WISEid: User Guide - Manage Person Data

Manage Person Data - Menu in WISEid Portal

Manage Person Data Overview      Person Search/Edit      Advanced Search Feature     Report Duplicates      Review Matches      Upload Person Data       Staff/Student Identity Integration       View Upload Results 

Having Accurate WISEid Records:

It is essential to assign WISEids to ALL students and staff. Do this in the Manage Person Data menu in WISEid.

• Start with the upload person data option under Manage Person Data. Uploading a Person record creates WISEids and/or update WISEid data during the process. Then, you can upload files to WISEid and work with those files.
• Use the match review process to see if the person already exists with another matching file. If you locate a matching person record that already exists in WISEid, combine the records for the person. Or, you might not find a matching person record. If there is no matching person record, you must create a new record to create a WISEid. Creating a new WISEid when one already exists ends up giving one person two WISEids, so please match carefully!
• When records are incorrectly matched, one WISEid gets assigned to two different people. If you find that one person has two different WISEids associated, report the WISEids as duplicates. Only WISEid Administrators can resolve duplicate WISEid records.
• Complete a change request to update previously entered demographic information. Change requests often require communication between two or more schools/districts. DPI may deny change requests. Follow these steps to appeal a denied change request.

Manage Person Data Overview

View general introductory information here.

Person Search / Edit

Use this to look up person records by entering known information about that person and clicking Search.

An initial search requires the person’s first and last name, as indicated by the red asterisks next to those data fields. 

To get more detailed results, type in additional data for:

• WISEid
  • If you search for a WISEid that was deactivated because of merged duplicate WISEids, you will see the results for the active WISEid (not the deactivated WISEid).
• Middle Name
• Entity ID
• Birthday
• Gender
• Suffix

Click the blue "Search" button to see your results, or click "Clear" to start over.

The Person Search feature looks for exact matches as well as near matches (e.g., a search for Jennifer Andrews might bring back results of Jennifer Anders, Andrew, and Anderson).

Person suggestions results will display as a table below the search data fields. All results display up to 35 results on one table, so be aware that the table may be long and require a bit of scrolling. NOTE: There may be more than 35 results for the standard search, but only 35 will display. If you do not see the results you were expecting, you can conduct an Advanced Search.

Green highlighted boxes match your search criteria as entered.

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• Click the triangle at the far left of each row to expand more summary details about the person in that row.
• Click the WISEid number to see the full details about the person.

Helpful Search Tips:

The WISEid search engine is very reliable, but there are times when a search may prove difficult. It is possible that the person for whom you are searching may have incorrect information, or their information may appear differently than expected. As you search, keep in mind:

• Middle Name: This field is not always populated or only contains an initial, which may or may not include a period. If you are having difficulty searching, try leaving this field blank, or try common variations of names (e.g., “Bobbie” instead of “Bobby”).
• Last Name: Hyphenated/multiple last names can sometimes make a search difficult. If you are having trouble searching, try entering only one of the last names.
• Former Name: Try using a name the person previously used.
• Misspellings: Occasionally names are misspelled. Try searching with common misspellings.

If the results do not provide the match you expected, conduct an Advanced Search before clicking the red “Create New Record” button.

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Advanced Search Feature

Users can now refine the results of the WISEid Person Search with an Advanced Search. First conduct a standard Person search to reach the Advanced Search.

Sometimes the logic within the WISEid Person Search feature does not provide the match you are looking for the first time. The Advanced Search feature can help you obtain more accurate results.

An Advanced Search has four data fields to refine your search:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Birth Year
• Former School Districts/Agency 

The Advanced Search tool requires you to enter data into at least two of the following fields: First Name, Last Name, Birth Year, as indicated by the red asterisks next to those data fields.

You can enter partial name in First Name and Last Name fields to find results containing the name entered. The partial name search allows you to continue searching even if you are unsure of the person's exact first or last name, or unsure of the exact spelling of the person’s first or last name. You can use just the first letter of a person’s first or last name, or a few letters that you know must be in the results to find the person you are searching for.

• An example: Enter "Anders" if you are unsure if the last name spelling is "Anderson" or "Andersen." Using the partial spelling "anders" will also bring up results for names like Sanders, Landers, Andersen, Anderson, Randerson, etc.

The logic of Advanced Search provides more accurate search results than the standard Person Search with less information.

