Faculty Qualifications enables faculty to capture educational credentials, courses taught, research, and service to the institution in one central location. Reports allow administrators to track faculty activity details and also demonstrate that faculty have the appropriate credentials to teach coursework by unit roster. Please follow the link below to access our guidelines on how to correctly arrange existing data you may have previously collected for import into this functionality of the Tk20 system.
When you are ready to begin your data load, please utilize the Faculty Qualifications Roster Load Template attached with this article to start charting your data
Getting Started with Dataloads for Faculty Qualifications
Introduction
In order to use Tk20 and its reports to the fullest, your institution will provide data from your student information system on a regular basis. We recommend uploading data every other week to take advantage of our automated dataload process. (If files are provided less frequently, we perform a more manual dataload.) Uploading data at least twice a month ensures that you have the most up-to-data student information in your Tk20 system. This document explains exactly what data the Tk20 system will need from your student information system.
Mechanism for Import – Upload to Secure FTP Server
We recommend that you deposit your files on a secure FTP server hosted at Tk20’s Data Center. A Tk20 representative will work with you to set up this connection information and provide you with an account.
Data Format for Import
Files should be pipe-delimited format with each attribute delimited by the pipe (|) character. All attributes, regardless of whether or not data is present, will have the pipe character to delineate the attribute. The first line on each file will define the attribute corresponding to each column. All column headings must remain the same in subsequent files.
Example:
FirstName | LastName | PID | Gender | Ethnicity
Tanya | Clemons | 253799499 | F | African American
Camille | Wooten | 252799598 | F | Caucasian
Marcie | Collins | 998775882 | | Asian
- Note: In the last record in the example above, the pipe demarking the gender field still exists, even though the gender field for that record is not provided.
In the file samples below, we’ve included required, recommended, and additional attribute fields that will be helpful in you assessment and accreditation reporting.
- Required fields: *
- Recommended Fields: +
- Additional attributes: For each file, we have tried to identify the most common attributes your institution might want to track in Tk20. You may include additional attributes in your extracts if your institution wishes to store and track that information in Tk20. Additional attributes may reside in the same file as long as there is a column heading for the attribute and the data in each row satisfies formatting requirements.
- Column Headings: We recommend using the same column headings and order as you see in this document, however, the titles of the column headings can be anything you need. For example, you can call the ‘First Name’ attribute ‘First’ or ‘Firstname’ or ‘First Name,’ etc. The headings should remain consistent in capitalization and formatting in each subsequent file.
- Unique Identifiers: The course section ID number and the personal ID number in data files should remain consistent in capitalization and formatting.
- File Extension: Please provide the files in pipe-delimited plain txt or unicode UTF-8 format. The following extensions are acceptable: .csv, .dat, and .txt.
- Consistent Data Formatting: We assume that the format specifications of any of these extracts will not change over time. In the event that you need to add or remove fields from these extracts in subsequent data import requests, we request that you let us know at least three weeks in advance so that we modify the scripts accordingly. Our internal processes for testing and validation are also applied to subsequent data imports to ensure that the quality of this service is maintained.
- Date Formats: For dates in your files, the following formats are acceptable: YYYYMMDD, MM/DD/YYYY, or MM-DD-YYYY. Please note, date cannot contain ‘0’ values, i.e. 00/00/1998.
Automated Dataloads
We are pleased to introduce a fully automated dataload process of your SIS files. This will ensure that your dataload turn around time is reduced and no manual intervention is needed. In order to take advantage of this time saving service, we ask that you abide by the following:
- Files must be provided over SFTP
- Files must be provided at least two times a month
- Each set of files has unique individual files (i.e. only one student file, only one faculty etc.)
