ISTD QUEST Teacher Manual UK V.3

5. New Candidate PIN Application

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5. New Candidate PIN Application

Please see the Navigating Exam Periods section on how to find your session

Candidate Spreadsheet

Below is an example of the spreadsheet containing the necessary details for candidate PIN

application upload.

This spreadsheet must include the following columns:

1. Learner Only – for every new

candidate this column must read

‘TRUE’ 2. First Name 3. Middle Name 4. Last Name 5. DOB (date of birth) 6. Gender 7. Previous Surname*

8. Nationality* 9. ULN* 10. City* 11. County* 12. Country* 13. Site Code – applicable to a new

candidate taking a vocational

exam

* Although this information is not compulsory, the ISTD strongly recommends it is included

to prevent duplicate candidate PINs being issued

If you don’t know how to set up the master spreadsheet, contact questdev@istd.org and we

will send a master to you.

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5. Requesting New Candidate PINs

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Saving your file for upload

When you have created a sheet, save it in a folder in your system and

make sure it is easily identifiable to you e.g. ‘PIN request for July 2018

session’.

New Candidate PIN Application can be submitted online. It will require you to create a

spreadsheet and saving it in your PC as either the XLS, XLSX or CSV file format.

If you use Mac or iPad and your default app for processing spreadsheets is Numbers, then

you must export your file to a CSV format.

If you don’t have Excel or Numbers, then you can use Google Documents. If you do, make

sure your spreadsheet is saved as a CSV file. Before uploading it to ISTD system, please

download it as a Comma-separated values document.

ISTD QUEST Teacher Manual UK V.3

5. Requesting New Candidate PINs

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Quest – Candidates tab

- You can request New Candidate PINs for new candidates taking exams with the

ISTD for the first time

- Existing candidates who already have PINs from previous examinations can be

added to the session immediately through Add Candidate Bookings

The system also enables you to make alterations to any examination

entry – see the Adding candidates to Application section.

New Candidates - Request Pins

You can submit a list of new learners who need new candidate PINs – see the Request Pins

button.

Pressing this button will open a new window with a log-in screen for the Parnassus database

system which holds the records accessed by Quest, and where all candidate PINs and their

results are recorded.

ISTD QUEST Teacher Manual UK V.3

5. Requesting New Candidate PINs

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Parnassus

Parnassus is a separate database holding candidate records, results and certification related

information, and links to Quest.

- To log-in, use your new 5-digit membership number for the User Name and

enter the Password you previously created in Quest

New Candidate PIN Upload

If you are logged-into Quest, by pressing Request Pins you will be automatically taken to the

Learners screen in Parnassus

(a) Press Registration Upload button

(b) Press New Import From File button

Your teacher name

ISTD QUEST Teacher Manual UK V.3

5. Requesting New Candidate PINs

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(c) File Upload screen will pop-up

(d) Press Choose File

(e) Navigate to the folder your spreadsheet is saved in – in this example this file is called

UK-A001234-Smith - Candidate PIN Application (12-2017), and it is saved in a folder

called Documents. Press Open

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(f) Your selected file will appear in the top section of the File Upload screen

You must give your upload a name here – it must start with ‘UK’ followed

by your membership number and surname and it should be entered in the

Name: field – in this example it is ‘UK A001234 Smith (11-2017)’

(g) Press Import

(h) Your newly uploaded file will appear in the Current File List

(i) Press the round blue button with arrow symbol (>)

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(j) You will be taken to Import File Details

(k) The system will flag mistakes, like in this example there is an missing DOB for one

person – Pressing the small document sheet symbol on the left of this entry will

produce an Error Report

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(l) Pressing File Details arrow symbol (>) will open Edit Item screen where errors can be

resolved

(m) Pressing the Validate and Send button will inform the ISTD of a new candidate PIN

application being submitted

After a candidate PIN application is submitted the ISTD will create new

candidate PINs. We have to check to make sure that these are unique,

and then approve them. A list of new candidate PINs will be sent to you

by email when they have been approved.

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5. Requesting New Candidate PINs

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How to find the list of your candidate PINs and Parnassus log-in

A list of your candidate names and PINs can be found in Parnassus

(a) log-in

(b) go to the Learners section, all of your candidates’ names and PINS will appear