Data Exports

Export

Contains

Survey Data Export

The activity's survey responses.

Interview Data Export

The activity's interview and focus group responses.

Observation Data Export

The activity's observations.

GOOD TO KNOW  These are exports, not reports. There are no thresholds to set, no charts, and no flagging — you get the records as they stand.

Banner

Meaning

Preparing your export… — Compiling survey responses. Please wait.

NSCAT is assembling the data.

Almost there… — Fetching your file now — this won't take long.

The file is being downloaded.

Export complete — Your file has been downloaded.

Done. Check your downloads folder.

Export failed — Something went wrong. Please try again.

It did not complete. Retry.

PRO TIP  Because it runs in the background, you can carry on working while it compiles. Start the export, go and do something else, and come back to the completion banner.

HEADS UP  Do not start the same export repeatedly because nothing seems to be happening. The button is disabled while an export is in flight precisely to stop this, and large response sets genuinely take time. The Preparing your export… banner means it is working — wait for it to resolve.

GOOD TO KNOW  The banner names the activity by id, so you can tell exports apart if you have started more than one. That id also appears in the address bar when you open an activity.

HEADS UP  The observation export includes active observations only. Deleted ones are excluded while deleted. If a finding is missing, it may have been deleted — you cannot check the deleted list yourself unless you are a Utility Admin, so ask an administrator before concluding it was never recorded. See Observations.

PRO TIP  The Observation Data Export is the most useful of the three for writing up an assessment. It gives you every finding with its classification, rating, and themes in one sheet — which is exactly what you need when grouping observations into recommendations.

You want to…

Use

See results with outliers flagged

Survey Report

See analysis by trait and attribute

Interview Report

Read comments grouped by theme

Themes Report

Attach specific quotes to a recommendation

Search for Evidence on the recommendation

Pivot or chart the data your own way

A data export

Combine NSCAT data with another source

A data export

Circulate findings to people who do not use NSCAT

A PDF export

Keep a complete record before the activity is locked

All three exports

PRO TIP  Take all three exports before an activity is locked, and store them with your report pack. Locking keeps the data readable in NSCAT, but having a standalone copy means the assessment's evidence survives independently of anyone's access rights.

HEADS UP  Exported files leave NSCAT's access controls behind entirely. Survey responses are anonymous, but interview and observation records can contain identifying detail — a role, a location, a quoted remark. Once exported, nothing stops the file being forwarded. Store and share it accordingly.

PRO TIP  Where a file is going outside the assessment team, prefer a password-protected PDF export over an Excel workbook. The PDF exports offer a password and a Confidential watermark; the Excel exports offer neither.

PRO TIP  Name exports with the activity and date as you save them — spring-assessment-observations-2026-08.xlsx. Three files called export.xlsx in a downloads folder are indistinguishable within a week.

GOOD TO KNOW  An export is a snapshot at the moment you take it. Continuing to collect responses or record observations afterwards means the file no longer matches NSCAT — re-export when the activity is complete.

What you see

What it means

Reports group missing from the activity

You have no Reports read access.

Export failed

It did not complete. Retry; if it recurs, report it.

Preparing your export… for a long time

Normal for a large response set. Wait rather than restarting.

The export button is disabled

An export is already running for this activity. Wait for the banner.

No file in your downloads folder

Wait for Export complete — the banner tells you when it has actually downloaded.

An observation is missing from the export

It may be deleted. Ask an administrator to check the deleted list.

Export does not match what NSCAT shows

It is a snapshot. Re-export.

Unsure which activity an export belongs to

The banner names it as Activity {id}.

Interviews and focus groups mixed together

Correct — one export covers both.