Producing a CTF export in SIMS

Note - depending on your version of SIMS, some screens may have slightly different wording to those shown here

Step 1 - Open the Export CTF Screen

Inside SIMS, from the menu on the top bar, navigate to Routines > Data Out > Export CTF.

The CTF type may be described under the menu as “Export CTF”, “Export General CTF” or “Export Partial CTF” depending on your version of SIMS.

 This will bring up the Export CTF screen.

Step 2 - Pick the data to export

In “1 Data to be Exported” make sure that only the following boxes are ticked:

• Student Basic Details
• SEN Information

Any other boxes must be un-ticked.

You can enter a description in the large text box – this is entirely optional, and not present on all versions on SIMS.

Step 3 - Set Student Options

In the part of the screen headed “2 Student Options”, set the Effective Date as today, set View as “Current Students” and tick “Include students already exported”.

Now click “Refresh Students”

Step 4 - Selecting Students

Below the previous part, in “3 Students” we must select the students to import into the NFER Analysis Tool.

Click the arrow beside “Year Grp” and select years 1-6. They can all be exported at once, you can upload fewer year groups, but do not upload year groups outside this range or the uploader will not be able to process the CTF file.

The children you want to upload will now be displayed. 

To select them all, right click in the first cell under “Destination LA/Other” then click “Select All”.

All the students’ names will now be highlighted. Click in the first row of the “Destination LA/Other” field and choose “England” from the list.

All the rows should now have England in the Destination LA/Other column; if they don’t please repeat this step.

Click the Export CTF button.

Step 5 - Saving and locating the file

When the Exception Log appears, close the CTF screen; you may need to click “Yes” if SIMS asks you to check that “Address Tidy” has run recently. 

Once the CTF has been created, a message will be displayed with the name of the file created. The CTF name will have the format:

XXXXXXX_CTF_ENGLLLL_00Y.xml   (where XXXXXXX is your school’s DFE number). 

Please make a note of the file name and click “OK”.

The file has now been created and should be stored in your usual CTF export folder. This will be an location on your computer or network, depending on your SIMS installation. The location is often “C:\SIMS\START\CTFOUT\”. 

If you don’t have access to the location, or you are unsure where the file is saved, your local IT Support team and/or SIMS administrator will be able to support you.

Step 6 - Uploading the file to the NFER Analysis Tool

Once you know where your file is saved, you can upload it to the NFER Analysis Tool.

The help article here can assist you if you are unsure of how to do this.