​​Import student schedule (Roster) data

Introduction

Schools and districts routinely import demographic data into their SchoolMessenger Communicate account along with an individual’s contact information. It allows users to selectively target certain groups of recipients. For example, if a user needs to contact all of the students at a single school in a district, the school associated with each student would be used to create the recipient list. The student’s school affiliation is an example of demographic data, which is imported along with contact information.  

Student schedule data is another type of demographic data that can be used to target groups of students based on their class enrollment or specific subjects and courses that are taught. As with other types of demographic data, users may be restricted to viewing students who are enrolled only in specific classes. This is particularly useful if your district allows teachers to send notifications to their students.  

This document covers the data export files you will need for importing student class schedule data and an optional data export file for creating restricted teacher accounts, which allow teachers to send messages to their students. 

After creating the data extracts described below, it is strongly recommended that you work with one of the SchoolMessenger solutions support representatives to ensure your account is properly configured and to test the automated daily imports of your data files. Under each of the columns, if there was a message for that destination type, there will be a icon to the right of the language section in which it was created. 

The Classroom Messaging Module includes the option to import student schedule data. For additional information, contact your sales representative.    

Data import files 

Student schedule data is imported using two separate data import files: a Section Data File and an Enrollment Data File. You will need to create these exports from your database.   

Section data file  

The section data file contains data describing the classes (sections) that are taught at each school. This file does not contain any student specific information. The fields typically included in this file will be described in further detail in the Section Field Data section.   

Enrollment data file   

The enrollment data file contains data mapping the students to the classes they are enrolled in. The contents of this file will be elaborated in the Enrollment Field Data section.   

Teacher user data file (optional)   

The teacher user data file allows you to create teacher user accounts which restrict teachers to being able to contact only the students who are enrolled in the classes they’re teaching. You will only need to create this data file if you plan to allow teachers to access the system and send messages to their students.   

Data file format 

The final format of the data file to be imported into your Communicate account must be an ASCII encoded Comma Separated Values (CSV) file with a carriage return (CR) and line feed (LF) at the end of each record.   

Section field data 

Section data defines the attributes of each class (section) taught at each school. The most important fields are the section ID and the school at which that section takes place – the combination of section ID and school must be unique. You can think of section data as a complete list of every class offered by a school district. Each section should display as a separate record in the data file. 

Section data fields

The option to import student schedule data is included in the Classroom Messaging Module. Contact your sales representative for additional information.    

Section date file sample 

The following example shows a few lines of a representative section data file:   

Staff ID, School ID#, Section#, Period, Course Name, Instructor 

10081, 001, MATH345-1, 1, Mathematics, Mr. Anderson

10083, 314, PE980-3, 3, Physical Education, Ms. Andrews 

10080, 423, MATH301-2, 2, Mathematics, Mr. Henry

10024, 227, SCI739-1, 1, Science, Mrs. Robbins  

001, ENG913-5, 10038, 5, English, Mr. Johnson

Enrollment field data 

Enrollment data links each student to their classes (sections) and only contains three fields. Each section that a student is enrolled in should display as a separate record in the data file.

Enrollment data file sample 

The following example shows a few lines of a representative enrollment data file:   

Student ID, School ID#, Section#, Period, Course Name, Instructor 

309482094, 001, MATH345-1, 1, Mathematics, Mr. Anderson

487598475, 314, PE980-3, 3, Physical Education, Ms. Andrews 

93824729, 423, MATH301-2, 2, Mathematics, Mr. Henry 

57646463, 227, SCI739-1, 1, Science, Mrs. Robbins  

001, ENG913-5, 10038, 5, English, Mr. Johnson

Teacher user data 

If you plan to allow teachers to access the system to send notifications to their classes, it will be necessary to create a special user import item that automatically creates the teacher accounts and restricts them to only those students who are enrolled in classes that the teacher instructs.   

Teacher user data fields

Teacher data file sample 

The following example shows a few lines of a representative enrollment data file.   

ID#, FirstName, LastName, UserName, Email,Description   

10081, Albert, Anderson, aanderson, aanderson@example.com, Elementary Teacher   

10034, John, Smith, jsmith, jsmith@example.com, Middle School Teacher   

10081, Mary, Thomas ,mthomas, mthompson@example.com, Elementary Teacher 

10034, Bill, Williams, bwilliams, bwilliams@example.com, High School Teacher   

10083, Sally, Andrews, sandrews, sandrews@example.com, High School Teacher   

10080, Tom, Henry, thenry, thenry@example.com, High School Teacher  

10024, Margaret, Robins, mrobins, mrobinson@example.com, Middle School Teacher