On one of our previous webinars, 88% of attendees told us ‘easy reporting for inspections’ was the help they need from a system when managing the Single Central Record. That’s on top of the task of ensuring the data within is current and complete!

So this May, Bradley Allen (one of our Every HR By IRIS Specialists) ran a 30-minute webinar on how you can boost confidence in your SCR year-round.

Keep reading for the key points from the session and the difference managing the Single Central Record with our education HR software (Every HR By IRIS) makes to your school or MAT.

We cover:

  1. The basics of keeping the SCR up-to-date
  2. How to manage the SCR at MAT-level and spot the schools that need support
  3. The advantage of being able to add your own additional checks to the SCR
  4. And plenty more!

You can also watch the webinar back when it suits you by clicking the button below.

Is your SCR up-to-date?

Logging into his dummy Every HR account, Bradley shared the view that users are met with when they open our SCR module. Straightaway, he could see statistics on the numbers of:

  • Complete records
  • Incomplete records
  • Employees on the Single Central Record

Plus, the types of check within the incomplete records. If you’re responsible for keeping the SCR in check, then we’re sure your attention would hone into one thing – those incomplete records. So, how easy is it to use Every HR to get them up to scratch?

Spotting incomplete data in the SCR

From glancing at the SCR dashboard, you can quickly see what’s wrong. Then it’s easy to go into each individual record to make the right changes or additions to ‘complete’ them.

Opening a list of all the staff in the dummy school, Bradley was able to:

  • See red – literally. Records that need attention are highlighted red (and complete and current ones green), so you can quickly recognise where you need to focus your time.
  • Understand the types of check that are incomplete or outstanding – for instance, an identity check or DBS check.
  • Instantly know the details of why checks are incomplete – e.g. the existing DBS check has expired.
  • Flick between the SCRs of all schools within a MAT, giving both MAT- and school-level overviews of record status.

If this were a real-life scenario, Bradley’s next step would be to go into each incomplete staff record to ‘fix’ any issues. (But seeing as he only had 30 minutes to showcase all the bells and whistles of the system, he didn’t!)

The MAT-level view of the Single Central Record

Next, Bradley spoke directly to all attendees from MATs. We know how much of a time-consuming task it is to manually work out which of your schools’ SCRs are complete or not, then find out what’s missing, on whose record, and where to get the data from to right it!

Using Every HR to manage your MAT’s Single Central Record makes your working day simpler. You only need to create a single staff member’s record once, and then use the ‘share’ feature to allow the other schools or properties they work at to use it, too.

It’s a great time-saving feature and saves schools in your MAT having tens of spreadsheets with the same data on it!

Where does staff data come from to complete the SCR?

A little recap for those of you who aren’t using Every HR already – it’s a modular system that can be used for all areas of employee management, from absence and attendance through to performance and payroll. All relevant staff data is automatically pulled into the Single Central Record from your main Every HR employee records, meaning you don’t have to spend time manually copying and pasting data from one system to another.

How to add contractors and visitors to the SCR

So once you’ve added, updated, and checked your staff records are complete, it’s time to think about other regular visitors to the school – for instance, contractors. It’s another task that’s more straight-forward when you’re using Every HR.

Bradley demonstrated how you can add an individual exclusively to the SCR (and no other modules of Every HR), so you can feel confident they won’t accidentally slip into areas they shouldn’t, like payroll. He then showed how users can run through the list of checks they need to have completed and fill out the details, like Right to Work in the UK or Safer Recruitment.

What about bulk updates?

Bradley had attendees sorted for those, too! Say you want to add a check for a certain group of staff, like teachers, there’s no need to set aside hours to add this to every single teacher’s record. You can simply use Every HR to bulk select groups or several individual staff to make mass additions or changes to.

Spreadsheets VS Every HR’s SCR module

Next, it was onto our old friend – spreadsheets. Bradley explained how spreadsheets make bulk updates simpler, but that they are prone to errors. They also make it difficult to manage to spot any issues or gaps, and they’re arguably not that secure. For instance, what happens if you’ve just manually updated 61 staff records and then someone else accidentally deletes the spreadsheet?

With Every HR, you can feel safe in the knowledge that your SCR is backed up. You can see what’s going on at a glance, but there’s also the functionality to export the data to a spreadsheet format if you find making bulk updates simpler that way.

And whether you’ve exported the SCR from your MIS or it’s already in a spreadsheet, our support team will help you import the data into Every HR’s Single Central Record module.

Can you add other checks?

Bradley rounded off the session by raising a common question we’re asked by schools – can additional checks be added to the SCR? In short, the answer’s ‘yes!’. All the required checks of the Single Central Record are in Every HR, but you’ve also got the option to house other checks in there. For example, if they have a mini bus driving licence or a lifeguard qualification.

With our education HR software, you’re empowered with a system that’s got all the checks you need to have for every member of staff, regular visitor, or contractor in a single, central place. And that’s just one of the ways we’re making your working life simpler!

Thanks to all who joined Bradley’s session this May.

The webinar is available to watch back at your leisure, and our team is on hand to answer any questions you have about managing your Single Central Record with us.