The Integration Pack for Student Information System (IPSIS) platform
The Integration Pack for Student Information Systems (IPSIS) platform is an integration platform in Brightspace that consists of common components and a collection of products that allow you to import information from your organization's information system to Brightspace (for example, your organization structure, users, and enrollment information). Once that information is imported into Brightspace, you can continue to update your information system and import that information to Brightspace using the IPSIS platform.
This new Integration Pack for Student Information Systems (IPSIS) source system is available for PowerSchool using School Passport by Global Grid 4 Learning (GG4L). This source system provides an out-of-the-box rostering integration option for customers using PowerSchool, and includes a service provided by GG4L to set up School Passport connections between Brightspace and the PowerSchool student information system.
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Note: Rostering includes user management, enrollment, and Org Structure, including School[Dept], Course [Template], and Class [Course Offering+ Section]. Rostering is a prerequisite for the Grade Passback functionality.
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Supported information systems
The IPSIS platform integrates with the following common types of information systems:
- Student Information Systems (SIS) - A software tool used by educational organizations to manage students, courses, and enrollments.
- Human Resource Systems (HRIS) - A software tool used by corporate organizations to manage employees and their data.
- Learner Information Systems (LIS) - A software tool used by educational organizations to manage the registration of student enrollments.
Components and products in the IPSIS platform
Under the IPSIS platform, there are common components and several products with unique features to integrate your specific information system with Brightspace. The collection of components and products are:
- D2L Standard CSV – Used for integrating with SIS/HRIS systems by using D2L-defined Comma-Separated Value (CSV) files.
- Ellucian ILP – Used for integrating with Banner or Colleague systems, based on LIS specifications.
- OneRoster CSV and OneRoster REST – Used for integrating with K-12 information systems that support the IMS Global Learning Consortium’s OneRoster specification.
- LIS v2.0 Adapter – Used for integrating with information systems that support the IMS Global Learning Consortium's LIS specification.
- SIS Course Merge – An interface in Brightspace used to enable instructors to merge and unmerge multiple IPSIS-processed courses into and out of one parent course offering.
- Section Association Interface (UI) – An interface in Brightspace used to manually manipulate relationships between enrollable courses or sections in an SIS and course offerings in Brightspace.
- IPSIS Administration Interface (Admin UI) – An administration interface in Brightspace used for configuring and reviewing the status of SIS integrations with Brightspace.
OneRoster is an IMS standard designed to allow secure sharing of class rosters and related data between a student information system (SIS) and any other system. The OneRoster standard supports spreadsheet-style (CSV) export-import as well as direct system exchanges using REST API’s. This administration guide focuses on the REST specification.
Before you use OneRoster REST 1.1
D2L supports the IMS OneRoster v1.1 specification and recertifies against the IMS Global product certification suite yearly. D2L supports the following Conformance Certifications:
- REST Data Provider Gradebook Push Core
- REST Data Consumer Rostering Core
The Brightspace implementation of the OneRoster v1.1 specification lets administrators schedule data to be pulled from their SIS to populate the required roster related data (schools, classes, users, enrollments, etc.) in the Brightspace platform. The new IPSIS OneRoster REST user interface includes a schedule to allow administrators to configure the time of day when the data pulls occur. Additionally, for an SIS partner supporting the Gradebook service, administrators can set the grades to be returned with the daily data sync and/or allow a faculty member to initiate a manual sync.
Endpoints used
| Type |
URL |
|---|
| GET |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/academicSessions |
| GET |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/orgs
or
ims/oneroster/v1p1/orgs/{id} (if rostering sync is filtering on schools – retrieves parent(s) of a school)
|
| GET |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/schools |
| GET |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/courses
or
ims/oneroster/v1p1/schools/{id}/courses (if rostering sync is filtering on schools – retrieves courses specific to the school)
|
| GET |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/classes
or
ims/oneroster/v1p1/schools/{id}/classes (if rostering sync is filtering on schools – retrieves classes specific to the school)
|
| GET |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/users
|
| GET |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/enrollments
or
ims/oneroster/v1p1/schools/{id}/enrollments (if rostering sync is filtering on schools – retrieves enrollments of students in classes specific to the school)
|
| PUT |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/categories |
| PUT |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/lineitems |
| PUT |
ims/oneroster/v1p1/results |
How OneRoster REST data types map to Brightspace
REST Process
IPSIS synchronizes data with GG4L either during a scheduled daily sync or when a sync is manually initiated by an administrator. The set of data retrieved depends on which sync operation is run:
- Scheduled daily syncs and those initiated using the Run Update Now button on the IPSIS Administration Dashboard pulls all changes to the data that occurred since the previous sync.
