1.0 - SIS Integration
Order Tool's SIS Integration 1.0; deprecated in favor of SIS Integration 2.0.
Campus (optional)
Filename: campus.csv
Some Institutions are “system” Institutions with multiple Campuses. These may include “virtual campuses” that represent online programs, which is common to many Unizin Members.
Institutions may choose to model Campuses and define the relationship of Sections to a specific Campus. Usually, the Campus associated with a Section defines the campus responsible for teaching the Section, and may be pertinent to specifying Course coordinator permissions.
A Campus will have a unique identifier and name associated with it. The Order Tool can ingest Campus data, providing an additional level of granularity for Course Coordinator permissions.
Campus data is optional. If this data file is not provided, then Unizin will create a default campus for your Institution and identify all Courses with that campus.
sis_campus_id
The unique SIS ID for the Campus; e.g. "LR."
Yes
name
The institution’s name for the campus; e.g. "Little Rock".
Yes
code
The institution’s abbreviation used to identify a campus in a course code; e.g. "LR." It is assumed that this abbreviation is used as part of other identifiers (e.g., a course section identifier).
Yes
Organization
Filename: organization.csv
Some Institutions define Schools, Programs, and Departments in their SIS with unique codes, and associate their Sections with those Schools, Programs, and Departments. Generically, we refer to Schools, Programs, Departments, and other such entities as Organizations.
Organizations are used to modulate Course Coordinator permissions, but are not required for the ordering process. Organizations must have unique identifiers and your Sections must be associated with an Organization.
Organization data is required. If this data file is not provided, then your Sections will not be associated with any Organizations.
sis_org_id
The unique SIS ID for the Organization.
Yes
sis_campus_id
The foreign key to the campus where this school, program, department, or organization is located.
Yes
code
The Institution’s code for the school, if available. This code is typically used to identify an organization (e.g., The School of Public Health, Department of Communication, etc.) that might exist on multiple campuses.
Yes
name
The full name of the Organization.
Yes
User
Filename: user.csv
The Unizin Order Tool requires Institutions to provide user information for all faculty, instructors, students, and any other staff who may teach courses, submit content orders, or enroll in courses as a student. The Unizin Order Tool uses User data in the following ways:
It is required to enable the Faculty, Instructor, Course Coordinators, Student, and Administrator roles and workflows.
Without user data, we are not able to identify and authenticate users, determine teaching assignments, or determine student enrollments.
Without student enrollment data, we cannot automate Publisher reporting and Institutional billing (both depend on section enrollments).
Without student enrollment data, we cannot support a roadmapped feature of Order Tool: enabling student opt-out from Engage content delivery.
sis_user_id
The unique SIS ID for the individual user.
Yes
network_id
The "network_id" for a user is the identifier released by your Institutions' Identity Provider in a Single Sign-on integration. In a Shibboleth implementation, this value must be identical to the EPPN attribute released by your Institution's Identity Provider.
Yes
firstname
The user’s first name.
Yes
lastname
The user’s last name.
Yes
The user's email address.
Yes
is_student
The user is a student.
Note: this value must be "true" or "false."
Yes
is_faculty
The user is an instructor or faculty member at their school (can order content for their teaching assignments).
Note: this value must be "true" or "false."
Yes
is_staff
The user is a staff member.
This data point is not used.
Note: this value must be "true" or "false."
No
Term
Filename: term.csv
The Term concept is used to define a single, general calendrical period during which courses are offered. Terms should be defined along the lines of "Fall 2018," "Spring 2019," and "Summer 2019."
sis_term_id
The unique SIS ID for the Term; e.g., "201890."
Yes
name
The Term’s human-readable name; e.g., "Fall 2017."
Yes
Session
Filename: session.csv
A Session is an administrative unit that defines an actual instructional period during a term. Consequently, Sessions define the ordering periods during which users may order content and the date after which Unizin may bill institutions for the courses taught during that session. Sessions always belong to a particular term and should be identified accordingly.
This concept will be populated with data from an Institutional SIS. It requires a new feed whose formatting adheres to those required of other feeds.
sis_session_id
The unique SIS ID for the Session. Must be unique to a particular term for a single campus; e.g., "201890-22." If your institution sends multi-campus data, then this value must be unique to a particular term and the particular campus that each session belongs to; e.g., "COL-GRAD-1198-7W1" where COL is the Campus code, GRAD is the Course level, 1198 is the sis_term_id value, and 7W1 is the Session name.
Yes
sis_term_id
The foreign key to the Term to which the Session belongs.
Yes
instruction_start_date
The date (YYYY-MM-DD) instruction begins. Must follow the date format in ISO 8601.
Yes
instruction_end_date
The date (YYYY-MM-DD) instruction ends. Must follow the date format in ISO 8601.
Yes
name
The Session's human-readable name; e.g., "Regular," "Dental 1", "First Six Weeks."
