The Valistractor shows a coloured robot for each part of your school's SA-SAMS data. This article explains what each robot colour means, which robots block the Extract Data button, and the exact steps in d6 to turn a red robot green. It is for school administrators and curriculum staff who prepare weekly, termly and year-end submissions.

My School > d6 Initiatives: Compliance > Outstanding Compliance Tasks

What do the Valistractor robots mean?

The quick guide below shows the Valistractor screen with its 13 robots numbered 1 to 13, what each colour means, which robots block Extract Data, and the d6 steps to fix each robot. Please see the screenshot for clarity of the 13 robot numbered 1 to 13. 

• Green: All good, nothing to do.

• Yellow: Incomplete. Fix it to improve your result.

• Red: A problem the Department sees on the DDD (Data Driven Districts) dashboard.

• Red with !: Critical. The Extract Data button is blocked.

Which robots block Extract Data?

Fix these robots first. The others improve your result but will not stop you from submitting.

• Registration, Assessments and Report Marks: Block Extract Data below 80%.

• Learner Attendance: Blocks Extract Data below 95%.

• Educator Attendance: Blocks Extract Data below 100%.

• Final Promotion: Blocks Extract Data when red in Term 4.

• Validation Errors and School Details: Block Extract Data when they show a critical issue.

Tip: every task in Outstanding Compliance Tasks has a click here link that opens the exact screen where the issue must be fixed.

How do I fix the learner critical robots?

1. Registration

Usually means learners have no subjects (including learners who left during the year), learners are not in a subject group, subjects are from the wrong grade, or a grade has no learning programme for the term.

1. Navigate to My School > Curriculum > Learner Subjects > Subject Choices per Learner. Search the learner (for learners who left, set Learner Status to Left during selected year), select the Term, move the subjects to the right and click Submit.

2. On the Manage Subjects tab, click None next to a subject and allocate the learner to a Subject Group.

3. Navigate to My School > System: Curriculum > Curriculum Setup: Learning Programme Setup and check that every grade has a learning programme for the term.

4. Open Outstanding Compliance Tasks and use the click here link on each subject task.

2. Assessments

Usually means marks are missing or blank, learners are not allocated to the subject group, task dates fall outside the term, or weights are wrong.

1. Navigate to My School > People: Learners > Learner Marks: Marks per Group and capture every mark. Use a for absent (also learners who left), * for not handed in and 0 for a zero. Never leave a mark blank.

2. If an Unallocated Learners tab shows on that screen, allocate those learners to the group.

3. Navigate to My School > System: Curriculum > Curriculum Setup: Learning Programme Setup and check the tasks, dates and weights for the term.

4. Open Outstanding Compliance Tasks and use the click here link on each assessment task.

3. Final Promotion

Usually means final decisions are not completed, promotion decision guidelines are not set up, or moderation and condonation are not finalised.

1. Navigate to My School > System: Curriculum > Decision Guidelines. Select the grade, set the promotion mark calculation and click Save.

2. Navigate to My School > Curriculum > Final Results and finalise moderation and condonation.

3. Navigate to My School > Curriculum > Final Decisions. Select the year and grade, activate Final Decisions for Terms 1 to 4 and the Promotion Mark, and check every learner has a decision. PG (progressed) only applies to Grade 4 to 9.

4. Report Marks

Usually means a subject has no promotion formula, weighted tasks are not linked to the formula, or learners have no rolled-up subject mark.

1. Navigate to My School > Curriculum > Subject-Specific Formulas. For every subject per grade, click Preset Formula (manual curriculum: set the formula using the d6 Curriculum Content document) and check every weighted task is linked.

2. Capture missing marks in Learner Marks: Marks per Group so the subject mark can roll up.

3. Give learners without subjects their subjects in Subject Choices per Learner.

How do I fix the learner additional robots?

5. Term Achievement

Does not block Extract Data. Usually means learners have no term decision, decision guidelines are not set up for the term, or marks are missing.

1. Navigate to My School > System: Curriculum > Decision Guidelines, set up the guidelines for the grade and term and click Save.

2. Navigate to My School > System: Curriculum > Promotion Requirements: Term Decisions. Select the Year, Grade, Curriculum and Term, and work through the blank decisions first.

3. Capture any missing marks, then click Recalculate.

6. Identifiers

Does not affect the overall percentage. Usually means an ID number is missing or invalid, does not match the gender or date of birth, or LURITS numbers are missing or duplicated.

1. Navigate to My School > People > Learners > Learner Overview, search the learner and click Edit Learner. Correct the ID or passport number, gender and date of birth.

2. If the learner has no SA ID number, select the No ID number reason.

3. Navigate to My School > d6 Initiatives: Compliance > Compliance: Import LURITS Files and import the LURITS feedback files from the Department.

7. Dates

Does not block Extract Data. Usually means a learner who left has no date left or reason, a current learner has a date left, or an admission date is missing.

