LMS Integration: Brightspace D2L

Overview

In order for SS&E to connect with a Brightspace D2L instance, a Brightspace user must be created specifically for SS&E with the correct permissions.

The way that the SS&E - D2L LMS integration works is that SS&E uses the D2L Learner Usage report to sync LMS data from the D2L data hub. Following is the information used by the Aviso/SS&E user:
The SS&E User Email is lms@avisoretention.com
The D2L Data Hub report we use is: Dataset name Learner Usage

• If the D2L Learner Usage report is not present or the SS&E user cannot access the report, this will cause the LMS Enrollment Import job to consistently display a 'STOPPING' status every  hour as it runs hourly. What this means is that there is something preventing the LMS Enrollment Data Import sync from completing. Once the underlying issue is fixed, the LMS Enrollment Import job will show a 'COMPLETED' status.

The following steps explain how to create the SS&E user and how to create a role with the appropriate permissions set for the SS&E user. 

Create the SSE App in Brightspace

• As a Brightspace administrator, navigate to "Admin Tools" (Gear icon at top right of page)
• Click "Manage Extensibility"
• Click "Register an App"
  • Name the app "SSE"
  • Use https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php for the trusted URL
  • Set the major version to 4 and the minor version to 2
  • Ensure that "Enable this application" is checked
  • Note the Application ID and Application Key that are generated. These will be provided to SS&E staff.

Create a new Role

• As a Brightspace administrator, navigate to "Admin Tools" (Gear icon at top right of page)
• Click "Roles and Permissions"
• Create a new role called SSE
  • This role can be copied from an existing role or started new
• In the role's settings, ensure that all course access options are selected and that the role is cascading
• In the role's permissions, provide the following permissions (note that additional permissions may be required depending on institution's Brightspace configuration)
  • Can create and edit org unit types
  • Can create and edit org units
  • View Course Content
  • See Course Info
  • Can see roles
  • See Roles and Permissions
  • Can execute Learner Usage
  • See reporting tool
  • Can see data hub
  • View other user's profiles
  • See Usernames
  • See Org Defined Ids
  • See Email Addresses
  • View the User's Email Address
  • View Users' Org Defined Ids
  • View User Enrollments
  • See the user management tool
  • View Users' contact information
  • View User Tracking
  • See external email addresses for all
  • View other users' profiles
  • See the grades tool
  • See user grade values (API only)
• Note: D2L currently lacks a read only permission for org units and org unit types. If the institution prefers to not grant this permission, they can instead use the enrollments method instead. To use this alternative integration method, the following must be done:
  • Enroll the user (see below) in all D2L course sections that should be synchronized by SS&E
  • Notify the SS&E implementation team that this is the preferred integration method
    • Provide the D2L root org unit id
    • Provide the course offering org unit id
    • Note to SS&E staff
      • Configure the following properties with the above values:

        lms.d2l.fetchCoursesByEnrollments = true
        lms.d2l.defaultRootOrgUnit = "provided root org unit id"
        lms.d2l.defaultCourseOfferingId = provided course offering org unit id

Create a new user 

• As a Brightspace administrator, navigate to "Admin Tools" (Gear icon at top right of page)
• Click "Users"
• Click "New User"
• Set the name to "WM SSE" and the email address to lms@avisoretention.com
• Select "SSE" for the role
• Ensure that "Make user Active" is selected
• At the top of the page, click "Enrollments"
• At the root organization level, set the role to "SSE" and allow it to cascade.
• In the config variable browser, ensure that the variable d2l.Security.Api.TokenTimeout is set to -1 (default)
• Provide the new user credentials and App ID and App Secret (see above) to SS&E staff
  • Alternatively, an administrator can go to https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php and enter the App Id, App Key and host information. Upon clicking authenticate, log in as the newly created user and retrieve the generated user id and key from the resulting page. Doing so will prevent SS&E from being able to log directly into the Brightspace instance, restricting it instead to only API access.

Current grade values

• In order for current grade data to be available, the gradebooks must have their final grade value released. In order to do this, the final grade item must be calculated and published.