Click the "Advanced Search" button in the lower left corner to get your results.

Advanced Search displays all results on one table, so the table may be long and require scrolling to view all results.

To refine those results, you can use additional filters if you know that information:

• First name, last name, birth year, former agency. 

To View Expanded Information from the Standard Search:

• Click the triangle at the far left of each row to expand more summary details about the person in that row.

• Click the WISEid number to see the full details about the person.

DPI strongly recommends conducting an Advanced Search before creating a new record or making any other changes to a person record. This is especially true for popular or common names (e.g., Muhammed, Mia, Riley, Jones, Smith, etc.).

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Report Duplicates

If you find that one person has two different WISEids associated, you should report the WISEids as duplicates. Type the two WISEids into the fields provided and explain in the comment section what you think happened, as well as which WISEid should be retained.

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Only records uploaded without a WISEid in a person file upload are put through a match review process. The match review process is done to try and find an existing, matching WISEid.

NOTE: There may be occasional scenarios where a new students may already have a WISEid assigned if they were evaluated for special education services as part of a transition from the Birth to Three program under the Department of Health Services (DHS). Timely Special Education (Indicator 11) Evaluations conducted for children below age 3 require these children to have a WISEid, assigned to them by the LEA performing the evaluation. Children who are not yet three cannot have an enrollment record, but they are required to have a responsibility record associated with their WISEid. Whether the student ended up qualifying to receive special education services or not, the WISEid assigned to them should continue to be their WISEid once the student attends school/enrolls in kindergarten (be that 4- or 5-year-old kindergarten). Please ensure your LEA always looks for existing WISEid matches before creating a new one. This unique scenario can potentially cause LEAs to unknowingly create a second WISEid for a new student during the Upload Person process. 

The match review process has been refined to reduce the amount of scrolling and clicking, allowing you to see results much more clearly and quickly.

The Review Matches screen displays persons with your LEA who may match existing people within the WISEid system. Matches could be the result of :

• An LEA receives a new student or staff and doesn’t know their WISEid yet, so they leave that field empty when they do the initial file upload. As part of its regular cycles, the WISEid application locates people with matching data elements (name, gender, birthdate, etc.) that could be referring to the new person who does not have a WISEid yet. LEAs can then view the results that the application has discovered and review that information thoroughly and carefully to determine if any of the located matches are indeed that new person.
• A student moving and attending school in a different district, and the new/receiving district creating a WISEid record even though the former LEA already had a record for this student in WISEid.

Each person (student or staff)  can only ever have one WISEid. Two people cannot share a WISEid. Since the person’s WISEid is a keystone piece of data for every data record associated to that person, include the match review process in your regular data quality routine. Review all matches to avoid creating duplicate records.

Notice that the match review tables only display five records at a time. The table extends using the numbered ‘tab’ system along the bottom of the table. The bottom right-hand corner of the table displays the total number of records that could be potential matches (e.g., the example agency in the screenshot above has a total of 41 records). While 41 is a reasonable number of records to manage, it still emphasizes that you should regularly schedule the match review process into your data quality routine.

How to Conduct a Match Review

1. Click Review for the person who has a potential match.
2. A new screen appears displaying two sections. The top section displays the record, and the bottom section displays potential matches for the record. When the record is expanded, subsections are visible. Subsections are indicated by light blue headers. Pay attention to whether the record belongs to a student or a staff member.
   • If the uploaded record (displayed at the top) belongs to a student, the record is expanded. Notice the record has three sub-sections:
     • Parent Guardian Information,
     • Birth Location, and
     • Other Names. 

       

        

     • Since these items are generally not helpful for matching staff, if the uploaded record (displayed at the top) belongs to a staff member, the record is not expanded.

       

        
3. Below the uploaded record, a table displays existing people whose data look similar, as potential matches for the person in the top record. These green squares in the results show you boxes that match what you have uploaded. Be careful when matching; a name matching doesn’t mean it is the same person. If you aren’t certain, check other information available to verify the match. Click the expander icon (small triangle) located in the far left of each row on the potential match table. Verify the birth date and gender as well, along with any other data to ensure your match is indeed a match.

   

A handy new feature on the potential matches is that ‘Other Names’ appears as a column, making this data element much easier to review.

