Data Feed Guide: Advisor Assignments

Overview

In Student Success & Engagement (SS&E), advisor assignments (relationships) between a Student and their Success Team–Advisors, Success Coaches, and Followers–can be assigned and removed in various ways. If the relationships can be identified based on data in the SIS, then via the SIS Import, by the SS&E system via various automated assignment methods, or manually within SS&E. This guide focuses on relationships assigned via the SIS Import. For more general information on Relationships, see the Subscriptions & Success Team section of the Help Center, especially How Subscriptions (Relationships) are Created.

Success Team Related Feeds

person

  • advisorId and coachId are fields on the person datafeed which allow Primary Advisors and Primary Success Coaches to be assigned to a student.
  • In order to be assigned as the Primary Advisor or Primary Success Coach for a student, and to see a student in their caseload, the assigned staff member must also have a role with the Advisor or Coach (respectively) Function. See Data Feed Guide: Roles
  • Only one Primary Advisor and Primary Success Coach can be assigned to a student.
  • A staff member cannot be assigned as both Primary Advisor and Primary Success Coach for the same student.

subscription

  • If desired, additional Success Team members may be assigned as Followers of a student via the subscription feed.
  • While the subscription feed can be used to assign Advisors, Success Coaches, and Followers, the best practice is to assign the Primary Advisor and Primary Success Coach via the person.advisorId and person.coachId fields, and to assign Followers via the subscription feed.
  • Consider whether there is a start date in the SIS that should be used or whether the assignment should start as soon as the advisor is assigned in the SIS. When should students show up in the advisor’s caseload after a change or addition–right away, or at the start of the term (often advisor assignments are associated with a term)?
  • typeId is typically “STAFF” for the subscription feed.
  • subscriptionLabelId can be used to label followers from different areas on campus.
  • Be sure the subscriptionLabelId field matches the desired Subscription Label Source System Id in SS&E Admin > Relationships > Subscription Labels. It must match an existing label or a new label will be created.

ER Diagrams

The Relationships Import ERD showing entity boxes for Student, Advisor, Success Coach, Followers, and Subscription, each with person or subscription fields, and relationship lines connecting the person entities to subscription and advising roles.

Assigning Success Teams in Implementation

The way institutions choose to assign Advisors, Success Coaches, and Followers will vary greatly depending on the advising models, caseloads, and specific goals of the institution. It is important for the System Administrator and Data Lead to discuss their strategies to determine which Success Team members will fill each role in SS&E and how they can be assigned based on existing SIS data or logic if possible.

In Design & Build, the System Admin and project team may determine that changes to the Success Team imports are needed, and the Data Lead may need to make adjustments throughout implementation and beyond.

Example Scenarios

Example 1

  • Faculty Advisor = Primary Advisor
  • Professional Advisor = Primary Success Coach
  • Athletic Coach = Follower
  • Financial Aid Advisor = Follower

Example 2

  • Advisor Program A = Primary Advisor
  • Advisor Program B = Primary Success Coach
  • Advisor Program C = Follower
  • TRIO Advisor = Follower
  • Club Advisor = Follower

Example 3

  • Major Advisor = Primary Advisor
  • First Year Advisor = Primary Success Coach
  • Faculty Mentor = Follower

Example 4

  • High School Counselor = Primary Advisor

Additional Information & Resources

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