How to Add/Update Students via CTF Import

In this guide, we will show you how to ;

• Important Information
• Add Students to your system via a CTF Import and how to update Student records with a CTF Import.
• Sibling Match
• Duplicate Contacts

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Access: The minimum permissions required to access CTF Import are found in the Framework Module of Config>Setup>Roles & Permissions.

See also: How to add a new student.

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Important Information

Please read this section before following the steps in this guide;

Throughout this guide we refer to ‘Complete Missing Data‘ and ‘Overwrite Existing Data‘ when referring to using a CTF Import to update information for Students currently on roll. Overwriting will replace the data that is present for that Student in the system with the data included in the CTF where the information is different, so should be approached carefully. While Complete Missing Data will use the CTF data to complete any missing parts of the Student’s record.

CTF Imports match based on UPN Number so if using the CTF Import to update information about Existing Students please ensure that the UPN is recorded correctly on the Student Profile before completing the CTF Import.

June 2026 CTF Import Update – SEN Need Records

When importing CTF files, the following rules will be applied to SEN Need records:

SEN record exists with a Start Date

• If an SEN record exists and contains a Start Date, and an associated SEN Need record is present without a Start Date, the system will use the latest Start Date from the SEN record when importing the SEN Need.
• Otherwise if a start date is present for both the SEN record and the SEN Need, these will be used by the system as they are in the file.

No valid SEN Start Date available

• If no SEN record exists, or the SEN record does not contain a Start Date, and no SEN Need Start Date exists, any SEN Need records present in the file will be ignored during the import for that pupil, and you will need to enter this information yourself manually.

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CTF Import

Navigate to the Student List page. There is no need to select any Students.

Select Actions then CTF Import.

Press Browse to select the CTF file from its location on your PC.

Once you’ve selected the file, use the Tick Boxes to choose which information you want to Import.

If Student Contacts is selected please see the section on Duplicate Contacts in this guide.

If you are using the CTF Import to update information for existing students, you will then need to choose whether to Complete Missing Data or Overwirte Existing Data.

This only applies when you are adding data for existing Students so this can be ignored if the CTF does not contain any information regarding your existing Students.

Complete the remaining information, if you are importing new Students pay particular attention to ensuring the Admision Date is correct, once you’re happy press Next

On the next screen, you will see a summary of the Students you will be importing information for, it will automatically fill whether to Match Existing, Create New or Don’t Import depending on the options you selected on the previous screen. You can change this using the dropdowns on the right hand side if required.

• Create New – This will create a new Student with a new Admission Number and add the Data contained within the CTF File.

• Match Existing – This will match to a Student on the MIS, if the data matches you can select the Student from the dropdown list shown bellow. If the MIS recognises matching Student information, it will match the Students automatically.
• Don’t Import – This does not create a new Student.

After you have selected your Import Option, click the Import button to complete the process.

Once the CTF Import is complete you will receive a Success message, click OK.

If the Student has been imported either from an English School to a Welsh School or from a Welsh School to an English School, where the Attendance codes differ, they will be mapped to the equivalent Attendance Code in the region of the school that is importing the CTF. If this happens, you will see the following message, click Continue.

When a school imports a CTF that includes Free School Meals where a pupil has left another school, acountry badge displaying ENG, SCT, WLS, or NIR, will populate in the Meal & Transport section in the Free School Meals row in the Student Profile. The badge only shows if the UK country in the CTF is different from the receiving school.

The country badge will also appear in the Meal & Transport popup under the Free School Meals tab when users select Click to Edit FSM Eligibility.

Sibling Match

February 2025 Update: To streamline the student import process, both the ATF (Admissions Transfer File) and CTF (Common Transfer File) imports will now follow the same procedure, with the added benefit of automatically linking new students to existing potential siblings in the MIS.

The process will proceed as follows:

After selecting Actions > ATF Import or CTF Import, the initial popup will now include a Student Siblings checkbox, which is checked by default. When ticked, any students that meet three or more of the following criteria will be automatically matched as a potential sibling to the new student and users can decide whether to link the match when it comes to the import stage:

• Home phone numbers that match
• Parental addresses that match
• Parental email addresses that match
• Parental names that match
• Sibling match

Users will click Next to see the list of students in the file.

The following screen allows users to review the list of students in the file and decide whether to Match Existing (default), Create New or Do Not Import in the Import Options column for the individual students. Users will click Next to see the list of potential siblings for the students in the file.

In the third and final step, the students in the file are matched to potential siblings already in the MIS. The table displays the following information:

• ATF/CTF Student – Student in the ATF/CTF file.
• Potential Sibling – Existing student in the MIS with one or more Matched Criteria.
• Address – Existing student’s address.
• Matched Criteria – Score out of a maximum of five matches (click on the “i” to see the details).
• Matched Criteria Status – “Yes” in green (strong match) if the match meets three or more Matched Criteria, and “No” in red (weak match) if the match meets two or fewer Matched Criteria. 
• Import Options – This column determines whether a Potential Sibling will be linked when the Import button is clicked. The row will display either Link (highlighted green) or Do Not Link (highlighted red). Note: Users can also bulk Link/Unlink by selecting the row(s) and clicking the Link and Do Not Link buttons. 
• Actions – Update the Import Options column per row by clicking on Link or Unlink.