You either will find a matching person, or you will not find a matching person. Be very sure your match is accurate before you accept the match to merge the person records. If you do not find a match, you need to create a new person record. 

I Found A Match

Once you believe you have a match, click the radio button next to the existing match and then click Next.

This brings you to a new screen where you review your match one last time before combining the records. This review will either be successful or unsuccessful. Steps for both scenarios are below.

Review Is Successful

The potential match in this screenshot has a high number of identical data elements. This is an example where you should click “Accept”.

You then see a banner across the screen indicating your match was completed. Two buttons in the bottom-left corner give you options for next steps:

• Review Next Match: Brings you to the next record to review.
• Return to Review Matches Page: Return to the Review Matches screen to select a different record.

If you see an error banner, please submit a Help Ticket.

Review Is Unsuccessful

The potential match in this screenshot is not a direct match in data for the local person ID, middle name, or birth date. This is an example where you should click “Cancel.”  If there are other potential matches to review, continue reviewing those.  If there is no matching record in existence, then click the radio button at the very bottom of the potential match table to indicate, “Create a new person (this person does not match any of the above)”.

I Have Not Found A Match

If the existing records do not match your person, select the Create a new person radio button, and then click Next. This brings you to a new screen for one last opportunity to review your decision. 

Your new record appears on a new screen:

Click “Accept” to create a new record.  

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Staff and Student Identity Integration (SII)

Staff and Student Identity Integration allows student information system (SIS)/HR/payroll vendor tools to integrate with the WISEid application, which assigns a unique ID to a person. Vendor tools that implement this integration provide a means for their schools and districts to retrieve and review potential student matches and to create WISEids for students and staff through the vendor tool. The matches displayed on the vendor tool should be examined before creating a new WISEid. 

NEW! for the 2024-25 School Year: Staff Identity Integration: Select vendors will support the capacity to create WISEids for staff using the Identity API. Stay tuned to the to the Vendor List located on the Staff and Student Identity Integration webpage to find out if your vendor support this new feature!

If your SIS/HR/payroll vendor tool supports the Staff and Student Identity Integration feature, you can perform several WISEid tasks directly in your vendor tool, including reviewing potential student matches and creating WISEids for students. Refer to your vendor's documentation for instructions on using these features in your vendor tool(s).

Schools and districts must continue to upload student records to WISEid through the Upload Person Data tool at least twice per year: once at the beginning of the school year and once at the end of the school year.

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Upload Person Data

The Upload Person Data option under Manage Person Data allows users with access to upload files into WISEid and to work with them once processed. Uploading a Person record creates a WISEid and/or updates WISEid data during the process.

It is essential that ALL students and staff have WISEids assigned. It is also imperative that ALL students and any staff members associated with Roster coursework have Local Person IDs assigned as well, so their data can be claimed and linked to your district.

After you upload a file, examine and correct the results as needed. The information below guides you through this file upload and examination process. DPI suggests running WISEid File uploads once a week to maintain accurate data within WISEid. If your SIS/HR/payroll vendor tool uses SII, this feature does these weekly uploads for you.

NOTE: Even if your vendor tool uses Staff and Student Identity Integration, schools and districts must continue to upload student records to WISEid through the Upload Person Data tool at least twice per year: once at the beginning of the school year, and once at the end of the school year. If your vendor tool does not use Staff and Student Identity Integration, DPI recommends these manual uploads for both student and staff throughout the year.

Manage staff records through the normal WISEid person upload processes. Upload Contract and Assignment data for the WISEstaff collection through the WISEstaff application.

NOTE: If you do not have access to WISEstaff, you cannot upload a Person file with staff names. To obtain access to WISEstaff, please contact your local WISEstaff security administrator.

At the beginning of the school year, break this into manageable parts. Suggestions include, but are not limited to:

• New students who would not have a WISEid assigned to them yet because they have not been enrolled in a Wisconsin school
  • NOTE: There may be occasional scenarios where a new students may already have a WISEid assigned if they were evaluated for special education services as part of a transition from the Birth to Three program under the Department of Health Services (DHS). Timely Special Education (Indicator 11) Evaluations conducted for children below age 3 require these children to have a WISEid, assigned to them by the LEA performing the evaluation. Children who are not yet 3 years old cannot have an enrollment record, but they must have a responsibility record associated with their WISEid. Whether the student qualified to receive special education services or not, the WISEid assigned to them should continue to be their WISEid once the student attends school/enrolls in kindergarten (be that 4- or 5-year-old kindergarten). Please ensure your LEA

    always looks for existing WISEid matches before creating a new one. Do this with the Match Review process. 

