This lesson will guide you through importing Parent Portal accounts into Illuminate. Before starting, please contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to discuss your rollout plan and initial setup.
Where to Start
There are two ways to import parent portal accounts into Illuminate:
Option 1: Create and import a parent_portal_accounts.txt file, being sure to include the guardian's unique email address. Access keys are available immediately upon import. This option is recommended if you want to automate your imports.
Option 2: Create and import a contacts.txt file. Note: This is more challenging. Parents must be marked as a "Legal Guardian" to receive an access code. Your CSM will mass create all Parent Portal access keys from the initial import. New parents from subsequent imports will need to have access keys assigned manually.
Option 1: parent_portal_accounts.txt import
Enable the following permission by clicking the Administration Gear, then Permissions.
- Parent Portal Management
Create a tab-delimited file titled "parent_portal_accounts.txt" with the following columns:
- Parent First Name
- Parent Last Name
- Local Student ID One
- Local Student ID Two
- Local Student ID Three
- Local Student ID Four
- Local Student ID Five
- Local Student ID Six
- Local Student ID Seven
- Local Student ID Eight
- Local Student ID Nine
- Local Student ID Ten
- Parent Email (The email should be unique. It should not match the email address of any student or parent)
Each parent should have their own record / line in the file. In the example above, parents Clyde Smith and Susie Smith are linked to their three children. This will give both parents separate accounts but still let them see the same students.
The import can support up to ten Local Student ID values per parent.
Once your file is ready, go to the Administration Gear, then click Core Data Automation Profiles to add the file to your automation profile. To review this process, see the guide Adding a New Dataset to your Nightly Automation.
We recommend automating this file if it includes Parent Email. This field acts as a unique key that will keep the import from creating duplicate accounts. If the Parent Email is not included, subsequent imports will create duplicate accounts for parents.
Note: Parent Portal accounts cannot be deleted en masse. Please double-check that your parent_portal_accounts.txt file contains the correct information before processing an import. If needed, please send your mass deletion request to help@illuminateed.com.
- Click the Administration Gear, then Manage Parents.
- Review the list of parents and their linked students.
- Manually adjust linked students or parent information as needed. To review this process, see the guide Manually Managing Parent Portal Accounts (for DnA Users).
Do not automate this file if Parent Email is not included, as subsequent imports will create duplicate accounts for parents. In that scenario, the import will ADD rather than UPDATE.
If you need to add more Parent Portal accounts and you do not include Parent Email, create a new parent_portal_accounts.txt file with new parents only and import the new file via the Core Data Import & Validation page.
Option 2: contacts.txt import
Enable the following permissions by clicking the Administration Gear, then Permissions.
- View Contacts
- Edit Contacts
- View Dwellings
- Edit Dwellings
- View Households
- Edit Households
Create a tab-delimited file titled "contacts.txt" that aligns with the Illuminate Data Specifications. For more information regarding this import file, see the guide contacts.txt Import.
Once your file is ready, go to the Administration Gear, then click Core Data Import & Validation to set up a one-time import. To review this process, see the guide Processing a One-Time Import.
We do not recommend automating the contacts.txt file because this will create duplicate access keys for parents.
After importing your file, see the guide Merge Duplicate Contacts to review how to clean duplicate contacts that may have been created.
Notify your CSM so they can mass create all parent portal access keys from the initial import. New parents from subsequent imports will need to have access keys assigned manually via the Student Contacts Management page. To review this process, see the steps listed below.
1. Click the Students tab.
2. Under Contact Information, click Contacts.
3. Search for the student and click the student name.
4. Click Edit to the right of the contact record.
5. Click Yes next to Enable Portal Access. An access key will appear in the Access Key section.
6. Click Save.
We do not recommend automating this file as subsequent imports will create duplicate access keys for parents. If you need to add more Parent Portal accounts, create a new contacts.txt file with new parents only and import the new file via the Core Data Import & Validation page.
Next Steps
Now that you have successfully added parent portal accounts to Illuminate, see the guide Distributing Access Keys to Parents for suggestions on providing parents with the information they need to sign up and log in.