Anthology Student SIS Integration: Attendance

This article covers the following topics: 

• Overview
• Integration Requirements
• CourseKey Setup
• Class Section Setup in the Anthology Student SIS
• Data Syncs for Course Setup and Rostering in CourseKey
• Data Syncs for Posting Attendance to the Anthology Student SIS
• Note on Date/Time Attributes Synced from the Nexus SIS
• Integration Monitoring and Support

Overview

CourseKey supports an automated and bidirectional integration with the Anthology Student SIS (formerly CampusNexus Student) to enable real-time attendance tracking in any learning environment.  The integration handles data syncs between the two systems, for course setup, rostering, and attendance posting.  The integration is managed by CourseKey, and available for customers that use baseline Anthology Student SIS’ processes and data structures for scheduling courses, managing student course enrollments, and tracking student attendance

As part of a new customer enablement, your Customer Success Manager and Integrations Manager at Coursekey will assist and walk you through the integration process, which includes functional and technical discovery, configuration, installation, user acceptance testing, training, and go-live.  

This article covers general information about the integration, and additional documentation is available upon request.  Contact your Customer Success Manager or submit a support request if you would like to learn more.

Integration Requirements

The following are minimum requirements for enabling the integration between CourseKey and the Anthology Student SIS for students’ attendance tracking:

• The institution exposes the Anthology Student API/OData endpoints for external systems to conduct requests.
  • If the SIS is hosted by the institution, the institution whitelists CourseKey’s IP addresses (to be provided during enablement) for access to the Anthology Student Test and Production instances.
• The institution creates a designated service account for CourseKey, via the Anthology Service Console, and shares credentials for the CourseKey integration to use.
• The institution grants the designated CourseKey’s service account with access to:
  • execute GET and/or POST requests to the API (see the list of endpoints below); and
  • access the Anthology Student Web Portal (Test instance) for user acceptance testing and ongoing testing/data validation.

When enabling attendance tracking for online/asynchronous and blended learning, the following is also required:

• The institution enables extended properties for Class Sections in the Anthology Student SIS (see details below), to allow setting the strategy and number of synchronous and asynchronous hours for online/asynchronous and blended learning.  In some situations, an extended property is also required for setting a mapping ID for courses in the LMS.
  
  

Anthology Student SIS’ API Endpoints

The following Anthology Student SIS’ API endpoints are leveraged by CourseKey’s integration  for students’ attendance tracking:

 

CourseKey Setup

When enabling the integration between CourseKey and the Anthology Student SIS for students’ attendance tracking, our Integration Manager coordinates with an Enablement Engineer to complete setup and configuration tasks as follow (both in the CourseKey’s Staging environment, for user acceptance testing; and the Production environment):

• Creating a System Mapping ID for the institution’s Anthology Student instance.
• Creating School IDs for each of the institution’s campuses/locations and corresponding API authentication keys.
• Creating a School Configuration file for each School ID.  The School Configuration file includes the mapping of modalities/delivery methods in the SIS to attendance names in CourseKey, attendance tracking settings, and default settings for online/asynchronous attendance tracking.  (These settings can be reviewed with the assistance of our Integration Manager.)
• Mapping Course Delivery Methods in the Anthology Student SIS with the corresponding Attendance Name in CourseKey (see details below).  Note that all class sections in the SIS must be associated with a Delivery Method that is mapped to a CourseKey’s Attendance Method/Name to indicate the specific configuration (settings) to use for tracking students’ attendance.
• Generating Authorization Key(s) to allow the customer's system to authenticate and make requests to the CourseKey API.
• Creating Admin user accounts for instructors, staff, and/or school admins that need access to CourseKey and courses as an administrator.
• Setting up a schedule and enabling data integration jobs.
  
  

Anthology Student SIS’ Course Delivery Methods

For the enablement of CourseKey's integration with the Anthology Student SIS for students’ attendance tracking, it is required to map Course Delivery Methods in the SIS with a corresponding Attendance Method/Name in CourseKey.  Our Integration Manager assists customers in determining the proper course configurations for the various use cases and setting the mapping in the CourseKey’s School Configuration file during a new enablement.  These mappings are defined during functional/technical discovery calls, and can be updated any time with the assistance from our Integration Manager.

