Submitting data files to the wMDSCV system

The wMDSCV system accepts the following types of files:

• Excel files saved in .xls or .xlsx format
• Text files in .csv format

We have provided templates for you to use. 

These should be populated with data from your organisation and then uploaded to the wMDSCV system. The system validates the file structure therefore it is essential that these templates are used, and no alterations are made.

Excel files must be composed of four worksheets; staff details, registrations, absence and vacancies. If a file does not contain all four worksheets the system will generate an error and the data will fail to be uploaded to the data store. Although the file needs to be made up of these four worksheets, only staff details needs to be populated. The system will accept non-submission of registrations, absence and vacancies if there are none to report for this period.

Text files must be saved as four separate text files; staff details, registrations, absence and vacancies. Users must upload the Staff Details structure; however, the system will allow non-submission of the other three files if there are none to report for the period. More information about this can be found in the submitting data files section.

More details on the file structure can be found in the file specification section and in Appendix 1 of the guide.

The following section will help you to:

• submit an Excel file
• make a CSV Submission
• submit a test file
• view and download submitted data
• resubmit for a reporting period

Once your file is complete, saved in the relevant format and file type, you will be ready to upload it to the wMDSCV system. Before uploading data to the wMDSCV system you may want to upload a test file. For instructions on how to do this please refer to the submitting a test file section. 

Submitting an Excel file

1. Open your web browser
2. Once your browser is open enter the following web address (URL) into the address bar at the top of the browser: https://wmdscv.digital.nhs.uk. This web link will take you to the wMDSCV sign in screen. Click the sign in link at the top right of the screen. Enter your username and password and click the Sign In button.  You will be taken to the wMDSCV home page.
3. Navigate to the new submissions page.

4.  Select the following criteria:

• reporting period: the period for which you have data for
• submission type: Excel

The system will default to the most recent open reporting period and to the Excel submission type.

5. Click browse and navigate to the location on your computer where the Excel file is saved. Highlight the file and click open.

5. Click create. 

The system will automatically e-mail you once your file has finished processing; provide you with a summary of the validation information and a link to log back into the system.

Making a CSV submission:

1. Open your web browser
2. Once your browser is open enter the following web address (URL) into the address bar at the top of the browser: https://wmdscv.digital.nhs.uk  This URL will take you to the wMDSCV sign in screen. Click the sign in link at the top right of the screen. Enter your username and password and click the Sign in button. You will be taken to the wMDSCV home page.
3. Navigate to the new submissions page.

4. Select the following criteria:  reporting period (the period for which you have data for) and submission type CSV.

5. At this stage it is mandatory to submit the Staff Details file. Click Browse and navigate to the location on your computer where the CSV file is saved. If you have data for Registrations, Absence and Vacancies, repeat these steps again for these files.

If you do not have any data to submit for Registrations, Absence and Vacancies in the period, check the box labelled Confirm no file for this submission as indicated above.  

6. Click create.

You can only submit one file per organisation per period at any one time. If this is attempted you will be presented with the following warning message, “It is not possible to submit a file for a reporting period whilst an existing file is processing, please await confirmation of the previous file completing and try again later”.

The system will automatically e-mail you once your file has finished processing; provide you with a summary of the validation information and a link to log back into the system.

Once you have clicked create the data will begin to progress through the validation processes. You will be presented with a screen similar to the one below.

Once your data has been validated within the system, you will receive an automated email confirmation of the submission, similar to the one below. This will detail whether your submission was successful and will include details relating to the reporting period, the date and time of the submission and a summary table of the structure of the file. This will detail if any errors or warnings have been flagged in the submission, further details about these can be found in Monitoring submissions section. A link to the system is also included to view further details relating to your submission on logging into the system.

Some times you may need to submit a test file to check if the file to be submitted meets the system requirements. This process is only for testing and no data is loaded in the data store from a test submission.

1. Open your web browser

2. Once your browser is open enter the following web address (URL) into the address bar at the top of the browser: https://wmdscv.digital.nhs.uk

This URL will take you to the wMDSCV sign in screen. Click the Sign in link at the top right of the screen. Enter your username and password and click the Sign In button.

You will be taken to the wMDSCV home page.

3. Go to the new submissions page.

4. Select the following criteria:

• reporting period: the period for which you have data for
• submission type: Excel or CSV depending what file type you have
• the system will default to an Excel submission type

5. Click browse and navigate to the location on your computer where the files are saved. Follow the rules for upload of Excel or CSV file depending on file type.

6. Before clicking create ensure that the test submission box is checked, as below.

7. Click create. 

Once the test submission has completed, an automated confirmation email will be sent, similar to the one below.

This clearly states in the subject that it is a test submission. It also includes details of the date and time the test submission was made, the reporting period for which the data refers and a summary table of the structure of the test file. This will detail any errors or warnings which have been flagged in the submission; further details of these can be found in the Monitoring submission section.  In addition, a link is provided to the system to enable you to view further details of the test submission, on logging into the system with your account details.

The confirmation email which you receive, whether this be for a real or test submission, will only include details relating to the structures which are submitted.

Once your data has been submitted and you have received the automated confirmation email from the system, it may be necessary to view your submitted data. This may be the case if errors or warnings have been reported or internal data checks need to be made.

