This lesson provides an overview on importing your term data into DnA.
About Terms Data
In DnA, terms are the foundation of your calendars. They identify the dates that a session starts and ends for each school. You should have terms for each DnA site in your installation.
About Importing Terms
The terms.txt file is what gets your system going after you load your sites. Sites loads all of the schools in your installation, while the terms file is the basis for your calendars. The terms file identifies when school is in or out of session. Without a successful terms.txt file load, the rest of your data imports that are based on dates (enrollment, master schedules, rosters, programs, etc.) will not work well. If the terms arent loaded, then there are no dates that school is in session for students to be active.
Like the sites.txt file, after the initial import this file is no longer imported and data is managed through the user interface via the Term Manager Tool. For ongoing data automation in DnA Data and Assessment (DnA) or DnA Special Education (ISE) there is no reason to add terms.txt to your automation process since it will not be imported again.
Required Fields
- Site ID
- Term Name
- Term Number
- Term Start Date
- Term End Date
- Term Type
- Academic Year
The first three fields that are listed on the data spec are: Site ID, Term Name, and Term Number. These three fields are the key identifiers for each unique building or site.
The Site ID is a unique identifier that is used by a Student Information System (SIS) to identify a site. The Term Name is the name of the given term being referenced. It is typically something like: Semester 1, Fall, Year long, etc.. The Term Number represents the chronological ordering of the term within the site. So for example, if you have two terms: Semester 1 and Semester 2, the term numbers would be 1 and 2, respectively.
If any of the required fields are not provided or if any of the required fields do not align to the designated field types or values, the entire record will not import. Problems with required fields will generate import errors.
Whether or not a field is required refers to basic, minimal operation of the system. With only the required fields your DnA installation will work, however, it may not be configured optimally. Additionally, beyond minimal functionality and basic reporting, in an DnA Student Information (ISI) installation as much data as can possibly be provided should be imported. Many non required fields are used in basic reports and compliance reporting.
Non-Required, but Highly Recommended Fields
- Session Type ID
Session Type ID: 1= Normal, 2 = Summer, Defaults to 1 if left blank.
Non-Required Fields
- Unique Term ID
Next Steps
To learn more about available files to import into DnA, visit Optional Datasets.