- The Resync updates button on the Dashboard enables admins to sync data changes that occurred since a date that the admin specifies.
- The Resync all SIS records button on the Dashboard syncs all data from GG4L.
Regardless of how the synchronization task is initiated, IPSIS always calls the endpoints in the same order:
- Academic Sessions
- All orgs or orgs for specific schools
- All courses or courses for specific schools
- All classes or classes for specific schools
- Users
- All enrollments or school-specific enrollments
- Grades
Below are the mapping values between a OneRoster object type and a Brightspace object type.
| One Roster |
D2L Brightspace |
|---|
| Academic Sessions |
Org Units* |
| Org |
Org Units* |
| School |
Org Units* |
| Course |
Course Template |
| Class |
Course Offering and Course Section |
| User |
User |
| Enrollment |
Enrollment |
*Org unit types are typically custom org unit types that can be mapped during the configuration process.
Academic Sessions
| OneRoster |
Supported Values |
Used by Brightspace for |
Required |
|---|
| sourcedId |
|
Stored with IPSIS for mapping to a Brightspace org unit |
Y |
| status |
active, tobedeleted |
Create/update or delete the academic session |
Y |
| dateLastModified |
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssZ |
Ignored |
Y |
| metadata |
|
Ignored |
N |
| title |
|
Org Unit Name and Org Unit Code |
Y |
| startDate |
YYYY-MM-DD |
Academic sessions are available to instructors when configuring grade items for export to the SIS. The dates are stored by IPSIS and are required when sending grades items to GG4L/PowerSchool.
The academic session start date can be copied to the start dates of associated course offerings. |
Y |
| endDate |
YYYY-MM-DD |
Academic sessions are available to instructors when configuring grade items for export to the SIS. The dates are stored by IPSIS and are required when sending grades items to GG4L/PowerSchool.
The academic session end date can be copied to the end dates of associated course offerings |
Y |
| type |
term, semester, schoolyear, gradingperiod
For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L only sends term. |
Org Unit Type |
Y |
| parent |
|
Ignored |
N |
| children |
|
Ignored |
N |
| schoolYear |
|
Ignored |
Y |
Orgs
| OneRoster |
Supported Values |
Used by Brightspace for |
Required |
|---|
sourcedId
|
|
Stored with IPSIS for mapping to a Brightspace org unit |
Y |
status
|
active, tobedeleted
|
Create/update or delete the org unit |
Y |
dateLastModified
|
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssZ |
Ignored |
Y |
metadata
|
|
Ignored |
N |
name
|
|
Org Unit Name and Org Unit Code (if identifier not provided) |
Y |
identifier
|
|
Org Unit Code (if provided) |
N |
type
|
department, school, district, local, state, national
For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L only sends school and district.
