Difference between revisions of "VCAT Import - Assignments"

Latest revision as of 17:04, 23 March 2018

• This Importer takes care of students and teachers assignments, new student fields, AND student demographics as well (when applicable).

• The Importer uses the files that have been uploaded to our FTP server. In order for the Importer to read and process those files correctly, we first need to set up an agent for you.

• The file format has to be .csv (comma separated values) or .txt (tab delimited text).

Here's a sample file:

• This sample file has headers but they are not required. If your files don't have headers, we'll need to know what each column represents in order to set up the agent correctly.

• As for demographics, each column has its own demographic (IEP, 504, SES,...), and the text within the fields is the demographic value (Yes, M, ...).

• The Import feature is accessible under the A (Admin) tab.

• Once your files have been uploaded to our FTP server and your agent has been set up, you will simply click on 'Go to Importer' to run the import. The importer will run in a separate browser tab/window.

• The importer will present you with information on New Records and/or Merged Records, if any.

• The New Records include new students and/or staff, and their new assignments, and/or demographics.

• Merged records are the changes to existing (already in VCAT) students and/or staff accounts that the importer will make.

• IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that you go through every section/tab to verify that the information is accurate or makes sense before finalizing the import.

• The changes will only apply after you click on Save Import. Then, clicking on Reset and Reload will update your own VCAT session. If you do not click the Reset and Reload, you will only see the changes next time you log in.

• If you wish to get out of the importer, you can click on the Exit button on the top left of the screen. If you just need to make a quick change in VCAT to adjust something, you can do so in your original VCAT window (the one from which you launched the importer), then come back to the importer window and click Restart Import.

• Under Merged Records: Students, you will find students with any student field changes (State ID, Last Name, First Name, Middle Name, Birth Date, Graduation Year, Email).

• If there are any new students, you will get a RED warning. It is very important to verify that every student listed as new does not already exist in VCAT. This will prevent duplicate students. When you verify that all new students are new, and find one that actually already exists in VCAT BUT with a different Local ID, replace the VCAT Local ID to match the incoming Local ID, Save your change. You will need to Restart the import so it no longer sees the 'new student' as new.

• If there are any new staff, you will get a similar RED warning as well. It is also very important to verify that every staff listed as new does not already exist in VCAT. Again, this will prevent duplicate accounts, and possible staff access problems. If the Staff already exists with a different first or last name, replace it in VCAT to match the one in the import file.

• For each new staff, the system generates a user ID and password. Make sure to take note (copy and paste in excel) of the password, especially, as it will be encrypted in VCAT and therefore, not retrievable. After the import has been saved, go to the new staff accounts to assign them the proper access set(s). Without both - being assigned to student group(s) AND having at least one access set - the staff will not have access in VCAT.

• If you have a section/tab that reads Removed Staff Assignment, make sure to take note of the details or take a screenshot to save that information. The two main reasons for staff being unassigned are:

- Staff was manually assigned with a role that affects the importer. If so, double-check what this staff should be assigned to and use a different role (eg team teacher (not Teacher of Record)) that will not be overridden by the importer.

- Staff is no longer teaching the course or the specific section. In this case, the section and/or course will become empty and should be deleted if no longer in use.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: If there are two students with the same State ID, the importer will give you an error message listing the student names with their Local ID. This situation often happens when there is an existing older student account with a different Local ID. Replacing the Local ID of the existing student account with the new one would fix this. You would then just rerun the importer. If there are truly two separate students with the same State ID, you will need to research and fix this issue before being able to run the importer. The importer will not run until the issue is fixed.