Why Your ManageBac+ Reports Don't Match: The Most Common Data Mismatches We Fix
From the ManageBac+ Support Desk - We share the data inconsistency patterns that come up most often, and exactly what to check when your numbers don't add up.
One of the most common tickets we receive goes something like this: "Our attendance report shows 87 students but our enrolment shows 91 - which one is right?" Or: "The grades in the gradebook don't match what appeared on the report card." These mismatches cause real stress, especially around reporting season. In most cases, the fix is straightforward once you know where to look.
Here are the patterns we see most often, and what to do about each one.
Support desk insight: Most report mismatches are not bugs - they are data state issues. The report is correct; it is just reporting on data that is in an unexpected state. The fastest way to diagnose any mismatch is to ask: "What exactly is this report counting, and are all the records it should be counting in the right state?"
Mismatch 1: Enrolment Numbers Don't Match Across Reports
This is the most frequent mismatch we see. Two reports show different student counts and nobody can explain why.
Almost always caused by: students sitting in an inactive, pending, or withdrawn status that some reports include and others exclude. ManageBac+ reports filter by student status, and different reports use different default filters.
What to check:
- Go to your student list and filter by each status (active, inactive, pending, withdrawn) - count each group separately and see which total matches which report
- Check whether any students were recently transferred between year levels or programmes and may be sitting in a transitional state
- Confirm that your "official" enrolment count is based on active students only - this should be your baseline for all comparisons
Quick fix: Set a school policy that the active student list is the single source of truth for enrolment counts, and audit student statuses at the start of each term.
Mismatch 2: Gradebook and Report Card Grades Differ
A teacher enters grades in the gradebook, but the report card shows something different - or nothing at all.
Almost always caused by: one of three things - the report card template is pulling from a different assessment task than expected; the grade was entered after the report was generated and the report was not refreshed; or the grade scale used in the gradebook does not match the one mapped to the report template.
What to check:
- Open the report template and confirm which assessment task or grade category it is mapped to pull from - compare this to where the teacher actually entered the grade
- Check the grade scale assigned to the assessment task against the scale the report template expects; a mismatch here causes blank or incorrect grade displays
- If the report was generated before the grade was entered, regenerate it - reports in ManageBac+ are not always live; they reflect data at the point of generation
Quick fix: Before report season, run a test report for one student in each year level and confirm grades are appearing correctly. This takes 10 minutes and catches most template mapping issues before they affect the whole cohort.
Mismatch 3: Attendance Figures Don't Match Between Reports
Your class attendance report shows a different percentage than your student summary report for the same student.
Almost always caused by: different reports calculating attendance over different date ranges, or one report counting sessions while another counts days. Also commonly caused by attendance records that were entered late or edited after the fact.
What to check:
- Confirm both reports are using identical date ranges - even a one-day difference changes the denominator and produces different percentages
- Check whether your school uses session-based or day-based attendance tracking, and confirm the report you are reading matches your school's method
- Look for any retroactively edited attendance records - late edits are legitimate but can cause confusion if the report was already shared
Quick fix: Create a shared standard for which attendance report your school uses for official figures, and document the date range convention. Consistency in how you pull attendance eliminates most of these queries.
Mismatch 4: Students Missing From a Report Entirely
You expect to see a student in a report and they simply are not there.
Almost always caused by: the student not being assigned to the class, programme, or year level the report is filtering on. This happens most often with mid-year enrolments, students who changed programmes, or students who were manually added rather than imported.
What to check:
- Open the student's profile directly and confirm their year level, programme, and class assignments match what the report expects
- Check whether the student was enrolled after the report's start date - some reports only include students who were active for the full reporting period
- Confirm the student's status is active and not pending or on leave
In Summary
- Before escalating a mismatch to support, check student status, report ranges, gradebook data and rubric configurations - these resolve the majority of cases.
- Run a test report before every reporting season to catch template issues early. Drafts are not visible to students & parents.
- If you have checked all of the above and the mismatch persists, raise a ticket with the ManageBac+ Support Desk and include screenshots of both reports alongside the student ID - this speeds up diagnosis significantly.
The ManageBac+ Team are here to help. If you are seeing a mismatch you cannot resolve, contact us and we will work through it with you.