guide to structuring basedata in examinations · pdf fileherts for learning doc ref s1130 1 of...

School IT Systems Support Herts for Learning Ltd SROB220, Robertson House, Six Hills Way, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2FQ

Doc Ref S1130

UPDATED January 2015

© School IT Systems Support (SITSS) Herts for Learning Ltd, 2015

Technical Support Centre Accredited by the Learning and Performance Institute (formerly, the Institute of IT Training) RM Approved Support Partner

Fully accredited by Capita SIMS for proven quality of SIMS support

Guide to Structuring Basedata in

Examinations Organiser

CONTENTS

BASEDATA FILES .......................................................................................................... 1

Interpreting basedata files .................................................................................... 1

Unzipping Basedata Folders ................................................................................. 2

Disallowed Combinations File ............................................................................... 3

Examinations Organiser Terminology ................................................................... 3

EXAM BOARDS .............................................................................................................. 5

Printing Basedata Structure Reports .................................................................... 6

Importing Basedata ............................................................................................... 7

EDEXCEL Basedata for GCE’s ............................................................................ 8

Linking Elements to Awards.................................................................................. 9

OCR Basedata for GCE’s ..................................................................................... 9

AQA Basedata for GCE’s ................................................................................... 10

Refresh/Import Basedata .................................................................................... 11

Creating the AS Structure ................................................................................... 11

Maintaining A2 Structure .................................................................................... 14

Properties of Awards .......................................................................................... 15

COURSE LINKS WITH AWARDS ................................................................................. 16

Linking GCE Awards to Courses in Course Manager ......................................... 17

GCSE Basedata ................................................................................................. 18

Example GCSE Science Structure ..................................................................... 19

Linking GCSE Awards to Courses in Course Manager ....................................... 21

ALTERNATIVE TYPES OF BASEDATA ....................................................................... 23

BTEC Exams ...................................................................................................... 23

OCR Cambridge Nationals & Technicals (previously OCR Nationals) ................ 25

Asset Languages ................................................................................................ 27

ALAN (Adult Literacy & Adult Numeracy) and Key Skills .................................... 29

International Baccalaureate ............................................................................... 29

COURSES & NUMBERS REPORT .............................................................................. 30

FAQs .................................................................................................................. 32

Herts for Learning

Doc Ref S1130 1 of 32

BASEDATA FILES

Exam Boards provide all the information about the examinations they offer in the format of basedata files. The files are usually provided in a zipped format and will contain a selection of Syllabus, Option, Component and Link files. The files are named in a specific format and it is important to understand the naming format so that you can import the files into the correct season.

Interpreting basedata files

The screen shot shows a range of basedata files that have been downloaded from various Exam boards.

The files are named in such a way that you can identify the board and season that they should be imported into.

The first letter in the folder is the type of the file (in this case Z for Zipped)

6 is the month of June, which means that the files can only be used in a Season which has a Season Pattern of June in it (6 being the month of June).

Z3 would be a March file and Z1 a January file. The months start at 1 for January and end at 9 for September then A,B,C is used to denote October, November and December.

The next letter A or G in the example is the board’s series name. This is generally kept the same year after year.

11 is the year. So these files can only be imported into a season for the specified month and year – z6a11_70 would be June 2011.

The _ means that the basedata is English.

The final number is the board’s routing code. This is very important. Board 10 is Edexcel GCSE and the files can only be imported into Exams Organiser under board 10. Some exam boards have more than one code and you will need to be familiar with these when importing basedata.

Downloading Basedata Files Some example of Exam Board’s web addresses:

www.edexcel.com

www.ocr.org.uk

www.aqa.org.uk

www.wjec.org.uk

http://www.edexcel.com/

http://www.ocr.org.uk/

http://www.aqa.org.uk/

http://www.wjec.org.uk/

Herts for Learning

2 of 32 Doc Ref S1130

All basedata from the boards must reside in your EXAMIN folder. Typically at school this folder is S:\Sims\EXAMIN.

When downloading basedata from the boards websites please always choose to download the latest version (currently version 14).

Basedata files must be unzipped into your S:\Sims\EXAMIN folder.

Once unzipped the folder will contain between 4 and 5 different files. Each of the Exam Board’s website are structured in a different way – so it is a matter of searching to locate the basedata you require. Below is an example of the OCR basedata files for download for June 2011.

