OpenEMIS Core

User Guide

Last updated: 3 July 2014 (r1)

Acknowledgment
OpenEMIS was conceived and developed by UNESCO and is supported jointly
through a technical collaboration with Community Systems Foundation (CSF).

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Contents

Chapter 1: Getting started ................................................................ 5

Introduction ............................................................................................................ 5
Overview of main features ..................................................................................... 5
Comparison with other OpenEMIS products.......................................................... 7
System requirements ............................................................................................. 8
Accessing OpenEMIS Core ................................................................................... 9
Navigating the database home page ................................................................... 11

Chapter 2: Adding and managing institution data ....................... 13

Navigating the Institutions module ....................................................................... 13
Adding a new institution ....................................................................................... 17
General category .............................................................................................. 21
Details category................................................................................................ 23
Attendance category ........................................................................................ 32
Assessments category ..................................................................................... 33
Behaviours category......................................................................................... 33
Finance category .............................................................................................. 34
Totals category ................................................................................................. 34
Quality .............................................................................................................. 37
Reports category .............................................................................................. 37

Chapter 3: Adding and managing student data ........................... 39

Navigating the Students module .......................................................................... 39
Adding a new student .......................................................................................... 42

Chapter 4: Adding and managing staff data ................................. 45

Navigating the Staff module ................................................................................. 45
Adding a new staff ............................................................................................... 48

Chapter 5: Viewing and downloading reports .............................. 52

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Navigating the Reports module............................................................................ 53

Chapter 6: Performing administrator functions ........................... 56

Navigating the Administration module ................................................................. 56
System setup ....................................................................................................... 57
Administrative boundaries ................................................................................ 58
Education Structure .......................................................................................... 62
National Assessments ...................................................................................... 63
Field Options .................................................................................................... 63
Translations ...................................................................................................... 67
System Configurations ..................................................................................... 68
Accounts & Security ............................................................................................. 69
Users ................................................................................................................ 69
Groups.............................................................................................................. 71
Roles .................................................................................................................... 72
National Denominators ........................................................................................ 73
Data Processing................................................................................................... 74
Build ................................................................................................................. 74
Generate ......................................................................................................... 75
Export ............................................................................................................... 76
Processes......................................................................................................... 77
Database.............................................................................................................. 78
Other categories .................................................................................................. 78

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Getting started
Introduction

The OpenEMIS initiative aims to deploy a high-quality Education Management

Information System (EMIS) designed to collect and report data on schools,
students, teachers and staff. The system was conceived by UNESCO to be a
royalty-free system that can be easily customized to meet the specific needs of
member countries.
The OpenEMIS mission is to support UNESCO member countries in developing
common database standards for tracking national education indicators, containing
high-quality data with adequate coverage and depth to sustain good governance
around the agenda of achieving national and international priorities for education.
OpenEMIS was initially developed by UNESCO. The initiative is coordinated
by UNESCO with technical support provided by the OpenEMIS Lab, a programme
1
of Community Systems Foundation .
The OpenEMIS initiative has developed a suite of open source products which
address the entire spectrum of education data management needs of different
stakeholders. OpenEMIS Core is an open source EMIS that facilitates the
collection, processing and management of education information. OpenEMIS Core
is a customizable and integrated web application which supports the day-to-day
activities involved in managing an education system.
Using OpenEMIS Core, education stakeholders will be able to adequately monitor
and evaluate their education systems. They will also be able to easily manage
education data transactions at all administrative levels.

Overview of main features

OpenEMIS Core has been designed with the following main features.

www.communitysystemsfoundation.org
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Completely open source software

Because OpenEMIS is an open source initiative, there are no licensing
requirements or restrictions. The software is made available to countries at no cost.

Full customization options

OpenEMIS Core allows administrators to create custom fields, indicators and
reports, to respond effectively to local data reporting requirements.

Alignment with international data definitions

The database structure of OpenEMIS Core is aligned with UNESCO-developed
International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) standards to facilitate
cross-country comparisons of education indicators.

Advanced data visualization capabilities

OpenEMIS Core is integrated with Google Earth, allowing schools to be
conveniently visualized in Google Maps. Indicators can also be quickly exported
and then uploaded into DevInfo, where it can be visualized in numerous map and
graph formats.

System-generated estimates
OpenEMIS Core supports generation of reliable estimates using advanced geolocation algorithms along with data from previous years to fill in missing data gaps.

Data security
OpenEMIS Core has been designed using a comprehensive security architecture,
ensuring that all data entered into the system is encrypted and secure. All data are
hosted in a secure data warehouse. The software also relies on user-defined roles
and user permissions to help ensure data security.

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Strong technical and training support

The OpenEMIS Lab offers world-class technical and training support at all stages of
country implementation to ensure successful and sustained use.

Comparison with other OpenEMIS products

OpenEMIS Core is a software application within a larger ecosystem of OpenEMIS
information management tools, all of which integrate seamlessly with each other to
support education data management goals and objectives. The following table
provides a brief description of these various tools, to differentiate OpenEMIS Core
from its other sister products.

