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How to upload data to the NHS Spend Comparison Service

Follow this step-by-step guide to upload NHS Spend Comparison Service (SCS) collection data using the Strategic Data Collection Service.

Page contents

1. Set up a data submitter

  1. Nominate data submitter(s) for your trust or trusts. This could be one or several members of staff. A data submitter can submit data for multiple organisations.
  2. Email the National Service Desk with the subject line “New data submitter to NHS Spend Comparison Service data collection”. In the email, please include:
    • the name and email address of your data submitter(s)
    • the NHS trust’s name and DoH or ODS code of the trust (typically a 3 character code for trusts, check the ODS Portal for codes)
    • explain that they will submit data for the NHS Spend Comparison Service
    • specify which collection they are going to submit data for (Purchase Order or Accounts Payable or both)
  3. The National Service Desk will set up the data submitter on the data collection portal with credentials enabling them to upload data to the specified data collection (Purchase Order or Accounts Payable or both).
  4. The data submitter will receive reminder emails about the relevant data collection deadlines.

The SCS data collection is automated for NHS NEP Cloud and NHS SBS customers. If you are an NEP Cloud or SBS customer, you will not be able to set up data submitters on the data collection.

There are a few NHS trusts that may have some procurement data outside the SBS Oracle system (such as Mediq or Lyreco ordering) that may want to load into SCS for a full, national benchmarking picture.

If your trust falls into this category, please contact the NHS Spend Comparison Service team so the team can set up a bespoke process for your organisation.  

2. Log in to the Strategic Data Collection Portal (SDCS)

Make sure you are set up as a data submitter using the instructions above before continuing.

Log in to the Strategic Data Collection Service (SDCS) using the credentials sent to you by the National Service Desk. The SDCS Submission Portal will show you what data (Purchase Order or Accounts Payable), which trust and which submission window you can load based on your account setup.

Find guidance on using SDCS.

Submission windows

The relevant Purchase Order (PO) or Accounts Payable (AP) data covering a period will open and close at set times. You will load the data in a 'submission window' and the data will slot into the SCS platform.

Submission windows open and then close at defined dates. You will not be able to load data outside these set dates. These submission windows refer to a period that your data should cover.

For example, September AP data should be loaded in the September submission window, which will be open from 1 October to 15 October. Then October AP data will be loaded in the submission window, which opens between the 1 and 15 November. You should not load the same data into various submission windows.

3. Submit Accounts Payable (AP) data

  1. Download the current pro forma template (template schema will not change but there may be updates in the pro forma templates).
  2. Create a query from your non pay Accounts Payable finance data that matches the pro forma template. Your finance system may not have all the fields required by the template, please populate as many as you can. The key fields are indicated as “mandatory fields”. If your system doesn’t have a field required by the template, please leave these blank or null in your query, making sure that subsequent fields do not slide into an incorrect position.
  3. Upload the completed template into the open accounts payable submission window.

Important

  • Ensure all fields (columns) are populated with the correct data. For example, your submission will be incorrect if you load Supplier Names under the Invoice Date in error.
  • Extract finance data by Payment Date. There should be no blank Payment Dates. You should not extract data by Invoice Date unless payment dates are unavailable in your finance system. In this case there should be no blank Invoice Dates in your submission.
  • Payment dates must fall in the submission period. For example, if you are loading October AP data then the data should cover Payment Dates between 1 October and 31 October. There should be no lines with Payment Dates outside October. (If you must use Invoice Date because you don’t have Payment Dates, then in a similar logic all your Invoice Dates must fall within the month you are submitting for.)
  • Ensure the finance query is by invoice line and that the invoice line net amount is a genuine invoice line net amount as in your finance system. The invoice line net amount must not be an invoice total (that is, aggregated invoice lines totalled as an invoice total). This would multiply the invoice spend by the number of invoice lines and you would be reporting multiple your actual invoice spend. The sum of the invoice line net amount in your template should equal to your trust’s AP spend in that month.
  • Include credit lines (negative amounts) otherwise your trusts spend will be overreported.
  • Include all non-pay spend including invoice lines without purchase orders, and include spend with suppliers or government bodies not influenced by procurement.

4. Submit Purchase Order (PO) data

  1. Download the current pro forma Purchase Order template
  2. Create a query from your procurement data that matches the pro forma template. Your procurement system may not have all the fields required by the template, please populate as many as you can. The key fields are indicated as 'mandatory fields'. If your system doesn’t have a field required by the template, please leave these blank or null in your query.
  3. Upload the completed template into the open purchase order submission window.

Important

  • PO data submissions were set up as weekly collections. You can choose to submit weekly PO data covering the previous week’s purchase orders or PO data once a month covering the previous month.
  • We recommend submitting PO data monthly unless you already have a set process that requires weekly submissions.
  • Create your query by PO date, the PO date should be the 'DATE' field in the template.
  • The data should cover your submission period. For example, if you are submitting monthly, an October submission should be uploaded in the next available PO submission window in November. The PO dates (DATE field in the template) must cover purchase orders for the entire month (an October submission should have PO Dates for 1 October to 31 October). There should be no lines with any other dates outside the submission period, and it should cover the full month. If you are submitting weekly then the submission should cover the previous week with order dates covering all days in the previous week.
  • Take care not to mix up the columns and your data matches the template’s relevant columns.
  • Ensure the MPC (product codes) field is populated as genuine text (string format) and not numbers. Preceding zeros in product codes should show correctly if the product code has a preceding zero (for example, MPC "0012090” should not be “12090”.
  • Do not submit the same template into different submission windows.
  • If possible, do not have double quotes and commas in the DESC (description) field (that is, avoid using the combination “,”). When creating the query, you may be able to remove all double quotes from the product description column (DESC in the template).

How to resubmit an incorrect or missed submission

Occasionally, a trust may find an error in a submission and you will want to resubmit your data.

In this case, you will need to get the exact submission window reopened. You will resubmit against the relevant submission window, into which the incorrect data was loaded. This replaces the data in that specific submission window. Then this feeds into the SCS portal replacing incorrect submissions.

Email the National Service Desk and include:

  • the specific submission window you want to get reopened
  • an explanation that this is for the NHS Spend Comparison Service accounts payable or purchase order submission
  • the type of collection (Purchase Order or Accounts Payable or both)
  • the trust name and code

If you have missed a submission, follow the same procedure and email the National Service Desk with the information above.

Contact us

If you have any specific queries about how to submit data, please follow the guidance and or contact details on the Strategic Data Collection Service page.

If you have any further questions about submitting data to the NHS Spend Comparison Service, please contact the SCS team.

 

Last edited: 6 November 2025 2:27 pm