In general it is best to download the .exe file. When you click on the .exe you will get the option to Save (alternatively, right-click and select ‘Save Target As’).

Navigate to your S:\Sims\EXAMIN folder to save the file to the correct location.

Please ensure you write down the name of the file you are saving e.g. z6b11_01. You will need to locate the file in your EXAMIN folder and unzip it before importing into Exams Organiser. If you encounter any issues importing basedata you will need to log a call with our Service Desk and we will need to know this file name to investigate the issue.

Unzipping Basedata Folders

You will need to navigate to your S:\SIMS\EXAMIN to unzip the basedata you have just downloaded. If you downloaded the .exe file simply double click the file and select Save. Ensure you browse to change the path the file will be unzipped to. This MUST be S:\Sims\EXAMIN, then click Unzip and Close. Z6b11_01 will contain S6b11_01 + O6b11_01 + C6b11_01 + L6b11_01 + D6b11_01 all of which will be unzipped to the location you chose – S\SIMS\EXAMIN.

Herts for Learning


Once the file has been unzipped into the EXAMIN folder, it will contain basedata files. The basedata files contain information including Syllabuses, Options, Components, dates and duration of examinations, maximum marks for Coursework, assessments and whether forecast Grades should be sent to the Boards etc. All this information is made available in separate files. There are four types of basedata files supplied, although a fifth file may be included containing details of disallowed combinations of subjects: S Syllabus Definitions

O Option Definitions

C Component Definitions

L Option/Component Link File

D Disallowed Combinations Definition

Disallowed Combinations File

This file provides information about which syllabuses or options are forbidden when in conjunction with other syllabuses or options. It should be noted that only forbidden or prohibited combinations are included. In some instances, it may be possible for Candidates to take certain combinations, but it is not necessarily in their best interests to do so if a higher education Course is their ultimate goal.

The basedata file formats are fully described in the booklet Formats for the Exchange of Examination Related Data published by the Joint Council for General Qualifications.

Examinations Organiser Terminology

Series Title

A collection of Syllabuses, Options, Components, etc. defined by the Examination Board for its own administrative purposes to manage the entry of the results process. A Series will usually, although not always, have a single closing date for entries, together with a defined date for the return of results.

Award

An Award is defined in terms of an Examination Board, Level, Title and the Course to which it relates. It specifies the qualification aim that members of a Course are directed towards. As basedata for successive Series is imported from the Examination Boards, users will attach the options, units, certifications (Elements) etc., to the appropriate Award(s), to denote the steps that eligible Candidates may take towards certification.

Element

An Element is a term used within Examinations Organiser to refer to a record in the ‘O’ (Options) basedata file. It may be an option in the traditional sense, a module, a unit, a registration or a certification claim – anything for which the Board requires notification of Candidate entry.

Herts for Learning


Component

A Component is an examinable task that constitutes the whole or part of what a Candidate must present in order to satisfy the requirements for an Element. It may be a timed paper, a Coursework assignment, a test or a portfolio.

Herts for Learning


EXAM BOARDS

Basedata can only be imported for an Active Exam Board. When you click on your Basedata button you only see the Boards that are active for your school.

If a Board is not appearing in the list you can make it active via Tools | School Setup | Exam Board as per the screen shot below:

You can see from this view all the boards which are available and which are active at your school. The board MUST be active for the basedata to import.

You can change a board’s status by clicking to view/edit and selecting the status as active.

Herts for Learning


Printing Basedata Structure Reports

Getting a printout of the basedata structure from your previous Summer season may help identify the awarding bodies and awards that have been used in the past. However, as the Head of Department may change Board or Syllabus from one year to the next, it is imperative that Exams Officers get confirmation from the departments to ensure students are entered for the correct exams.

Reports | Basedata | Structure.

Select the Season. Leave Series as All. Select Type – Award

Click OK.

Once you have finished importing basedata you should print this report as a final check that you have the correct structure and the award is linked to the course. In the sample screen shot above the Further Mathematics award (8372) has not been linked to a course and this report would highlight that. Unfortunately, the report is sorted by Code therefore your AS and A2 Awards will not display next to each other so it takes a bit more effort to check you have the correct structure and links.

Herts for Learning


Importing Basedata

To import basedata you must first have:

Downloaded the basedata from the relevant Exam Boards into your S:\Sims\EXAMIN folder.

