Set up a sync job, step by step

After you install Little SIS Premium, you can create sync jobs. Once you begin creating a sync job, the pages advance, taking you through each step. All you need to do is to complete the steps and save the job. After creation, jobs appear in the Roster sync list where they can filter and sorted. In this article, you'll learn how to set up a sync job step-by-step. 

Pro Tip: To avoid errors when running a sync job be sure that all domains and subdomains are listed in Administration > Settings > User Account Domains.

Creating a sync job is a multi-step process. During setup, you'll configure settings to sync your SIS classes to Google Classroom. A sync job contains the following settings:

• Creating a sync job
• Selecting source data
• Creating a class alias
• Creating field mappings
• Managing inclusion/exclusion rules
• Setting update preferences
• Selecting automation settings
• Teacher review custom welcome message notification

Let’s get started.

Creating a sync job

To create a sync job, do the following:

1. Open Little SIS Premium.
2. Using the left navigation pane, go to Jobs, then Roster sync jobs.
3. Click + located at the top right to create a sync job.
   
4. Enter a Job Name.
   

   Note: If you have existing jobs, consider cloning and modifying an existing job. If you are using the same enrollments file, this can save you a lot of time.

5. Enter a Description.
   
6. Click Next to advance to Source data & mappings.

Selecting source data

Next, you need to select the source CSV file that contains your enrollment data. Don’t worry if the file contains more classes/records than you intend to use in this job. You’ll be able to exclude them later in the setup.

To select a data source, do one of the following:

1. From Source data & mappings, drag the file to the upload box.
   OR
   Click the upload box to browse and select the file.
   OR
   Select a file from the Select a previously uploaded file drop-down.
   
2. Click Next.

Note: If you were able to join all required fields into a single export, you’ll need to identify only one source file.

Creating a class alias

The Class Alias field is the least obvious and most critically important. The alias provides a unique tag for each Google Classroom class that is part of the job. This makes the class available for future updates. For more on class aliases, see the article on data requirements. Here are some tips for constructing a good class alias:

• Something like SchoolID-CourseID-SectionID-Year/TermID is quite common. You do not need to concatenate these fields in your source data. You'll have more flexibility if you leave these as separate fields. 
• The string should be unique across many schools and many terms and years.
  

  Pro Tip: Add the school year manually to the end of the expression if you do not export it from your SIS.

• Build it using stable record IDs instead of human-readable values. Course ID and Section ID are examples of stable record IDs. Noone but the Little SIS Premium admin will see aliases. Human-readable course names have more potential to change, creating problems with your sync.
  • The following fields populate human-facing sections within Google Classroom:
    • Class Name (required)
    • Section (optional)
    • Room (optional)
    • Description Heading (optional, rarely used)
    • Description (optional, rarely used)

• Separate the different terms in your alias using a dash (-). The dash makes them somewhat more readable to you as you review staged jobs.
• It's best practice not to use teacher identifiers in the alias. Teacher identifier aliases prevent the transfer of class ownership where the teacher changes in the SIS. When the teacher changes in the SIS, so does the alias.

To create a class alias, do the following:

1. Class Alias appears at the top of the field mapping list. Click Edit Expression gear for Class Alias. Unique Class Alias builder opens.
2. Double-click or drag your source fields from the Available Source Fields list to the Expression field.
3. Double-click or drag additional fields if necessary. Your expression can be made up of more than one field. 
4. If necessary, you can include string values as separators by placing your cursor in the Expression field. We recommend adding the school year value as a part of the alias. This allows a smooth transition between courses for a school year.
5. If necessary, click the colored indicator between fields to insert custom manual text. It is common to incorporate hyphens for easier readability,
6. Click Save. The Class Alias section updates to show both the field and its mapping.
   

Creating field mappings

To map fields, do the following:

1. In the Field Mappings list, click Edit Expression gear for a field needing to be mapped. The expression builder opens.
   
2. Double-click or drag your source fields from the Available Source Fields list to the Expression field.
3. Double-click or drag additional fields if necessary. Your expression can be made up of more than one field. 
4. If necessary, you can include string values as separators by placing your cursor in the Expression field.
5. If necessary, click the colored indicator between fields to insert custom manual text.
6. Click Save. The Field Mapping section updates to show both the field and its mapping.
7. Repeat these steps for each field you need to map.
   
   

   Note: If you organize classes by bell period, we recommend the following when mapping the Class Name field. Use the word Period followed by the field for the class period in your Class Name field.

8. Click Next to advance to Manage inclusion/exclusion rules.

Managing inclusion/exclusion rules

The Job scope & rules step lets you do two things. First, you can verify the classes that will sync. Second, you can create inclusion/exclusion rules for the classes and/or teachers included in the sync job.

Setting inclusion/exclusion rules

Inclusion and exclusion rules let you further define the classes and teachers in the sync. When you set an inclusion rule, only teachers/classes meeting the rule are included in the sync. When you set an exclusion rule teachers/classes meeting the rule are excluded from the sync.

It is best practice to include at least 1 inclusion rule. A common inclusion rule to catch all would be Teacher Email contains @. Your file may not be called Teacher Email. Use the column that matches up with that field in your CSV.

Inclusion rules provide the outermost container of the universe of classes to include. Adding many inclusion rules increases the boundaries of the set. 

Adding multiple exclusion rules further reduces the number of classes in the job. In the example below, an exclusion rule to exclude classes containing the name Physical Education. This rule reduces the number of included classes from 224 to 203.

To add an inclusion rule, do the following:

1. From Job scope & rules, Create or update classes in Google Classroom where any of the following are true section, click + ADD RULE.
2. Select the Source Field for the rule.
   

