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Use SFTP to upload student, staff and class data to Apple School Manager

If your Student Information System (SIS) isn’t currently supported by Apple School Manager or you don’t have a student information system, you can upload student, staff and class data to Apple School Manager using SFTP.

Set up your first SFTP upload

Fill in your data files

Update your files

When you set up SFTP in the SIS/SFTP Assistant, Apple School Manager gives you CSV template files and access information for a private SFTP server. You can export data from a supported SIS Before exporting from your SIS, contact your SIS to make sure the format is correct for Apple School Manager.

SFTP upload requires a third-party application on macOS. If you don't have an SFTP client installed, you can find one in the Mac App Store.

Use the buttons below to get help with setting up your SFTP files. If you haven't used SFTP to upload data into Apple School Manager, you should start with the Set up your first SFTP upload section.

Set up your first SFTP upload

  1. Sign in to Apple School Manager as an Admin, Site Manager or People Manager.

  2. Click your name at the bottom of the sidebar, click Preferences, click Accounts, click Directory Sync, then select Enable in the SIS/SFTP section. You must verify a domain

  3. Click Find Students, Instructors and Classes.

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  4. Click Set Up SFTP.

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  5. Apple School Manager generates a URL, username and password to use when uploading files. Use this information to configure your SFTP client.

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  6. Click Download Templates.

  7. Read the instructions for using templates in the "Filling In Data Files" section.

  8. When your data files have been filled in, create a zip archive of all six files. In the Finder, select the files, then go to the File menu and choose Compress 6 Items. It doesn't matter what you call the zip archive.

  9. Upload the zip file to Apple School Manager. Use an SFTP client to connect to the URL shown in the SIS/SFTP Assistant. When asked for sign-in information, use the user name and password you received when you clicked Set Up SFTP. Copy the zip file to the Dropbox directory.

  10. Click Continue in the SIS/SFTP Assistant. If your upload contains errors, you can review a log that identifies the files and lines that contain errors. Correct any errors in the data files, then repeat steps 8 and 9. You don't need to remove the previous file from the SFTP server.

  11. When the SFTP import has finished, click Review SFTP Data. If you find any errors, click Cancel. Correct any errors in the data files, then repeat the upload process. If the data is accurate and complete, click Continue.

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  12. Under Create Accounts and Classes, choose a Managed Apple ID format for students, instructors and staff. Click Preview Accounts and Classes. When the IDs are in the correct format, click Create Accounts and Classes. Only verified domains

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  13. After the accounts have been created, distribute sign-in information to users and assign roles to staff.

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Fill in your data files

The template download includes six comma-separated value (CSV) files for Classes, Courses, Locations, Registers, Students and Staff. If the templates are not available in Apple School Manager or if you've lost a copy of the original templates, you can download them again.

You can use your SIS to export data in the format described by the templates and this article, or you can edit the templates in a spreadsheet program such as Numbers.

Use the tables in this article to make sure you enter the correct information, then save each file without changing its name.

Format your values

If you edit the templates, replace the example data with your own. Don't change the contents of the header cells in each file. Don't add columns in any file, except as described below.

In every template, each row must represent a unique value. For example, within the students.csv, each row must be a unique student. Certain values for that student can be empty. Literal values within a name, such as a line break or quotation mark character, must be escaped with a backslash (\), such as (\”). Any identifiers that are entered must be alphanumeric and can include a "-".

If your value contains a space ( ) or comma (,), use straight quotation marks (") around it. If your value doesn't have any of these special characters, don't use quotation marks. If you don't use quotes where they are needed, or you use curly quotes, you will encounter errors during the upload process.

The values in your files must be separated with commas (,) or semicolons (;), regardless of how you created the file. Don't use spaces or tabs between a comma or semicolon and the next value. Each file must be encoded as UTF-8 and use Unix new-lines (\n).

If an otherwise optional field such as person_number or sis_username is part of your Managed Apple ID format, it will become a required field. If you leave it blank, the upload will fail with the error MANAGED_ID_GENERATION_FAILED.

Locations file

location_id

A unique identifier consisting of numbers and/or letters that contains no spaces.

Required

location_name

The name of the location.

Required

You must define at least one location in the Locations file. You can't use SFTP to create student or staff accounts in the main "headquarters" location.

Students file

If you use SFTP to upload a new person, and the person_id you assign already exists in Apple School Manager, your new person will overwrite the existing user in Apple School Manager. After the overwrite has been completed, you can only update that user via SFTP.

person_id

The unique identifier for a specific student. This person_id should match the unique identifier in your SIS, if available. This person_id is the unique identifier for the student in Apple School Manager. Use this value to refer to the student in the Registers file and instructors in the Classes file.

Required

person_number

Another value that can be used to identify a student in your school. This could be a student identification number.

Optional

first_name

The student's first name.

Required

middle_name

The student's middle name.

Optional

last_name

The student's surname.

Required

grade_level

The student's attainment level.

Optional

email_address*

An email address for the student.

Optional

sis_username

The user name for the student in your SIS.

