Ensuring that Faculty Success (FS) is accurately populated with course codes from Course Evaluations & Surveys (CES) is crucial for maintaining a successful integration between the two systems. This process is necessary when course codes in CES do not exactly match the format of "CoursePre-CourseNum-Section." This article provides a step by step guide for updating Scheduling Teaching records in FS with the course codes from CES to ensure proper syncing.
Prerequisites
Before getting started, ensure the following:
- The CES-FS integration has been implemented for your institution, including the "EK_COURSE_CODE" field on your Scheduled Teaching screen in FS. Use your Configuration Report to verify this field code appears in the Scheduled Teaching tab under the "Code" column.
- You have top-level administrator access in both CES and FS. If you do not have administrator access in one system, coordinate with an administrator who can assist with the necessary steps for that system.
- Scheduled Teaching records for the relevant term have been created in FS. If not, refer to CSV Imports: Create New Records on how to create records in bulk by performing a CSV Data Import.
Getting Started
Step 1: Export Courses from CES
To begin export the relevant course data from CES, which will be used later to match and add the CES course codes to FS.
- In CES, go to "Surveys & Projects" from the navigation bar and select "Projects."
- Open the desired project, navigate to the "Courses" tab of the project and export the course data. All course data can be exported by clicking "Export All Courses" or you can select specific courses and click "Export Selected Courses."
An Excel file with the exported courses data will then be automatically downloaded. This file will be used later to match and add the CES course codes to FS. To learn about what each column in the retrieved file refers to in your CES project see Course and User Upload File Information.
Step 2: Export Scheduled Teaching Records from FS
Next, export the relevant scheduled teaching records from FS to later match with the CES course codes.
- In FS, go to the "Reports" utility and click on the "Create a new report" button. From the pop-up window that appears, select "Export Data" to run an Export Raw Data report, which will retrieve the scheduled teaching records.
- The report parameters should then be configured as follows:
- Date Range: Set a date range that overlaps with the term for which you have scheduled teaching records that you will be syncing for.
- Whom to Include: Select the appropriate users to run the report for by clicking on the "change selection" hyperlink or leave the default selection for all users.
- Data to Include: Click on "change selection" and uncheck "Include All." Expand the "Common Items" section to select fields from your Scheduled Teaching screen to run the report for, ensure to include the fields that make up the screen's primary key (Term, Year, Course Prefix, Course Number, Section) and the "EK_COURSE_CODE" field. You can refer to the Configuration Report to determine what fields make up your primary key for the screen. Note that you can also include other fields that will help you identify the courses for the next step.
- Grouping Method: Set to "None."
- File format: Ensure the file format is Comma-Separated Values (CSV).
You can then run the report and the CSV file will then be automatically downloaded.
Step 3: Match CES Course Codes with FS Scheduled Teaching Records
At this step, you can now open the files you retrieved from CES and FS to manually match the CES course codes to the appropriate Scheduled Teaching records in FS. As you match the CES course codes to their corresponding scheduled teaching records, add the CES course code your retrieve from your CES Excel file under the "Code" column and add it to the "EK_COURSE_CODE" column of your FS CSV file. If this column is missing in your FS file, simply add a new column at the end with the header "EK_COURSE_CODE."
The screenshot above is an example where the alignment between the two files allows you to easily compare courses. In cases where your system might be more complex, follow the recommended approach below.
Recommended Approach
As part of the data load from your source system to both CES and FS, the Course Code can be added to the Project and Scheduled Teaching records respectively. In other words, if you institution already imports course codes into CES, you can work with your team to include those same codes within the EK_COURSE_CODE field of your Scheduled Teaching screen in FS using either a CSV Data Import or web services API.
After adding your CES course codes to your FS file, double-check for accuracy to prevent syncing issues. If any Scheduled Teaching records are missing in FS, you may add them at this step in your FS file along with their corresponding CES course code by creating new rows with the necessary information.
Step 4: Import the Updated CSV File to FS
Finally, import the updated CSV file into FS to update the Scheduled Teaching records with the corresponding CES course codes. For detailed instructions on importing CSV files in FS, see Overview of Importing CSV Data Into Faculty Success. If you encounter any validation errors during the import, refer to CSV Imports: Resolving Import Error Messages to learn how to resolve them.
Key Considerations
- Each CES course code must be unique across terms to prevent syncing errors.
- Ensure the primary key for the Scheduled Teaching screen is TYT_TERM, TYY_TERM, COURSEPRE, COURSENUM, SECTION. If the primary key in your FS system is different submit a screen-revision work request to have it be modified and revisit Course Evaluations & Surveys - Faculty Success Integration to ensure that the CES-FS integration has been properly implemented.
By following the steps outlined in this article, your scheduled teaching records in FS will be updated with their corresponding CES course codes, ensuring a successful sync of course evaluation data between CES and FS.