIS report and create the exported student data file. If you do not have access to OASIS yourself, give the USB Flash Disk and these steps to one of the Office staff to complete the steps for you:

Go to an OASIS workstation and make sure OASIS is not currently running (if it is, C2 Logout and close OASIS down)
Plug your USB Flash Disk containing your OASIS Export folder into the PC and ensure it mounts successfully. Verify the drive letter mapped to it (say D:)
Start OASIS Thin Client on the workstation (select Full Access if prompted) and log into OASIS Admin (not Library) using your normal operator password
Select F2 Run Reports from the OASIS Menu
Type <S>ource then select DISK
The normal Windows Browse dialogue box will appear. Double-click the USB Flash disk which will appear as D$ (but it could be E$ etc)
Double-click the RISC-OASIS folder to open it then click the Select or Open button (one or the other button will be shown – do not click any file displayed in the folder) – TWO Reports for RISC v7/8 should appear after a few seconds. NOTE: If the reports do not appear as described in step 8, try copying the RISC-OASIS folder to C: on your PC and then select C$ (shows as C$ on Client V:) in step 6. If you are still having difficulty with step 7, try another OASIS computer. Sometimes the OASIS Citrix client has not been correctly configured on individual PCs.
With RISC v8, TWO reports will be displayed. The required report is titled "OASIS Export for RISC v7/8 (incl. ERN)" and highlighted.
Press the Enter key Hit Enter twice to accept Range from A to ZZZ
Select <C>onfirm Run
Select <L>abels - DO NOT SELECT <P>rint at this point.
Select <P>rint Labels
From the destination window, select FILE then hit Enter
The same folder, RISC-OASIS, will appear. Type in the name STUDBASE for the filename at the bottom and press Enter. If prompted to <A>ppend or <R>eplace, ALWAYS choose <R>eplace. NOTE: The report may take some time depending on the size of your enrolment. A file called STUDBASE.TXT will be created in the OASIS Export folder on the USB flash disk
When complete, hit the F10 key twice to return to the front menu of OASIS
If RISC does not run on this PC, remove the USB Flash Disk and take it to a PC that has access to run the RISC Admin program.

This process has created your import file and you can now use it to 'refresh' the student database in RISC. You can follow these steps to export from OASIS whenever you like in order to ensure that RISC always contains the latest enrolment details. Please read the section 'Importing Student Data' to find out how to import this file into RISC.

CASES21 (Victoria):

It is necessary to produce a file called Studbase.csv on a floppy diskette for importing into RISC v8. The procedure for this using CASES21 is described below.

Use the "Worksheet" function in CASES21 - Worksheet is found in Utilities/Maze/View and Report Data/Worksheet.
From the menu across the top of the screen, select Edit then SQL

2.1. If you already have a saved RISC Version 8 Extract query (this is unchanged from v7):
- From the menu at the top of the screen, select File...Open and click on the down arrow next to the Stored SQL Key.
  
  Scroll down if necessary to select the RISC v8 query and click OK. If you have done this successfully you should see the following text displayed on the screen:
  
  SELECT ST.SURNAME,ST.PREF_NAME,ST.STKEY,DF.TITLE_A,DF.NAME_A,
  DF.SURNAME_A,UM.TELEPHONE,UM.MOBILE,ST.BIRTHDATE,ST.GENDER,
  ST.SCHOOL_YEAR,UM.ADDRESS02,UM.ADDRESS03,UM.POSTCODE,
  ST.HOME_GROUP,ST.STATUS
  FROM (ST INNER JOIN DF ON ST.FAMILY = DF.DFKEY) INNER
  JOIN UM ON UM.UMKEY = DF.HOMEKEY
  WHERE STATUS = 'ACTV'
  ORDER BY ST.SURNAME ASC,ST.PREF_NAME ASC
  
  You have successfully opened your RISC v8 query so skip to Step 3.
2.2. If you have not already saved the RISC Version 8 Extract query:
- From the menu at the top of the screen, select File...New. You should see a blank work area below the menu line.
- Copy the following code to the blank SQL area in CASES21. To do this, highlight this code below then press Ctrl-C to copy it to your clipboard, return to the blank CASES21 worksheet SQL window. Ensure the cursor is in the blank area of the screen and press Ctrl-V to paste the code:
  
  SELECT ST.SURNAME,ST.PREF_NAME,ST.STKEY,DF.TITLE_A,DF.NAME_A,
  DF.SURNAME_A,UM.TELEPHONE,UM.MOBILE,ST.BIRTHDATE,ST.GENDER,
  ST.SCHOOL_YEAR,UM.ADDRESS02,UM.ADDRESS03,UM.POSTCODE,
  ST.HOME_GROUP,ST.STATUS
  FROM (ST INNER JOIN DF ON ST.FAMILY = DF.DFKEY) INNER
  JOIN UM ON UM.UMKEY = DF.HOMEKEY
  WHERE STATUS = 'ACTV'
  ORDER BY ST.SURNAME ASC,ST.PREF_NAME ASC
- When you have done this successfully you will see the above text displayed on the CASES21 worksheet SQL screen. You may notice some extra indentations. This is not a problem and it will get sorted out automatically when you save the query. There should be only one copy of this SQL Query (text). DO NOT press Ctrl-V more than once.
- Save this query for future use by clicking on the File menu at the top of the screen then choose Save As. In the Stored SQL key, type RISC v8 and in the Stored SQL Title, type Student Data Export. Click OK - in the future, you will be able to recall this query by following the steps in 2.1 above.
HINT: Here is an image showing what the CASES21 worksheet SQL screen should look like after saving:

If you select View from the menu at the top of the screen then select SQL Design you should see:

To view the data for export, click the Apply button in the toolbar. The Worksheet with student details is now displayed. Check that the data has appeared as expected. (If not, start again and try to recopy the correct SQL code to a blank SQL window.)
Select all data by clicking in top left hand cell above Row 1, or choose ‘Select All’ from the Edit menu.
The ‘Excel' icon shown below is now highlighted. Click on it to export the data to Microsoft Excel. CASES21 will export the data to Excel and launch it.