Unzipped each of the zipped basedata files directly into the S:\Sims\EXAMIN folder.

Created the relevant Season. Reading the basedata file name dictates which season the file can be imported to e.g. z6a11_70 could only be imported into a June 2011 season. (The final number 70 on this file names means this is a file for the AQA board and can only be imported into that board).

Please note that each Exam Boards basedata may be different and require different actions after import.

Below are some factors to consider if basedata will not import into your exam organiser module. You will generally get a message which says “series files not present”.

Refer to the name of the basedata file you are trying to import and:

Check that the basedata has been unzipped into your EXAMIN folder.

Check that your season pattern contains the relevant month.

Check that your season contains the relevant year.

Check that you are importing the basedata into the correct board code. To check the Board code from the Basedata focus – right-click on the Board and select Properties – the routing code is the board number.

So by reading basedata files you will be able to interpret everything you need to make sure the basedata can be imported accordingly into Exams Organiser. It is good to check these points before calling the Service desk. PLEASE NOTE:

Because the Exam Boards supply the basedata in different formats the advice on what to tick when importing basedata may be DIFFERENT for each Board and it is IMPORTANT that you refer to this document, relating to the Board you are importing basedata from.

Herts for Learning


GCE BASEDATA

OCR and EDEXCEL do NOT supply their basedata linked to the overall GCE Award (AQA is different and this is covered further on). You will need to import the AS and A2 awards and all the Elements and then attach the Elements to the Awards using the “include an existing element” functionality. The Specification booklets supplied by the Boards give details of the Award and Unit codes and should be referred to in consultation with the Head of Department to ensure the correct basedata is imported. SITSS advice is to structure basedata with separate AS and A2 awards. This allows separate AS and A2 awards to be linked to separate courses in Course Manager.

EDEXCEL Basedata for GCE’s

The example used below will show importing French GCE basedata for Edexcel GCE.

1. Right-click on the EDEXL/GCE board and select Import Basedata.

2. Use the browse button to select the syllabus file eg. S6c12_11.

3. The Elements here begin with the number 6 and are listed first.

Click on the + so you can see all the available options.

Tick the Element you want. Notice the overall top level is now a grey tick in a grey box! YOU MUST leave this like this when importing the Elements.

ONLY the Elements will be imported not the overall top level – which is what you want.

4. The AS Cash In codes here begin with the number 8. This time you want to tick the 8FR01 Element and then also tick in the top level Award so that you have a black tick in a white box. This means you will import both the Element and Award for this option.

5. The A2 Cash In codes begin with the number 9. This time you want to tick the 9FR01 Element and then also tick in the top level Award so that you have a black tick in a white box. This means you will import both the Element and Award for this option.

6. When you expand the basedata you have just imported you will not be able to see all the UNIT

Herts for Learning


Elements because they are not yet linked to the Award. This linking has to be done manually.

Linking Elements to Awards

It is now necessary to link elements to the Awards, starting with the AS:

1. Right click on the 8FR01 Award and select Include an Existing Element.

2. Double click on 6FR01 and 6FR02 to move to the right and click Update.

Now link elements to the A2 Award:

3. Right click on 9FR01 Award and select Include an Existing Element.

4. Double click on the A2 elements, 6FR03 & 6FR04 and click Update.

5. Your basedata structure should now look similar to the screen shot below.

Note: You can link AS elements to the A2 award if desired to facilitate marksheet entries.

OCR Basedata for GCE’s

German OCR AS – H076 Cash in code as well as Unit 1 F711 & Unit 2 F712. A2 – H476 Cash in code as well as Unit 3 F713 & Unit 4 F714.

1. Refresh basedata to select the elements for the units, ensuring that the top tick (at award level of the element) remains grey.

Herts for Learning


2. Also select the awards (cash-ins) as below. You must ensure that both ticks are

black for the awards.

Now link the elements to the Awards, starting with the AS:

1. Right click on the H076 Award and select Include an Existing Element.

2. Double click on the AS units F711 and F712 to move to the right to select and click Update.

Now link elements to the A2 Award:

3. Right click on H476 Award and select Include an Existing Element.

4. Double click on the A2 elements, F713 & F714 and click Update.

5. Basedata is now structured correctly as below.

AQA Basedata for GCE’s

You should be aware of the differences between importing data from AQA as it is structured differently to EDEXCEL and OCR.