Product name

Description

OpenEMIS Core

An education management information system intended

for use at the ministry level that facilitates the collection,
processing and management of education information
(i.e., aggregate data for all the schools within a ministry)

OpenEMIS Survey

A survey tool that facilitates the collection of education

field data through a user-friendly mobile app and web
interface

OpenEMIS School

A school management information information system

intended for use at the school level that facilitates the
collection, processing and management of school
information

OpenEMIS Classroom

A mobile app intended for use at the classroom level

designed for teachers to facilitate the collection of data
on attendance, assessments and behaviors

OpenEMIS Visualizer

A mobile app that facilitates the analysis and

visualization of education data to support researchers,
planners and decision-makers

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OpenEMIS Analyzer

A web-based OLAP (online analytical processing) tool

designed to support analysis of education data by
facilitating the construction of user-defined queries to
produce customized datasets

For more details on any of these products, please visit www.openemis.org.

System requirements
OpenEMIS Core is a web-based application that can be used in any browser,
including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.
The product will run on most hardware configurations (Intel Core i5 processor or
greater), operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux) and databases (MySQL, SQL
Server, Oracle). Alternatively, the product can also be fully hosted at the OpenEMIS
Lab.

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Accessing OpenEMIS Core

OpenEMIS Core is a web application hosted on a web server. The application can
be accessed using any Internet browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome
or Safari, using the following URL: www.openemis.org (Fig. 1.1).

Fig.1.1 OpenEMIS home page

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To access a particular country database, enter the URL provided by the OpenEMIS
Lab. To access the demo database, click
OpenEMIS Core from the home
page (circled in red in Fig. 1.1) and then click the Demo button to go to the Login
page (Fig. 1.2).

Fig 1.3 Login page

Enter your username and password as provided by the administrator (or use the
default credentials if you are using the Demo database) and click Login to enter the
selected database.

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Navigating the database home page

The database home page consists of the following sections (Fig. 1.4).

Fig.1.4 Database home page

Callout
number

Item

Comments

Database
URL

The URL is specific to each individual OpenEMIS Core

database. Note that the URL begins with the HTTPS
communications protocol, ensuring that all data entered
into the system is encrypted and secure.

User role

The current user role is displayed here.

Top menu bar

The top menu bar contains links to Home, Account

(which allows users to update contact details and
passwords), Support (which displays contact details for
technical support as well as system information) and

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Logout.
4

Home icon

Clicking the OpenEMIS icon takes users back to the

home database page.

Main menu
bar

The modules on the main menu bar (Institutions,

Students, Staff, Reports and Administration) will be
covered in subsequent chapters. Note that some of
these modules may not be visible, depending on the
user permissions assigned to your role.

Notice board

Administrators can customize the text displayed in the

notice board area via the Administration tab.

Banner

Administrators can customize the banner displayed on

the home page via the Administration tab.

Statistics

The Statistics section displays the total number of

institutions, students, and staff.

Activities

The Activities section displays changes (additions,

updates, edits) to the underlying database, thereby
fostering data transparency.

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Adding and managing institution

data

The Institutions module allows users to add and manage data related to
educational institutions.
Click Institutions from the top menu bar to begin (Fig. 2.1).

Fig. 2.1 Clicking Institutions from the top menu bar

Navigating the Institutions module

The Institutions module opens to display a list of all institutions (schools) added up
to the present, along with each institutions code, area and type. The table below
guides users in navigating the list of institutions (Fig. 2.2).

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Fig. 2.2 List of Institutions page

Callout
number

Item

Comments

Number of
institutions

The total number of added institutions (schools) is

displayed here.

Search box

Enter any institution name (or portion of a name, such

as the first two letters) or code to search for a particular
institution, or click Advanced Search to use additional
search filters.

Pagination

Click any number to jump to its page in the institutions

table, or click Next to advance to the next page.

Sort arrows

Click any arrow to sort the column in descending order.

Click it again to sort in ascending order.

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Click any institution name in the table to view its details (Fig. 2.3).

Fig. 2.3 Selected institution page

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The breadcrumb (circled in red in Fig. 2.3) at the top of the page displays the
current pages drill-down location within the Institutions module. Click any level of
the breadcrumb to return to the desired level.
Click Edit below the breadcrumb to edit the institution details. Click Delete to delete
the entire entry. Click History to view the edit history for the selected institution.
From the left panel, click the category links below to view additional features
associated with the selected institution. These will be explained in greater detail
later in this chapter.
Left panel
category

Features

Comments

General

Shifts/Attachments/More

Click to view/edit/add details on

any shifts and associated
documents, such as inspection
reports, etc.

Details

Programmes/Positions/Students/
Staff/ Classes

Click to view/edit/add details on

any associated
programmes/positions/students/
staff/classes.

Attendance

Students/Staff

Click to view details on

attendance of students and
staff.

Assessments

Results

Click to view details on

assessment results.

Behaviours

Students/Staff

Click to view details on

behaviours of students and
staff.

Finance

Bank Accounts

Click to view/edit/add details on

bank accounts.