Users can also choose to Export As the contents of the table to Copy, Excel and CSV.

Finally users will click Import as current functionality.

Duplicate Contacts

September 2026 Update: The user can now review and resolve potential duplicate contacts during the ATF and CTF import process, helping to prevent duplicate records and improve contact data accuracy.

• A new contact matching step has been added to the ATF/CTF Import process.
• Contacts in the import file are compared with existing MIS contacts to identify potential duplicates. 
• Potential matches can be reviewed and resolved before completing the import. 
• Existing MIS contact details can be updated using the information provided in the contact file.

Note: Contact matching is available when Student Contacts is selected at the start of the import.

The contact matching screen displays potential duplicate contacts and matching MIS records, including:

• A summary banner showing how many contacts require review.
• Unresolved file contacts whose Surname and at least one of the following fields matches an existing MIS contact:
  • Name
  • Phone No
  • Email
  • Address
  • Postcode

• A side-by-side comparison of file and MIS contacts details.
  • Matching information is highlighted in green.
  • Mismatched information is highlighted in red.
  • Multiple potential matches are ranked by match strength where applicable.
  • Linked Students associated with the MIS contact are displayed.
• File contacts with no potential MIS match are not displayed on the contact matching screen. They will be imported as new contacts automatically.  

All potential matches must be resolved before the import can proceed. These actions can be reviewed and modified before selecting Import and are only committed when the Import button is clicked.

For each unmatched and unresolved contacts, choose one of the following actions:

• Link
• Update existing & Link / Update (label varies depending on whether the contact is already linked to the student in the MIS)
• Create as a new MIS contact
• Do not import this contact

Link

• Will link the student to the selected MIS contact when the import is finalised.
• Does not update existing MIS contact details.
• The file contact is marked as Linked and and moved to Resolved.

Update Existing & Link

• Will link the student to the selected MIS contact with the option to update the MIS contact’s details using information from the file contact, when the import is finalised.
• Opens the Contact Update popup so you can choose which fields to update before linking. 
• Selected fields will be updated with data from the file contact.
• Unselected fields will keep their existing MIS contact values.

• The file contact is marked as Updated & Linked and moved to Resolved.

Create as a New MIS Contact

• Will create a new contact using the imported data.
• Will link the new contact to the associated student.
• The file contact is marked as New contact and moved to Resolved.

Do Not Import This Contact

• Will exclude the file contact from the import.
• The file contact is marked as Skipped and moved to Resolved.

Note: Confirmation is required when selecting Create as a new MIS contact or Do not import this contact.

Update

• Update Existing & Link Label changes to Update when the contact is already linked to the student in the MIS. 
• Available when the match is less than 100% and not 6/6.
• Allows you to update selected MIS contact details using data from the file contact.
• Will not create a new link.

• Opens the Contact Update popup so you can choose which fields to update before linking. 
• Selected fields will be updated with data from the file contact.
• Unselected fields will keep their existing MIS contact values.

• The file contact is marked as Updated & Linked and moved to Resolved. 

The Bulk Actions menu allows you to apply actions to multiple contacts at once. You can choose from the following options:

• Skip and do not import Unresolved Contacts: All unresolved contacts will be skipped and will not appear in either the Resolved or Unresolved lists. If you select Import, only contacts that have been manually resolved, automatically resolved, or have no matching record and will be created as new contacts will be imported.

Note: Use this option to import the resolved contacts now and return later to review and import any contacts that remain unresolved.

• Reject Unresolved matches and create new contacts instead : All unresolved contacts will be imported as new contacts. They will appear in the Resolved list with a status of New Contact. If you select Import, all manually resolved contacts, automatically resolved contacts, contacts with no matches, and these newly created contacts will be imported.
• Reset All Resolved Contacts: Removes all actions applied to manually resolved contacts and returns them to the Unresolved list, allowing them to be reviewed again.

Change Decisions Before Import

Resolution choices can be changed at any time before the import is completed.

To change a decision:

1. Enable Show Resolved.
2. Select the contact.
3. Click Change.

The contact is returned to an unresolved state, allowing a different action to be selected. 

Automatically Resolved Matches

Contacts are automatically resolved when the MIS contact and the file contact fields match. These contacts:

• Appear when Show Resolved is enabled.
• Display a Matched & Linked status.
• Are read-only and require no action.

Complete the Import

Once all potential matches have been resolved, the import can be completed. 

Note: Resolution choices are not applied immediately. All contact creation, updates, linking, and exclusions are processed when the import is completed.

You will receive a success message.

A notification will appear.