AQA produces its basedata all linked to one overall code (Specification code or basedata group code). This should not be confused with the award/cash-in entry codes. An extract from AQA Entry Codes 2012-2013 below depicts an example of this:

AS Award

A2 Award

Herts for Learning


Refresh/Import Basedata

1. In the example below, we have selected the Award Codes for Maths and Further Maths at AS and A2 as well as the elements for the individual units ensuring the top tick in the specification code is ticked and is black (not grey).

The structure will then show as below with all awards attached to one specification code.

It is not possible from this structure to link the appropriate awards to courses in Course Manager. This may have implications for the collection of Post 16 data for the Autumn census.

We will retain the original specification code (6360) for A2 Maths and later detach any elements we do not want associated with A2 Maths. However, we also require a separate award for the AS which unfortunately is not provided by AQA in the basedata. It is therefore necessary to split the AS and A2 awards.

Creating the AS Structure

For AQA only, you now need to create an Internal Award for AS (or re-use one created in a previous season). Refer to the Basedata Structure report for the previous season as detailed on page 6 of this document which will show any awards created internally e.g. Code A#001.

Herts for Learning


Internally created awards are prefixed as below followed by the next available number in the system:

A# for A Level (General Certificate of Education)

G# for GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education)

U# for Unassigned (awards created in a Domestic Exams season, for Internal exams e.g. Mocks)

Firstly, it is advisable to check for an existing award before creating a new one to avoid generation of multiple awards for the same subject. It is also important to re-use the awards currently linked to appropriate courses in Course Manager as you do not want to lose those links.

1. Right click on the series and select Include an Existing Award.

2. If a matching award already exists, choose this and click Update.

If you have multiple options for an award, you can check you have the correct one by right clicking on the award you have just included in the series and choosing Properties. The Award Code will be clearly shown as well as any course links. Ensure this is the award you require. If it is not, you can remove this as in step 3 below. If it is the correct award, proceed to step 6 to include existing elements.

3. Select the award, right click and select Remove Award. Proceed to step 1 & 2 again to select another award until you find the required code.

If an award does not already exist, a new award should be added as follows.

Add a New Award

4. Right click on the series and select Add a New Award.

Herts for Learning


5. Enter the Internal Title, Description and select the Qualification. Click Save. Note: The description is important as this provides information on the award in Course Manager and makes it easy to identify the correct award for inclusion in future seasons.

6. Once you have awards, this in itself is not enough. It is necessary to link the elements to this award (Certification element as well as units). Right click on the award and select Include An Existing Element.

7. Next choose the awards to be included, e.g. in this case the AS award (5361) and units MD01, MFP1 & MFP2 as shown below.

8. Click Update.

Herts for Learning


The structure of the new AS award should now look similar to the one shown below with the AS award and unit elements linked to the overall AS award.

Repeat steps 1 - 5 for each separate award as required e.g. AS Maths (5361), AS Further Maths (5371) and A2 Further Maths (6371).

Maintaining A2 Structure

Once you have a separate AS structure, the original award imported (and retained for the A2) has the AS elements linked. You can choose to retain this structure for marksheet purposes. Alternatively, you can remove the AS awards which are attached to the original A2 specification code. However, if this is done caution needs to be taken when basedata is refreshed. If ‘Update All’ is chosen at Refresh, you would need to untick the AS element from the overall award or else the AS element will re-link itself in the overall A2 code.

It is not necessary to detach the AS components from the A2 structure from a Course Manager perspective.

Note: You must have linked the AS elements to the AS Award BEFORE you try to detach them from the original overall award.

1. We will show detach the AS certification codes from the A2 award. Right click on the

award element and select Detach Element from Award.

2. Click Yes to the message as shown below.

Herts for Learning


In this example, because we have created new separate awards, we will detach AS Maths (5361), AS Further Maths (5371) and A2 Further Maths (6371) from the overall specification code of 6360.

Properties of Awards

You can view the properties of awards as follows

1. Right click on the award to view the Properties.

...we can see the Award Code as well as Course links and Course History.

Herts for Learning


COURSE LINKS WITH AWARDS

It is very important that all awards in your school are linked to the correct courses. When you import basedata that has been used in previous years, Exams Organiser will retain the link to the Award. This may be correct for this year but does need to be checked as things do change.