   Note: As you enter rule criteria, the number of classes updates to reflect the classes that fit the rule.

3. Select the criteria for the rule; equals, contains, is one of, starts with, ends with, does not equal, does not start with, does not contain, and is not one of.
4. Enter a Value for the rule to match on. 
5. Repeat if necessary to add additional rules. 

To add inclusion  and exclusion rules, do the following:

1. From Job scope & rules, Except where section click + ADD RULE.
   

   Note: As you enter rule criteria, the number of classes updates to reflect the classes that fit the rule.

2. Enter the Source Field for the rule.
3. Select the criteria for the rule; equals, contains, is one of, starts with, ends with, does not equal, does not start with, does not contain, and is not one of.
4. Enter a Value for the rule to match on. 
5. Repeat if necessary to add additional rules.
   

   Pro Tip: You must have at least one inclusion rule before creating any exclusion rules.

6. After adding all inclusion and exclusion rules, click Next to advance to Update preferences.

Setting update preferences

These settings determine whether to add and remove students in linked Google Classroom Classes based on SIS data. In general, you should select both options. There are a few cases where you would want to deselect the Remove option:

• If you suspect lags in your SIS source data.
• To give teachers greater control over their rosters. There may be a reason for students to be in a Classroom who aren't enrolled in the SIS. Also, when removing students from classes, the teacher may still need to access student work for grading purposes. 

The Update preferences step contains the following tabs:

• Roster Updates. This tab opens by default when Update Preferences opens.
• Teacher Notifications
• Class Links
• Class Field Overrides 

Roster updates

To set roster update preferences do the following:

1. Be sure you are on the Roster Updates tab.  
2. Check the Add any newly-SIS-enrolled students to classes checkbox.
3. Check the Remove non-SIS-enrolled students from classes if necessary. 
4. Click the Teacher Notifications tab.
   

Teacher notifications

In general, we recommend enabling the three teacher notification options. If you have concerns over email volume, be aware that: 

• Notifications are always rolled into a single email per teacher within the same sync job.
• Update notifications are not sent on PROVISIONED classes. Teachers must accept a class to receive notifications.
• You should deselect these options if you are pushing out Classrooms before notifying teachers of the sync. While not recommended, we do understand this may happen. In this case, you do not want Little SIS Premium to be the first to tell the teachers they have new Classrooms. For change management recommendations and a teacher email template, visit the best practices section in the Helpdesk.

Note: Notifications are not customizable.

To set teacher notifications update preferences do the following:

1. Be sure you are on the Teacher Notifications tab.  
2. Check the Little SIS Premium creates new classes checkbox.
3. Check the Little SIS Premium updates the roster or class details for an ACTIVE class checkbox.
4. Check the Little SIS Premium links an existing class to a class within your SIS checkbox. 
5. Click the Class Field Overrides tab.
   

Class field overrides

These settings determine whether Little SIS Premium should overwrite values on class information. Overrides include Course Name, Section, Room, etc., on linked Google Classroom classes. In general, you should not select these settings unless you have a specific purpose. Some viable reasons to enable these settings are:

• Enforcing a class naming convention
• Changing the naming convention on already-synced classes
• Ensuring accurate room numbers 

To set class field overrides update preferences do the following:

1. Be sure you are on the Class Field Overrides tab.  
2. Check the values to overwrite existing values for SIS values.
   
3. Click the Teacher Review/Class Links tab.

Teacher review/Class links

Teacher Review offers your SIS classroom rosters to your teachers who can then make the decision to accept, decline, combine and/or link to an active Google Classroom class. With Teacher Review enabled, a teacher will receive an email with instructions and a link to access and manage their class rosters.

To set Teacher Review/Class links update preferences do the following:

1. Be sure you are on the Teacher Review/Class Links tab.  
2. Check the option you want to enable; Enable Teacher Review, Provision missing classes, Analyze for class links.
   Note: The custom message can be set after you finish setting up the job.
   
   
   
3. After setting all update preference settings, click Next to advance to Automation Settings.

Selecting automation settings

These settings determine the extent of automation to apply to the sync job.

1. From Automation, select an Automation setting from the drop-down.
   Manually perform sync analysis, approve and execute all changes manually: When you are beginning to sync a new swath of SIS classes, you will want to start with Stage and execute this job manually. This lets you review staged changes, tweak settings, and restage as needed. Once you're satisfied, you can apply the settings.
   
   
   Schedule automated sync analysis, but, approve and execute all changes manually: If you are near the beginning of a school term, more roster changes are likely to be applied with each sync. Staging the changes may take Little SIS Premium some time, and yet it may be desirable to always manually review before applying changes. In this case, you'll want to select this option. 
   
   
   Schedule automated sync analysis, and auto-approve and execute all changes that meet the specified hold conditions: Once you are comfortable the sync job is set up correctly, you can select this option. It provides a set-it-and-forget-it experience but has some safeguard thresholds around unintended mass exchanges.
   
   You can set the thresholds for when staged changes should be held for manual approval. Thresholds can be set for the number of new classes to be created or the number of students to be added or removed from a single active or provisioned class.
   

   Note: When you choose this automation setting, you should always have a threshold. If those are left to 0, it will keep the job on hold.

   The Hold changes when the source file has not been updated option is selected by default and cannot be deselected. Changes are held for manual approval when the source file has not been updated.
   
2. Select additional parameters for your automation setting. 
3. Click Save. The Roster sync jobs list opens with the new job appearing at the bottom of the list.

Teacher review custom welcome message notification

After a new sync job with Teacher review enabled is saved, a notification is added in the left navigation panel. This lets you know that there is a sync job that is not using a customized welcome message.