MESS toolbar

This toolbar can be used to assist with copying marks between the MESS spreadsheet and the Mark Centre. You will need to download and install the toolbar.

Good to know

• Before downloading your Mark Centre make sure that your assessment item Points Possible are the same as the column totals in your MESS sheet. Another way to check this is - look at the amounts 'Marked out of' as advised in the Assessment Plan in your Course Profile - do these match the total Points or marks you scored out of for each assessment item in the Mark Centre?
• Also check that a custom view of the marks has not been applied to the columns (i.e. as percentages or letters).
• Do not use Internet Explorer - the download/upload buttons will not display.
• It is important that you only have one MESS sheet and one Mark Centre file open at a time.
• The toolbar will only work if you have clicked to enable editing, enable content, or enable macros when you are prompted.
• If you are trying to move marks entered in your MESS sheets to the Mark Centre you must make sure that you have set up columns in your Mark Centre to receive the marks.

Step by step

Step 1: Download the Mark Centre from your Course site

1. Go to Control Panel > Mark Centre > Full Mark Centre
2. (Note that if you can rename Mark Centre columns to match the Item Names in the MESS Spreadsheet, the marks in the matching title columns will then transfer automatically without you having to specify the columns.  However you can also manually match the column names at a later stage).
3. Click Work Offline > then click Download
4. 
5. Do not change any of the defaults on this next page. Click the Submit button.
6. Click the Download button on the Download Marks page.
7. Save the file to your desktop or somewhere where you can easily find it (note that it may download to your browser).

Tip: Your Mark Centre download file name is usually prefaced with the letters "gc_".  This stands for "grade center", the official name for the tool we at Griffith call the Mark Centre.  It does not stand for "Gold Coast".

Step 2: Open the Mark Centre and MESS sheet files

1. Open the Mark Centre file from within Excel
   (use File > Open, or in newer versions of Excel, the option Open other file > Computer)
2. If a warning pops up to alert you that the file format and extension don't match, click Yes.
3. If a wizard opens to help you format the text, you do not need to change any options.  Agree to the defaults by clicking Next, Next, then Finish.
4. Open the MESS  file from the same Excel window in the same way that you opened the Mark Centre file. Both files need to be open in the same Excel window for the MESS toolbar to work.
5. If you see a warning about working in Protected View, click the button to Enable Editing.
6. If you see a warning about active content being disabled, click the button to Enable Content.
7. Check that cell C3 in the Mess Sheet has the correct number of Assessment items
8. Check that ‘Total Marks’ for each assessment in the MESS sheet corresponds to points for the assessments in the Mark Centre.

Step 3: Download the MESS Toolbar

1. Download and save the MESS-Toolbar.xla file to your desktop.
2. Double click on the MESS Toolbar .xla file to open it.
3. Click Yes to enable Macros if prompted.
4. Click the Add-Ins tab.
   • For PC, and some MAC users - Click on the ‘Add Ins’ tab on the Excel Ribbon.  
   • For all other MAC users – you should see a floating 'Add-Ins' toolbar on the spreadsheet.  If you can’t see the Add-Ins toolbar, it may have opened up behind the current window you are viewing, so minimise that window to see it.

Step 4: Run the MESS Wizard

1. Click on Import Marks to MESS.  (The Export Marks from MESS can be used if you have entered marks into MESS that are not yet in Learning@Griffith.)
2. A popup box appears, listing your open files by filename, with a number beside each name.
3. Type the number corresponding to your MESS sheet and click OK.
4. Type the number corresponding to your Mark Centre and click OK.
   
5. You will now be asked to identify which Assessment columns in the Mark Centre match with Assessment Columns in the MESS Spreadsheet.  Read the question at the top of the box carefully, and identify which number from the list corresponds to the Assessment item that is specified in the question.  Type this number into the box.
   
   • These numbers change dynamically based on the order you opened the files, so you must read them carefully each time you run the wizard.
   • If your columns are named the same in the MESS and Mark Centre, it will only ask you to match the first column, and will automatically match the rest.
6. You will receive these two dialogue boxes at the end of the matching. Click OK.
   
7. The names of students that appear in MESS but not in Mark Centre will appear as a list in red at the bottom of the Mark Centre file. Refer to our Troubleshooting page if you need more information about the names on the list.
8. Complete your MESS sheet as required with DNS or other comments as appropriate.  Refer to 10 Steps to Finalising your Marks Entry Spreadsheet

If you are Exporting marks from MESS into Learning@Griffith

There is one more step to complete before the marks you have transferred from your MESS spreadsheet to your Mark Centre download spreadsheet will appear to students in Learning@Griffith.

1. Go to Control Panel > Mark Centre > Full Mark Centre
2. Click Work Offline and choose Upload
3. Browse to the updated Mark Centre file
4. Click Submit
5. Review and Confirm the information to be uploaded.
6. Click Submit