Totals

Various

Click to view/edit totals for the

various categories.

Quality

Rubrics/Visits

Click to view/edit/add details on

rubrics and inspection visits.

Reports

Various

Click to view and download

different reports summarizing
data related to the selected
institution.

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Adding a new institution

To add a new institution, go to the home page of the Institutions module and click
Add new Institution from the left panel (Fig. 2.4).

Fig. 2.4 Clicking Add new Institution

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The Add Institution page opens (Fig. 2.5).

Fig. 2.5 Add Institution page

Enter details for the new institution in the displayed fields. Please note the following
guidelines:

Selections within the various drop-down menus are customizable by the

administrator, via the Administration module.
Please ensure accuracy when entering data in the various date fields.
Entering inaccurate data in the date fields can lead to problems later on due
to internal data validation checks. For example, if you enter 1 January
2010 in the Date Opened field and subsequently try to assign a staff to the

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same institution starting at an earlier date, the system will not permit you to
move forward.
If the school is currently still in operation, leave the Date Closed field blank.
Under the Area header, enter the geographic location of the institution. This
information is required if you wish to later visualize your data in map format
2
using DevInfo database technology, as the DevInfo application will match
data from this field against its map database.
Under the Area (Education) header, enter details related to Ministry of
Education-assigned areas (for example, parishes). Note that this
information will not be used for mapping purposes.
Under the Location header, enter the latitude and longitude of the
institution, to allow users to view its physical location within the Google
Maps application.

Click Save at the bottom of the page when finished to save the entry. The newly
added institution will be displayed on the page (Fig. 2.6).

www.devinfo.org
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Fig. 2.6 New institution page

To edit the institution details, click Edit below the breadcrumb. Click Delete to
delete the entire entry. Click History to view the edit history for the selected
institution.
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The left panel displays various categories (General, Details, Attendance, etc.),
allowing you to enter/edit additional features associated with the newly-added
institution. Click the arrow to the right of any category to expand/collapse its feature
list (Fig. 2.7).

Fig. 2.7 Expanding/collapsing categories to view feature lists

The various categories and their features are explained below in greater detail.

General category
The General category contains features that allow you to view overviews, shifts,
attachments, and other custom-defined information. These various features are
explained below.

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Overview

The Overview feature displays an overview of the profile for the selected institution
(Fig. 2.8).

Fig. 2.8 Selected institution overview page

From the breadcrumb, click Edit to edit the profile details. Click Delete to delete the
profile. Click History to display the change history.
Shifts

The Shifts feature displays details on various shifts for the selected institution.
From the breadcrumb, click Add to add details for a new shift.
Attachments

The Attachments feature displays attached documents related to the selected
institution. From the breadcrumb, click Add to upload any associated documents,
such as inspection reports, etc.

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More

The More feature displays details of custom data fields created by the administrator
to support local data management requirements.

Details category
The Details category contains features that allow you to view information related to
the educational programmes, positions, students, staff and classes at the selected
institution. Click the arrow to the right of the Details category to expand/collapse the
feature list (Fig. 2.9).

Fig. 2.9 Viewing the feature list under the Details category
These various features are explained below.
NOTE: This category does not allow you to create new student and staff profiles.
Instead, it allows you to assign previously-created student and staff profiles to an
institution. You must use the Students and Staff modules to first create these
profiles before they can be assigned in the Institutions module.
This process ensures that any student or staff profile needs to be created only
once in OpenEMIS. When that individual leaves a school and joins another, the
same profile can be re-assigned to the new school.

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Programmes

The Programmes feature displays the list of educational programmes to which you
can assign students and staff (Fig. 2.10).

Fig. 2.10 Programmes page

Select the desired year from the drop-down year menu and click Edit below the
breadcrumb to add or delete an educational programme.
Positions

The Positions feature displays the list of staff positions in the selected institution
(Fig. 2.11).

2.11 Positions page

Click Add to add a new position to the institution, or click the position number to edit
or delete the selected position.

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Students

The Students feature displays the list of students assigned to the selected
institution (Fig. 2.12).

Fig. 2.12 List of Students page

Enter a students name or OpenEMIS ID in the search box to search for any student
previously assigned to the institution.
Use the year, programme and student status filters below the search box to filter the
list of students as desired.

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Click any student record in the list to view the students profile (Fig. 2.13).

Fig. 2.13 Selected student information page

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Click Add from the List of Students page to assign a new student whose profile
has previously been created to the selected institution (Fig. 2.14).

Fig. 2.14 Add Student page

Use the search box to search for students across the entire database.
In the Start Date field, be sure to accurately enter the students enrolment date in
the selected institution. If someone else attempts to add the same student to
another institution for the same period, the data validation checks built into the
system will not permit this action.
Staff

The Staff feature displays the list of staff assigned to the selected institution (Fig.
2.15).

Fig. 2.15 List of Staff page

Use the year filter to filter the list of staff as desired.

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Click any staff record in the list to view the selected staffs profile (Fig. 2.16).