If your submission contains errors, it will be necessary to resubmit the data once these issues have been corrected as the data will not load into the data store until all errors have been resolved. If, however, the submission only contains warnings it will load into the data store, but you need to be happy that all of the data related to these warnings is correct or can be corrected for a future submission.

You can access more detail on the status of the submission by clicking through the link in the confirmation email and using your login details to enter the system or by following the process outlined below.

You will only be able to view submissions from your own organisation.

The following section will help you to:

• view submitted data
• view detail of submissions
• download submitted data
• Filter submitted data

1. Open your web browser

2. Once your browser is open enter the following web address (URL) into the address bar at the top of the browser: https://wmdscv.digital.nhs.uk

• this URL will take you to the wMDSCV sign in screen. Click the sign in link at the top right of the screen. Enter your username and password and click the sign in button.
• you will be taken to the wMDSCV home page.

3. Navigate to the all submissions page.

4.  This displays the date and time of the submission, the organisation code that made the submission, the reporting period, the email address of the user who submitted the file, the current stage at which the file is at and the Detail option which allows more detail about the submission to be viewed.

• If your email confirmation stated that the file uploaded successfully, the current stage will be displayed as Complete, this will include if there are validation warnings which require further investigation, but do not stop the submission loading into the data store.
• If your confirmation email stated that there were validation errors with your file, the current stage will be displayed as Failed. These errors will need to be corrected and the file reloaded to the system to allow the data to be uploaded to the data store. Please note – correcting errors allows the file to validate further and it may be the case that several iterations are required until a file has been produced which will pass validation and load into the data store.
• The current stage will display as Errored if there is a fault within the system. If this occurs, contact details for NHS Digital are provided as well as a reference ID for the submission. Please ensure that you contact NHS Digital if this occurs.

1. Click the detail link for a report. This displays the following sections:

Details: shows a summary of the information regarding the upload of the data file. This includes the organisation code and name, the reporting period, the email address of the user who submitted the files, the date and time of the submission and a link to the files which were uploaded.

Structure summary: shows how many records are in each CSV file or Excel worksheet broken down by Staff Details, Registrations, Absence and Vacancy.

Validation summary: this section only shows if the file has encountered validation errors or warnings during upload. It details the warnings and errors which have appeared in the uploaded file. Clicking the links underneath the ‘Rule or Field Name’ or the ‘Download All Validations’ button displays more detail of the reported warnings. Please see the Monitoring Submissions section for more detail about these.

History: displays each stage of the upload of the file as well as the date and time when it was processed. If you have chosen to accompany your submission with notes, these will also be displayed on this screen.

Notes: if you have chosen to accompany your submission with notes, these will also be displayed on this screen.

Once you have navigated to the detail view of a submission there is capability to download the data file(s) which were submitted. This is highlighted above in the detail section.

Clicking the file(s) will give you the option to open or save the data. This will help in cases where you would like to check errors or warnings or ensure that the correct data has been submitted. It may also help in informing the structure and content of future submissions by giving you a guide regarding your previous submissions once you have made a successful submission.

Within the system there is also the capability to filter submissions. For example, this may be used to view data for a particular reporting period.

1. Navigate to the all submissions page. Click submission filters.

This allows you to filter on the following options:

• date: time period when the submissions where made, available as a drop-down list
• period: the reporting periods for data submissions, available as a drop-down list
• submitted by: the email address of the user who submitted the data, the full email address does not have to be known as a wildcard search can be used
• stage: either All, Complete, Failed, Errored or In Progress, available as a drop-down menu
• include tests: by default test submissions are excluded from the All Submissions page, checking the box adds a ticked column next to test submissions

When you have applied a filter, you can click Detail for a submission to view the submission details. Once at this page, click the Back to submission history button and the applied filter will be retained.

This example shows that the date filter has been applied to select submissions made in the last month.

Once a filter has been applied and is no longer required, click the green Reset button which will remove all applied filters.

It will be necessary to correct and upload a new version of your submission if there are any errors highlighted in your submission which will prevent it being loaded into the data store. It may also be necessary to upload data for the same reporting period if there are warnings within the original submission or more records need to be added. The steps below explain how this is done.

Resubmitting data

1. Open your web browser.

2, Open your browser is open enter the following web address (URL) into the address bar https://wmdscv.digital.nhs.uk This url will take you to the wMDSCV sign in screen. Click the Sign In link at the top right of the screen. Enter your username and password and click the sign in button. You will be taken to the wMDSCV home page.

3. Navigate to the new submissions page. 

4. Select the following criteria:

• reporting period: the period for which you have data for
• submission type: Excel or CSV depending what file type you have
• follow the rules for Excel or CSV file upload depending on file type

5. Click create.

6. Due to data having already been submitted for this period, a warning will be triggered in the system stating that data already exists for the reporting period. Check the box to confirm the submission and overwrite the submitted data in the data store.

7. Click create.

Similarly to the original submission, once your data has been validated within the system, you will receive an automated email confirmation of the submission. This will detail whether your submission was successful and will include details relating to the reporting period, the date and time of the submission and details regarding errors or warnings relating to the submission. A link to the system is also included to view further details relating to your submission upon logging into the system.