|
Org Unit Type |
Y |
parent
|
sourceId of an org |
Parent org unit. For district org units, there is no parent. For school org units, the parent is the district. |
Not specifically required; however, without it, the org units will not be part of a hierarchy. |
children
|
|
Ignored |
N |
Courses
| OneRoster |
Supported Values |
Used by Brightspace for |
Required |
|---|
sourcedId
|
|
Stored with IPSIS for mapping to a Brightspace org unit (course template) |
Y |
status
|
active, tobedeleted |
Create/update or delete the course template |
Y |
dateLastModified
|
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssZ |
Ignored |
Y |
metadata
|
|
Ignored |
N |
| title |
|
Org Unit Name and Org Unit Code (if courseCode not provided) |
Y |
| schoolYear |
|
Ignored |
N |
| courseCode |
|
Org Unit Code (if provided) |
N |
| grades |
|
Ignored |
N |
| subjects |
|
Ignored |
N |
| org |
sourcedId of an org |
For GG4L PowerSchool integrations, this is always the parent school org unit |
Y. Used to create org structure |
| subjectCodes |
|
Ignored |
N |
| resources |
|
Ignored |
N |
Classes
| OneRoster |
Supported Values |
Used by Brightspace for |
Required |
|---|
| sourcedId |
|
Stored with IPSIS for mapping to a Brightspace org unit (course template |
Y |
| status |
active, tobedeleted |
Create/update or set the course offering inactive
Create/update or delete the course offering and section (set to inactive or delete based on IPSIS Administration Configuration) |
Y |
| dateLastModified |
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssZ |
Ignored |
Y |
| metadata |
|
Ignored |
N |
| title |
|
Org Unit Name and Org Unit Code (if classCode is not provided) |
Y |
| classCode |
|
Org Unit Code (if provided) |
N |
| classType |
scheduled, homeroom For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L only sends scheduled |
Ignored |
Y |
| location |
|
Ignored |
N |
| grades |
|
Ignored |
N |
| subjects |
|
Ignored |
N |
| course |
sourcedId of a course |
Parent course template org unit |
Y |
| school |
sourcedId of a course |
Parent school org unit |
Y |
| terms |
List of sourcedIds of academic sessions For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L sends the sourcedId of a single term. |
A single parent academic session org unit |
Y |
| subjectCodes |
|
Ignored |
N |
| periods |
|
Ignored |
N |
| resources |
|
Ignored |
N |
Users
| OneRoster |
Supported Values |
Used by Brightspace for |
Required |
|---|
| sourcedId |
|
Stored with IPSIS for mapping to a Brightspace use |
Y |
| status |
active, tobedeleted> |
Create/update or delete the user (set to inactive or delete based on IPSIS Administration Configuration) |
Y |
| dateLastModified |
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssZ |
Ignored |
Y |
| metaData |
|
Ignored |
N |
| userName |
|
Username |
Y |
| userIds |
|
Ignored |
N |
| enabledUser |
true, false For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L only sends true |
Active status of the user |
Y |
| givenName |
|
Legal first name |
Y |
| FamilyName |
|
Legal last name |
Y |
| middleName |
|
Middle name |
N |
| role |
administrator, aide, guardian, parent, proctor, relative, student, teacher For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L only sends administrator, guardian, parent, student, and teacher |
Brightspace role in the Org |
Y |
| identifier |
|
Org Defined Id |
N |
| email |
|
External email |
N |
| sms |
|
Ignored |
N |
| phone |
|
Ignored |
N |
| agents |
List of sourcedIds of users |
Brightspace Parent & Guardian For user records with a role of student and which have agents that have a parent or guardian role, parent relationships are created. |
N |
| orgs |
Upper org units For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L sends only schools. |
Enrollment into upper org units (schools) |
Y |
| grades |
|
Ignored |
N |
| password |
GG4L does not send passwords |
User password |
N |
Enrollments
| OneRoster |
Supported Values |
Used by Brightspace for |
Required |
|---|
| sourcedId |
|
Stored with IPSIS for tracking enrollment in a course. |
Y |
| status |
active, tobedeleted |
Enroll or unenroll the user from the course offering and section |
Y |
| dateLastModified |
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sssZ |
Ignored |
Y |
| metaData |
|
Ignored |
N |
| user |
sourcedId of a user |
User to enroll or unenroll |
Y |
| class |
sourcedId of a class |
Course offering and section the user will be enrolled into or unenrolled from |
Y |
| school |
|
Ignored |
Y |
| role |
administrator, proctor, student, teacher
For PowerSchool integrations, GG4L only sends student and teacher |
Role of the user within the org unit |
Y |
| primary |
|
Ignored |
N |
| beginDate |
|
Ignored |
N |
| endDate |
|
Ignored |
N |
Rostering Limitations
Records for academic sessions, orgs, and courses with a status of tobedeleted are only deleted if all child org units are deleted first. In a standard GG4L PowerSchool integration:
- A district can be removed once all child schools have been removed.
- A school can be removed once child course templates and course offerings have been removed.
- A course template can be removed once child course offerings have been removed.
- An academic session (term) can be removed once child course offerings have been removed.
