Online Rooms: Syncing With Your SIS Successfully

Do you have an Online room designation in your Student Information System (SIS) that you would like to see in Astra Schedule? Do you have an Online designation in your SIS that is somehow being wiped out by an Astra Schedule export to your SIS? This article will help you troubleshoot and prevent those things from happening and define best practices for setting up your Online building and room in Astra Schedule and your SIS.

Do sections require room assignments?

Astra Schedule requires a room assignment for sections. Therefore, sections cannot be assigned to just a building. Many Student Information Systems do allow for building only allocation, but Astra Schedule does not. This can result in the Online building designation being wiped out in the SIS upon export from Astra Schedule.

SISkey Connects Your SIS With Astra Schedule

The SISkey is the connection between Astra Schedule and the SIS for the room assignment. The SISkey is composed of the campus code, building code, and room number for a room in the SIS, and it will have underscores between each. The format is CampusCode_BuildingCode_RoomNumber. An example would be MAIN_ADAMS_101.

Valid Meeting Patterns 

Sections that do not have a valid meeting pattern (days met + time) cannot be assigned a room in Astra Schedule. These assignments must be made in the SIS.

Ad Astra Recommendation

Ad Astra recommends clients create an Online building and an Online room in both Astra Schedule and the SIS. For additional help on creating on building and rooms, read the Buildings and Rooms articles.

When the section is assigned the Online building and room in the SIS, it will import seamlessly into Astra Schedule. When an export from Astra Schedule runs for a term that has these Online room assignments, the section will continue to have the Online designation in the SIS.

Clients have named both the building and room ONLINE and ONLINE, meaning the Section List will show the room assignment as ONLINE ONLINE. This is what will also show for students. Some clients have named the building ON and the room assignment LINE, resulting in ON LINE on the Section List and for the student to see. Both options are acceptable. Your room assignments will stay intact even when importing and exporting between Astra Schedule and your SIS.