Every change that happens in a school — a new student joining in March, a staff member taking on a second role, a department lead stepping down — adds another line to maintain somewhere. The roll lives in one spreadsheet, staff roles in another, and the record of who was Head of Year last autumn is buried in an email thread or simply gone. When the end of term arrives and someone needs a clean list of current students, or a report of who attended which sessions, the work of pulling it together falls to whoever happens to be at the front office desk.

Daviah keeps student and staff records in a single office, with a dated history of every change. This guide walks through what that means in practice — bringing in what you already have, keeping roles straight year by year, and pulling reports when you need them. It also says plainly what Daviah does not yet cover, so you are not surprised later.

One record per person, with a history of every change

When a student's contact details change, or a staff member moves from one department to another, the office records the update and keeps a dated history of what came before. You are not overwriting a cell in a spreadsheet and losing what was there — the previous state is preserved against the record, so you can see what was true at any given point.

Each person in the office carries a record that can be updated by the people you have invited to administer the school. The change is written to an audit trail automatically, so there is always a record of what was updated and when.

Bringing in what you already have from a spreadsheet

If your current records live in a spreadsheet, you can bring them in by uploading a CSV file. The office matches columns automatically and shows you any problems or likely duplicates before anything is saved — so you can check the result before committing. You are not copying rows by hand or re-entering names one by one.

Once the records are in, they become the source everyone works from, rather than a separate file that drifts out of date as the term progresses.

Staff roles and officer history, year by year

When a staff member steps down or a new department lead is appointed, the change is recorded as a new term rather than erasing what came before. Officer terms are kept year by year, so you can always look back and see who held each role in a previous year — useful when a query arrives about something that happened two years ago and the person responsible has since left.

The school's public site can show current staff drawn directly from those officer records, so the website reflects whoever holds each role at this moment without a separate update.

Departments as named groups you can write to

Departments can be recorded in the office and written to as a group. If you need to send a message to everyone in a particular department, the group is already defined — you are not building the list from scratch each time.

Reports and exports when you need them

Membership, officer, attendance and dues reports are counted live from the records in the office — not from a separate report file that someone has to remember to update. When a board meeting is coming up or a district submission is due, you can run the report from what is actually in the system.

Members, dues, payments and officers can each be exported to a CSV file. If you need to share data with another system or prepare a document outside the office, the export is there. Those exports also continue to work if a subscription payment has lapsed.

What Daviah does not yet cover

The pain of managing student records often includes things this guide cannot address. Daviah does not hold immunisation or health records for students, and there is no dedicated confidential document management attached to an individual student's record. There is no formal year-end rollover workflow — the kind that archives a completed cohort and sets up the new one in a structured sequence.

If those are the parts of the records burden that weigh most heavily on your office, Daviah will not solve them at this point. The guide is honest about that so you can weigh it properly.

Questions

Can more than one person update the student and staff records?

Yes. You can invite other administrators to the office, each with their own login. Changes any of them make are written to the audit trail with a record of who made them.

What happens to old staff role information when someone's position changes?

Officer terms are recorded year by year. When a role changes, the previous term is kept in the history. You can always look back and see who held a role in an earlier year.

Can I bring in records from a spreadsheet without creating duplicates?

When you upload a CSV, the office matches columns automatically and flags potential duplicates and problems before anything is saved. You review the result and confirm before the import is committed.

Can I export the student roll for use outside the office?

Members, dues, payments and officers can be exported to CSV. Those exports also continue to work if a subscription payment has lapsed.

Does Daviah handle immunisation records or confidential documents attached to a student?

No. Daviah keeps a dated record of each person's details and role history, but it does not have a dedicated field for health or immunisation data, and there is no confidential document store attached to an individual student's record.

Is there a year-end rollover process that archives one cohort and starts the next?

There is no formal year-end rollover workflow. Records and role histories are maintained continuously, but a structured process for closing out a year's cohort and setting up a new one is not currently part of the office.

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