Institutional (SIS) Catalog Import
Integration overview
The institutional (SIS) catalog integration is a feature that institutions can leverage to import publishers, content, and offers available through their own agreements.
Institutions might import their own catalog so that orders can be placed, monitored, and fulfilled through the Unizin Order Tool. Digital content can be delivered automatically through Unizin Engage if content files are provided to the Unizin Services team. Unizin supports inclusive access and enterprise agreements today as well as free digital course materials available through open educational resource (OER) licensing or the Institution.
The institutional (SIS) catalog integration is a dataset of CSV files, generated and imported once before the ordering period opens, that contain the publishers, content, and offers for a specific term. The files are pushed by Institutions to an FTP server.
The following document describes the contents of the CSV files required. It also describes the integration mechanism and requirements.
Note: distinct data integrations are required for your production and user-acceptance testing environments.
File requirements
The following requirements apply to all the CSV files in the institutional (SIS) catalog integration.
Generated once per term. Catalog data must be generated and pushed to the FTP server once before the ordering period opens for the term. This data must contain the publishers, content, and offers that can be ordered for the upcoming ordering period. Once catalog data is imported, it cannot be deleted or removed through the import process. In the case that another import must be run for a term, you may do so for only the records that you'd like to update or the new data that you'd like to import. Please note, only content and publisher records can be updated automatically. In the case that existing offers need to be updated, please contact the Unizin Services team to approve and schedule a time to do so.
Missing Data and Optional Fields. Not all data requested in an integration file is required. If you are including an optional field but are missing values for some records, please leave the field blank for that record.
Headers. Your CSV files must have a header row on line 1. The tables below provide header names for each CSV file. If you are not providing data for an optional field, please omit the field (including the header).
Formatting. The CSV files for SIS data should adhere to the following formatting rules:
All files should be UTF-8 encoded.
All whitespace after the separator (,) will be imported. Avoid extraneous whitespace.
In the case of missing data for a field, please leave the field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
FTP Server integration
Unizin uses BrickFTP as an FTP server service for the institutional (SIS) catalog integration. You will receive two sets of credentials: one for your production environment integration, one for your user acceptance testing environment integration.
Connection details:
Hostname: unizin.files.com
Port: 22
Username: as given, per environment
Password: as given, per environment
Named sub-folders to the user's root folder will already be defined for each credential:
/sis-data
Institutions place their data integration files in this folder.
Notes on an institution's institutional (SIS) data integration (to /sis-data):
Overwrite the CSV data files if they happen to still be in the FTP folder.
Unizin Imports run at 8:00 AM UTC. Uploading as near that time as possible ensures up-to-date data.
Publisher (required)
Filename: publisher.csv
Publisher data is required for this integration. At Unizin, a publisher is the digital course materials provider that sells or publishes digital content, courseware, and/or learning tools. The Institution strikes an agreement with the publisher to resell the publisher’s digital course materials as a third party.
sis_publisher_id
text
The unique identifier for the publisher or vendor.
yes
name
text
The name of the publisher or vendor.
yes
Content (required)
Filename: content.csv
Content data is required for this integration. At Unizin, content refers to the digital content, courseware, or learning tool that can be adopted by faculty members and instructors. Any given content that is available through your Institution’s agreements should be represented once and only once in this file.
sis_content_id
text
The unique identifier for the content. Any content can be associated with a single sis_content_id. The recommended format is the concatenation of your institution code and the billable ISBN, e.g. “unizin_9783161484100".
yes
availability_status
option set
The availability status for the content. The option set (or choices) includes the following: available, not yet available, or unavailable. The availability status is displayed in the Master Catalog only. The default value is “available”. In the case of missing data, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
title
text
The title of the content.
yes
edition
text
The edition of the content. In the case of missing data, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
authors
text
The author of the content. Although this is not required, it is highly recommended. In the case of missing data, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
publication_date
date
The date that the content was published. It is highly recommended that this be included. In the case of missing data, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
description
text
The description of the content. In the case of missing data, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
sis_publisher_id
text
The SIS identifier for the publisher that is associated with the content.
yes
digital_purchase_isbn
text
The ISBN that represents the digital format of the content. ISBNs must be alphanumeric and cannot contain special characters, e.g. 9783161484100 or UNIZIN123.
yes
billable_isbn
text
The ISBN that the publisher or vendor uses for billing purposes. ISBNs must be alphanumeric and cannot contain special characters, e.g. 9783161484100 or UNIZIN123.
yes
searchable_isbn
text
The ISBN that faculty members and instructors can use to search for and find the content on the web. ISBNs must be alphanumeric and cannot contain special characters, e.g. 9783161484100 or UNIZIN123.
yes
is_dlt
boolean
A flag to describe whether the content is a digital learning tool. This should be “TRUE” or “FALSE”. The default value is “FALSE” which indicates that the content is an eText. In the case of missing data, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
Offer (required)
Filename: offer.csv
Offer data is required for this integration. At Unizin, an offer refers to the price and access details associated with content for the specified term. Content can be associated with many offers, but only one offer for any given term. For example, a single content can have an offer for the Fall 2021 term, an offer for the Spring 2022 term, and an offer for the Summer 2022 term.
For the purposes of importing, this file should only contain offers for the terms associated with the upcoming ordering period. For example, if ordering is opening for the Summer 2021 and Fall 2021 term in two weeks, you might generate an offer.csv file (in addition to the other catalog data files) containing two offers for each content (one for Summer 2021 and another for Fall 2021).
Please note, offers can only be created as part of the nightly import process. If you need to update existing offers, please reach out to the Unizin Services team to approve this and schedule a time to do so.
sis_content_id
text
The SIS identifier for the content that is associated with the offer.
yes
sis_term_id
text
The SIS identifier for the term that the offer is associated with.
yes
print_list_price
currency
The market price associated with the content for the specified term. This is used to communicate discounts during the order and student choice processes. This should be formatted as a decimal with two places, e.g. 40.00 or 155.88.
yes
offer_price
currency
The discounted price associated with the content for the specified term. This should be formatted as a decimal with two places, e.g. 40.00 or 155.88.
yes
length_of_access_duration
integer
The numerical unit associated with the amount of time that the student has access once they purchase the content. This is required for DLT materials. In the case of missing data for eTexts, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
length_of_access_type
option set
The calendar unit associated with the amount of time that the student has access once they purchase the content. This is required for DLT materials. The option set (or choices) includes the following: semester, day, month, or week. In the case of missing data for eTexts, please leave this field blank for that record. Do not provide "null" or another value.
no
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