     
• Students new to your school who already have a WISEid
  • Follow the Match Review Section for these students carefully.
• School breakdowns (e.g., Elementary School, Middle School, etc.)

WISEstaff Collection Checklist - Step 1b: Enter and Edit WISEid Person Records for all Staff; Ensure All have a Local Person ID for your Agency

Read the section above for important information about this process. Read the steps below to learn how to upload data in WISEid. When you are done, you can return to Step 1c of the WISEstaff Staff Collection Checklist. 

How to Upload Person Data (File Upload)

There are many ways to accomplish this task, but you must upload the file as a .CSV file type and it must contain Local Person IDs to be successful.

An orange error banner appears if there are problems with your upload. If you plan on entering data through the File Upload process, follow these steps.

Follow the steps below to complete the file upload process:

1.) Download your WISEid file out of your SIS for either your students or your staff members (if you are unsure on how to do this, contact your SIS vendor). This file should be a .CSV file. Save it where you can find it later.

2.) Under Manage Person Data, select Upload Person Data.

3.) Click Choose File to select your saved .CSV file you downloaded from your SIS.

4.) Click Upload.

You can also enter data manually one person at a time. To do this you must click on the Person Search menu from WISEstaff and use the Person Search/Edit tab.

When your updates are complete, you must return the Staff Collection Checklist by clicking on the WISEid/WISEstaff toggle, selecting the WISEstaff Home menu, then clicking on Staff Collection Checklist. You must manually click in the blank box to obtain the blue check mark to indicate that step 1b is complete. You can then proceed to Step 1c. 

Reading Upload Results

Once you have completed your upload, you should check your results to see your data in the View Upload Results tab.

• Type: This can be Person, Contract, or Assignment. Contracts and Assignments can be uploaded through WISEstaff and reviewed through the Results tab.
  • NOTE: Choice Schools are not required to submit data to WISEstaff

• File Name: Clicking this hyperlink shows you the file you have uploaded.

• Status: This shows you the status of your upload. You can work with your data once the status is “completed”.

• Errors: These are issues within the file that you uploaded; you need to fix these errors in your file and re-upload a new file to correct them.

• Potential Matches: These are possible matches to people whom you have uploaded. The system will check for matching names and birth dates within the WISEid system and then ask you to review to make sure that you do not create duplicates.

• Committed: This is the number of lines from your file upload that were processed and that do not need your review.

• Changes: This is the number of change requests created from this file upload, (e.g., a student whose last name has changed). When you upload the student to WISEid with the new last name, the system will create a change request to the student’s associated school districts to approve or deny before the change files to the database. This process is in place to ensure person record changes are applied correctly prior to writing them to the database.

• Upload Date: This identifies when the file was uploaded.

• User ID: This identifies who uploaded the file.

• Download: Use this button to download your committed file. If you uploaded a file of students missing WISEids, the Download button will return your file with the WISEid column completed. Then, upload this file into your SIS to save the new WISEids to your person records.

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View Upload Results

Errors

If you have an error, it displays in the View Upload Results tab (under the Manage Persons Data menu) once you scroll down to see your results. Click on the blue box with a number in it, located in the errors column.

This brings you to the Person Error Review Screen (shown below). Click the [⏵] at the far left end of the row to view the details. Make your corrections within your student information system (SIS), download a new file with corrected records in a .CSV file, and re-upload the records to WISEid. Save your upload file on your hard drive for future reference. Make corrections in the .CSV file saved to your computer and re-uploaded to WISEid. After the error has been corrected and your upload has finished processing, errors on your new upload should appear as “0”.

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Return to WISEid Info and Help page

Didn't Find What You Needed?

The Partner Support Team is here to help!

Please submit a Help Ticket so we may better assist you.

Want help from a live DPI employee about a WISEstaff or WISEid question you have about your agency's staff? Please join us! Every Tuesday at 11am there is a WISEstaff & WISEid User Group. The WISEstaff and WISEid User Group Agenda allows users like you to add questions to our agenda as a comment, and also provides the link you need to join the Teams Meeting.

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