PowerSchool Settings
Your PowerSchool installation will need the PowerSchool Platform plugin installed and enabled. In your PowerSchool account, navigate to System > System Settings > Plugin Management Dashboard. You may need to download this plugin. Refer to your PowerSchool documentation for more information.
You will need information from these two sections of the PowerSchool System Settings page:
- Global Server Settings
- Plugin Management Configuration
The Global Server Settings in PowerSchool contain the Server Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), which is as the Server URL in OpenApply, at Settings > PowerSchool.
Then, clicking into Plugin Management Configuration, bringing you to the Plugin Management Dashboard, you will need to ensure that the PowerSchool Platform plugin is installed and enabled.
Clicking into PowerSchool Platform, you fill find Data Provider Configuration.
Configure OpenApply with your PowerSchool Server URL (Server Fully Qualified Domain Name), Client ID, and Client Secret. The Client ID and Client Secret is available in the PowerSchool Admin portal by navigating to System > System Settings > Plugin Management Dashboard > PowerSchool Platform Setup > Data Provider Configuration
General OpenApply Settings for PowerSchool Integration
In OpenApply, navigate to Settings > Integrations > PowerSchool to configure your Sync settings.
In the PowerSchool Sync tab, enter your Server URL, Client ID, and Client Secret information from PowerSchool (see above for guidance on where to find these credentials in your PowerSchool account).
You can set OpenApply to automatically insert default values for School Enrollment fields, in cases where OpenApply does not require a value for the fields, but PowerSchool does. If a field value is present for a student, these defaults will not overwrite that value. Defaults can be set for Enroll Status, Entry Date, Exit Date and School Number.
Different School Numbers can also be set for each programme, and School Number Rules can be added for cases where the school number can be more complex. For example, where a different School Number is used for each campus.
Setting School Number
School Number can be configured in different ways, according to the needs of each school. For example, the school may have a different school number for each programme or they may have custom structures such as Sections. The School Number can be set in a very basic way or take advantage of conditional logic, similar to the conditional logic used for conditional checklist items.
Standard Supported Fields
Certain fields are automatically included in the sync and will be synced across to PowerSchool during the initial sync. Check out this guide for the complete list of fields.
Configuring Field Mapping
The integration offers a flexible approach to defining which OpenApply fields map to which PowerSchool fields. The OpenApply fields are limited to basic student and parent information (core demographic data). Each student can have up to four parents. You can configure fields for sync to PowerSchool, selecting which students, parents, agents to sync with complete control over which fields to sync and which PowerSchool extensions and fields should receive the synced data from each field.
You can add as many fields as you need, and disable sync for particular fields if you want to sync only a narrow set of fields.
You can also define a default value that will sync to PowerSchool in cases where PowerSchool requires a value but OpenApply does not. The default value will be used for students where there is no data in that field.
You will need to review the extensions and fields in use in your PowerSchool installation to ensure that the OpenApply data is synced to correct locations.
Contact Custom Fields
It is also possible to map OpenApply Parent/Guardian fields to PowerSchool contact extensions, via Settings > Integrations > PowerSchool > PowerSchool Parent Custom Fields Mappings
PowerSchool Extension and Field Definitions
PowerSchool's have extensions enabled by default, but it is common for schools to establish custom tables and custom fields on PowerSchool. These are known as extensions and field definitions. The operator of the configuration will need to establish the name of the extensions, and the custom fields within the extention, and provide this information in the configuration section.
The school can see a list of existing fields in the PowerSchool student table in the Custom Fields / Screens page.
The school can find their database extensions at Start Page > System Administrator > Page and Data Management > Manage Database Extensions.
The OpenApply extension setting in the PowerSchool Custom Field Mappings page (case insensitive):
Must match one of the extensions from PowerSchool:
Once you have completed the configuration steps as above, you can proceed student profiles, "Sync to PowerSchool" to sync across to your PowerSchool installation.