Enhanced PowerSchool Demographics Integration

Background: In May 2021, SameGoal's PowerSchool demographics integration was updated in three ways (see below). Beginning January 31, 2022, SameGoal’s student/parent demographics integration will no longer support Powerschool districts that have not been updated.

• [REQUIRED UPDATE] Student enrollment status - This status is now used throughout the SameGoal application and requires installation of an updated students.powerschool.html file. Learn more
• [REQUIRED UPDATE] Unlimited Contacts - Unlimited Contacts is now the preferred method of storing parent/guardian demographics in PowerSchool and requires installation of a uc_guardians.powerschool.html file. Learn more
• [OPTIONAL] Guardian Flags - SameGoal integration now allows districts to further configure parents/guardians included in integration. Learn more

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Student Enrollment Status link

Student enrollment status is now used throughout SameGoal to display an enrollment icon next to students with special enrollment statuses and filter inactive students from student search pages and administrative reports by default. Maintaining an up-to-date enrollment status for each student in SameGoal is necessary to ensuring:

• Staff are aware of enrollment changes when writing and referencing program documentation.
• Administrative reports, especially those pertaining to upcoming due dates, do not include unnecessary results for students that have already left the district.

To updated your existing integration:

1. Download the custom page file below. Right click the link, choose Save as..., then save the file to a location of your choosing.

   • students.powerschool.html (default custom page for extracting student demographics, recently updated to include "District Enrollment")

2. Log in to your PowerSchool Administrator account and locate existing installed custom pages.

   • In the left menu, visit System (under Setup).
   • On the System Administrator page, visit Page and Data Management.
   • On the Page and Data Management page, visit Custom Page Management.
   • In the Site Structure pane, expand admin then functions.

3. Install updated students.powerschool.html.

   • Most districts do not need to customize their students.powerschool.html file. However, if your district made customizations to the currently installed file in the past, these customizations should first be laid into the new students.powerschool.html file prior to replacing it.
   • Right click the installed students.powerschool.html file. Select Delete.
   • Right click the functions folder. Select Upload.
     • Click the Choose File button and browse to the location of students.powerschool.html saved in step 1.
     • Click the Submit button.

4. Grant the samegoal account access to your newly installed custom page.

   • Modify your URL bar to visit: https://[your-powerschool-host]/admin/functions/students.powerschool.html.
   • Scroll to the bottom.
   • Click the Modify access privileges for this page link.
   • Find the samegoal group and select View-only.
   • Click Submit.

Unlimited Contacts link

"Unlimited Contacts" is now the preferred method for storing parent/guardian demographics in PowerSchool. Many districts have now migrated some or all of their parent/guardian Custom Fields to use Unlimited Contacts. Therefore, SameGoal now provides two default custom pages for parent/guardian contacts extraction:

• uc_guardians.powerschool.html (extracts parents/guardians stored as "Unlimited Contacts")
• guardians.powerschool.html (extracts parents/guardians stored as "Custom Fields")

Recommendations:

• If your district has migrated all parent/guardian contacts to Unlimited Contacts, we recommend you replace your previously installed guardians.powerschool.html file with uc_guardians.powerschool.html (see steps below).
• If your district has migrated some parent/guardian contacts to Unlimited Contacts, we recommend you install uc_guardians.powerschool.html in addition to your previously installed guardians.powerschool.html file (see steps below).
• If your district has not yet migrated any contacts to Unlimited Contacts, no action is needed at this time.

If your district previously customized guardians.powerschool.html to limit parents/guardians to those with "Lives With" and/or "Is Custodial" flags in PowerSchool, these customizations can now be removed and addressed with a new Guardian Flags configuration option.

To updated your existing integration:

1. Download the custom page file below. Right click the link, choose Save as..., then save the file to a location of your choosing.

   • uc_guardians.powerschool.html (new custom page for extracting parent/guardian demographics stored as Unlimited Contacts)

2. Log in to your PowerSchool Administrator account and locate existing installed custom pages.

   • In the left menu, visit System (under Setup).
   • On the System Administrator page, visit Page and Data Management.
   • On the Page and Data Management page, visit Custom Page Management.
   • In the Site Structure pane, expand admin then functions.

3. Install uc_guardians.powerschool.html.

   • Right click the functions folder. Select Upload.
     • Click the Choose File button and browse to the location of uc_guardians.powerschool.html saved in step 1.
     • Click the Submit button.
   • If your district has migrated all parent/guardian Custom Fields to Unlimited Contacts, remove your (Custom Fields based) guardians.powerschool.html file. Also remove guardians{2,3}.powerschool.html if installed.
     • Right click each file. Select Delete.

4. Grant the samegoal account access to your newly installed custom page.

   • Modify your URL bar to visit: https://[your-powerschool-host]/admin/functions/uc_guardians.powerschool.html.
   • Scroll to the bottom.
   • Click the Modify access privileges for this page link.
   • Find the samegoal group and select View-only.
   • Click Submit.

Guardian Flags link

This new configuration option in SameGoal's web interface can be used to limit parents/guardians included in integration to only those with "Lives With" and/or "Is Custodial" flags in PowerSchool. This option can be used in place of further customizing SameGoal's default custom pages (a simpler, more maintainable approach).

To updated your existing integration:

1. Log in to SameGoal with an administrator account.
2. Visit Settings > District Information > Details.
3. Locate PowerSchool under Student Information System Integration.
4. Locate Guardian Flags. Check Lives With and/or Is Custodial. If selected, only guardians with these flags will be included in the integration.