Why is it important that Courses are Linked to Awards? Awards must be linked to courses if you wish to use Examinations Organiser for more complex tasks such as:

1. Using the Component Clash Report (potential clashes will not be reported);

2. Creating Marksheets by Series (batch creation of marksheets);

3. Running the Results ‘Group Performance Report’ (will not be able to distinguish the performance of the course or classes for the report);

4. Running Candidate Progress Reports.

In addition to these tasks, Course Manager uses the link to the award to pull through the Learning Aim information (QWS QAN) for the Post 16 Autumn Census Collection.

Course Manager – Post 16 Results Exams officers need to be aware of Course Memberships in SIMS as it is important that exam Awards are linked to the relevant courses. Courses are created in SIMS when the timetable for the new academic year is first sent from NovaT6 to SQL (SIMS). The course name is a combination of the Subject name and the Level of the learning aims that the students will be taking at the end of the course. For example, if your school offers French through all years you would expect to have the following Active Courses:

French (GCEA) – containing year 13 classes.

French (GCEAS) – containing year 12 classes.

French (GCESF) – containing year 10 & 11 classes.

French (KStg3) – containing year 7, 8 & 9 classes. The classes are linked to the courses from NovaT6 and pupils are made members of the classes using Academic Management in SIMS. Once pupils have been assigned to the classes, running the Update Course Membership routine populates the Courses with these members. It is imperative that you consult with your timetabling/academic colleagues to ensure that Course Membership has been updated following any changes to the academic membership. Linking exam awards to courses is now processed through Course Manager in SIMS and it is imperative that awards are correctly linked to courses for the Post 16 collection in each Autumn Census.

Herts for Learning


Course Manager will look for Exam Results from the all Certification Elements (cash-in codes) attached to the Exam Award, in all Exam Seasons that OVERLAP with the students’ membership of the course. The students’ memberships will generally be for the full academic year.

It is possible that students could have both AS and A2 results in the same academic year (e.g. following a re-take of an AS). In situations where the AS cash-in code is linked to the A2 award within the basedata structure, Course Manager will check for results in all seasons for that academic year and will find both the AS and A2 result. The calculation of best result is now based on the points rather than level. Therefore, having the AS award within the A2 award structure of the basedata does not affect the results pulling in to Course Manager. The system can now recognise the better result and will display this best result in panel 7 – Memberships & Results but only if they are different levels. (E.g. The system won’t be able to differentiate between results in A2 Maths and A2 Further Maths as they have the same value) and in this case a ‘?’ with red background will be displayed as the system will not know which result is best. Note: You can click on the Results Report button in the Memberships & Results panel for output to HTML to identify clashing results. Although having AS cash-in codes linked to A2 awards no longer poses a problem as far a Course Manager is concerned, separate AS awards are still required for linking to AS courses and for various reports/functionality within exams organiser.

Linking GCE Awards to Courses in Course Manager

It is now necessary for the awards to be linked to courses in SIMS through Course Manager via Tools | Academic Management | Course Manager | Maintain Course.

Enter your search criteria, e.g. Description, Short Name, Subject, QAN, and click . If you are unfamiliar with this area, please consult the Data Manager in your school.

Herts for Learning


From the results shown, highlight the desired course and click .

Awards are linked on hyperlink 3 – Examination. It is possible to link new awards to courses however, in most circumstances only 1 award will be active at any given time. If there are overlapping awards these will be displayed in yellow. In this example, the old award (8371) ends on 31/07/2013 and new award (A#005) starts from 24/01/2014. These dates are editable.

The examination award linked to the course will detail the Certification Elements attached in the basedata structure. If you right click on the Season heading and select Best Fit you will clearly see the full season name. In the example above, Award Code A#005 has an Entry Code 5361(cash-in code) in the June (Summer) Exams 2013 season.

Note: The Award name for manually created awards is taken from the Description entered at the point of creation as per step 2 on page 12. If a description is not added when the award is created, the award code will be shown (in this case A#005).

