Data Importer Overview

Overview

The Veracross Data Importer is a web application that allows users with the appropriate security privileges to import certain types of data directly into their school’s database.

Accessing the Importer

To access the Data Importer, navigate to:

Replace yourschool with the short name of your school and log in.

Security Roles

The Data Importer is available for use at every school and can be accessed by users with at least one the following security roles. Note that Sysadmin users can see a history of every import that has been processed, but any other user can only see their own imports that they themselves have processed.

Navigating the Importer

The landing page of the Data Importer displays a list of all past imports, with the most recent at the top. The page also features a button to begin a “New Data Import.”

New Data Import

Click on the “New Data Import” button and choose from a dropdown menu containing the various types of data available to be imported. While the import templates configured for each school may differ depending on specific needs and the modules that have been implemented, the following import templates are available. Those with specific documentation are linked.

Import Types

You can read more about Importing Standardized Test Scores here.

Preparing and Uploading the CSV File

After selecting the type of data desired for uploading, notes are displayed that include:

• instructions or a link to documentation pertaining to that specific import type, and
• links to view a list of required columns and a CSV template pre-populated with the required columns.

Downloading the CSV template directly from Importer is preferred to building a CSV independently and uploading it. Downloading from the Importer ensures that schools will always have an up-to-date version of the CSV template, and constructing it independently in an external program can add hidden characters to text fields that will cause the importing process to fail.

Using the CSV template, prepare a comma separated value (CSV) file containing all of the data to be imported. 

Upload the CSV File

After creating the CSV file, click the “Choose File” button and select the file.

Before clicking the “Import” button, optionally click the “show” link next to the Advanced Options heading to specify how the system should handle any duplicate rows that may exist within the CSV:

• Allow duplicates to be inserted: the importer will insert the records exactly as they are found in the CSV. Duplicate records will be inserted into the database.
• Automatically eliminate duplicates: the importer will automatically eliminate one of the duplicated rows before importing the records into the database.
• Fail on duplicates: if duplicate rows are found, the import will fail and no records will be imported into the database.

Completing the Upload

When the import is loading, the status will show as Processing Data. Upon successful import, “Import Complete” will appear on the screen along with a summary of the upload.

If the importer detects a problem with one of the columns within the upload, an error message will appear indicating “This import didn’t pass data validation. Nothing was imported, please check your file and try again.” The error will note which rows were missing or incorrectly formatted.

Note: If schools have any questions or issues they will need to contact their Account Manager.

Importer Performance Considerations

There are additional things to keep in mind when using the Veracross Importer Tool.

Original Dataset

The original dataset (csv file) for imports are stored for a period of two months.

Large Imports

This file cannot exceed 5MB in size, or else the import will fail.

If there are more than 15,000 rows per import, the importer automatically breaks them into separate imports, with a maximum of 15,000 per import. For exceedingly large imports, it is possible for the import to time out; therefore, it is good practice to double check and ensure each of your uploads went through without issue.