Visitor Aware's direct syncing with SFTP provides simple options to integrate existing student, visitor, volunteer, and user data by automatically creating accounts, mapping relationships between visitors and students, and leveraging your student information system's abilities to export data!
SFTP provides a convenient way for schools to push data to Visitor Aware from systems such as Skyward, Follet's Aspen, Synergy, SchoolSpeak, TylerTech, Ascender, and more.
Requirements:
- Your student information system must have the ability to set up an SFTP transfer to Visitor Aware
- You must contact a Visitor Aware representative to grant access to a dedicated SFTP server
- SFTP import files must be formatted based on the file naming conventions, and fields described below
Import Frequency
Visitor Aware automatically imports from your SFTP server hourly and can be activated manually by a Visitor Aware representative upon request.
Allowed Import Types
The following types of imports and their respective required filenames are:
| Type | Required Filename |
| Injunctions | injunctions.csv |
| Students | students.csv |
| Users | users.csv |
| Visitors | visitors.csv |
| Volunteers | volunteers.csv |
| PowerSchool Visitors | visitors_powerschool.csv |
| Ascender (SIS) Visitors | visitors_ascender.csv |
| Ascender (SIS) Students | students_ascender.csv |
| Bus Schedules | bus_schedule.csv |
Step 1: Prepare CSV Files for Export
Your data may be exported from most systems directly, or by running SQL queries. If you're unable to produce the required fields, please contact your SIS directly, as Visitor Aware is unable to troubleshoot data exporting issues.
Step 2: Format Files
All files must be formatted as CSV according to the specific file formats. For file formatting, data requirements, and sample templates, see the article on Importing Resources.
Step 3: Transfer files to Visitor Aware
Once your CSV files have been formatted and prepared in your student information system, you can set up an automatic recurring sync, or transfer your files manually whenever you need to update information.
- Contact us to receive your secure SFTP endpoint, port, username, and password
- During testing, feel free to reach out to our team to have your files processed immediately to test your integration
Step 4: Keep data updated
Be sure to update your data and exports when information for any of the import files is changed within your SIS, and your files should always contain all data. Visitor Aware handles all necessary additions, deletions, and updates, and will automatically notify you via email of any issues with synchronization, file format errors, import issues, etc.
Troubleshooting
In the event of any errors or issues with automated SFTP sync, automated email notifications are sent which include information on the errors (line, error, error reason). Once files are processed (success or failure), they are securely deleted from the district's SFTP server and must be resubmitted for processing once the errors are corrected.