Fig. 2.16 Selected staff information page

Click Academic to view details of any uploaded academic data.
Click Add from the List of Staff page to assign a new staff whose profile has
previously been created to the selected institution. Use the search box to search for
staff across the entire database. In the Start Date field, be sure to accurately enter
the staffs joining date at the selected institution. If someone else attempts to add
the same staff to another institution for the same period, the data validation checks
built into the system will not permit this action.

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Classes

The Classes feature displays details on the various classes in the selected
institution (Fig. 2.17).

Fig. 2.17 List of Classes page

In OpenEMIS, the definition of class is flexible: the administrator may define class
according to local school needs and requirements. For example, you may choose to
enter Class A, Class B, etc., wherein each class follows a set curriculum
(subjects). Alternatively, you may choose to enter specific classroom subjects as
classes.

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Click any class from the table to view class details (Fig. 2.18).

Fig. 2.18 Selected class page

From below the breadcrumb, click Edit to edit the class details.

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To add a new class, click Add from the List of Classes page (Fig. 2.19).

Fig. 2.19 Add Class page

Enter the desired data. Recognizing that a single class may often contain students
th
from multiple grades (e.g., an Advanced Math class may contain students in both 7
th
and 8 grades), OpenEMIS allows you to add multiple grades to a class by
selecting the desired grade levels.

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Attendance category
The Attendance category contains features that allow you to view attendance
information for students and staff at the selected institution. Click the arrow to the
right of the Attendance category to expand/collapse the feature list (Fig. 2.20).

Fig. 2.20 Viewing the feature list under the Attendance category
Click Students or Staff to view attendance data for students and staff, respectively
(Fig. 2.21).

Fig. 2.21 Attendance Students page

Use the year, week and class filters below the breadcrumb to refine your selections.

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Assessments category
The Assessments category allows you to view and edit assessment results for the
selected institution. Click the Results feature to display the assessment page (Fig.
2.22).

Fig. 2.22 Assessments page

Click any assessment in the table to view the assessment results (Fig. 2.23).

Fig. 2.23 Viewing assessment results

Click Edit below the breadcrumb to edit the assessment results for any student.

Behaviours category
The Behaviours category allows you to view and enter details related to behaviourrelated issues for students and staff at the selected institution. Click Students or
Staff to view a list of students and staff for whom you can view any behaviourrelated issues that have been documented.

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Finance category
The Finance category allows you to view, add and edit details of bank accounts
associated with the selected institution. Click Bank Accounts to view the Bank
Accounts page, which allows you to view, add and edit details.

Totals category
The Totals category contains features that facilitate aggregate reporting of school
census data to national Ministries of Education. Click the arrow to the right of the
Totals category to expand/collapse the feature list (Fig. 2.24).

Fig. 2.24 Viewing the feature list under the Totals category
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Click the following features to view total (aggregate) data for a selected school year:

Students
Teachers
Staff
Classes
Shifts
Graduates
Attendance
Results (related to result of national assessments)
Behaviour
Textbooks
Infrastructure
Finances
More (displays aggregate data for custom indicators specified by the
administrator)

Aggregate data values on each feature page are displayed in one of four colors, as
defined in the upper right legend (Fig. 2.25).

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Fig. 2.25 Total (aggregate) data values for selected feature

Note that the legend reflects decreasing data confidence moving from left to right:
grey values (data entry) are considered the most reliable, whereas red values
4
(estimates ) are considered the least reliable. As such, paying attention to the color
of the displayed data values can help you assess data quality and reliability.
At the end of each school year, after you have confirmed the accuracy of all totals
and are ready to send the data on to your Ministry of Education for official reporting

To provide data in support of national reporting objectives, OpenEMIS has been designed
with the capability to generate estimated data values based on geographical information
and census data. For example, if a school had submitted a school questionnaire in 2000 and
2010, OpenEMIS can generate reasonable estimates for 2005 (historical) as well as
projected estimates for 2015 (future). Alternatively, if one school located in a remote
location submits its questionnaire but another school in the same area does not, OpenEMIS
can generate reasonable estimates to fill in missing data gaps based on geo-location
algorithms.
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purposes, click the Verifications feature and then click Verify. Once you click
Verify, no further changes can be made to the data for that particular school year.

Quality
The Quality category contains features that allow you to view and add details
related to rubrics and inspection-related visits to the selected institution. Click the
Rubrics or Visits feature to view and add details for both of these features.

Reports category
The Reports category contains features that allow you to view reports for the
selected institution. Click the arrow to the right of the Reports category to
expand/collapse the feature list (Fig. 2.26).

Fig. 2.26 Viewing the feature list under the Reports category
Click the Dashboards feature to display various dashboard reports which can be
viewed in HTML and other formats.
Click the General feature to view general reports for the institution in CSV format
(Fig. 2.27).

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Fig. 2.27 Reports General page

Click CSV next to any report to download it in CSV format.
Click the Details, Totals and Quality features to view custom (administratordefined) reports in CSV format (Fig. 2.28).

