Overview
The Veracross Data Importer allows you to import financial aid information — specifically School and Student Services (SSS) or TADS Tuition Management information — to the system. This article covers the fields needed in the CSV import. These import types only insert new SSS or TADS information; they do not update existing information.
Preparing the Data for Import
Prepare a comma-separated value (CSV) file containing the data for the fields listed below. This CSV file must contain a column for each field listed below and they must be in that same order. Even if no content is populated in the non-required columns, a column must nonetheless exist as a placeholder in order for the Data Importer to properly read the file. Upload the CSV using the Data Importer.
SSS or TADS
Fields on the Template
For an SSS or TADS import, all required fields are bolded.
| person_fk | Integer. Run a Person Query to find this number. This is the Person ID. |
| first_name | The first name of the person that the SSS information applies to. |
| last_name | The last name of the person that the SSS information applies to. |
| dob | MM/DD/YYYY format. Birthdate of the person. |
| **Research Data from TADS or SSS** | Integer. As many extra columns of this “research data” may be included as you want, but at least ONE column must be included. The column header can be whatever you want, e.g. “Total Wealth” or “Number of Homes”, but the data you place in the cells for this column must be numeric. |
After columns A-D, the data that is put into column E (and beyond) is up to the user. The reason is because the importer uses the data that you put into columns E (and beyond) in the CSV file into rows on the Financial Details Tab on the FA Application Record that is created in Veracross. There are a few rules, however.
- The data put into the cell must be numeric. If text or other characters are used, the import will fail. It may even present as “successful” in the importer, because the importer validation is only strictly looking for “accurate” data in columns A-D, but it will in fact do nothing if column E+ aren’t present, or if column E+ have anything other than numeric data in those cells.
- At least one data column must be included, and some numeric value must be in the cell for every row.
- The column header will be pivoted into the “Program Field” field on the Financial Aid Application record.
- For this import to be successful, at least one FA Application record must already exist in the database. If the module has not been used previously before running an import, at least one FA Application record must be manually created.
Here are a few other helpful notes:
- Running an import will create a Financial Aid Application for the “Applicant's Year Applying For” for the student in question if they don’t already have an FA Application for that year. It will not create a duplicate.
- This import type does not accept any numbers with decimals. If an import is attempted with a decimal present, the import will fail.
- Because the import type validation has hard requirements on only columns A-D, the importer may show as “successful” as long as A-D were populated correctly. if rules about columns E+ (those rules being that you must include at least one “data” column, and the value in the cell must be numeric, etc.) are not followed, even a “successful” import will not import any data.
- If two rows per child are included, those will be pivoted to the two Household columnson the financial details tab. Including more than 2 rows per child will result in errors.
- If the importer is run twice for the same students, the importer will add additional rows to the Financial Details tab. Most schools choose to delete the old rows that had been imported previously in cases like this, but you can choose to continue to add more financial details data over time this way if you wish.
Once imports have been run, Financial details for the whole year can be easily found and reported on in a report like this: https://axiom.veracross.com/#/results/365485 This report also easily facilitates updating the values for Parental Contribution and Need.