GCSE Basedata

In general GCSE basedata is supplied by the Exam Boards already structured within an overall Award and does not require any additional structuring once imported into Exams Organiser, except again for AQA. Most GCSE courses do not need QAN numbers attached in the Classification panel as

Herts for Learning


they do not have Post 16 students studying the courses. (Awards and QANs should be attached to any GCSE courses that include Post 16 membership). The exception is GCSE English and GCSE Maths where Post 16 students may be retaking these qualifications. From an Exams Organiser point of view, awards must be linked to courses for GCSE’s if you wish to use Examinations Organiser for more complex tasks such as:

1. Using the Component Clash Report (potential clashes will not be reported);

2. Creating Marksheets by Series (batch creation of marksheets);

3. Running the Results ‘Group Performance Report’ (will not be able to distinguish the performance of the course or classes for the report);

4. Running the Linear Integrity Check reports;

5. Running Candidate Progress Reports.

You should therefore Link appropriate Awards to Courses for all your GCSE’s if you wish to use Exams Organiser for these tasks.

Example GCSE Science Structure

When basedata is imported for AQA for GCSE Science, the structure will import as the example below [specification code of 4400 and all awards linked]. The problem with this structure is that it won’t be possible to perform Clash reports from Exams Organiser as the award is seen as one whole nor will you be able to analyse Group Performance Reports by subject.

It is therefore necessary that each award is separate.

In our example we have imported GCSE Science specification code 4400 which you can see has awards (cash-in codes) for Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Science A (Route 1) all structured underneath the overall code.

Herts for Learning


We then added a new award for Biology AQA 4401 following the steps on pages 12 & 13 and subsequently included existing elements 4401 (award code) as well as relevant components.

We then proceeded to add new awards for each separate science award (eg. Chemistry AQA 4402 as below)

Once complete, you should then have a structure with each award separate as below.

The award originally imported (Science 4400) is redundant now that you have created separate awards. You can proceed to remove this award from the structure (or retain if preferred for marksheet purposes). To remove awards, right click on the redundant award and select Remove Award and click Yes.

Herts for Learning


Linking GCSE Awards to Courses in Course Manager

Course links are maintained in SIMS via Course Manager. Tools | Academic Management | Course Manager | Maintain Course It is advisable that the timetabler sets up the timetable as definitive as possible eg. separate Biology, Chemistry and Physics courses. You can attach these newly created separate awards to the relevant course. If you have a single Science (GCSEF) course and students are doing a variety of Science options, all possible awards can be attached to that course in Course Manager. Although the Examination panel in Course Manager will show in yellow, this is acceptable for GCSE’s due to these learning aims not being collected in the school census. In the example below, 4 different science awards are attached to the Science (GCSEF) course. If you view the awards one by one, the Certification Elements panel below will detail the entry code and Title of that award.

Herts for Learning


Checking Course Links in Exams Organiser

Once awards have been linked via Course Manager, you can right click on the properties of each award in exams organiser to see the course linked and history.

Herts for Learning


ALTERNATIVE TYPES OF BASEDATA

It would be impossible to cover all the different types of examinations which exam boards offer. The following notes may help with some of the other popular types of basedata that you may have to deal with. Further information on BTEC basedata can be found on our website.

BTEC Exams

There are 3 types of basedata for BTECs as we will detail below. When attaching a BTEC award to a course in Course Manager, it is imperative that the correct award is linked. The award could feature in the Registration and Results basedata so how can you tell which award is the result award for linking to the course? When you search for the award to link, ensure the Board is EDEXL/KSQ and not EDEXL/REG.

Registrations

Registrations for relevant programmes (e.g. BTEC) should be made in a September registration season.

The basedata file will look something like this : 9B13_13 9 = September season (1-9 = Jan-Sept, A-C = Oct-Dec) B = BTEC 13 = Year _ = English 13 = Board (in this case EDEXCL Registrations)

You will need to request a basedata file from the exam boards secure website, e.g. Edexcel Online. BTEC programmes included in basedata you are given are specific to your school and your school has to have been granted approval to offer these. This is the reason why they cannot be published in the same way as other basedata.

When requesting basedata files, please select all programmes of study because if single files are sent they will overwrite each other.

Results

Results basedata will need to be requested from Edexcel’s secure website and imported into your Summer season (you will need to ensure that your season pattern has the month of July associated). You do not require a separate season. When you request the file from Edexcel online, please select all the required subjects in one file rather than lots of different files.

The basedata file will look something like this : 7B14_15 7 = July season B = BTEC 14 = Calendar Year _ = English 15 = Board (in this case EDEXCL/KSQ)

If you would like BTEC results electronically on results day by EDI, you will need to submit an ‘entry’ file using the Summer Results basedata. Note: A Results Entry submission does not create entries or registrations only advises Edexcel you wish to receive results electronically. You do not need to have made registrations (entries) in your September season via EDI in order to request an EDI results file as long as you have the results basedata necessary in your Summer season. See our document S1276 on our website which explains this process.