Fig. 2.28 Reports Details page

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Adding and managing student data

The Students module allows users to add and manage student data.
Click Students from the top menu bar to begin (Fig. 3.1).

Fig. 3.1 Clicking Students from the top menu bar

Navigating the Students module

The Students module opens to display a list of all students added to date, along
with their unique OpenEMIS ID number, gender and date of birth. The table below
guides users in navigating the list of students (Fig. 3.2).

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Fig. 3.2 List of Students page

Callout
number

Item

Comments

Number of
students

The total number of added students is displayed here.

Search box

Enter any student name (or portion of a name, such as

the first two letters) or unique student OpenEMIS ID to
search for a particular student, or click Advanced
Search to use additional search filters.

Pagination

Click any number to jump to its page in the list of

students, or click Next to advance to the next page.

Sort arrows

Click any arrow to sort the column in descending order.

Click it again to sort in ascending order.

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Click any student name in the table to view his/her profile (Fig. 3.3).

Fig. 3.3 Selected student profile

The breadcrumb (circled in red in Fig. 3.3) at the top of the page displays the
current pages drill-down location within the Students module. Click any level of the
breadcrumb to return to the desired level.
Click Edit from below the breadcrumb to edit the student profile. Click Delete to
delete the entire entry. Click History to view the edit history for the selected
student.
From the left panel, click the category links below to view additional features
associated with the selected student. These will be further explained later in this
chapter.

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Left panel
category

Features

Comments

General

Overview, Contacts,
Identities, Nationalities,
Languages, Comments,
Special Needs, Awards,
Attachments, etc.

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the
Students module.

Finance

Bank Accounts

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the
Students module.

Details

Guardians, Classes,
Absence, Behaviour,
Results, Extracurricular

Click to view respective details. Note

that data for classes, absence,
behaviour and results must be entered
through the Institutions module. Data
on other features are entered through
the Students module.

Health

Overview, History,
Family, Immunizations,
Medications, Allergies,
Tests, Consultations

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the
Students module.

Adding a new student

To add a new student, go to the home page of the Students module and click Add
new Student from the left panel (Fig. 3.4).

Fig. 3.4 Clicking Add new Student

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The New Student page opens (Fig. 3.5).

Fig.3.5 New Student page

Enter details for the new student in the displayed fields. Note the following
guidelines:

The OpenEMIS ID number should be the national student number assigned

by the government (such as a social security number, etc.)
Selections within the various drop-down menus are customizable by the
Administrator, via the Administration module.

Click Next at the bottom of the page when done. The application wizard guides you
through a series of additional pages (Contacts, Identities, Nationalities,
Languages, etc.), where you will be prompted to enter additional student data. If
you do not wish to enter data for any particular page, click Skip. At the last page,
click Finish to save the entry.

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The newly added student profile will be displayed (Fig. 3.6).

Fig. 3.6 Newly added student profile

Click Edit from below the breadcrumb to edit the student profile. Click Delete to
delete the entire entry. Click History to view the edit history for the selected
student.
To add bank account details for the student, click the Bank Accounts feature under
the Finance category and then click Add from below the breadcrumb to add the
desired information.
To add details on guardians or extracurriculars (e.g., government funding received
by the student, sports details, food vouchers, etc.), click the Guardians and
Extracurricular features under the Details category and then click Add from below
the breadcrumb to add the desired information.
To add health details for the student, click the desired feature(s) under the Health
category and then click Add from below the breadcrumb to add the desired
information.

NOTE: Student data on classes, absence, behaviour and results must be entered
through the Institutions module. For more details, please consult Chapter 2 of
this user guide.

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Adding and managing staff data

The Staff module allows users to add and manage data for both teaching and nonteaching staff (e.g., maintenance workers, food workers, janitors, technicians,
librarians, etc.).
NOTE: It is highly recommended that all staff data be entered into OpenEMIS by
the Human Resources department of the Ministry of Education.

Click Staff from the top menu bar to begin (Fig. 4.1).

Fig. 4.1 Clicking Staff from the top menu bar

Navigating the Staff module

The Staff module opens to display a list of all staff added to date, along with their
unique OpenEMIS ID number, gender and date of birth. The table below guides
users in navigating the list of staff (Fig. 4.2).

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Fig. 4.2 List of Staff page

Callout
number

Item

Comments

Number of
staff

The total number of added staff is displayed here.

Search box

Enter any staff name (or portion of a name, such as the

first two letters) or unique staff OpenEMIS ID to search
for a particular staff, or click Advanced Search to use
additional search filters.

Pagination

Click any number to jump to its page in the list of staff,

or click Next to advance to the next page.

Sort arrows

Click any arrow to sort the column in descending order.

Click it again to sort in ascending order.

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Click any staff name in the table to view his/her profile (Fig. 4.3).

Fig. 4.3 Selected staff profile

The breadcrumb (circled in red in Fig. 4.3) at the top of the page displays the
current pages drill-down location within the Staff module. Click any level of the
breadcrumb to return to the desired level.
Click Edit from below the breadcrumb to edit the staff profile. Click Delete to delete
the entire entry. Click History to view the edit history for the selected staff.
From the left panel, click the category links below to view additional features
associated with the selected staff. These will be further explained later in this
chapter.

