Data File

Can we add demographics to our file that aren’t on the attribute list?

We’d be happy to chat and help you strategically pick the best demographics for your assessment purposes. The list we provide is just an example of ones that you can use, but not the entire list. Chat with your Customer Success Manager to see what options you have!

How do we include preferred names in our data file?

If a person on your campus has indicated a preferred name, you can replace their first and/or last name with their preferred name in your data upload. This will update Involve next time the file is uploaded. Remember, the preferred name should persist in each data file. 

We have professors that work for multiple institutions, including ours. Can we use an email address they use for another institution, since that's the one they primarily use?

You will need to use that professor's email address for your institution. This will provide consistency for login purposes, and is a more secure method of making sure only people within your institution can access your Involve instance. Also, if this professor works for another institution that uses Involve. they will not be able to use the same email address for multiple campuses.

What is the purpose of the username demographic? Does that mean our students can use their username for login?

The username demographic is for institutions that use CAS as their SSO method. If your institution uses SAML, students, faculty, and staff will need to use their full institution email to login; you won't need to provide username in the data file in this instance.

Is there a character limit for the data provided in each demographic column?

No - the data can contain as many characters as necessary to upload the necessary data for that demographic.

What are the exact definitions for each of the demographic headers?

The great thing about our demographic headers is that they are not restricted by a particular definition. You can use the headers that best describe the data you provide. In the Demographics List on the Data File page, you will see examples of data used for each demographic; but as long as you know the definition you are using for the header, you can use it however you wish. Your Customer Success Manager can help you strategize on the best demographics to use, based on your assessment goals.

What kind of naming convention should we use for our data file?

We don't require you to name your data file in any particular way, but it is often helpful if you can include your institution name and the date in the file name if we should need to troubleshoot it or find a particular file.

We have Faculty/Staff who are also enrolled in classes. Should we list them in our data file as Students or Faculty/Staff?

We recommend you list them as their primary role at your institution. If they are a full-time employee, we recommend listing them as Faulty/Staff.

Data Integration

How often should we upload new data?

We recommend you upload data on a daily basis!

Does ShareFile support SFTP?

No - ShareFile supports FTPS as their method for automating files.

Can we email you our datafile?

For security purposes, we do not accept data files via email. In order to upload a data file, connect with your Customer Success Manager to get access to our secure Citrix ShareFile.

Can we manually add users to Involve?

We highly recommend having all students, faculty, and staff that need access to Involve to be in the Data Upload. We do have the option to manually create people and give them access, but there are some implications if they are not in the Data File. Your Customer Success Manager can chat with you more about manually adding people.

What should we do if we’re having issues with uploading the Data File?

ShareFile is a third-party platform we use to manage secure documents and uploads. If you’re having issues with the data upload, please visit ShareFile FTP Information for troubleshooting options.

We tried to connect to the ShareFile server, but we received an error. Do you need to Whitelist our IP Address(es)?

We do not control the ShareFile servers, but they provide information on connecting and whitelisting here: https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX207859

We want to use a curl command to send the file over. Do you have a template?

Absolutely! You can use the curl script below.

$ curl --version
curl 7.34.0 (IA64-HP-VMS) libcurl/7.34.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2f
Protocols: dict file ftp ftps gopher http https imap imaps ldap ldaps pop3 pop3s rtsp smtp smtps telnet tftp
Features: GSS-Negotiate IPv6 Largefile NTLM SSL
The user format for user is presence/<username>:<password>.  The –T option is critical before the file name.
curl -k -u presence/***@institution.edu:*** "-T" "S****.CSV” "ftps://presence.s***.com/<directory>/”

Do we need to upload an entire new data set every time we send you a data file or should we just include records that have changed?

We will need an entire new set of data every time we receive an upload. Involve uses the data file for record keeping so we will only keep accounts active if they are in the data file. As soon as someone if removed from the data file, Involve removes them from our system and marks their account as inactive.