- File names are consistent without spaces. The automation won’t pick up the new files that do not conform to agreed-upon naming convention
- File must have correct data and consistent data, including column headings
- Files extensions must be .txt, .csv or no extension
- Only place files on the FTP server that should be loaded
- Only one dataset should be provided at a time; there should be a gap of at least one day between two datasets
Dataload Process
Initial Data Analysis
Once you make the initial set of SIS extracts available to us, Tk20’s Dataload Team will analyze all the extracts to ensure that they conform to our guidelines and required fields are provided. Once we have your initial set of SIS extracts, we will map your data to the appropriate fields in Tk20. During this process, Tk20’s Services and Implementation Teams may request follow-up meetings with you as needed until all the data or format related issues are resolved. Please allow a minimum of three weeks after providing files for Initial Data Analysis and Scripting. During this process, extensive validation and testing takes place to ensure that all data elements are loaded and displayed correctly in the application.
Unique Identifier
A “unique identifier” is an element, such as an ID number, that is only used for one person, course, or site within the system. The unique identifier is key to Tk20’s ability to accurately import data and ensures that each record in a file is unique. It is imperative that the same unique identifier is used for the record each time the file is provided for dataload. The same unique identifier must be used for referencing the record in other files. For example, if student records are identified by Campus ID in the student file, the student record should be identified by the same Campus ID in the student schedule file.
When the Tk20 dataload utility loads the file, it processes the file line by line. During the process, it searches for the unique identifier in the system. If it finds a record with that unique ID, it updates the remaining attribute information for that record. If it does not find a record with that unique ID, it creates a new record with that ID and imports all the other attributes provided in the file.
Example:
FirstName | LastName | PID | Gender | Ethnicity
Tewanna | Clemons | 253799499 | F | African American
Camille | Wooten | 252799598 | F | Caucasian
Marcie | Collins | 998775882 | F | Asian
For example, when the data is loaded from the example file above, the dataload utility will check to see if a record with ID 253799499 exists in the system. If it finds that record, it updates other attributes for that record. If it does not find one, it creates a new record with ID 253799499 and imports all other attributes.
Files to be Provided
For the below files, * = required and + = strongly recommended
File 1 – Course Data
Example File Name: Course_Data
Section ID * (Unique Identifier) 1 4
Section Title *
Course Number *
Section Number *
Term Code *
Term Name *
Term Start Date * 2
Term End Date * 2
Campus
Organization Code 3
Course Level 4
Example:
Section ID | Section Title | Course Number | Section Number | Term Code | Term Name | Term Start | Term End | Campus
11321201410 | World Archeology | ARCH3131 | 01 |201410 | Spring 2014 | 01/15/2014 | 05/23/2014 | MAIN
1 If your section IDs repeat in subsequent terms, please append the term code to section ID to make the section IDs unique as shown in the example.
2 Each term may only have one start date and one end date in Tk20. If you have multiple start and end dates for one term name, please include the earliest start date and latest end date.
3 Tk20 can accommodate single or multiple organization associations. If multiple organization associations exist, please create a new column for each organization (i.e., Organization 1 | Organization 2 | Organization 3, etc.).
4 Course Level values that should be provided are “UN, UT, D, G” for Undergraduate Nontransferable, Undergraduate Transferable, Developmental, and Graduate respectively.
File 2 – Faculty Data
Example File Name: Faculty_Data
Please note this is a standard Faculty File with additional fields to optimize reporting in the Faculty Qualifications module.
First Name *
Last Name *
Username *
Faculty ID Number * (Unique Identifier)
Email Address *
Term Code
Gender
Ethnicity
Campus
Organization Code 1
Roster Organization 2
Employment Category 3
Example:
First Name | Last Name | Username | Faculty ID Number | Email |Gender | Ethnicity | Term Code
Catherine | Woody | cwoody | 010320447 | cwoody@school.edu | F | White (Non-Hispanic Origin) | 201410
1 Tk20 can accommodate single or multiple organization associations used for organization security in the Planning module. If multiple organization associations exist, please create a new column for each organization (i.e., Organization 1 | Organization 2 | Organization 3, etc.).
2 Tk20 can accommodate single or multiple roster organization associations used for roster alignment in the Faculty Qualifications functionality. If multiple organization associations exist, please create a new column for each organization (i.e., Roster Org 1 | Roster Org 2 | Roster Org 3, etc.).
3 e.g., Full-Time, Part-Time, etc. Please note that Term Code and Roster Organization fields are both required to load Employment Category.