Overview
Many institutions have upgraded to Informer 5 on their campus. If your campus is upgrading to Informer 5, you may want to transition your Student Success & Engagement data feeds from Informer 4 to Informer 5. This can be done entirely by the institution or it can be done by the institution with some assistance from the Watermark team to compare the data feeds before implementing them.
Institution Transition to Informer 5 without Consulting
If your institution would like to complete this transition entirely on your own, the Institution Data Lead and System Admin will need to follow these steps:
1. Copy/recreate the Informer 4 reports in Informer 5.
2. Ensure that the CSV files exactly match the existing Informer 4 CSV files.
3. Replace the existing CSV file exports with the updated files, removing the Informer 4 schedules/exports.
Transition to Informer 5 with Watermark Consulting
If your institution would like to engage with Watermark Technical Services, the Watermark team can compare the data integration differences between Informer 4 and Informer 5 data as you recreate your Informer reports. The Data Lead and System Admin will collaborate on the Institution section below.
Watermark Academy Offer: Click here to register for an Informer Transition project with a dedicated Watermark Technical Consultant
Institution Responsibility
1. Copy/recreate the Informer 4 reports in Informer 5, replicating the CSV files exactly as the existing Informer 4 CSV files.
2. WM can neither build nor consult on the build or best practices pertaining to Informer. If you need help building your Informer 5 reports, please seek assistance from your Informer vendor.
3. Schedule the reports to save to a different CSV directory from the current reports.
Watermark Connect will pull these new reports into a temporary environment for testing purposes
4. Make adjustments to the reports based on your own review and Watermark feedback if engaging in an Informer Change project with Watermark.
5. After comparison remove the schedules from the Informer 4 server
6. Validate with your campus Watermark System Administrator.
Watermark Responsibility
1. Audit list of CSV files used in SS&E data integration.
2. Setup a second, temporary copy of Connect 2 and the Accelerate configuration to facilitate the comparison of data.
3. Make needed changes on the Connect Server to support the temporary configuration.
4. Run comparison scripts on data generated by the Informer 4 and Informer 5 sourced data and provide feedback on needed adjustments.
5. Make any needed changes to Accelerate logic to facilitate Informer 5 reports.
Note: While it is normal to identify other needed changes at this time, adjustment to business rules and logic are not within the scope of this project.
6. After comparison, transition production imports to receive the Informer 5 data.
Best Practices
- If your institution will be migrating to a new SIS in the near future, we recommend that you continue to use Informer 4 for SS&E feeds rather than transitioning to Informer 5, and then to a new SIS if that is an option.
- If you need help building your Informer 5 reports, please seek assistance from your Informer vendor.
- If you know that your existing data feeds are not accurate or need changes, please reach out to your CSM about initiating a data feed update project before beginning this transition.
- While it is normal to identify other needed changes at this time, adjustment to business rules and logic are not within the scope of this project.