Syncing Data from Core Data to Outcomes – Outcomes Help Center

Outcomes site administrators are able to choose which organizational units, courses, and course sections should be imported from Core Data in a given time period. Some data can be safely synced automatically, while site administrators will be given tools to make intentional decisions about some data types that are synced manually.

MANUALLY SYNCED DATA

To make good use of Outcomes, an institution may want to represent an organizational tree differently each annual term. However, units such as institution, division, school, department, and course are not associated with time periods in Core Data. Outcomes has a manual sync of this data for three reasons:

To give flexibility to institutions who have data in core that is used in different Campus Labs products for different purposes, with different needs.
To provide institutions with the ability to apply core data types differently each year.
To protect historical data assignment chains in Outcomes from impact or deletion that may occur unintentionally via changes in a Core Data import.

When you manually sync organizational units and courses from Core Data to an annual term, you are applying those units to only that annual term. When you manually edit the organizational tree to hide or move an organizational unit or course, you are applying those changes to only that annual term. This provides flexibility to make changes between years in Outcomes without impacting other Campus Labs products.

AUTOMATICALLY SYNCED DATA

Faculty and student enrollments: These enrollments are associated with course sections, which are already associated with a semester term in Core Data. For that reason, Outcomes doesn’t have to be concerned about this information changing from term to term and can update the data safely automatically. This data is loaded every time Outcomes loads.

Academic Programs: It is important that Outcomes protects historical data assignment chains from impact or deletion that may occur unintentionally via changes in a Core Data import. This is accomplished for other data types via a manual sync. For academic programs, functionality is in place to preserve historical data chains automatically, regardless of any changes to the courses that make up an academic program via import.

DATA TYPES	UPDATE PROCESS IN OUTCOMES
Annual Terms (Parent)	New Annual Terms New annual terms are automatically displayed in Outcomes Settings > Time Period Management and will default to a state of “inactive” To activate the term, click on the Manage button that corresponds to the time period, a modal will pop up on the right, then click on the Activate button. From there you'll be presented with options regarding copying the result scale and templates from another time period. Changes to Annual Terms Update annual terms on academic terms file in core data. (Note: updates can only be made by using the same external identifier; a new external identifier will create a new record. Also, data from Core Data is cached for 15 minutes, so you may also have to allow time for processing) In Outcomes navigate to Settings > Time Period Management Find the annual term you want to make updates to and click on the corresponding Manage button A right hand modal will appear, where you can click the “apply updates” button. (If there is no “apply updates” option, the core data import was not successful as intended or is still processing.) There will be a loading indicator, then “up to date.” Updates will be applied in the main application for that annual term
Semester Terms (Child)	New Child Terms & Changes to Child Terms note: Outcomes will pull in any terms that are children of an annual term. The type "semester, intersession, etc." is not relevant. note: At this time the only changes to child terms that Outcomes will sync are changes to the title. Changes to parent identifier or external identifier will not be synced to Outcomes. Update/add semester terms on academic terms file in core data. (Note: updates can only be made by using the same external identifier; a new external identifier will create a new record) In Outcomes navigate to Settings > Time Period Management Find the annual term with the update and click the “apply updates” button. (If there is no “apply updates” option, the core data import was not successful as intended.) There will be a loading indicator, then “up to date.” Updates will be applied in the main application for that annual term.
Organizational units (Institution, Division, School Department) Courses Course sections	Meta Data Changes (note: meta data changes include changes to names, types, container types, or acronyms; they do not include changes to parent org units to protect historical data assignment chains in Outcomes from impact or deletion that may occur unintentionally via changes in a Core Data import.) Navigate to Outcomes Settings > Organization Tree Click the Pending Updates tab Change the time period to the time period you would like to sync Review the “Units with metadata changes in Core Data” section. This will display the name of the unit and type of unit with changes. Select the changes you would like to accept by selecting the green checkbox. If all changes are desired, there is a “select all” option in the top right. Select the blue “Apply” button on the right New Units Navigate to Outcomes Settings > Organization Tree Click the Pending Updates tab Change the time period to the time period you would like to sync Review the “Added to Data Management” section. This will display the name of the unit and type of unit that can be added to Outcomes. (Note that if a unit says “[Unit Name] + X number of children” the parent unit and all child units will be added. If a unit and all of its children are new, it will display this way. If the parent unit already exists, each child unit will be listed separately.) Select the units you would like to bring into Outcomes by selecting the checkbox. If all units are desired, there is a “select all” option in the top right. Select the blue “apply” button on the right
Faculty enrollments	New enrollments: Faculty enrollments imported via Core Data are automatically pulled into Outcomes and do not need to be synced manually. A faculty enrollment grants an instructor implicit permission to a course section in a semester term. Changes to enrollments: The only changes to enrollments that are possible are via manually importing the “Remove Instructors” file. If a faculty member is removed from an enrollment on a course section, their implicit permission to the course section will be revoked. Again, this is automatic and does not need to be synced manually.
Student enrollments	New enrollments: Student enrollments imported via Core Data are automatically pulled into Outcomes and do not need to be synced manually. A student enrollment allows for a user to “import course roster” when adding individual results on an assessment for a course section. Changes to enrollments: On the student enrollment file in Core Data, a student’s status in the course can change. Outcomes returns all students and does not filter out based on status (enrolled, withdrawn, dropped). Again, this is automatic and does not need to be synced manually.
Academic Programs	New Academic Programs: Academic Programs are automatically pulled into Outcomes and do not need to be synced manually. Meta Data Changes to Academic Programs: Meta Data changes to academic programs include changes to the name and parent org unit of an academic program. These changes are automatically pulled into Outcomes and do not need to be synced manually Course Composition Changes to Academic Programs: The courses included in an academic program may change via a Core Data import, where a row with an existing program identifier can be re-imported to include different courses in the columns to the right. These changes are automatically pulled into Outcomes and do not need to be synced manually. In the case that a course had previously collected data for an academic program and then was removed via import, that historical data will remain in the site. If a campus wishes to remove that historical data, they can do so by editing and removing the connection in that historical time period.

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