IMPORT / EXPORT

IMPORTS

CLASSES - Grades/Classes/HMRooms
This button will import Grade/Class/Homeroom information from either a CDL (comma
delimited file) or an Excel file. Data fields must be in the order listed.
The name of each Grades/Classes/Homeroom must be unique.
Required Information is as follows and also must be in this field order:
Grade/Class/Homeroom - the name assigned to each grade, class or homeroom
Teacher First Name
Teacher Last Name

Students
This button will import student data from either a CDL (comma delimited file) or an Excel
file and in the order as listed
No duplicate data will be imported based on the student ID#
Required information is as follows and also must be in this field order:
Student ID #
Grade/Class/Homeroom - the name assigned to each grade, class or homeroom
Student First Name
Student Last Name
DOB (Date of Birth) MM/DD/YYYY (OPTIONAL not required)

Volunteers
This button will import volunteer data from either a CDL (comma delimited file) or an
Excel file and in the order as listed
No duplicate data will be imported based on the concatenation (joining) of the Volunteer
First Name and Volunteer Last Name (i.e. GeorgeWashington)
Required information is as follows and also must be in this field order:
Volunteer First Name
Volunteer Last Name
Family ID # (OPTIONAL not required)

Parents/Guardians
See separate Parent/Guardian Instructions and the sample P/G Excel templates.

Faculty & Staff

This button will import Faculty & Staff data from either a CDL (comma delimited file) or
an Excel file and in the order as listed.
No duplicate data will be imported based on the employee's social security number.
Required information is as follows and also must be in this field order
First Name
Last Name
Social Security # (must be in the following format 123456789)
Job Classification
*** Note -- You may create up to a maximum of 30 different job classifications

Known Import Issues

The Classes must be created or imported BEFORE students are entered or imported, otherwise
the relationship between the two tables (Classes and Students) will not be recognized.

The Grade/Class/HMRoom name used in the Classes table and the Grade/Class/HMRoom
name used in Students table MUST BE IDENTICAL, otherwise the relationship will not be
recognized.

Duplicate Grade/Class/HMRoom names in the Classes table are not allowed. The
Grade/Class/HMRoom must be unique. For example, to create two or more
Grade/Class/HMRooms for the same grade (i.e grade 6); create "Gr6_Wilson; Gr6_Smith,
Gr6_Jones, etc" or something similar.

Grade/Class/HMRoom names -- Recommend that names be something currently in use by the
school. For example, "GR_1_Wilson" may make more sense than using a room # or another
less clear descriptive name. Even though the teacher's name is also a required "separate" field,
adding (joining it) to the Class name will make the drop down pick list more "user friendly" when
students check in and out.

Student ID#'s ARE REQUIRED and MUST BE UNIQUE for each student. Recommend that the
same student ID#'s issued by the school district be used in School Check IN. Printing of the
student ID# on passes is an option and may be disabled.

Students must be created or imported BEFORE parent/guardians are entered or imported,
otherwise the relationship between the two tables (Students and Parent/Guardians) will not be
recognized.

All punctuation marks, such as periods, dashes, slashes, quotes and spaces, question marks,
pound sign, parenthesis, percent signs, etc. MUST BE REMOVED from the source data file
(file you are importing data from). Having any of these items in your source file will impair the
import. The simplest method to remove these characters is to use the Find & Replace tool
found in Excel, or Notepad. In a csv file (comma delimited file, CDL), commas are required, but
only after the data in each field as a field separator. Commas inside the field data (i.e. Geor,ge,
Washington,) will cause the import to fail. The comma should separate the data fields (i.e.
George,Washington,).

If data (text) inside a field must be separated for legibility purposes, use an underscore (i.e.
Geor_ge,Washington,). An underscore will generally not affect an import.

In most csv (CDL or comma delimited files), the most common field separator is a comma, but
often times the tilde symbol ( ~ ) is seen. We recommend in these cases that the Find &
Replace function be used, replacing the tilde with a comma (i.e. George~Washington~ becomes
George,Washington,)
Excel Imports

Excel file formats are slightly different in each release of Excel (95, 97, 2000 & 2003).
Generally, School Check IN can import each of these formats. Often times when exporting to
Excel, "hidden" data is added. This "hidden" data will impair the import process.

If an Excel import fails, try the following:
1. Place cursor (I-bar) in cell A1.
2. Press & hold the shift key. While keeping the shift key depressed and using the right
arrow key , select the remaining data cells moving across the row until all data in
row 1 is selected (highlighted).
3. Keep the shift key pressed and using the down arrow key , select the remaining
data cells moving down until all data is selected (highlighted).
4. Once all data is selected (highlighted), release the shift key.
5. Click the copy command
6. Open a new worksheet
7. Place the cursor (I-bar) in cell A 1of the new worksheet and paste the selected data
cells into the new worksheet.
8. Save new worksheet
9. Close Excel
10. Try importing the new worksheet.