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Note: You cannot use the OneRoster integration to unenroll enrollments from upper org units that were created before the June 2024/20.24.6. |
Users are enrolled into upper org units of type school when those org units are included in the OneRoster user record. Users who are enrolled manually in Brightspace cannot be unenrolled using the OneRoster integration.
Brightspace places restrictions on allowed characters in Org Unit Codes. These characters are replaced with an underscore (_) by IPSIS during creation to avoid errors. For more information, refer to About Org Unit Editor for details.
The maximum length for an Org Unit Code in Brightspace is 50 characters. IPSIS truncates the code if it exceeds this length.
When creating a user in Brightspace, the various fields have character limits and restrictions on allowable characters. IPSIS does not replace illegal characters and does not truncate data. For more information, refer to Create an individual user.
Configuration options
You will work with your Brightspace Implementation Consultant to set up your OneRoster REST source system. Brightspace automatically defaults to your most common settings. However, these settings can be edited at any time with the appropriate permissions.
You can make changes to the integration from the IPSIS Configuration screen, which you can access from the Admin Tools > IPSIS Admininistration > Configuration tab.
Credentials
Endpoints and access credentials are unique to each customer’s integration with GG4L School Passport. During initial setup, GG4L provides the values to D2L. While it is possible to edit the values, you must do it in coordination with GG4L.
Source System
Ensure the following fields are correctly configured:
- SIS Name: Administrators can edit the SIS Name, and it is recommended that this field is kept up-to-date.
- Scheduled Updates: This field indicates the time when Brightspace automatically synchronizes with the SIS. It is recommended that all syncs between the systems are scheduled for off-hours, preferably overnight. When choosing the time to schedule the updates, ensure that the GG4L School Passport to PowerSchool sync is complete before the start of the Brightspace to GG4L School Passport sync. Staggering the syncs ensures all potential updates from PowerSchool are available in School Passport before syncing with Brightspace. For more information, refer to Timing of Rostering and Grades Passback.
- Deletion: Enable this option to prevent unenrolling teachers and students from previous term courses and retain data after a term ends. Ensure an SIS Group mapping of type Term is set up under Courses and Sections.
- Overwriting Brightspace: These fields provide granular choices to identify which fields (Users, Courses, other org units, and Enrollments) your SIS can overwrite in Brightspace.
People
Within the People section, you can configure the SIS Role Mappings, Default User Status, and Map SIS Entries to Existing Users settings.
SIS Role Mappings contains the role mapping between OneRoster and Brightspace. Teacher and Student roles are included by default; you can delete these roles or add additional roles to meet the requirements for roles in your environment. The following roles are available in OneRoster:
- Administrator
- Aide
- Guardian
- Parent
- Proctor
- Relative
- Student
- Teacher
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Note: If the SIS sends a role that is not configured with a mapping to a Brightspace role, IPSIS reports an error, and the user is not created. If there are users with roles that cannot be filtered by GG4L and you do not want to create these roles in Brightspace, exclude a mapping. Keep in mind that when you use this workflow, IPSIS generates errors when attempting to create users and enrolling into courses. |
Default User Status enables you to create new Brightspace users with a status of Active or Inactive. The default setting for IPSIS is Active. It may be useful to create new users in an inactive state during initial setup of an implementation on a test site to avoid unnecessarily granting access to users.
Map SIS Entries to Existing Users provides the option to match Username or Org Defined Id to make the mapping between SIS users and Brightspace. Existing users may have been created outside the SIS (for example, manually, using bulk operations or using API) or by another SIS from which the customer is transitioning away. If the option Attempt to link SIS entries to users already in Brightspace is off, it is possible that duplicates may be created.
Courses and Sections
Within the Courses and Sections area, there are configuration options for mapping between SIS org types and Brightspace org unit types, options on deletion behavior, mapping SIS entries to courses and sections, copying course content, course offering dates, and unenrollment.