Herts for Learning


External Assessments

Edexcel now provide Basedata on their website for Externally Assessed BTEC Components which can be downloaded and imported into the relevant season. This can be used to submit entries for the components to Edexcel via EDI and can facilitate administration of the components in Exams Organiser. E.g. seating, timetables etc. There are many series available for these externally assessed components.

The basedata file may look something like this : 3B15_15 3 = March season B = BTEC 15 = Calendar Year _ = English 15 = Board (in this case EDEXCL/KSQ)

Herts for Learning


OCR Cambridge Nationals & Technicals (previously OCR Nationals)

From Sept 2012, OCR Nationals were replaced with:

OCR Cambridge Nationals (14-16yr olds)

OCR Cambridge Technicals (16+ yrs old)

Legacy OCR Nationals

The OCR National qualification has ended for new registrations although the final date for completion and certification was 31st August 2014. Any results received for Legacy specification OCR Nationals should be processed in the September registration season under board RSA – routing code 72. See page 26 for more information on results.

OCR Cambridge Technicals

These should be treated in the same way as the legacy OCR Nationals with registrations recorded in a September Registration season.

Basedata for OCR Cambridge Technicals must be imported under board number 72. This is the RSA board. You will need to go through the route Tools |School Setup | Exam Board prior to importing basedata to ensure that board 72 is active.

The basedata will look something like this 9n12_72.

9 = month of September n = denotes OCR Nationals 12 = denotes year _ = denotes English file 72 = denotes Board Code of RSA

If the board is not active you will need to double click on the board to view/edit the details and click on Status to change from inactive/obsolete (whichever is showing in the status) and change to Active.

The board status always has to be active to allow the import of basedata.

Herts for Learning


Results for OCR Nationals (legacy) and OCR Cambridge Technicals

SITSS advice is to continue to import OCR National (& OCR Cambridge Technicals) into the September series as OCR will provide results files in this format. If the result files are imported into the September series in the usual way;

the result data will still be included in the PI data calculated in the Summer series;

to produce some of the reports specifically for these results it is necessary to switch to the September series;

the Candidate Statement of Results report can be run in the Summer series to include all results from both series by selecting scope of ‘year’ at run time.

Import of OCR National Results into the Summer Series Our advice is to import OCR National results into the September series as the process for editing the results file to allow import to Summer could potentially be problematic for users and the benefits are limited in our view, as detailed below. However, should schools decide that having the OCR Nationals Results in the Summer Series in SIMS is preferable, OCR normally provides proxy basedata (e.g. 6N12_72) to enable this. Full instructions will be available on the OCR website together instructions for editing the results file to allow import into the Summer series in SIMS.

If the result files are imported into the Summer series;

the result data will be included in the PI data for the Summer series;

the OCR National results will appear on the reports generated in the Summer series, without the need to generate separate reports in the September series.

The steps required to import the OCR National results into your Summer season include;

download the additional revised basedata from the OCR website (e.g. 6N12_72);

import of the revised basedata into your Summer season;

opening your result file once received and editing the header information in the file prior to import into Exams Organiser.

OCR Cambridge Nationals

The new OCR Cambridge Nationals are different in the following ways:

Registrations (i.e. September season) are no longer required;

Basedata is imported under OCR awarding body – routing code 01 and not RSA;

Basedata and other information is now found under the General Qualifications area of the OCR website;

Entries are made in the same way as general qualifications in January or June season (November entries will become available from Nov 2013);

Results will be imported into the same OCR season as the entries were made.

Herts for Learning


Asset Languages

OCR supply the basedata for Asset Languages under board 01. The basedata contains separate QAN codes for each element. For the purpose of making your entries it would be useful if you could have one marksheet with an overall award for example French and list all the elements underneath this award (speaking, listening, writing etc). This would be ideal for marksheet creation as you would have one overall award with all the elements in columns. However, it is not advisable in Course Manager to have more than one QAN attached to a course and because the elements for speaking, listening etc each have their own element it is advisable to proceed as below.