The exported data is now in an EXCEL format, and needs to be saved as a comma-delimited file on a floppy diskette using the following instructions:

Place a blank formatted floppy diskette in the diskette drive or use a USB Flash Disk. If using a USB disk, verify the drive letter allocated to it by Windows and substitute that drive letter for a: referred to below.
From the Excel menu, choose File...Save Copy As and choose the file type CSV (Comma delimited - *.csv) from the Save as Type options and type the file name a:\studbase to save your data to the floppy disk. A file called studbase.csv will be saved to your floppy diskette. Click OK on the message about saving the active sheet. Click Yes on the message to "keep this format". Close Excel, then click No on the message to save changes.
Take the floppy disk (or USB disk) to any computer with access to RISC and run the RISC Admin program.

This process has created your import file and you can now use it to 'refresh' the student database in RISC. Please read the section 'Importing Student Data' to find out how to import this file into RISC.

Comma-Delimited Import Options for RISC (all other admin systems):

Student datafiles can also be created in other school administration systems and exported into a datafile suitable for RISC purposes if OASIS, CASES or MAZE are not used in the school. The standard formats (two choices) for an exported comma-delimited student database file are as follows:

1. Standard-type 1 Export File -

There are two different comma-delimited formats that RISC will accept as student enrolment data. Choose the most appropriate that your system is able to produce.

"SURNAME", "Preferred Name", "Parent/Guardian Contact Name", "Home Phone No", "Mobile No.", "Student ID", "Gender", "Date of Birth", "Grade or Year", "Street Address", "Town or Suburb", "Postcode", "Roll Class"

A sample Standard Type 1 export file is shown below:

"ADAMS","William","Mr John Adams","9564-3423","0411 123123","ADA012","M","16/1/95","5","23 King St","Newtown","2967","5A"
"AINSWORTH","Betty","Mrs Mary Ainsworth","9555-9800","0411 123123","AIN025","F","16/2/94","6","34 Harris Ave","Walgett","2989","3G"
"BAKER","Arthur","Mr John Hanson","9436-2342","0411 123123","BAK136","M","16/3/97","3","94 Smith Rd","Canterbury","2980","KR"
"BOLTON","Michael","Ms Hilary Bolton","43-546-4323","0411 123123","BOL428","M","16/4/00","K","59 Forest Hwy","Bulli","2970","6F" etc...

NOTES:

The quotation marks shown above are optional, but preferred.
that the combined SURNAME and Preferred Name should NOT exceed 30 characters
the Parent/Guardian Contact Name should NOT exceed 30 characters
there should be no more than 10 digits in the Phone number.
Gender can either be shown as "M" or "Male"/"F" or "Female"
there should be only one student record per line
This Export file MUST Be called STUDBASE.CSV and the Comma-Delimited Import Option #1 filter must be chosen to import it into RISC.
The file MUST have been pre-sorted by Surname then preferred name.

2. Standard-type 2 Export File -

The standard format for an exported student database file is (standard comma-delimited file):

"SURNAME", "Preferred Name", "Student ID", "Parent/Guardian Title”, Parent/Guardian First Name”,
“Parent/Guardian Surname”, "Home Phone No.", "Mobile No.", "Date of Birth", "Gender", "Grade", "Street Address", "Town or Suburb", "Postcode", "Roll Class"

A sample Standard Type 2 export file is shown below:

"ADAMS","William","ADA012","Mr”,“John”,”Adams","9564-3423","0411 123123","16/1/95","M","5","23 King St","Newtown","2967","5A"
"AINSWORTH","Betty","AIN025","Mrs”,”Mary”,”Ainsworth","9555-9800","0411 123124","16/2/94","F","6","34 Harris Ave","Walgett","2989","3G"
"BAKER","Arthur","BAK136","Mr”,”John”,“Hanson","9436-2342","0411 123125","16/3/97","M","3","94 Smith Rd","Canterbury","2980","KR"
"BOLTON","Michael","BOL428","Ms”,”Hilary”,”Bolton","43-546-4323","0411 123126","16/4/00","M","K","59 Forest Hwy","Bulli","2970","6F" etc...

NOTES:

The quotation marks shown above are optional, but preferred.
that the combined SURNAME and Preferred Name should NOT exceed 30 characters
the Parent/Guardian Contact Name should NOT exceed 30 characters
there should be no more than 10 digits in the Phone number.
Gender can either be shown as "M" or "Male"/"F" or "Female"
there should be only one student record per line
This Export file MUST Be called STUDBASE.CSV and the Comma-Delimited Import Option #2 filter must be chosen to import it into RISC.
The file MUST have been pre-sorted by Surname then preferred name.

If your school admin system cannot export, you can create this file using MS-Excel, Works or any other spreadsheet or database program. REMEMBER to SORT the file into ascending alphabetical order on Student Surname before saving the file. When saving the file, it MUST be named as described above.

Once you have your import file, you can now use it to 'refresh' the student database in RISC. Please read the section 'Importing Student Data' to find out how to import this file into RISC.

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