Mapping between SIS org types and Brightspace org unit types contains the OneRoster-specific org types that are supported by the GG4L School Passport for PowerSchool integrations that you can map to Brightspace org unit types, including:
- SIS Orgs to Brightspace Org Unit Types
- SIS Academic Sessions to Brightspace Org Unit Types
- SIS Groups to Brightspace Org Unit Types:
- SIS Orgs options:
- District
- School
- Local, National, State, and Department (optional)
- Academic Session Type options:
- Semester
- Term
- School Year
- Grading Period
- SIS Group options:
- Course offering
- Course section
- Course template
- Section association
Deletion provides two options on how a tobedeleted status affects an org unit in Brightspace:
-
Do Nothing - the org unit mapping is deleted from IPSIS mappings, but the org unit remains unchanged in Brightspace.
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Inactivate course offering - the org unit mapping is deleted from IPSIS mappings, the course offering is marked inactive in Brightspace, section and enrollments remain unchanged.
Map SIS entries to courses and sections provides the option to map SIS entries based on org unit code to existing org units that were created outside the SIS, for example, manually, by bulk operations, or using API.
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Note: It is not recommended to map org unit codes for any org units created by your SIS unless you have confirmed that the codes are unique across schools and school years. If they are not unique, the SIS may overwrite existing org units with data from other org units. |
Course Content provides the ability to copy content from a master course or a course template into a newly created course. To use this option, choose one of the following options:
- If you do not select Find an Org Unit to automatically copy from based on specific criteria, content is copied from a master course offering to the sibling course offering (when the master course offering and course template share the same org unit code.
- If you select Find an Org Unit to automatically copy from based on specific criteria, you have two options
- For the parent course template of the new course, content is copied from the parent course template to the new child course offering.
- For the sibling course where the org unit code matches the parent template, content is copied from the source course offering to the new child course offering based on the source course being manually added to Brightspace with the same org unit code as the parent template.
Course Offering Dates allow you to use academic session, such as semester, term (default), school year, or grading period information for course offering start and end dates. By default, the check box is set to Off. The start and end date for a course can also be offset by a specific number of days. If multiple academic sessions are set for a single course offering, the first Academic Session received from the SIS is used as the start and end date.
Unenrollment provides the option to unenroll users from sections and courses based on the enrollment End Date provided by the SIS and the option to unenroll users from SIS Orgs to which they are no longer associated in the SIS.
Grades Export
New and edited grades are exported to the SIS. Select one or more of the export options:
- To allow teachers with the Export Grades permission to send grades from the Grades tool to GG4L on demand, select Users with the Export Grades permission can export grades to the SIS.
- To includes grades export with the daily synchronization, select Export all grades to the SIS at scheduled daily update.
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Note: Grade items must belong to a category that has Export to SIS selected, and must link to an Academic Session. |
Departments, semesters, and other org units
In this section, you can set the Map SIS entries to existing org units, which provides the option to map SIS entries based on org unit code to existing org units that were created outside the SIS, for example, manually, by bulk operations, or using API.
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Note: It is not recommended to map org unit codes for any org units created by your SIS unless you have confirmed that the codes are unique across schools and school years. If they are not unique, the SIS may overwrite existing org units with data from other org units. |
Grades Ownership
Brightspace owns grade items and scores, while PowerSchool owns grade categories. Changes made in Brightspace to grade items and scores overwrite the associated objects in PowerSchool. For example, if you change the maximum score for a grade item in PowerSchool, the maximum is updated in Brightspace the next time grades are sent from Brightspace through GG4L School Passport. Any changes a teacher has made to assignments and scores in PowerSchool are overwritten by nightly synchs between School Passport and PowerSchool.
Changes to grade categories in Brightspace do not overwrite those in PowerSchool and vice versa.
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Note: Ensure that you keep object ownership in mind as you review the timing of rostering. |
Brightspace syncs with GG4L School Passport once per day, and GG4L School Passport syncs with PowerSchool once per day. During the syncs between systems, the following occurs:
- When GG4L School Passport syncs with PowerSchool, it pulls rostering changes and sends changes to grades that it received from Brightspace since its last sync with PowerSchool.
- When Brightspace syncs with GG4L School Passport, it pulls changes to rosters and sends changes to grades since its last sync with School Passport.
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Note the following:
- The time of day when Brightspace syncs with School Passport can be configured in IPSIS Administration > Configuration. Clients should work with their Implementation Specialist during the integration setup to determine the most appropriate time of day to configure the synchronization between PowerSchool and GG4L School Passport
- D2L recommends that GG4L School Passport syncs with PowerSchool before Brightspace syncs with School Passport. This ensures important roster updates are propagated to Brightspace as quickly as possible.
