Importing People
When you are first setting up your site, you will want to consider whether to enter student and teacher data through the web interface, or whether to import it from a CSV file.
The web interface is designed for adding or editing data occasionally. It is useful for quickly adding a few people, re-assigning a student to a different class, or changing a person's password. However, it is not optimal for entering a large amount of data. For that, importing from a file is a better choice.
Creating an Import File
Import files allow you to enter all of the student data using another program, such as a spreadsheet application, and send it to the Super Star Online service all at once. The import file needs to be in CSV format, and column headers must be included.
You can create a CSV file using Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, or any other common spreadsheet program. We have provided a sample file to get you started. Click on the People button, then click Import People. There you will see a "Download Sample" icon. Click on the icon to download the sample file. Once you have filled in the spreadsheet, be sure to save the file in CSV format. (You may need to use your spreadsheet software's "Export" feature to do this.)
If you are already using a Network edition of one or more of our products, you can export the data from that edition and import it into the Super Star Online service. This will preserve the progress and test data for the students that are imported. Please note, however, that there are additional fields that are required by the Online version; you will need to export the data from the Network edition, edit it in a spreadsheet program to fill in any missing data, and then save it again in CSV format. Please give us a call for assistance with this.
You may already have a school database program with information about your students in it. If your database is able to export data in CSV format, you may be able to use it to create the import file for the Super Star Online service. We would be happy to discuss this option with your school's database administrator.
Import File Layout
A set of instructions for creating the CSV file is provided next to the sample file icon in the Import People feature. Click on the "Show More Information" link to see a detailed list of which fields can be imported from the CSV file. You can print these instructions using your browser's Print feature if you like.
Most of the fields are self-explanatory, but there are a few details worth noting:
- Required Fields - There are only three fields that are required in the import file: First Name, Last Name, and either a Login Name or a Student ID (though both may be provided, if you wish).
- Login Name - If you do not provide a login name, you will need to provide a Student ID instead, so that the import process can differentiate between people with the same name. In this case, you will be asked how you want the login name to be generated.
- Password - Passwords can be unique, or they can be the same for any or all students. If you want to provide unique passwords for each student and teacher, you can include a password field in the import file. Otherwise you will be asked what you want to use for the password.
- Role - The Role field is optional. If you don't include it, all of the people you import will be given the "Student" role. You can easily change this after the import finishes.
- Class - You can include a Class field in the import file. If you do, you will be asked how to handle classes that don't already exist in the system: you can have the import process create them, you can import all of the people but not create missing classes, or you can ignore people that are assigned to classes that don't already exist.
- Active? - This field can be included if you want to import data for students that will be used later, but you don't want to activate the logins right now. If omitted, all logins will be made active. Note that if you import more people than the maximum for your subscription, some of the people will be marked as inactive.
Keep in mind that we do not store passwords in a readable form in our database. If you forget a password, we are not able to tell you what it is. You always have the option of changing the password, but if you want a reference for all of the passwords in the system, you will want to keep a copy of your import file around after the import is complete.
Importing the File
Once you have prepared your CSV file for importing, access the import feature by clicking on the People button and then clicking Import People. You will see the "Upload file" section below the instructions. Click the "Browse..." button (or "Choose File..." on the Mac) and select your CSV file. Finally, click the Upload button.
Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, it may take some time for the file to be uploaded. Once it finishes, the Super Star Online service will validate the file, checking for potential problems. If the import process needs more information to continue (such as how to create the login names when not specified in the file), it will ask you.
If the file is validated successfully, you can click the Import button to load the data into your site. If you need to make changes to your file, you can scroll down to the Upload file section and upload a new one. Be sure to keep the CSV file after the import, as this can be an important reference for password and login information.
Our import process is fairly user-friendly, and since the data is validated before it is finally imported, it is hard to make a mistake. Nevertheless, you are welcome to call us if you need help or want us to do the import for you.