This lesson will guide you through Google authentication setup for students to use their Google accounts to log into the Student Portal. Any Google account will work and students can be automatically logged in to the Student Portal if already signed into Google. Please notify your Customer Success Manager (CSM) for this request if you haven't done so already.
Overview
- Student Google email addresses imported.
- Google SSO configuration enabled for Student Portal (contact the Support Team by submitting a request).
- Student Portal accounts enabled via normal process through UI or via Import (details below).
Enabling Google SSO will be a global change per Instance. So, if Google SSO is enabled, all sites will see the button. However, until the username is switched to the username@domain, they may continue to use the DnA log-in page.
Managing Google SSO for Student Portal
Please note, after enabling Google SSO, student passwords are no longer managed in DnA. You must enable the portal and align their Google Account in DnA. This means the following information must be true in order for Google SSO to work:
- Google SSO is enabled. If this is not true, you must contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) and follow the steps provided above.
- Students must have district-managed accounts created in your Google Admin Console. Email functionality is not required.
- If Google Apps Configurations is enabled, you may assign students e-mails via DnA. This is a separate integration from Google Single Sign-On (more information here).
- In DnA, the students current email is set to their Google SSO email. You can do this in the Student Demographic Details Page. Click on their email address and you will be able to edit it.
- Portal must be enabled for the student. This can be done under Students > Manage Portal Access.
You may enable portal by going to Students > Manage Portal Access. If you need to add a student’s email, you do so on the Demographic Details page. You must have the permission to Modify Student Demographics in order to do so. You will click on the field and a editable text box will appear and allow you to update the field.
Otherwise, you may mass create them by re-importing your student_portal_accounts.txt file after updating it with new students, or by creating an automation.
After enabling Google SSO, passwords are managed by the District Administrator in charge of the Google SSO. Please inform your users this and set this expectation.
Mass Enabling Portal Accounts
You can import or enable your student portal accounts using our Core Data Import Tools. No matter what type username you are using for your student portal accounts you can import and enable your student portal accounts just by uploading a file. This file can also be added to your daily automated imports. Create a tab delimited file named ‘student_portal_accounts.txt’ with 5 columns.
- Student ID
- Username (Leave blank when using Google SSO)
- Enable (1 for Yes, 0 for No)
- Temp Password (Leave blank when using Google SSO)
How to Import: To import, go to the ‘Core Data Import / Validation’ tool within the Administration Menu. You must add the “student_portal_accounts.txt” file to a .zip file before uploading via the interface. The filename of the .txt must match exactly ‘student_portal_accounts.txt’. To learn about a one time import, visit Student Portal - Import Usernames/Passwords.
Automate: If you wish to automate importing this file, your district will need to create their own scripts or tools to pull the information from where the student_portal_accounts.txt data would be housed and pull it into the tab delimited file on the SFTP server on a nightly basis. To learn how to add a file to your automation, visit Adding a New Dataset to your Nightly Automation.
To help get you started, you will likely need to contact your technology department to write a SQL query (or whichever database your Student Information System uses) and automate it nightly on your server/computer. Most clients use Windows Scheduler to schedule a task. You can find directions on how to set this up here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/schedule-task#1TC=windows-7.
Please note, the district / client is entirely responsible for automating the student_portal_accounts.txt file into the SFTP. DnA currently does not have a courtesy tool or script.
Re-Import: Re-importing student_portal_accounts.txt will update any email addresses or usernames. For Google SSO, passwords cannot be reset via the import option.
Manually Manage Access
To verify or enable a student portal account:
- Go to Students, then select Manage Portal Access.
- Filter by student ID in the search box at the top right of the page.
- If the student does not appear, select Add a Student.
- Find the student using the search interface.
- Check the box next to their name and select Enable Portal in the top right.
If the student cannot be found, double-check that they have current enrollment and rostering.
Next Steps
To learn how to login to the Student Portal with Google SSO, visit Log in to the Student Portal Using a Google Account.