- Grades may take up to two days to appear in PowerSchool.
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The following example illustrates a synchronization that occurs on Friday morning, highlighting when and which data is transferred:
Friday 1:00 AM sync between PowerSchool and GG4L School Passport
- GG4L School Passport pulls from PowerSchool all changes (for example, to users, classes, and sections) that took place during Thursday.
- GG4L School Passport sends grade items and scores to PowerSchool that it received the previous day from Brightspace. These would include either:
- The changes that took place Wednesday in Brightspace and that were sent to School Passport 5:00 AM Thursday.
- The changes that took place Thursday that it received when teachers executed the Export to SIS function from within the Grades tool.
Friday 5:00 AM sync between GG4L School Passport and Brightspace
- Brightspace pulls rostering updates (deltas) from GG4L School Passport. These are the changes that occurred Thursday in PowerSchool.
- Brightspace sends to School Passport all grades updates that took place throughout Thursday.
Handling of Grade Categories
- Brightspace does not pull categories from PowerSchool. You must create them in Brightspace even if categories are already set up in PowerSchool (this applies to teacher-specific and district-level categories).
- For a category to synchronize with PowerSchool, you must select Export to SIS in Edit Category.
- GG4L School Passport connect categories between both systems based on matching names. A category that does not exist in PowerSchool is created by GG4L School Passport.
- Once categories in Brightspace and PowerSchool are connected, changing the name in one system has no impact on the other or on sending of grades to PowerSchool. If you need to change the name of a category, change it in both Brightspace and PowerSchool.
- PowerSchool does not support category names longer than 30 characters. Categories in Brightspace that exceed 30 characters fail to be created in PowerSchool and associated grade items and grades fail to transfer.
- PowerSchool does not support duplicate category names. Any duplicate in Brightspace fails to be created in PowerSchool and associated grade items and grades will fail to transfer.
- Deleting of categories:
- Deleting a category from PowerSchool synchronized with Brightspace breaks the link between systems. Recreating the category in PowerSchool with the same name is not sufficient to re-establish the link. To do so, you must create a new category in Brightspace (with the same name as used in PowerSchool) and move the grade items to the new category.
- If you want to delete a category that has already been linked to PowerSchool, first disable Export to SIS on the Edit Category page and then delete the category from Brightspace. The category and assignments remain in PowerSchool unlinked to Brightspace.
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Warning: The Export to SIS option on a grade category does not appear if the course was not created in Brightspace through the IPSIS integration or if the Grades Export feature has not been enabled under Organization Tools.
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Handling of Grade Items
- Brightspace does not pull in grade items (assignments) from PowerSchool to populate the Brightspace grade book. Similarly, any changes to grading properties of PowerSchool Assignments will not be reflected in Brightspace.
- For a grade item to synchronize with PowerSchool, it must belong to a category with Export to SIS enabled, and a semester selected from the Academic Session drop-down on the Edit Grade Item page. If you want some but not all grade items in a category sent to PowerSchool, only those with an Academic Session are sent.
- Grade items of the following types can be sent to PowerSchool: Numeric, Selectbox, Formula, and Pass/Fail.
- Grade schemes in Brightspace do not impact the transfer of grades. You may use any grade scheme independent of the PowerSchool configuration. Brightspace always sends the underlying numeric scores of grade items to PowerSchool regardless of how students and teachers are viewing grades. If students or parents are viewing grades in Brightspace and PowerSchool, align the grades between the systems. That is, use the same display such as letters, points, or percentages using grade schemes in both Brightspace and PowerSchool.