Yes
bill_after_date
The date (YYYY-MM-DD) after which it is possible to generate an invoice for Sections taught in the Session. Typically, this value will be around the final add/drop deadline when enrollments have stabilized. Must follow the date format in ISO 8601.
Yes
Course
Filename: course.csv
A Course is a unique entry in the course catalog of an Institutional Campus.
An sis_campus_id is not required if you do not send campus.csv. If no sis_campus_id is provided for a course in the feed, then that course will be automatically associated with your default campus.
Courses must represent a unique Course Offering for a particular Session in an Academic Term. Courses defined in your feeds will always be particular to a Session and therefore an Academic Term.
sis_course_id
The unique SIS ID for the Course; e.g., "201890-22-BIO-101."
Yes
sis_campus_id
The foreign key to the Campus on which the Course is delivered.
Yes
sis_session_id
The foreign key to the Session during which this Course offering is offered.
Yes
subject
The course subject; e.g., "HIST."
Yes
number
The course number; e.g., "101."
Yes
level
The code for the course level; e.g., "UGRAD," "GRAD," "MED."
Yes
title
The course title; e.g., "Introduction to History."
Yes
Section
Filename: section.csv
A "Section" is the administrative unit that instructors are assigned to teach and in which students can enroll. They always belong to a particular Course (via sis_course_id). Course sections are usually offered by particular Departments or Schools; such data is captured in sis_org_id and the Organization object. Organization data is useful for managing Course Coordinator permissions. A Section's relationship to a Course (and its relationship to a Session) defines the Term in which a Section is available.
The lms_id value is essential in this feed. For any given section, its value must be identical to the string generated by the Learning Management System to uniquely identify the section in an LTI launch. This value is required to ensure that content ordered in the Unizin Order Tool is delivered via Unizin Engage in the LMS.
An sis_org_id is required in your data feed.
sis_section_id
The unique SIS ID for the Term; e.g., "201890-22-BIO-101-0001."
Yes
sis_org_id
The foreign key to the Organization at which the Section is being taught.
Yes
sis_course_id
The foreign key to the Course to which this Section belongs.
Yes
title
The course title; e.g., "Introduction to History."
Yes
lms_id
This is the unique ID that identifies the Course Section in the LMS. I.e., this is the string provided by Canvas to uniquely identify the Section.
It is essential that the values for this data point match the LTI parameter that uniquely represents a Section in an LTI launch from your LMS.
Yes
label
A human-readable label for the Section that should uniquely identify the Section for a user in Order Tool.
Yes
section_type
The type of Section. Typical values may include "Lecture," "Lab," "Recital," etc. Some institutions call this a Section "component."
Yes
class_number
This number is unique to the set of Sections for a Term. The values are typically integers.
Yes
section_number
This number is unique within the set of Sections for a Course offering. Often, values may be 001, 002, 003 to distinguish the distinct Sections of a single Course offering.
Yes
max_enrollment
The maximum allowed student enrollment in the section.
Yes
add_drop_deadline
The date (YYYY-MM-DD) of the add/drop deadline. Must follow the date format in ISO 8601.
No
Teaching assignment
Filename: teaching_assignment.csv
The Unizin Order Tool must know which sections are assigned to which users to teach (if available). This data is used to provide the right instructor experience. It is also used to inform Course Coordinators about who is teaching particular sections.
sis_user_id
The foreign key to a User who is teaching this section.
Yes
sis_section_id
The foreign key to a Section being taught.
Yes
Student enrollment
Filename: student_enrollment.csv
Student enrollment data is used to tabulate final billing & invoicing.
sis_user_id
The foreign key to a User who is a student enrolled in the section.
Yes
sis_section_id
The foreign key to a Section being taught.
Yes
Depicting the relationships
The relationship model between the above concepts is defined as such:
Courses are explicitly Course offerings.
Best practices
We recommend the following best practices when implementing your Order Tool SIS Integration.
Generating composite identifiers
In nearly every case, Institutions generate composite identifiers as the sis_*_id values in their data feed. This is encouraged since it enables them to produce a dataset designed for Order Tools operational needs. As you consider how to generate your feed's compose identifiers, we recommend a simple pattern that corresponds to the relational nature of the data.
Term
4198
Typically, institutions have four or five-digit codes to represent a unique Academic term, such as Fall 2019.
Session
4198-8WK1-LM-UGRD
We strongly encourage institutions to integrate a Campus code and Course level in their Session identifiers. In this example, "LM" represents a unique Campus code and "UGRD" represents the Course level for the academic session. The "8WK1" represents the type of Academic session.
Course
4198-8WK1-027822-4
Where "027822-4" represents the "sis_course_id."
Section
4198-8WK1-027822-4-0001
Where 0001 represents the "section number" for a Section in a particular Course offering.
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