Originally published June 30, 2020
Key Dates and Information
End of Life Date: September 1, 2022
Holding Tank has been a core piece of integration technology at D2L since 2003. Prior to the introduction of a CSV option within the IPSIS tool in 2014, Holding Tank (HT) was the main technology used by new clients to integrate a Student Information System (SIS), Human Resource Information System (HRIS) or other data source with Brightspace. As of 2018, D2L Standard CSV (an IPSIS product) was released as another alternative for HT. With a simpler implementation, better management User Interfaces, and better performance, D2L Standard CSV provides the mechanisms clients need to effectively integrate their course and user information into Brightspace. Holding Tank has been moving towards end of life for years with clients gradually moving off this legacy technology. Prior to September 1, 2022, all clients will be migrated off Holding Tank and it will be permanently retired.
We understand that for the remaining clients using Holding Tank this will require some effort to move to D2L Standard CSV and will involve potentially some development changes on your side. D2L will work with you to minimize the disruption and assist with streamlining the move.
Why are we making this decision?
D2L is committed to ensuring administration experiences are easy to use, performant, and provide the options clients need to support their use cases. Holding Tank has long been a contributor to large Support call volumes due to performance issues, lack of administrative capabilities, and its continuing drift from the capabilities needed for management purposes today. The decision to migrate all customers off of Holding Tank enables all clients to have an integration that serves their needs and take less administration time. To be cognizant of the increased burdens from COVID-19 and the changing learning landscape associated with the worldwide reactions to the virus, the normal one year end of life period has been extended to allow for more than 2 years for D2L to assist our clients using Holding Tank to move to an alternate integration option.
What is the impact and transition plan?
Clients who are using Holding Tank will need to move to an alternative integration method prior to the end of life date. To facilitate this move, D2L is providing a free of charge transition to D2L Standard CSV including D2L staff availability to help with the change. Customer-side development resources either from an internal development team, SIS vendor, or other third-party development company will be required to alter the current extracts from XML format to CSV format. Additional resources to help your organization through the transition have been prepared and are available in Brightspace Community.
Additionally, clients can evaluate whether an alternative integration method such as ILP, LIS, or API would better suit their use cases. In these cases, there would be associated charges for the move potentially from your SIS vendor, D2L, or both. D2L will provide pros and cons to the available choices for clients evaluating alternative methods to assist with decision making.
Frequently asked questions
Can I prepare for this change ahead of September 1, 2022?
Yes! You should be preparing for this change well ahead of September 1, 2022. Development changes are needed so planning for when that can occur should begin immediately. D2L will be contacting you by June 2021 to begin this planning if we have not already communicated with you. This contact will be occurring with client Approved Support Contacts (ASCs)
Who needs to be involved in this change?
From the client side, a developer/QA person (possibly 1 or more people depending on your team structure), an SIS expert who can speak to how data is stored in your SIS, D2L Administrators who will be responsible for ongoing administration of the integration. From the D2L side, a project manager and technical resource will be involved to assist with providing information as well as completing D2L aspects of the change. D2L involvement is required to complete the change.
Why is D2L involvement required?
D2L involvement is required because Holding Tank must be disabled before a new integration can be used. Holding Tank cannot be used at the same time as IPSIS without risking data issues that could affect the functionality of both integrations. A benefit of this involvement is, D2L will provide additional support to answer questions, provide training, and ensure a smooth transition.
What about differences between Holding Tank and IPSIS, will more features be added?
D2L has evaluated the differences between the two integrations, Holding Tank and D2L Standard CSV (IPSIS). Major functionality differences have been addressed to ensure there are no showstopper differences that would prevent clients from moving to D2L Standard CSV. However, every client’s configuration is unique so as D2L connects with you, your unique setup will be evaluated to ensure a like for like transition can occur. Any requests for new or changed functionality within D2L Standard CSV will be evaluated on a case by case basis to determine if it is immediately needed work or if it should be a PIE item for future roadmap consideration.
How can I tell if I am using Holding Tank currently?
If you access logs of your integration running from within the SIS Integration Log or Course Mapping Interface, that is Holding Tank functionality. If you access the IPSIS Administration screen that is an IPSIS configuration, not Holding Tank. If you are unsure of how your integration is administered, that is not a problem, D2L will be contacting you about moving onto D2L Standard CSV.
How should I get started with this change?
D2L will be contacting you to further discuss the transition, in the meantime, you can begin with these steps.
Who should I contact with questions?
Information about this initiative will be coming from the Release and Transition team at D2L. You can email SIS_Transitions@d2l.com or speak with your TAM or Customer Support to be connected with the transition team.
How Can You Provide Feedback Related to This Change?
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