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Left panel
category

Features

Comments

General

Overview, Contacts,
Identities, Nationalities,
Languages, Comments,
Special Needs, Awards,
Memberships,
Licenses, Attachments,
etc.

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the Staff
module.

Finance

Bank Accounts

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the Staff
module.

Details

Qualifications, Training,
Positions, Absence,
Leave, Behaviour,
Extracurricular,
Employment, Salary

Click to view respective details. Note

that data for absence and behaviour
must be entered through the
Institutions module. Data on other
features are entered through the Staff
module.

Health

Various

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the Staff
module.

Training

Needs, Results,
Achievements

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the Staff
module.

Report

Quality

Click to view respective details, all of

which are entered through the Staff
module.

Adding a new staff

To add a new staff, go to the home page of the Staff module and click Add new
Staff from the left panel (Fig. 4.4).

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Fig. 4.4 Clicking Add new staff

The New Staff page opens (Fig. 4.5).

Fig.4.5 New Staff page

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Enter details for the new staff member in the displayed fields. Note that selections
within the various drop-down menus are customizable by the Administrator, via the
Administration module.
Click Next at the bottom of the page when done. The application wizard guides you
through a series of additional pages (Contacts, Identities, Nationalities,
Languages, etc.), where you will be prompted to enter additional staff data. If you
do not wish to enter data for any particular page, click Skip. At the last page, click
Finish to save the entry. The newly added staff profile will be displayed (Fig. 4.6).

Fig. 4.6 Newly added staff profile

Click Edit from below the breadcrumb to edit the staff profile. Click Delete to delete
the entire entry. Click History to view the edit history for the selected staff.
To add details related to the following categories and features:

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Finance (Bank Accounts)

Details (Qualifications, Training, Positions, etc.)
Health (various)
Training (Needs, Results, Achievements)
Report (Quality)

click the respective category and feature and then click Add/Edit from below the
breadcrumb to add the desired information (Fig. 4.7).

Fig. 4.7 Qualifications page

NOTE: Staff data on attendance and behaviour must be entered through the
Institutions module. For more details, please consult Chapter 2 of this user
guide.

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Viewing and downloading reports

The Reports module allows users to view and download a variety of education
reports from OpenEMIS.
NOTE: All reports available for viewing and downloading through the Reports
module must be first generated by the Administrator through the Administration
module (see Chapter 7 of this user guide). Otherwise, these reports will not be
available for users to access.

Click Reports from the top menu bar to begin (Fig. 5.1).

Fig. 5.1 Clicking Reports from the top menu bar

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Navigating the Reports module

The Reports module opens to display a list of all the types of reports available to
view and download (Fig. 5.2).

Fig. 5.2 Reports module

The left panel displays the different types of reports you can view and download,
dependent on the customization done by the Administrator. Click any report type
from the left panel to view a series of tables displaying the names of the various
reports available and a brief description of each one.

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To access any report, first select the desired report type from the left panel and then
click the desired report from the page (Fig. 5.3).

Fig. 5.3 Selecting a report to view

The application then displays details for the selected report, including its file size
and when it was last generated by the Administrator (Fig. 5.4).

Fig. 5.4 Viewing report details

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Click the desired file type (e.g., CSV, HTML) to view and download the report to
your computer to analyze and share.
The following report types can be generated by the Administrator to appear in the
left panel of the Reports module:
Report type

Comments

Institution Reports

These include various reports related to institutions,

institution totals, infrastructure and finance.

Student Reports

These include various reports related to students.

Staff Reports

These include various reports related to staff.

Training Reports

These include various reports related to training.

Quality Assurance
Reports

These include various reports related to quality assurance.

Consolidated
Reports

These include the Wheres My School Report (a Google

Earth (KML) file containing all the locations of the
institutions) as well as the Year Book Report (a formatted
summary of school census data for a given year) (Fig. 6.5).

Fig. 5.5 Sample Year Book Report

Data Quality
Reports

These include various reports highlighting institutions with

missing data and other data discrepancies.

Dashboards

These reports allow users to visualize OpenEMIS data in

online dashboard format.

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Performing administrator functions

The Administration module allows OpenEMIS site administrators to perform a

variety of key administrator functions, including:

Modifying the original system setup: administrative boundaries, education

structure, national assessments, field options and system configuration;
Adding new users to the system;
Viewing and editing national denominators;
Performing data processing functions: building custom indicators,
generating reports, exporting indicators and viewing report generation
status; and
Executing database backup and restore.

Click Administration from the top menu bar to begin (Fig. 6.1).

Fig. 6.1 Clicking Administration from the top menu bar

Navigating the Administration module

The Administration module opens to display a list of administrative categories on
the left panel. Click any category to expand it, displaying the various features
available under that category (Fig. 6.2).

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Fig. 6.2 Administration module

System setup
The System Setup category contains various administrative features that allow the
administrator to modify the original system setup.

