The NCMP IT system provides indicators for Local Authorities (LAs) to monitor the progress and quality of the NCMP data collection in their area. The indicators are shown on two dashboards progress and data quality. Initially the indicators displayed will be for all the schools that you have been assigned. It is possible to set up groups of schools to view indicators by.
You must have been assigned the role of Monitor or Super Monitor to access the progress and data quality indicators.
Progress indicators
These indicators provide an overall snapshot of participation rates for Reception (Year R) and Year 6 for the NCMP schools in your current selection. They show the status of the collection in these schools and a breakdown of the parental feedback letters generated for each BMI category. The feedback letter table includes both NCMP and non-NCMP records.
Data quality indicators
The Data Quality indicators shown on this tab display data quality for NCMP schools (state-maintained and mainstream) only data from non-NCMP schools (independent and special) is excluded. The default is for DQ indicators for all NCMP schools to be displayed but you can also build a selection of schools to view DQ indicators by.
Records without measurements are included in DQ indicators not related to measurement: year and sex; postcodes; ethnic breakdown and blank NHS numbers.
BMI prevalence figures are based on population thresholds as used in the national report. However, there may be some small differences between the dashboard and national report figures due to the report figures being based on rounded figures which is a requirement for disclosure control. Dashboard figures are based on unrounded data.
In July 2019 the functionality of the Data Quality dashboard was enhanced to highlight indicators breaching the required thresholds. For example, the proportion of blank postcodes should not exceed 5% and so if you have more than 5% blank postcodes then this indicator will be highlighted red. You can review the required threshold by hovering your mouse pointer over the highlighted indicator. This will enable you to easily identify any data quality issues and make any required corrections.
We have provided further information about how we validate NCMP data.
Data quality indicators include records from NCMP schools matching the various criteria for example blank postcodes regardless of if warnings have been supressed. We have provided a table below the data quality dashboard which shows the number of records with unsuppressed warnings. These counts include independent records.
Year and sex
The proportion of children for each school year and sex should be between 40% and 60%. Please check your data if this is not the case it could indicate an issue with the way that sex or dates of birth have been entered. Incorrect sex or date of birth could affect the child’s BMI score and category.
Postcodes
Blank child postcodes
The proportion of blank postcodes should not exceed 5%. Please ensure that you provide as many child postcodes as possible. These are important for geographical analyses.
Records sharing identical child and school postcodes
The proportion of children with the same postcode as their school should not exceed 2%. Please check your data if this is not the case – a high percentage could indicate that the school’s postcode has been mistakenly entered as the child postcode. This would affect geographical analyses. Please do not enter school postcode if the child postcode is not available.
Heights and weight
Extremes
The proportion of extreme measurements should not exceed 1%. Please check your data if this is not the case. Clusters of extreme measurements within a school could indicate errors in the measurement process.
Whole/half number measurements
The proportion of records where the recorded measurement is a whole number (for example 120.0) or a half number (for example 120.5) should not exceed 20%. Statistically, it is expected that about 10% of records will be whole numbers and 10% of records will be half numbers but we currently allow up to 20%. Please check your data if this is not the case – it could indicate that measurement data has not been entered to the required level of accuracy.
BMI prevalence
Check that the split into the different weight categories is as expected. Changes over time are to be expected but please investigate if the changes are larger than expected.
Ethnic breakdown
The proportion of records with an unknown ethnicity should not exceed 15%.
The proportion of records sharing the same ethnicity should not be 100%. This excludes “unknown” and “not stated”.
Please also check that the ethnic breakdown is as expected for your area. Due to the varied ethnic profiles across LAs it is not possible for the system to highlight unexpected ethnic profiles and we rely on local knowledge within LAs for checking that the profile is as expected.
Date of Measurement (DoM) is weekend
The proportion of measurements carried out at the weekend should not exceed 2%. Please check your data if the percentage of weekend measurements is higher than expected – this could indicate an issue with the dates of measurement that have been entered. An incorrect date of measurement could affect the child’s age and therefore their BMI score and category.
Date of Measurement (DoM) is August
The proportion of measurements carried out in August should not exceed 1%. Please check your data if the percentage of August measurements is higher than expected – this could indicate an issue with the dates of measurement that have been entered. An incorrect date of measurement would affect the child’s age and therefore their BMI score and category.
Blank NHS numbers
The proportion of records with blank NHS numbers should not exceed 25%. Please ensure that you provide as many child NHS numbers as possible. These will be important for data linkage and longitudinal analyses
View progress monitoring and data quality information by school or provider group
The system allows users to view data quality and progress information by provider or by groups of schools, as well as being able to view this information for all schools.
To view provider data quality and progress information you must have all the local authority schools assigned to you.
This functionality allows comparisons of data quality across different providers or nurse teams operating across different groups of schools. Select Monitoring.
1. The data quality and progress information displayed initially will apply to all schools that are assigned to you. If you have created providers then they will appear in the dropdown list and can be selected.
2. To create a group of schools to view the information by select manage groups.
3. Select add new group.
4. Enter a name for the school group, select save.
5. Select the back to progress dashboard.
6. The school group will now appear in the dropdown list and can be selected. To view data quality and progress information for the school group, select this school from the dropdown menu and select go.
7. You can view the schools in a selected group or provider by selecting View schools in current collection. To edit or delete a school group select Manage groups.
Improving data quality
If you have been tasked with improving data quality (completing blank postcodes or completing blank NHS Numbers) and you have been assigned the role of super monitor by your local authority's super user, you can quickly drill down to pupil record level to view or make amendments. This applies where the indicator text is shown as a hyperlink. For example, by clicking the link blank child postcodes, all pupils from all schools with blank postcodes are shown.
Any failing data quality indicators will be highlighted and will need to explained.
You may need to click on one of the page tabs to access the required data. For example, to access child postcodes, select the address details tab.
Last edited: 19 October 2023 1:54 pm