The attempt here is to copy ONLY the data and not the worksheet into a new worksheet. Trying
to select the data by clicking outside the row or column will not work. This procedure will select
the entire row or column, including any "hidden" data

Saving Excel as a "csv" file. A "csv" is also referred to as a CDL (comma delimited file or a
text file). When saving an Excel file as a csv file, Excel appears to save the file as a csv file, but
the save process isn't finished until the file is closed. Click the "X" box and Excel will prompt
you that the file "is not an Excel format. Do you wish to save your changes?"

The syntax in this Excel message is tricky. Clicking YES will save the file in the Excel format,
not csv format. One must click NO to complete the save as a csv format.

Tab delimited files -- School Check IN does not import tab delimited files. Opening a tab
delimited file in Excel appears similar to a comma delimited file. Often users are confused by
the file types (tab and csv) and think a tab will work because they opened it in Excel as a tab
delimited file and then save it using Excel as a csv file. This will not work. The source file
exported by your school management software application must be exported as either an "Excel
file" or a "comma delimited file" and not a tab delimited file.

TIP: Many schools do not have or maintain a parent/guardian file. This file contains the list of
individuals who are authorized to pick a student up from school. If your school does not have
this information in an active file, then create this file. A simple method is to use Excel. Enter
data in each cell Student ID#, Parent/Guard First Name, Parent/Guard Last Name,
Relationship to Student (this last item is optional).


Just keep adding new data or modifying
existing data as new information
becomes available. Run another
import using this Excel file to add new
data or update existing data in School
Check IN. This Excel file will become
your Parent/Guardian source file.
CSV (comma delimited) Files

Examples of csv files: Note, a "comma" separates the fields and field headers are not
used. CSV files may also be referred to as text files, CDL files and on occasion ASCII files.

Classes
Fourth Grade,Susan,Anthony
Sixth Grade,Rosalyn,Carter
First Grade,Thomas,Jefferson
Fifth Grade,Ronald,Regan

Students
20002,Sixth Grade,Edward,Abbott
13340,Fifth Grade,Larry,Arnett
60009,First Grade,Jack,Bedell
13123,Fifth Grade,Mark,Belfeld

Faculty & Staff (remove dashes from social security number)
Mary,Allen,444444444,Cleriacl
Katherine,Wilson,111111111,Administrator
Christopher,Columbus,222222222,Teacher
Jackie,Kennedy,333333333,Substitute

Guardians
20002,Abbott, Ed,Father
20002,Abbott,Sally,Mother
13340,Arenet,Katherine,Grandmother
60009,Bedell,Anna, Mother

Volunteers
George W,Carver,
Bonnie,Chambers,
Hillary,Clinton,
Henry,Ford,


UPDATES
One question we often receive is "How often should an import be done?" This generally refers
to importing students and parent/guardians. The answer depends on how much your student
roster changes. Once you learn and understand the import process, importing new students is
very easy.

School Check IN imports new students very well. We recommend that the entire student roster
be imported again to add the new students. This can be done daily, weekly, monthly or as often
as required. This process is very unique to School Check IN, because only the NEW students
and any CHANGED data for existing students will be imported. Don't worry about duplicating
students, this will not occur.

Plus, School Check IN does a comparison check between your existing data and the new
import. All students that are not in the new import are identified. These are likely students who
have left the school and can be immediately removed from your active student list during this
new import (update) process.

Classes Table
Students Table
School Check IN uses two tables CLASSES and STUDENTS. The link between the fields is the
name of the Grade/Class/HMRoom (see yellow area) in each table. The data entered for the
name of a Grade/Class/HMRoom in the CLASSES table MUST BE EXACTLY the same as the
name of the Grade/Class/HMRoom entered into the STUDENTS Table.
CLASSES Table

Grade/Class/HMRoom Name
STUDENTS Table

Grade/Class/HMRoom
Name
=
When entering data or importing data, ALWAYS enter or import the data for the CLASSES
Table first (before entering or importing data for the Students Table). If done in reverse,
students before classes, then the link (relationship) will not be established.
L
i
n
k
e
d

F
i
e
l
d
s

CLASSES and STUDENTS --- The Relationship


STUDENTS and Parent/Guardians --- The Relationship
Parent/Guardian Table
School Check IN uses two tables STUDENTS and Parent/Guardian. The link between the fields
is the Student ID# in each table. The Student ID# entered for each student in the CLASSES
table MUST BE EXACTLY the same as the Student ID# entered into the Parents/Guardian Table.
STUDENT Table

Student ID#
Parent/Guardian Table

Student ID#
=
When entering data or importing data, ALWAYS enter or import the data for the Students
Table first (before entering or importing data for the Parent/Guardian Table). If done in
reverse, Parents/Guardians before Students, then the link (relationship) will not be established.
L
i
n
k
e
d

F
i
e
l
d
s

Students Table