Manage Institutional Hierarchy Nodes Through SIS Integration
While manually building out your Institutional Hierarchy is not overly difficult, you can save time by integrating data through your Student Integration System (SIS). You can use SIS integration to build the structure and associate the data to different levels of the hierarchy. If you build out a data file from your SIS, it's easier to upload and then maintain if you need to make future changes to the hierarchy structure.
Managing nodes through SIS integration
You can use SIS data integration as a one-time process or automate the process so that your hierarchy reflects changes in your data sources. You can use a delimited file, an XML file, or you can use one of the Blackboard REST APIs.
Creating a data file
To begin your integration, you need to create an Institution Hierarchy delimited file to build out the structure. They elements of the file include:
External node key. This key has to be unique. There can’t be two keys with the same identifier value. For example, “ENG” can’t be used to describe two sibling nodes (for example, “English department” and “Engineering Department”). Additionally, it can’t be used for descendants (for example, “English Department” and a specific English course name).
Name. This is the name of the object associated with your node.
Parent node key. This key creates the parent to child relationship for your node.
Data source key. This is your data source. In this case, Student Information System.
Build out each row by academic school, college and department branch, and then the subject. The elements of your file are defined in the table below.
External Node Key | Name | Parent Node Key | Data Source Key |
|---|---|---|---|
ASCD | College of Arts & Sciences | n/a | SIS |
ASCD-SED | School of Education | ASCD | SIS |
ASCD-SED-SPECIALED | Special Education | ASCD-SED | SIS |
Blackboard Assessment Branch
A best practice for Blackboard configuration is to include a Blackboard Assessment Branch to your hierarchy. This is a separate branch from your other academic schools, colleges and departments, and anything else you create to mirror your institution.
The Blackboard Assessment Branch is tied to different reports and solutions connected to your data. We recommend using the ID convention: BBASSESS. Create a file with the following elements in the table below. The example data defines program degrees for a college of business that students could be enrolled in at the institution. In this case, you'd be associating your user accounts to track assessment data tied to these programs.
External Node Key | Name | Parent Node Key | Data Source Key |
|---|---|---|---|
BBASSESS | Blackboard Assessment | n/a | SIS |
BBASSESS-COB | College of Business | BBASSESS | SIS |
BBASSESS-COB-BUAD | Business Administration | BBASSESS-COB | SIS |
BBASSESS-COB-BUAD-B | Business Administration Bachelors Program | BBASSESS-COB-BUAD | SIS |
BBASSESS-COB-BUAD-M | Business Administration Masters Program | BBASSESS-COB-BUAD | SIS |
Uploading a data file for integration
For instructions on uploading your data file, see Snapshot Integration on the Snapshot Flat File page. Once this file is uploaded, another branch to your hierarchy is created.
Associating Courses
To associate courses to nodes on your hierarchy, create a file that is separate from the one you use to create courses. This separate file associates previously created courses to levels of the hierarchy.
External Association Key | External Course Key | External Node Key | Is Primary Association | Data Source Key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2023FA_ADLT_512_SEC402.ASCD-SED-ADULTGENED-ADLT | 2023FA_ADLT_512_SEC402 | ASCD-SED-ADULTGENED-ADLT | Y | SIS |
2023FA_ADLT_512_SEC402.ASCD-COBSS-CRMNLJUSTC-CRJU | 2023FA_ADLT_512_SEC402 | ASCD-COBSS-CRMNLJUSTC-CRJU | N | SIS |
2023FA_ADLT_512_SEC402.CAMPUS-DT | 2023FA_ADLT_512_SEC402 | CAMPUS-DT | N | SIS |
2024SP_ANTH_207_SEC001.ASCD-COBSS-SOCIALSCI-ANTH | 2024SP_ANTH_207_SEC001 | ASCD-COBSS-SOCIALSCI-ANTH | Y | SIS |
The elements in your file include:
External association key. This is a unique identifier for the course to node relationship. It needs to be a unique value across the system. A best practice here is to concatenate the ID of your course.
External course key. This is the identifier for the individual course offering. It appears in the external node key and is separated by a period in this example in the table.
External node key. This is the level of the hierarchy you want the course offering associated to. It appears in the external node key and is separated by a period in this example.
Is primary association. This will be marked Yes for only one record. This is because only one association should be used for driving the course tool availability for the course. If a course is associated to more than one area of the hierarchy (for example, Chemistry course that is associated with the Chemistry Department, a Pre-Medical Program, and a specific campus), the other node(s) it is associated with are marked No for Is primary association.
Data source key. This is your data source.
For instructions on uploading your data file, see Snapshot Integration on the Snapshot Flat File page. Once integrated, you should see the new data on the side panel of the Administrator Tools page.
If you return to the top-level node (for example academic schools, colleges, and departments) and select Courses, you can see the courses in the file associated with their parent node.
Once courses are associated with their appropriate hierarchy levels, you can quickly grant users appropriate role privileges to a subset of courses for them to manage.
If you select a course and select View All Nodes in the menu drop down, you can see its associations and its primary association.
Associating Users
To associate users to nodes on your hierarchy, create a file that is separate from the one you use to create users. This separate file associates previously created users to levels of the hierarchy.
External Association Key | External User Key | External Node Key | Data Source Key |
|---|---|---|---|
ih_student1.BBASSESS-CAS-ENGL-B | ih_student1 | BBASSESS-CAS-ENGL-B | SIS |
ih_student2.BBASSESS-COB-BUAD-M | ih_student2 | BBASSESS-CAS-ENGL-M | SIS |
Create a unique identifier for your External Association Key. In the example in the table, the user ID (External user key) is concatenated with the appropriate node (external node key).
For instructions on uploading your data file, see Snapshot Integration on the Snapshot Flat File page. Once integrated, you can select the course offering of a program degree structure, and see the user based on that association.