In Course Manager you will need to create a course for each Asset Award. In this case we have created a Course Description for French Asset Languages and named it French Speak. We would need to ensure that this course is populated with relevant students/classes and that the QAN and award is attached for the French Speaking Asset Language Award to this course. If you have any queries regarding attaching students/classes to new courses, please liaise with the person responsible for managing curriculum in school or contact the Service Desk in the usual manner for assistance.

Tick Both the Element and the Award for each award Listening, Speaking, Reading etc.

Herts for Learning


Exams Organiser should now show Asset Language French Speaking Award attached to French Speaking Asset Language Course as below:

A description will need to be used as there may be many types of Asset awards.

Herts for Learning


ALAN (Adult Literacy & Adult Numeracy) and Key Skills

Key Skills are no longer active. The final Certification deadline was 30/09/2013. ALAN Registrations – deadline for final registrations for ALAN was 31/08/2013. Deadline for Certifications for ALAN is 31/08/2015.

Board 15 is used for ALAN basedata.

The basedata which is supplied by the boards does not contain certification information so has no values. This of course means that it is not included in the PI calculations. However, Capita supplies “proxy” basedata before the Summer result season which include these missing values and therefore update the PI values with your ALAN data.

The “proxy” basedata will be posted on our website prior to exams results day in August.

International Baccalaureate

At the time of writing there is no basedata supplied for IB exams. The IB is much like the Diploma and Asset languages in that the components are recognised as qualifications in their own right. Therefore the courses need to be created and managed in Course Manager. Please liaise with the person responsible for managing curriculum in your school or contact the Service Desk in the usual manner for assistance.

Herts for Learning


COURSES & NUMBERS REPORT

This report has been made available to schools via the SITSS website. This has probably already been downloaded but if you are unable to locate this report please contact the Service desk for support.

This report will give you a list of the Current Courses in your school and will be needed when you come to linking the Exam Awards to the correct course.

Running the Report.

1. In SIMS, click on Reports | Run.

2. Expand the Course Classification folder.

3. Double click on the Course Classification folder.

4. Select the SITSS Courses & Classes for Y12 & Y13 report and click the Run (green arrow at top of report browse screen).

5. Set the ‘Start Date is after’ value – e.g. 01/09/2013.

6. Specify the Class Value – e.g. 12 for Year 12.

7. Click OK.

8. The report will open in Word.

Using the Report

The report will list all the Courses with Classes in your school.

Herts for Learning


Use Save As to save the report to a location of your choice.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) requires Learning Aim information to be submitted via the school census return for schools with a sixth form. This information will be used to calculate sixth form funding.

To ensure the school receives the correct funding for your Post 16 courses it is vital that the information recorded in the School Census via Course Manager matches with the basedata in Exams Organiser. By using this report to check that courses and awards are linked appropriately will ensure data robustness. This document should be used by the Exams Officer and the person responsible for the Post 16 part of the School Census. The Heads of Departments should also be consulted so they can confirm that the correct Exam Board has been identified for each course.

Please refer to Post 16 Autumn Census documentation posted on our website for more information.

Herts for Learning


FAQs

Q. On trying to detach an element from an award, I receive validation error “Element is not associated with another Award”. Why?

A. You cannot detach an element from an award unless it is already attached to another award so ensure the element you are trying to detach is attached to another award first.

Q. How important is the QCA code for Course Manager?

A. The QCA code is vital to ensure results are shown in Course Manager. It is therefore worth checking that all awards have a QCA code.

Q. Does amending basedata structure affect any results in exams organiser?

A. No. The results are held no matter how the awards are linked/structured.

Q. How do I know which elements/components should be attached to which award? Eg. Maths and Further Maths.

A. Exams officers should refer to the manuals provided by the exam boards and should also liaise with subject leaders.

Q. Results not pulling into Course Manager – I have checked basedata and all looks as it should. Why could this be?

A. It may be a simple case of having to download fresh basedata from the exam board(s) website as this is often updated after initial issue.

Q. Can I delete duplicate/obsolete awards from exams organiser?

A. Yes. Viewing awards via Tools > School Setup > Exam Award will show all awards ever used in exams organiser. If you have duplicates, you can select the award that is unused (ensure no course linked) and select the minus icon from the toolbar to remove it. Contact the Service desk for further advice on deleting awards.

Any queries should be logged with the SITSS Service desk on 01438-844777, option 1, option 1

guide to structuring basedata in examinations · pdf fileherts for learning doc ref s1130 1 of...

Documents