Course configurations (Attendance Method/Name) in CourseKey are determined by the Delivery Method assigned to a course in the Anthology Student SIS.  An Attendance Method/Name configuration determines how the CourseKey manages attendance tracking in a course, including the way in which class sessions are scheduled, the technology (sound, GPS, QR code, or face/print scan) that will be used to validate a student’s location during check-ins and check-outs, students’ check-in and check-out windows, instructors’ attendance edit window, and the like.  Our Integration Manager can assist with questions regarding existing Attendance Method/Names and their configurations.

Course Delivery Methods are maintained by the institution in the Anthology Student SIS, and can be configured accessing the “Hamburger” Menu > Configurations > Academic Records > Delivery Methods.

 

Anthology Student SIS’ Extended Properties for Online/Asynchronous and Blended Class Sections

For the enablement of the CourseKey’s attendance functionality for online/asynchronous and blended learning environments, it is required to define extended properties for Class Sections in the Anthology Student SIS.  Note that each class section for online/asynchronous and blended learning must have these extended properties set when scheduled in the Anthology Student SIS.  (See our article on LMS integrations for additional information on the enablement of the integration with CourseKey to support attendance tracking for online/asynchronous and blended learning environments.)

These extended properties can be defined by accessing the “Hamburger” Menu > Settings > System > Extended Properties.  A new extended property can be added by clicking the + New button, configuring it as outlined below, and clicking on the Save button.

• Mapping ID: (Optional, but required when the institution uses a prefix and/or suffix, in addition to the Class Section ID, for the courses’ SIS ID in the LMS)
  • Entity Type: Class Section
  • Name: “mappingID”
  • Active: Yes
  • Help Text (customizable): LMS SIS ID, if different than the SIS Class Section ID
  • Select Type: String
  • Length: 50
• Asynchronous Time:
  • Entity Type: Class Section
  • Name: “Async Time”
  • Active: Yes
  • Help Text (customizable): Enter the total Asynchronous HOURS required for this course
  • Select Type: Numeric
  • Length: 6
• Synchronous Time: 
  • Entity Type: Class Section
  • Name: “Sync Time”
  • Active: Yes
  • Help Text (customizable): Enter the total Synchronous HOURS required for this course
  • Select Type: Numeric
  • Length: 6
• Time Awarded Default: (Optional, for online/asynchronous courses only, when overwriting the default awarded time in seconds for each student’s activity submission in the LMS, per the CourseKey’s School Configuration file)
  • Entity Type: Class Section
  • Name: “Time Awarded Default”
  • Active: Yes
  • Help Text (customizable): Enter the awarded time in seconds for each student’s assignment submission in this course
  • Select Type: Numeric
  • Length: 6

 

Class Section Setup in the Anthology Student SIS

Accurate class section configuration, including delivery methods, extended properties, and/or mapping IDs between the SIS, the LMS and CourseKey, is a crucial part of the setup for the integration for students’ attendance tracking between the Anthology Student SIS and CourseKey.  The following are some general checklists to guide required class section configurations in the Anthology Student SIS.  (Note that this naming convention is not a requirement; however, the standard names for CourseKey’s Attendance Names/Methods (course delivery modalities) do not change.)

In-Person, Synchronous, On Ground Courses

• The class section must have set start and end dates.
• The delivery method must be set to “Synchronous” (or similar).
• There must be class section meetings scheduled for each in-person/ground/synchronous session.  The integration pulls data from the Class Section’s meeting calendar in the Anthology Student SIS, to capture any changes made to the schedule as the course progresses.
• Setting extended properties is not required.

Online/Asynchronous Courses

• The class section must have set start and end dates.
• The delivery method must be set to “Asynchronous” (or similar).
• The extended properties must be set as follows:
  • Asynchronous hours: The total time, in hours, that can be awarded to a student for online/asynchronous attendance in the course.
  • Synchronous hours: 0.
  • Time Awarded Default: Optional, but needs to be set when overriding the default setting in the CourseKey’s School Configuration file.  This is for the awarded attendance time, in seconds, for each student’s activity submission in the course.
• A mapping ID must be set if the course ID in the LMS is different from the class session ID in the SIS.  (This is in the case that the institution sets a prefix or suffix for a course SIS IDs in the LMS.)

