Form

SF3: local government pension scheme funds - bulk upload guidance

Updated 10 July 2023

Applies to England

A basic template has been provided to replicate the SF3 form that is on DELTA. This template allows the cells that require data entry to be uploaded.

Calculations based on these figures and validations will be made in DELTA once the data has been uploaded.

Manual entry directly into DELTA is still available, and manual entry after the data has been uploaded can take place (for example, to provide explanations or to change the data uploaded). However, any upload following manual entry will overwrite these changes.

Please read and follow the guidance carefully.

Preparing your data for upload

When the form is fully complete select the ‘Upload’ worksheet. This worksheet will look like the screenshot below.

Right click on the worksheet tab and select “Move or Copy…”. Select the (new book) option in the ‘To book’ box. Also tick ‘Create a copy’.

Save it as an .xlsx (Excel workbook) file. It is now ready for uploading onto DELTA.

DELTA bulk upload

Log into DELTA.

Go to Submissions > Collection Requests.

Type ‘sf3-2022-23-apr-mar’ into the search bar, click on the green search icon and the SF3 form will be the first on the list.

Click on the ‘More’ arrow and select ‘Upload data’

This will take you into the bulk upload facility.

Click on ‘Select file’, this will allow you to browse your folders to find the import data sheet.

Once you’ve chosen it, a green box at the bottom will say ‘upload complete’. Click on ‘Next’.

This will then start the DELTA validation. Be aware this may take a minute or two. You will need to wait until a yellow text box appears.

Please note that the yellow text box will say ‘1 out of 1 document invalid’ if there are any data problems or if any further review or explanatory comments are required. These are required in cases such as where data supplied are different from pre-populated values, most commonly if there is a significant change from the previous year. Please continue with the upload.

Choose ‘next’ to proceed to import the record.

If presented with an option to keep or delete, Select the ‘delete’ option, as there can only be one record for a collection like this (see screenshot below).

If presented with an option to ‘import’ or ‘skip’, select the ‘import’ option and not the ‘skip’ option (see screenshot below), as that would mean that none of your data is imported.

Click on ‘start import’.

Please note that you can subsequently re-upload your data. In doing so you will overwrite all data values previously uploaded, including replacing any values with blanks, if that is what is in the template when subsequently uploaded.

A message in a green box will appear to say the import of the document is complete. Click on ‘Close’.

The form will now be saved in the data store. Please now review and submit your form.

Submitting the form/ dealing with validations

To review, manually edit, and submit the data you must go into the form in DELTA. To do this click on ‘More’ and choose ‘Edit form’.

Please address any validation warnings and errors e.g. by adding in explanations, and then completing your return by pressing on the green ‘submit’ button at the foot of the form. Please note that some validation warnings may not show up until you attempt to submit the form.

What to do if you need to bulk upload again

If you need to carry out an additional bulk upload, DELTA has the capability to re-upload data. Follow the steps above.

Be Aware: A bulk upload will replace all data and comments, and therefore you will need to fill in explanations again to satisfy error flags.

Queries

If you have any queries regarding bulk upload, please email us at sf3.statistics@levellingup.gov.uk.