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Administrative boundaries
The Administrative Boundaries feature allows you to view the original
administrative boundaries previously set up by the OpenEMIS Lab and make minor
edits to the original setup.
NOTE: To ensure data integrity of the underlying database, the OpenEMIS Lab
performs the initial set up of the administrative boundaries, beginning with the
country level and going down to the lowest sub-national level desired by the
Ministry of Education for purposes of data entry, tracking and reporting. This
information is provided to the OpenEMIS Lab at the outset of a country
OpenEMIS implementation. The Administrative Boundaries feature is therefore
intended to enable the Administrator to perform only minor edits (e.g., adding new
sub-national areas, changing the name of an existing administrative area, etc.).

Editing administrative areas
By default, the Administrative Boundaries page displays the list of first subnational areas below the country level (Fig. 6.3).

Fig. 6.3 Administrative Boundaries page (first sub-national areas)

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To edit any of these displayed areas or to add/remove areas from this list, click Edit
from below the breadcrumb (Fig. 6.4).

Fig. 6.4 Editing first sub-national areas

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To edit any of the data in the list, enter the desired new text in the boxes. To
remove any area from the list, clear its checkbox in the Visible column. To add a
new area to the list, click Add Area from the bottom of the list. To adjust the default
display order of these various areas in the drop-down menus (available in other
modules), use the arrows in the Order column to move the various areas to the
desired positions. Click Save to save all changes.
Follow the same procedure to edit areas in the second, third, etc. sub-national
levels. For example, to edit second sub-national level areas, select the parent first
sub-national area from the second area level box (Fig. 6.5).

Fig. 6.5 Administrative Boundaries page (second sub-national areas)

To edit any of these displayed areas or to add/remove areas from this list, click Edit
from below the breadcrumb and follow the steps explained above.
Editing administrative area levels
To edit the names of the various administrative area levels, select Area Levels from
the drop-down menu below the breadcrumb (Fig. 6.6).

Fig. 6.6 Selecting Area Levels

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The application then displays the various administrative area levels as entered by
the OpenEMIS Lab during the initial database setup (Fig. 6.7).

Fig. 6.7 Viewing administrative area levels

Click Edit from below the breadcrumb to edit any of these area levels.
Editing education areas and area levels
In some countries, the Ministry of Education (MOE) assigns schools to its own
MOE-defined areas (for example, parishes), which are different from the standard
internationally-recognized administrative area boundaries.
If you wish to associate institutions to MOE-defined area levels and areas, select
Areas (Education) and Area Levels (Education) from the drop-down menu below
the breadcrumb and follow the same procedure outlined above to define these
areas and area levels (Fig. 6.8).

Fig. 6.8 Specifying MOE-defined administrative areas and area levels

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Education Structure
The Education Structure feature allows you to make edits to the education
structure originally set up by the OpenEMIS Lab.

NOTE: To facilitate comparisons of education indicators across countries, the

OpenEMIS Lab performs the initial set up of the national education system by
entering details related to education levels, cycles, programmes, orientation, fields
of study, certifications and subjects. This information is provided by the Ministry of
Education to the OpenEMIS Lab at the outset of a country OpenEMIS
implementation. The OpenEMIS Lab ensures that this data is entered in alignment
with UNESCO-developed International Standard Classification of Education
(ISCED) standards. Accordingly, the Education Structure feature is therefore
intended to enable the Administrator to make only minor edits to the national
education system as needed (e.g., adding additional subjects).

Select the desired education structure category from the drop-down menu and click
the various links within the education structure tables to drill down and view the
information originally entered by the OpenEMIS Lab (Fig. 6.9).

Fig. 6.9 Viewing education structure details

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To make minor edits to the education structure, click Edit from below the
breadcrumb.

National Assessments
The National Assessments feature allows you to add or edit details concerning
any national-level assessments for which you wish to track data in OpenEMIS (Fig.
6.10)

Fig. 6.10 National Assessments page

Select the desired education programme from the drop-down menu and then click
Add or Edit to enter the desired national assessment details.

Field Options
The Field Options feature allows you to customize your national OpenEMIS
application in two ways:

Customizing the fields (selections) available in any drop-down menu by

adding, editing, or removing fields, and
Adding new custom fields for data collection.

Editing static fields

Static fields are defined as fields in drop-down menus which are already present in
the application after being initially set up by the OpenEMIS Lab.

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For example, when adding a new institution through the Institutions module, the
drop-down menu in the Ownership box displays a list of static fields (Fig. 6.11).

Fig. 6.11 Static fields in the Ownership menu

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To modify this list of static fields, first select Ownership from under the Institution
heading in the drop-down menu below the breadcrumb (Fig. 6.12).

Fig. 6.12 Selecting desired static field to edit

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The application then displays a list of all static fields under the selected heading (in
this example, Ownership) (Fig. 6.13).

Fig. 6.13 Static fields under the selected heading

Click Add or Reorder from under the breadcrumb to add or re-order fields as
desired.
The changes will be reflected in the fields displayed in the drop-down menu for the
selected heading.

