Troubleshooting the Excel Add-In (Admin)

In this article we have provided further information to help troubleshoot why the Add-In (‘SISRA’ tab) may not appear in Excel, or connection issues when using the ‘Online’ mode of the Add-In.

Add-In Not Appearing (64-bit Office)

If you have a 64-bit version of Office installed on your computer, you will need a registry fix in order for the Excel Add-in to register in Excel. We recommend checking this by clicking FILE > Account > ‘About Excel’. The process of checking this may be slightly different depending on the version of Excel you’re using, so in this case it may be worthwhile asking your IT department for this information.

You should then be presented with a pop out window, which states whether Excel is 32-bit or 64-bit: 

If your Excel states 64-bit, we recommend closing down Excel fully, then clicking the link below to download the zip file, extract the registry file, and then run it. 

Please ensure you have Administrator rights on the computer you’re running this on.

Add-In Not Appearing (Inactive Add-In)

If the 64-bit registry fix (explained above) does not apply or resolve this for you, it may be that the Add-In is inactive. To check this, click FILE and then Options down the left hand side menu in Excel.

A pop up should appear with multiple options, where you can click ‘Add-Ins’. Then, expand the Manage dropdown and select ‘COM Add-Ins’, then click ‘Go’. 

In the COM Add-Ins pop up window, place a tick next to SISRA Analytics Excel Add-In, then click ‘OK’.

The SISRA tab should now appear as an option on the top banner of Excel.

If you cannot see the Add-In in the COM Add-Ins list in Excel (explained above), it suggests you either have a 64-bit version of Office installed or the installation process was interrupted. You may need your local IT department to rerun the installation.

To do this, navigate to your local program files (for example C:\Program Files (x86)\SISRA Analytics Excel Add In), and rerun the file called 'SISRA Analytics Excel Add-In' with the type 'VSTO Deployment'. Once completed, revisit the COM Add-In list in Excel to check whether this now appears.

If you still have problems, make a note of the Load Behaviour, shown in the COM Add-ins screenshot above, and pop onto Live Chat.

We hope the above helps to resolve any issues you're experiencing. Unfortunately, due to each schools network settings being slightly different, we are unable to troubleshoot unique scenarios. However, if you still have problems after working through the above, we recommend trying to install the Add-In on a home machine, not connected to your local network if possible. Alternatively, you could consider formatting your files manually.

Error Adding School Profile

If you receive an error when trying to enter a new school profile code, like the below: "The Excel Add In could not connect to Sisra Analytics..."

This may be because you do not currently have an active Internet connection. To add a school profile, you will need to have a connection to the Internet as this is used to link the Excel Add-In in to your Student Data Profile. If you have problems with this it may be best to talk to your local IT department.

If you are unable to connect to the Internet, you can enable Offline mode within the Add-In. This will allow you to continue preparing staff data or class contexts without an Internet connection. For more information on Offline mode, see our article - Using Offline Mode in the Excel Add-In (Admin).

If you’re unable to add your profile (and you have an Internet connection), then it’s possible that your school or local authority has a proxy server which is preventing the connection. The Excel add-in has been designed to detect network settings and most schools are able to use Online Mode but sometimes settings on the School or LA network may restrict access.

Below we have outlined a couple of options for your IT department to try in order to get around this issue, however if you still have problems you will still be able to use the Excel Add-In to format data via Offline mode.

• Step 1 - Firstly, the Excel Add-In uses port 80 to connect to exceladdin.sisraanalytics.co.uk. We’d recommend passing this address onto your IT department to ensure that access to this is not restricted.
• Step 2 – If the above does not resolve the issue, you can configure the Add-In to use specific settings for your proxy server by following the instructions below:

1. Click ‘Manage Profiles’ under the SISRA Observe tab and then select the Proxy tab. 2. Select ‘Use these settings as default connection settings’. The four text fields will become active. 3. Fill in the fields with the address, port and user credentials for your proxy server. If you are unsure what value to enter for any of these fields, contact your local IT Manager/Support. 4. Click ‘Save’. 5. You should now be able to configure ‘Online mode’. See our article for more on setting this up - Setting up the Excel Add-In (Admin).

Analytics Says the File Does Not Contain Valid Data

If when trying to import a file into Analytics you get a warning message that says:

"The file submitted does not contain valid data. Please check that the file has been saved as CSV (MS-DOS), there are no blank student IDs and that the file contains a header row."

This is usually because the file has not been saved as CSV (MS-DOS). Due to a Microsoft Office update, the Add-In for newer versions of Office can cause Excel to default into saving a file as CSV (Macintosh). This means that the file type can look similar but it is unable to be recognised by Analytics.

To fix this, you will need to manually change the file type within Excel by clicking FILE > Save As, then selecting the file type CSV (MS-DOS) from the dropdown box, and then clicking Save.

You should now be able to import the file into Analytics without any issue.

Thanks for reading.