It is often the case that as an analyst working with results data, you will want to combine results data with other facts that your LA knows about a young person who has taken the assessment. This article takes you through the process of holding some of that data in Nexus. It covers what to import, how to import it and how to access reporting once it has been uploaded.
Who this is for
Analysts working with Nexus reporting around educational assessments will want to understand the capabilities Nexus offers, though Nexus administrators - with permissions to load the extra pupil fields into the system - may also need to be involved.
Before you start
- This process will require involvement of someone with Nexus import permissions
- You will also require access to pupil level indicators that you wish to add to Nexus as extra pupil fields
What to import
Keypas provides the facility to import pupil level contextual data for EYFSP, Phonics and Key Stage 2 (Key Stage 4 and 5 can only be imported via User defined Fields in NOVA - Admin). The fields in question can be any data items you need to load in providing it is suitable for import and exists at a pupil level. This can fill any gaps from your census import - if any - but also allows you to add a number of import custom fields (up to a maximum of 15).
You can only import data for one key stage at a time and it must be after you have imported the relevant key stage file for that year. If you update your key stage file after importing extra pupil fields, you will need to re-import the extra pupil fields that had already been in the system.
In general you will want to import fields that are composed a limited number of options. These should probably limited to an indicator (true/false, 1/0) or short category names that remains consistent throughout the data. Larger text fields are not generally suitable as they will be difficult to display in Nova reporting. Long lists of options are also generally not helpful in that style of report (though they may be okay for exporting out of the system for external analysis.)
You may also want to ensure that every pupil has something against their record for that field of data (for example, marking a field as 'false' for every pupil where it is not 'true' or some other negative option where a subset of the pupils have one of a number of characteristics.
If you wish to report from year to year on the same extra pupil fields you will want to be consistent with a) how that is allocated/calculated and b) how it is recorded. If possible you should also try to ensure that you use the same field for importing from one year to the next.
The above recommendation is because there is no field name displayed in reports (just UDF 1 to UDF 15). For this reason you may wish to ensure that the values used are intuitive for users to see what the field is actually for. For example using values 1-10 to represent various options may be quick and easy, but tells other users nothing about what that is used for. You could, alternatively, make it more explicit such as 'Ward - Green Valley' with a common prefix of that type to make that obvious. It will not be appropriate in every case, but will be useful if it is a field that you want wider users to make use of.
Preparing the Extra Pupil Fields template
Select Import New File and then Extra Pupil Fields to begin this process.
You will see an example file on the page, this is the template required for this particular import, click the Download Extra Pupil Fields CSV Template link to download the template.
You can then prepare your additional data with a row of data per pupil.
Your file needs to be saved as a CSV with header data in the first row.
The CSV file name must be in the format EPF_KKK_yy.csv (not case sensitive) where:
- yy is the 2-digit Year
- KKK is the Key Stage (FSP, KS2, KS3, PHO or MTC)
As an example, a KS2 import in 2026 would be named the file as EPF_KS2_26.csv
In terms of the template file, the only field that must be populated is the UPN number which must be the first column in the file. The first row must be the header row and not contain any special characters.
You may opt to load in data in the Postcode, Ethnicity columns etc if you wish to do so but this will overwrite any previously held data for that pupil in the given year and Key Stage and should match the standard codes used in those fields within the database. After that section there are 15 'User' columns in which you can include any information you want to hold (see the hints above about the content of those columns.)
Any fields left blank will not affect the data already held in the database and nothing will be imported for them (therefore you do not have to populate all the existing fields if you just want to create new ones.)
Save that to a location that will make it convenient to import from. If you're intending to update this for several years you will probably want to store each year together.
Importing the file
- At the bottom of the import screen you can either drag and drop your zip file or add related files.
- Ensure you choose the correct year and key stage, you can only import extra pupil fields if you have imported key stage data for that same year.
How to access reporting on the extra pupil fields
Once Extra Pupil Fields are imported, Nova reports will then allow you to group or filter using the custom fields you have imported.
Users will need to know which number extra pupil field to filter/aggregate on - the 'name' of the field will not be available. For example, you might import Ward information alongside each pupil's results as extra pupil field 3. Your users will only see 'UDF 3' as their option, it will not say 'Ward'
You can also view the data you have imported via the Keypas tree view.
Now, when you navigate to relevant (for that year and Key Stage) reports in Nova, you can apply your new Extra Pupil Fields within the Report Parameters. This will filter your reports based on your chosen UDF(s).
As you can see above, the report options will only be labelled as UDF 1 to UDF 15, the header from the file will not be shown. For this reason you will either need to remember (and communicate to users) which extra pupil field is which or ensure that the content of the dropdown filters makes this obvious once selected by them (or ideally both).
Users in Perspective Lite will not see Extra Pupil Fields - they are for Nova reporting only (and do not appear in Insight for either LA or school users)
Last reviewed / owner
Last reviewed: August 2026 / Owner: Technical Support Director