ICT Services 4 Education

 

Creating Google NSIX Accounts for Students and Staff

If you have Groupcall Xporter set up to connect to our database, ICT Solutions will automatically process your school's data once a day without you having to manually send us any files. You should receive a list of usernames and passwords via Anycomms Plus every Monday.  If you require this before your next download then you can request a new set of account details files for your school via https://password.nsix.org.uk/sso/webcall.aspx. If you request a list of usernames and password via this page you should receive your files via Anycomms Plus within the hour. 

For schools which are not Groupcall Xporter-enabled, ICT Solutions has automated the account generation service so you can easily provide the required data in tab file format. Your tab files will be processed and you will receive your account details back via Anycomms Plus within a couple of hours maximum.

Important: Please note that the pupil and staff data we hold needs to be kept up to date, so we require schools to send in up to date tab files with pupil and staff details at least once per calendar month and whenever there are any changes to staff or pupil details. Failure to do so will result in the suspension and deletion of accounts.  Please note that tab files should always contain a complete list of all pupils and staff who currently require Google NSIX accounts at your school. 

 


How to send staff and pupil data and receive account details (usernames and passwords) using Anycomms+.

1) Pupil and Staff data export files must be generated from the management information system in use at your school. The most commonly used MI systems are listed below along with guidance on how to produce the staff and pupil tab files that we require. If your system is not listed then you will have to manually create the files using the reporting tools provided by your MIS. Full details of the tab file data format required can be found on the following page 'Tab Files - MIS Data Export for Creation of Accounts'

 

MIS Guidance
SIMS/Groupcall Xporter schools

If Groupcall Xporter is installed then SIMS is automatically synced with our identity management system every night, and you do not need to do anything. 

If Groupcall Xporter is not installed at your school then you will need to create staff and pupil tab files and send them to us via Anycomms+

Bromcom Creating and uploading staff and pupil tab files with Bromcom. 
Pupil Asset Creating and uploading staff and pupil tab files with Pupil Asset. 
Integris

Creating and uploading staff tab files with RM Integris

Creating and uploading pupil tab files with RM Integris

ScholarPack Creating and uploading staff and pupil tab files with ScholarPack
Arbor

Creating and uploading staff tab files with Arbor

Creating and uploading pupil tab files with Arbor

Any other MIS Manual Creation

Key Fields

These fields are used to uniquely identify an individual. Without these fields the system cannot create an account for a pupil or staff member.  Other fields in your import files can be left blank but remember to keep the same number and ordering of columns as defined on the following page: 'Tab Files - MIS Data Export for Creation of Accounts' 

Key fields for Pupils

  • School DfE
  • Forename
  • Surname
  • DOB
  • UPN

Key fields for Staff

  • School DfE
  • Forename
  • Surname
  • DOB

 

2) These files must be sent to ICT Solutions using the AVCO AnyComms secure data transfer service.

Important: Please note that files need to be named with the following format:

####_Staff.tab

####_Pupils.tab

where #### is your school's 4 or 6 digit DfE code e.g.  1234_Staff.tab or 9261234_Staff.tab . If they are not named correctly then they will not be processed. 

The files need to be of file type .tab or .txt.

 

View the following page for guidance on 'How to upload NSIX Tab Files via Anycomms'.

Once uploaded, the files will then go through an automated process, and once complete, a new Anycomms Plus download of email accounts will be returned to you.

 

3) Please note:

  • All pupils must have a UPN recorded. Temporary or blank UPN's will be rejected.  
  • Staff details must include Date of Birth, Forename and Surname and if possible, DfE Teacher Number.  If a staff member has a change of name and their DfE Teacher Number is not recorded then it is possible that they will be set up with a new account and their old account will be deactivated. 

4) A list of all your school's accounts for pupils and staff will be exported and placed on Anycomms+ alongside any errors that the processing picked up.

Filename Notes
XXXX_Staff_Emails.csv Including username, email address and password.
XXXX_Pupil_Emails.csv Including username, email address and password.
XXXX_Staff_Errors.csv Including any errors which have occurred when trying to set up new accounts or update existing accounts.
XXXX_Pupil_Errors.csv Including any errors which have occurred when trying to set up new accounts or update existing accounts.

Important: It is very important that you review any error files you receive. If errors are not fixed then accounts can be suspended and deleted. For details about the error messages returned to schools please read the Norfolk identity system error messages explanatory page. 

 

Pupil Email file (XXXX_Pupil_Email.csv)

There are 14 fields included in the CSV file and these are:

Firstname Surname             Date of Birth UPN Year group Norfolk ID Password NSIX email address
Fred Smith             01/01/2000 A000000000000 5 fsmith0nr0 mypassword fsmith0nr0@nsix.org.uk
Joe Bloggs             01/01/2002 B000000000000 3 jbloggs0nr0 newpassword jbloggs0nr0@nsix.org.uk
 

Pupil export file columns:

  • Firstname
  • Surname
  • 6 blank fields (please ignore these)
  • Date of Birth
  • UPN
  • Year group
  • Norfolk ID/Username - this is used to create the Google NSIX email address
  • Password - for logging on to Google
  • NSIX Google email address

 

Staff Email file (XXXX_Staff_Email.csv)

There are 13 fields included in the CSV file and these are:

Firstname Surname             Date of Birth Teacher Number Norfolk ID Password NSIX email address
Annie Smith             01/01/1970 99/12345 asmith0nr0 onepassword asmith0nr0@nsix.org.uk
John Brown             01/01/1975   jbrown0nr0 setpassword jbrown0nr0@nsix.org.uk
Staff export file columns:
  • Firstname
  • Surname
  • 6 blank fields (please ignore these)
  • Date of Birth
  • Teacher number (if provided)
  • Norfolk ID/Username - this is used to create the Google NSIX email address
  • Password - for logging on to Google
  • NSIX Google email address

 5) Your school should then use AVCO AnyComms again to pick these files up.

 

There is no limit on the amount of times this process can be followed. If you have errors reported back and these relate to invalid data which you can correct then you can update your MIS and send a new tab file in to correct the errors. 

 


 

 

Data Cleansing

It is important to ensure clean data is stored in your MI systems. For instance, we still get a few examples of ‘Joe Bloggs (aka James)’, there is a ‘known as’ field in most MI systems that should be used instead.  We have also seen differences in how names are separated. For multiple names within the same field it is suggested schools use spaces to separate forename from middle names and for double barrelled surnames, a hyphen (dash) to separate both elements. These suggestions will help to eliminate any rejections or duplicate accounts and promote consistency.

 


 

Name Changes

The system is configured to automatically detect name changes for pupils when the UPN and date of birth match, and will detect a name change for staff where a Teacher Number is specified and the date of birth matches. When a change of name is detected the user's username and associated NSIX email address will be changed. They will retain the same NSIX Google account but it will be renamed and accessed using their new email address. However, they can continue to receive emails addressed to their old email address for 1 month after the name change. After this time they can only receive emails sent to their new address. 

If a member of staff without a Teacher Number has a change of surname then it is not possible for our system to establish a complete match with an existing account and as a result sometimes a new account can be created and the existing account will be suspended. If the member of staff wants to continue to use their original account then you should contact the ICT Solutions service desk or email ict@norfolk.gov.uk. However, a check is also made to see if there is an existing teacher account with the same forename and date of birth at the school and if this is the case then an error will be returned: 

Staff details matched with existing account on forename and date of birth and school affiliation but not surname - probably a surname change. Needs confirmation. 

If you see this error in your staff error file then please contact us to confirm whether this is a valid name change for the account. If it is a valid name change then we will apply this to the account.  

 



 

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