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Hāpara Data Loader - Sync Configuration tab Follow

In this article:

 

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Sync method overview

The sync method supports the pulling of student and/or class information from the Clever integration tool, the PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), with ClassLink Roster Server or and automatically loading the information into Hāpara daily. The configuration specified on the Sync Configuration page determines how the sync method works. It also impacts the format of the data that you will need to load.

If sync is turned on, then the Sync Configuration tab is not editable. You must turn sync off before you can edit the page.

The settings you will need to configure on the Sync Configuration page are described below.

 

 

Academic year suffix

The academic year suffix is used by the Data Loader to simplify data management, and maintain a yearly class structure.

To minimize errors, and simplify the data loading process, Hāpara has moved away from custom configuration of the academic year suffix. The academic year suffix will now be incremented automatically after archiving:

  • For Southern Hemisphere customers from "-2017" to "-2018" for example
  • For Northern Hemisphere customers from "-1617" to "-1718".

 

 

SIS provider

Here, you can specify whether you will load data from the Clever integration tool, the PowerSchool SIS, or Classlink Roster Server. These are the only sources currently supported by this method. 

If you specified Source Type as Clever then you must enter:

  • Clever District/School Id

This Id is generated by Clever for your district/school and should have been provided to you.

If you specified Source Type as PowerSchool then you must enter:

  • HostURL
  • AuthID
  • SecretKey

These details are generated by PowerSchool for your district/school and should have been provided to you.

The section also contains a “Test” button allowing the access to PowerSchool to be tested. 

 

 

Types of data to load

This section specifies whether you load student data, class data or both. You must select at least one of the options.

During initial testing you may decide to only synchronize classes. But in day to day operation, almost all customers synchronize students daily (because student data changes often).

 

  

Class name

This section specifies how the class name will be calculated from the data loaded. The class name options are:

  1. ClassEmail
  2. CourseName
  3. CourseName-Period
  4. CourseName-Section
  5. CourseName-SISId
  6. CourseName-Period-SISId
  7. CourseName-Section-SISId

Note:

  • The class names generated here must be unique across the school. If your CourseNames are not unique, choosing an option with the suffix SISId will ensure the class names calculated here are unique.
  • If some of the fields, in the option you choose above, are not provided by Clever/PowerSchool then the class will not be uploaded. For example, if you choose the option "CourseName-Period-SISId" and Clever/PowerSchool provides a blank "Period" value, then the associated class will not be imported.
  • Teachers can assign a “nickname” to each of their classes in Hāpara via the Manage Classes page. 

 

 

Student folders

Student folders are Google Drive folders that can be created for each student in a class. The folders are shared to the student and the teacher, so the work here is not visible to other students unless explicitly shared.

In Hāpara Dashboard, there can be zero to many subject folders per student per class. This setting states how folders will be used with classes loaded via the sync method.

You must select one of these options:

  1. Secondary school: Each student has one folder matching ClassEmail
  2. Secondary school: Each student has one folder matching ClassName
  3. Secondary school: Each student has one folder matching CourseName
  4. Secondary school: Each student has one folder matching CourseNumber
  5. Elementary school: Each student has the same set of subject folder(s)
  6. Do not create folders*

Notes on the above options:

  • Options 1 to 4 are commonly used in secondary schools where a class represents a combination of a subject (e.g. English) and a student cohort (e.g. Grade8B).
  • Option 5 is commonly used in primary schools where a class represents a student cohort (e.g. Grade2c) and the teacher teaches multiple subjects to that class. You specify the folder names that will be used for all classes (e.g. English,Math,Art,Other) in this section.
  • Option 6 is recommended for customers who are only using Workspace and Highlights.         
  • Also refer to the Naming subject folders - recommendations article.

If you do not create folders (option 6) when you set up Hāpara, the Sharing View setting will be enabled by default. Teachers will see the All Docs view in their primary Dashboard tab (meaning they can see any document in a student's Google Drive). You can disable this setting, however if it is disabled and there are no folders, teacher will not see any student work in Dashboard. 

You can also specify a suffix that will be added to the end of all student subject folder names - both in each Teacher's Google Drive and each Student's Google Drive. Suffixes help make the folder names unique across all students. This suffix doesn’t help students (as they only see their own folders). This suffix helps teachers who see student subject folders in Google Drive (as the folder names they see will all be different).

You must select one of these folder suffix options:

  1. No Suffix
  2. - FirstName LastName
  3. - LastName, FirstName
  4. - StudentEmail

Notes on the folder suffix options:

  • Option 2 is the most commonly used.
  • If you select Option 4 the portion of the student email address before the “@” symbol will be used as the suffix.

Warning: Once the suffix is added to the folder names, the suffix cannot be removed or changed. So it is important to get this setting right.

Note: If you have purchased an “unprovisioned” Hāpara product (such as Reseller Highlights) then this section will be hidden. 

 

 

Class calendar

Hāpara can create a Google Class Calendar for each class. This setting determines how calendars will be used with classes loaded via the sync method.

You must select one of these options:

  1. Class calendars are not created
  2. Create a class calendar named ClassName_YearSuffix

Notes on the above options:

  • Option 2 is the most commonly used. This means the calendar is given the same name as the class.
  • Option 2 will create a Google Calendar for the class (if the calendar does not already exist).

Note: If you have purchased an “unprovisioned” Hāpara product (such as Reseller Highlights) then this section will be hidden.

 

Email notifications

You can specify who will be emailed after a (successful or unsuccessful) automated daily sync has occurred. Multiple people can be specified e.g. “person1@myschool.org,person2@myschool.org”.

We recommend that this field be filled in. Irrespective of whether this field filled in, the results of every sync can be viewed on the Status page.

Each person listed here will receive two emails per automated daily sync - that is two emails per day. The first email shows the results of the extraction of data from your SIS. The second email shows the results of the completed load. 

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