Overview

The text file import into Astra Schedule requires that a data extract from your institution’s Student Information System (SIS) be created that will generate a text file with the appropriate academic section data in a specified format.  This file can be generated manually and used for occasional batch data imports into Astra Schedule, or scheduled to run automatically and used for more frequent updates of Section data within Astra Schedule. The text file export from Astra Schedule will generate a text file with room scheduling and/or other section data as desired.  The generation of import/update files and the utilization of Astra Schedule exported data are the responsibility of the institution configuring the interface.  Astra Schedule can read from files formatted as comma separated values or tab delimited and can export a data file to a specified location.  These jobs can be configured to import/export data on a schedule or can be run manually.

 

The Astra Schedule installation utility provides the option to specify the SIS interface being used. When prompted, select the Text option, as shown below.

 

 

The text file interface requires the following components:

 

1.A text file extract prepared by the institution that will reliably and consistently create an academic section text file from the institution’s SIS.

 

2.A process created by the institution for updating academic section data in the SIS with information provided in a text file from Astra Schedule.

 

3.An Astra Schedule import map file representing the structure of the import SIS text file data.

 

4.Astra Schedule import and export xml spoke files configured to match the format of the map files.

 

NOTE: During implementation, Ad Astra staff will confirm that the text import layout map and xml files are configured appropriately to match the format of the data files provided and expected by the institution.  The following sample files for both are provided by default in the Astra Schedule interface file directory.
 
(In a standard installation, the path to this directory might look something like this:  C:\Ad Astra\%YourInstance%\Files\ATEConfiguration\Spokes\SIS)

 

•TextSectionImport.xml

•TextSectionExport.xml

 

If any changes are made to the default versions of these files, the files must be saved under a different name.  Default files are overwritten during application updates.  The map file name is referenced within the xml configuration file.  The xml configuration file names are referenced from within the import or export jobs created in the Astra Schedule application.  The map file and the xml configuration files must remain in the same location.

 

It is simplest to base the format of the section text file being generated from the SIS on the sample layout map file provided by Ad Astra. The order of the fields must match, and the file must be tab delimited. If changes must be made to the format of either file, or if more advanced actions are required (i.e. reading a part of field, building a field from multiple values, specifying deleted records, etc) it is best to work with Ad Astra staff to verify these changes.

 

See Text File Section Import Configuration for configuration instructions.