Blended Courses

• The class section must have set start and end dates.
• The delivery method must be set to “Blended” (or similar).
• There must be class section meetings scheduled for each in-person/ground/synchronous session.  The integration pulls data from the Class Section’s meeting calendar in the Anthology Student SIS, to capture any changes made to the schedule as the course progresses.
• The extended properties must be set as follows:
  • Asynchronous hours: The total time, in hours, that can be awarded to a student for online/asynchronous attendance in the course.
  • Synchronous hours: The total time, in hours, that can be awarded to a student for in-person/ground/synchronous attendance in the course.
• A mapping ID must be set if the course ID in the LMS is different from the class session ID in the SIS.  (This is in the case that the institution sets a prefix or suffix for a course SIS IDs in the LMS.)

Data Syncs for Course Setup and Rostering in CourseKey

The institution’s SIS is the source of truth for all course and roster related data, and our integration ensures that scheduled courses, users, scheduled class meetings, and student course enrollments in the SIS are in parity with CourseKey.  

The integration with the Anthology Student SIS handles data syncs on a scheduled basis, with data refreshed once every 1 hour.  (This rate of refresh can be increased or decreased depending on each institution’s needs).  Permissioned Admin users can review their institution’s schedule for data syncs in the Integrations Insight Dashboard.

The integration process works as follows.

 

Data Syncs for Posting Attendance to the Anthology Student SIS

Being the source of truth for course and student data for an institution, the SIS maintains records of students’ attended and absent time and LDA in their courses.  The integration with the Anthology Student SIS handles attendance data synchronization on a scheduled basis, with data refreshed once every 1 hour.  Permissioned Admin users can review their institution’s schedule for data syncs in the Integrations Insight Dashboard.

The integration process works as follows:

 

Note on Date/Time Attributes Synced from the Nexus SIS 

In the Anthology Student SIS, there is no concept of timezone.  The Anthology Student SIS uses the SQL server DateTime from the database server, which does not have an associated timezone.  The assumption is that the DateTime of the database server is set by an institution based on the location of its main location/campus; or on the timezone of their choosing – when it operates campuses in multiple locations and/or offers online/blended programs.  

The Anthology Student SIS is designed to handle DateTime attributes in the following way:

• Automatic DateTime attributes, like CreatedDateTime and LastModifiedDateTime, are stored in the institution’s server timezone.  If for example, the server is located in California, the datetime matches the PDT/PST timezone.
• DateTime properties entered by a user, like Lead Date and Time, are stored as inputted.  If for example, 07/26/2022 6:00pm is entered, 07/26/2022 18:00 is stored.

For DateTime attributes that the CourseKey’s integration syncs from a customer’s Anthology Student SIS, we store the exact DateTime values returned by the Anthology Student SIS’s API endpoints, ignoring any timezone considerations.  That is, if for example we get a 07/26/2022 6:00pm (input or automatic), we store 07/26/2022 6:00pm in CourseKey.

 

Integration Monitoring and Support

For customers enabled with the integration between the Anthology Student SIS and CourseKey for students’ attendance tracking, the process is fully-managed by CourseKey.  CourseKey monitors data syncs to ensure data updates and process continuity.

Permissioned Admin users may use the Integrations Insight Dashboard to view a snapshot of recent data syncs for their institutions, including a status report on:

• SIS data-in processes: A snapshot of existing data in CourseKey and details of recent data syncs from the SIS to CourseKey, including attempted syncs, existing records and updated CourseKey data.  Data is presented by record type, including courses, users, course members (enrollments) and course attendance sessions.
• SIS data-out processes: A snapshot of recent data syncs from CourseKey to the SIS, including the latest attendance data sent to the SIS.

If you have questions or need to report an incident with your institution’s SIS data syncs, submit a support request.