- The following table shows how grade item properties in Brightspace are mapped to PowerSchool Assignments.
| Brightspace Grade Item | PowerSchool Assignment |
|---|
| Name | Assignment Name |
| Category | Category |
| Description | Description |
| Maximum Points | Score Entry Points |
| Grade item type (Numeric, Selectbox, Formula, Pass/Fail) | Score Type — Points only |
| | Due Date (see below) |
| | Count in Traditional Final Grade — Always set to Yes |
| | Extra Points — Not supported |
| | Weight — Not supported |
| | Publish Assignment — Immediately (a date for publishing is not sent from Brightspace) |
- The Due Date for a PowerSchool Assignment is determined as follows:
- If the Brightspace grade item is associated with an activity (for example, with a quiz or assignment), one of the following options is possible:
- Send the activity’s Due Date if set
- Send the activity’s End Date if set
- Send the Academic Session (semester) End Date
- If the grade item is not associated with an activity, then:
- Send the Academic Session (semester) End Date
| Note: The Start Date and End Date of a grade item are ignored. |
- All PowerSchool Assignments are automatically flagged in PowerSchool to be included in the final grade. If you would like it to be excluded, modify the option in PowerSchool or exclude it from being transferred from Brightspace by removing the Academic Session from the grade item.
- To enable a student to know the same final grade in Brightspace as they do through PowerSchool, be sure the same categories and grade items configured toward the final grade in Brightspace match those being sent to PowerSchool; that is, if a grade item is not sent to PowerSchool but is included in the final grade calculation in Brightspace, the student and parents may see different final grades between Brightspace and PowerSchool.
- Grade categories not to be included in the PowerSchool final grade should not have Export to SIS enabled for each category. It is also recommended that you give the grade category a Weight of 0.
- On grade items excluded from the PowerSchool final grade, remove the Academic Session, enable Exclude from Final Grade Calculation, and assign a Weight of 0 (in a weighted grade book) from each grade item.
- You can change the name, description, and maximum points in Brightspace, and the changes overwrite PowerSchool. Changing a grade item’s properties causes Brightspace to synchronize the grade item changes and resend all student grades for that grade item.
- PowerSchool does not support assignment names longer than 50 characters. Grade items in Brightspace with names that exceed 50 characters are not created in PowerSchool and associated student grades fail to transfer.
- A grade item can be moved from one category to another in Brightspace, and the category is changed in PowerSchool.
- Grades within merged courses are handled by Brightspace and GG4L School Passport as described below. Consider the follow scenario:
Two sections from PowerSchool have been merged into one in Brightspace section. For example, we start with Course1 (Section1) and Course2 (Section2). Course2 is then merged into Course1. As a result, Course1 will contain both Section1 (with its group of students) and Section2 (with the group of students from Course2).
Course1 has a grade item called Week1 Lab Writeup, and students have been graded.
Brightspace sends the grade item Week1 Lab Writeup and scores for students in Section1. Brightspace then sends the grade item Week1 Lab Writeup and scores for students in Section2.
In PowerSchool, a new assignment is created called Week1 Lab Writeup in Section1 and students in that section receive their grades. In Section2 in PowerSchool there is also an assignment called Week1 Lab Writeup and students in that section receive their grades.
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Note: The Academic Session option on a grade item does not appear if the course was not created in Brightspace through the IPSIS integration or if the Grades Export feature has not been enabled in Organization Tools. |
Handling of Grade Results
- Adding, modifying, or removing scores for students are reflected in PowerSchool.
- Changes to a student's grade in PowerSchool are overwritten by Brightspace if a triggering change is made that causes Brightspace to re-send a student's grade. Triggers can include changing a score, any grade item property, and any grade category property.
- Grade items in Brightspace can be configured to exceed the maximum points. Although scores greater than the maximum transfer to PowerSchool without error, PowerSchool does show an error when viewing the student's grade and final grade calculations may be impacted. You can resolve the error in PowerSchool by changing the assignment and specifying the number of points that student can exceed the maximum.
- Comments given to students by teachers in Brightspace, along with grades, are sent to PowerSchool.
- Final grades are not transferred to PowerSchool.
Troubleshooting
The Dashboard provides the processing status of the latest batch. Both the Dashboard and Batches pages show a final indicator if the batch completed, either successfully or with errors. Each batch has a quick link to the Audit Log and if completed with errors to Error Messages.
Review all logs to verify all records processed as expected. If error messages were logged, expand the error to review the metadata captured to identify the error, correct the data in your SIS and either wait until the next day for the Scheduled Update or request an update from the Dashboard. The goal is to have the runs completed without error.
Additional References
The updated PowerSchool plug-in is available for download. Customers should work with GG4L and their implementation team to download and update the plug-in, and configure their integration with the new plug-in.