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Translations
The Translations feature allows you to make edits to the default translations
previously set up by the OpenEMIS lab (Fig. 6.14).

Fig. 6.14 List of Translations page

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System Configurations
The System Configurations feature allows you to make edits to the system
configurations previously set up by the OpenEMIS lab (Fig. 6.15).

Fig. 6.15 Viewing system configurations

Use the drop-down menu to select the desired category of system configurations to
view. Select any configuration from the left column to edit it.

NOTE: Many of these system configuration details require advanced technical

knowledge to update and should be handled only by the OpenEMIS Lab. These
include the Wheres My School Config section which is required for the Google
Earth mapping application to work correctly, as well as the SMS section which
allows OpenEMIS to disseminate and collect survey data via SMS. For more
details, please contact the OpenEMIS Lab.

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Accounts & Security

The following three administrative features are available under the Accounts &
Security category: Users, Groups and Roles (Fig. 6.16).

Fig. 6.16 Accounts & Security administrative features

Users
The Users feature allows you to view and modify the list of people who have access
to your specific implementation of OpenEMIS (Fig. 6.17).

Fig. 6.17 Users page

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Use the search box below the breadcrumb to search by keyword for any user.
Click any user in the table to view that persons details (Fig. 6.18).

Fig. 6.18 User Details page

Note that each user is assigned to a specified group and role (as displayed in the
table below the Groups header), which determines the permissions available to that
user.
Note further that you can modify user details only for yourself and for those users
whom you have created: the Edit command appears below the breadcrumb in
these cases.

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To add a new user, click Add below the breadcrumb in the main Users page to
display the Add User page (Fig. 6.19).

Fig. 6.19 Add User page

Enter the desired details and click Save when done.

Groups
The Groups feature allows you to view and modify the list of groups to which users
in your specific implementation of OpenEMIS are assigned. Examples of groups
that can be created include:

Principals
Teachers
Students
Staff
Administration
Human Resources
System Administrator
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Each group is associated with a particular set of user permissions which permit
access to certain functions and portions of OpenEMIS while limiting access to other
functions and sections.

Roles
The Roles feature allows you to assign user permissions to the various groups (Fig.
6.20).

Fig. 6.20 Roles page

Click Permissions next to any role to specify the desired user permissions.

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National Denominators
The National Denominators category contains two features, Population and
Finance, which allow you to view and edit national census data (population and
finance indicators) previously entered into OpenEMIS by the OpenEMIS Lab. These
data serve as denominators for calculating system-generated education indicators
(Fig. 6.21).

Fig.
6.21 Population page (National Denominators category)
Use the various filters (year, area, etc.) to make your desired selections to view the
data. Use the data quality legend at upper right to understand whether the data
represent specifically entered values or system-generated estimates (in the case of
missing data).
Click Edit to make minor edits to the previously-entered national census data.

NOTE: To ensure data integrity of the underlying database as well as to ensure

alignment with international definitions, the OpenEMIS Lab performs the data
entry for national denominator data. This information is provided to the OpenEMIS
Lab by the Ministry of Education at the outset of a country OpenEMIS
implementation. The National Denominators feature is therefore intended to
provide administrators the option to make only minor edits to the underlying data.

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Data Processing
The Data Processing category contains various features which allow you to
perform key administrative data processing functions within OpenEMIS (Fig. 6.22).

Fig. 6.22 Data Processing category features

Build
Click the Build feature to open the Custom Indicators page, which allows you
build your own custom (user-defined) indicators (Fig. 6.23).

Fig. 6.23 Custom Indicators page

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NOTE: Please contact the OpenEmis Lab for specific guidance in how to build
custom indicators in OpenEMIS.

Generate
Click the Generate feature to generate reports, indicators and estimates for users to
download for viewing and analysis (Fig. 6.24).

Fig. 6.24 Generate page

NOTE: In order for users to view a particular report in the Reports module, it must
be first generated by the administrator using this feature.

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Use the filter below the breadcrumb to first select the desired reporting category
(Fig. 6.25).

Fig. 6.25 Selecting reporting category

Then select the checkbox(es) next to the desired report(s) which you wish to view.
When done, click Generate from the bottom of the page. The selected reports will
then be available for selection and download in the Reports module.

Export
Click the Export feature to export OpenEMIS indicators to DevInfo or
Datawarehouse format, for data visualization and data analysis purposes (Fig.
6.26).

Fig. 6.26 Export page

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First select the desired data format from the filter below the breadcrumb. Then click
Export from the bottom of the page. The data will be exported into the selected
format for external use.

Processes
Click the Processes feature to view the status of previously-generated reports (Fig.
6.27).

Fig. 6.27 Processes page

Click Log from the right column to view the data processing log for any selected
report.

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Database
The Database category allows you to backup and restore your OpenEMIS
database (Fig. 6.28).

Fig. 6.28 Database category

Click the Backup feature to create a backup of your database.

Click the Restore feature to restore your database using a previously-generated
backup.

Other categories
For details on the other categories in the Administration module, please contact
the OpenEMIS Lab.

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