2021 Note

This patch from 2020 is being re-posted here on 05/08/2021.

This is 2020 information, but if you did not patch your system in 2020, you need to apply the 2020 Patch et al from here prior to applying the 2021 ones.

Graham Kidd

05/08/2021

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) released a set of updated requirements mid August, which required us to implement a set of changes to the existing STATS data export process, to align with the new requirements.

We have now completed the necessary developments and these are being made available to you as a special patch, for you to be able to download and apply the changes to your Synergetic environment directly without needing to arrange for an upgrade.

There are slightly different versions of the patch covering certain versions of Synergetic.  The different versions and download locations for each are noted below.

Download and Installation

There are specific versions of the patch, depending on your version of Synergetic.

Synergetic v70 (any build)

Synergetic v69.29 to v69.53 (inclusive)

Synergetic v69.04 to v69.28 (inclusive)

Steps to apply the changes:

1. Use the appropriate link for the version of the patch that matches with your Synergetic installation.  

You can verify which version/build by clicking the Help -> About menu option within Synergetic, referring to the “Build Number” entry.

1. Download the contents of the folder, and save the files to a temporary place on your network

1. Unzip/copy the StuXie.exe standalone program, into your network’s Synergetic application folder to the same location as the SynMain.exe program file. 

The exact folder location can be checked in the Help -> About menu option within Synergetic, referring to the “SynMain.exe Path” entry.

If you already have a StuXie.exe program in this folder, replace it with this new version.

1. Unzip the database patcher to a temporary location on your SQL Server, and then run the patcher exe file.

1. Follow the prompts on the database patcher interface, using a SQL account with sufficient rights to make changes (such as ‘sa’ or similar).

Running the STATS Export

1. Review/Amend Interface Settings mappings

1. Open Interface Settings using the System -> Interface Settings menu option (in either windows or web client).

1. Select the new AUSGOVSTATS option.

1. Review the lookup table mappings for your system, to confirm the mappings exist and are correct, making any adjustments as necessary.

1. Run the Export

1. Within the Synergetic windows application, click the Students -> Student Data Import/Export menu option.

1. A message should appear indication a standalone version of the program is detected and asking to run this instead – answer Yes to run the standalone version.
   1. If you do not get this message, then the updated StuXie.exe file may not have been copied to the correct location on the network; check that this has occurred correctly.

1. Within the standalone program, navigate to the STATS tab, enter appropriate selection field values as required.

1. Run the export to generate the interim spreadsheet with data to be copied, open this file and copy the entire set of contents.

1. Open the DESE STATS Cohort Data Collection Tool, and paste the data in according to the instructions.

The tool can be downloaded from the SchoolsHUB page for STATS data collection (link in the Additional Information section of this email).

Special note: During our testing we have identified an issue with the instructions within the DESE template. 

The template instructions indicate to delete a column prior to pasting; however we have identified that this step does not match the structure of the downloaded template as at time of this communication, and if followed can result in data being copied to incorrect columns and subsequent errors.

We recommend you review the structure of the Cohort Data Collection Tool columns compared to the data generated by Synergetic, and determine whether it is appropriate to delete anything before you proceed.

If you paste the data in and the columns are incorrect, the validation button will detect errors to let you know to clear the content and try again.

1. Follow the instructions within the DESE Cohort Data Collection Tool, to validate your data, then generate the final output and upload to SchoolsHUB.

Additional Information

The SchoolsHUB source page for STATS data collection is linked below.  This site contains the special Cohort Data Collection Tool, that will be needed for you to generate the final submission for upload.

https://schools.education.gov.au/SchoolsHub/articlehelp/?subjectid=735f2bde-0efc-e811-9158-02720401ef44

We have updated the Synergetic User Hub documentation for the STATS data export to reflect our changes to the Synergetic export process.

https://wiki.synergetic.net.au/display/SYNMAIN/Exporting+the+STATS+file

There is a Discourse thread containing the discussion to date for the 2020 STATS changes – additional questions or feedback is welcomed to this thread.

https://discourse.synergetic.net.au/t/2020-student-attendance-data-collection-stats/4358