Optional

password_policy

Use the password_policy field to specify a password policy for each specific student. The password_policy field must have the number 4, the number 6, the number 8 or be left blank. If you select 8, this will be a standard password policy (8+ alphanumeric characters). This value overrides the location password policy and any password policy you had previously set for that student. If you leave password_policy blank, the default password policy for the location will be used for any new student and no changes will be made to existing students.

Optional

location_id

The location_id for the student. This must correspond with a location_id in the Locations file. If this entry doesn't match an entry in the Locations file, you will experience issues during the upload process.

Required

* If federated authentication If the email address is in a federated domain, the user account will be federated.

Assign multiple locations

You can assign more than one location to a student by adding more location columns to the Students file. You can add up to 998 more location columns named location_id_2, location_id_3, up to location_id_999. For each student, you have the option of entering another location_id in each of these columns. This must correspond with a location_id in the Locations file. If this entry doesn't match an entry in the Locations file, you will experience issues during the upload process.

Staff file

If you use SFTP to upload a new person, and the person_id you assign already exists in Apple School Manager, your new person will overwrite the existing user in Apple School Manager. After the overwrite has been completed, you can only update that user via SFTP. All staff will receive the standard password policy (8+ alphanumeric characters).

person_id

The unique identifier for a specific staff member. This person_id should match the unique identifier in your SIS, if available. This person_id is the unique identifier for the staff member in Apple School Manager. Use this value to refer to instructors in the Classes file.

Required

person_number

Another value that can be used to identify a staff member in your school. This could be a staff badge number.

Optional

first_name

The staff member's first name.

Required

middle_name

The staff member's middle name.

Optional

last_name

The staff member's surname.

Required

email_address*

An email address for this staff member.

Optional

sis_username

The user name for the staff member in your SIS.

Optional

location_id

The location_id for the staff member. This should correspond with a location_id in the Locations file. If this entry doesn't match an entry in the Locations file, you will experience issues during the upload process.

Required

* If federated authentication If the email address is in a federated domain, the user account will be federated.

Assign multiple locations

You can assign more than one location to a staff member by adding more location columns to the Staff file. You can add up to 998 more location columns named location_id_2, location_id_3, up to location_id_999. For each staff member, you have the option of entering another location_id in each of these columns. This must correspond with a location_id in the Locations file. If this entry doesn't match an entry in the Locations file, you will experience issues during the upload process.

Courses file

course_id

A unique identifier for the course. This must match the corresponding course_id used in the Classes file.

Required

course_number

A number for the course. This number could be the course number in your SIS or your curriculum guide.

Optional

course_name

The name of your course.

Optional

location_id

The location_id for the course. This should correspond with a location_id in the Locations file. If this entry doesn't match an entry in the Locations file, you will experience issues during the upload process.

Required

Classes file

class_id

A unique identifier for the class.

Required

class_number

A number or code that identifies this class in your organisation. Unlike class_id, class_number isn't used to refer to this class in CSV registers.

Optional

course_id

The course_id of the course this class belongs to. This must match a course_id in the Courses file.

Required

instructor_id

The person_id for the instructor. This must match the person_id used in the Staff file.

Optional

instructor_id_2

The person_id for the instructor. This must match the person_id used in the Staff file.

Optional

instructor_id_3

The person_id for the instructor. This must match the person_id used in the Staff file.

Optional

location_id

The location_id for the class. This should correspond with the location_id in the Locations file. If this entry doesn't match an entry in the Locations file, you will experience issues during the upload process.

Required

Assign multiple instructors

You can assign more than three instructors to a class by adding more instructor columns to the Classes file. You can add up to 12 more instructor columns named instructor_id_4, instructor_id_5, up to instructor_id_15. For each class, you have the option of entering another person_id for the instructor. This must match the person_id used in the Staff file.

Registers file

roster_id

A unique identifier for the register in your SIS or other course database (if available).

Required

class_id

A unique alphanumeric identifier for the class. This must match a class_id in the Class file.

Required

student_id

A person_id for one student.

Required

The Registers file is used to add students to their classes. Each line in the file must have a unique roster_id and contain only one class_id and one person_id.

Update your files

When you want to add or edit students, staff and classes, edit your data files and upload the new copies. Whenever you upload files, you must upload all six files and each file must contain the complete list of each category, not just the items you intend to add. You can check SFTP account information by choosing Settings > Data Source.

If you disconnect your SFTP connection within Apple School Manager, your accounts and classes will be changed to manual. To resolve this, restore your SFTP connection and perform a new upload.

After the first upload, new accounts and classes will be created automatically when you upload. If there are any errors, Apple School Manager will send you an email.

If an entry from an earlier upload is missing

If an entry from an earlier upload is missing, the account will be deactivated and deleted automatically

If a course or a class is removed

If a course or a class is removed from the upload, students will be removed from the class and the source will change to Manual. If courses were in use in Schoolwork, the class register will be removed and a new course will have to be created for re-enrolment. If classes were in use in Schoolwork, progress data will be deleted automatically and will no longer be available to the teacher or student.

Courses and classes with a manual source will continue to sync with your MDM solution, but may no longer appear in the Classroom app. Manual classes can be deleted in Apple School Manager if you want to remove them from syncing.

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