1. Navigate to My School > People > Learners > Learner Overview, search the learner and click Edit Learner.

2. If the learner left, add the date left and the reason. If the learner is still at school, remove the date left.

3. Add or correct the admission date, then save.

8. Learner Attendance

Blocks Extract Data below 95%. Usually means absentees are not captured, weeks are not confirmed, absent reasons are not linked to SA-SAMS reasons, or absences fall outside term dates.

1. Navigate to My School > People > Learners > Attendance: Absentees. Capture absentees up to today, with a reason for each absence.

2. Navigate to My School > People > Learners > Attendance: Attendance Confirmation and confirm every week. Use the bulk confirmation option.

3. Navigate to My School > Absent Reasons and link every absent reason to an SA-SAMS reason.

4. Remove absences captured outside the term dates.

How do I fix the educator robots?

9. Status and Dates

Does not block Extract Data. Usually means an archived educator has no date left, a current educator has a date left, or a start date is missing.

1. Navigate to My School > People > Staff > Staff and open the staff member.

2. Under Appointment information, add the appointment (start) date.

3. For an archived educator, add the date left. For an educator still at school, remove the date left. Save.

10. Educator Attendance

Blocks Extract Data below 100%. Usually means weeks have no staff absenteeism captured, leave reasons are linked to "Unknown", or absences fall on holidays.

1. Navigate to My School > People > Staff > Attendance: Absentees. Select each week up to today, add the absent staff members, assign the leave reason and save.

2. Navigate to My School > Absent Reasons and link every staff leave reason to an SA-SAMS reason (not Unknown).

3. Remove absences captured on holidays or outside the term.

11. Teaching Load

Does not block Extract Data. Usually means educators have no subjects linked, subjects have marks but no educator, or subject experience is blank.

1. Navigate to My School > People > Staff: Subjects. Select the staff member and year, move their subjects to Assigned Subjects and click Save.

2. On the Subject Experience tab, click Add entry for each grade and subject, enter the years and presentation skills, and save.

3. Navigate to My School > People > Staff > Staff and complete Qualification and Experience.

How do I fix the school data robots?

12. Validation Errors

Critical issues block Extract Data. Usually means invalid staff ID numbers, duplicate learner LURITS numbers, or a missing school or principal telephone number.

1. Navigate to My School > People > Staff > Staff, open the staff member and correct the ID number under Identification.

2. Open the learner in Learner Overview > Edit Learner and correct duplicate LURITS numbers, or re-import the LURITS files.

3. Navigate to My School > System > General > General: School Setup and add the school telephone number. Check the principal's contact details on their staff profile.

13. School Details

Critical issues block Extract Data. Usually means the address is not in 4 lines, the phone, email or EMIS officer is missing, or the uploaded SA-SAMS data is out of date. A yellow robot often means the School Type does not match the DBE masterlist.

1. Navigate to My School > System > General > General: School Setup.

2. Under Location and contact details, enter the address in 4 lines (street, suburb, town, postal code), the telephone number and admin email, and check the EMIS Number.

3. Under LURITS and SAMS requirements, assign the EMIS Officer, then save.

4. Navigate to My School > d6 Initiatives: Compliance > Compliance: Upload SA-SAMS Database and upload your latest patched, zipped database.

What do I do after fixing the robots?

1. Clear the tasks in My School > d6 Initiatives: Compliance > Outstanding Compliance Tasks.

2. Export from My School > d6 Initiatives: Compliance > Export to SA-SAMS Database. In Term 4, choose Weekly, or Year-end Promotion and Final Valistractor.

3. Deploy the database in SA-SAMS Module 17.

4. Open the Valistractor, validate, and click Extract Data once the blocking robots are green.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the Extract Data button blocked in the Valistractor?

Extract Data is blocked when Registration, Assessments or Report Marks are below 80%, Learner Attendance is below 95%, Educator Attendance is below 100%, Final Promotion is red in Term 4, or Validation Errors or School Details show a critical issue. Fix those robots in d6, export again and re-validate.

Why does the Valistractor show "No data"?

The database was not deployed in SA-SAMS Module 17. Clear the Priority 2 tasks in Outstanding Compliance Tasks in d6 (such as subjects, staff details, next of kin, SACE and PERSAL), export the database and deploy it again.

I fixed the data in d6 but the robot is still red. Why?

The Valistractor reads the SA-SAMS database, not d6 directly. After every fix, export a new database from d6, deploy it in Module 17 and validate again.

Do I have to fix every red robot before I can submit?

No. Only Registration, Assessments, Report Marks, both Attendance robots, Final Promotion (in Term 4) and critical Validation Errors or School Details block Extract Data. The other robots improve your data quality and should still be fixed.

What does a "!" on the School Details robot mean?

A red robot with "!" is critical and blocks Extract Data. On School Details it can also mean your school has already submitted for the period.