TIDE SSE Migration Helper 1.0.0

Objective

This PowerSchool engine report builds a CSV export to be used by PowerSchool's Data Import Manager so you can migrate your active accommodations stored under Special Programs to the new table. 

Copyright Notice

This engine report was developed completely on my own time without pay, and is therefore copyrighted to me. Districts and charters are licensed to use this report only as an end-user as described on this download page. The code may not be redistributed except by the Tech Talk forums, re-used, modified, altered, stolen, etc. in whole or in part except as described explicitly in writing by me. Additionally, no copyright notices within this engine report may be removed or altered. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not install this engine report and you must discard any copies you possess of it. Violators may be prosecuted to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Note

As of this writing, Idaho Falls School District #91 does not use PowerSchool for tracking accommodations, and I no longer have access to any PowerSchool districts that do. Therefore, I've gone to great lengths to debug and troubleshoot this report as much as I can with what I have available to me, but I cannot guarantee that I've caught everything. If you experience issues with the report, please bring them to my attention in the Comments section here. If needed, we can move to a private conversation for further troubleshooting. Just in case, you may want to consider making a backup of your database before importing the file that this report generates, especially if your staff has already started entering accommodations into the new area of PowerSchool.

How to Install the Engine Report

Do not go through these steps if this report is already installed--you MUST uninstall any existing copies first or the report will break. The steps to uninstall are in the next section.

1. Download the report and save it somewhere you can find it shortly. 
2. From the Start Page, choose System Reports ► Engine (tab) ► Load One Local Report.
3. Click Choose File next to Report to Upload.
4. Browse to the file you downloaded in Step 1 and select it.
5. Click Import.
6. "The report was imported correctly" should appear at the top.
7. Click the PowerSchool logo to return to the Start Page.

How to Downgrade/Reinstall/Update/Uninstall the Engine Report

PowerSchool does not upgrade engine reports without removing the existing version first. These steps will remove the report. To install a different version, follow the Install the Engine Report steps above after removing the existing version.

1. From the Start Page, choose System Reports ► Engine (tab) ► Setup.
2. Click on the TIDE SSE Migration Helper entry under the Report ID column.
3. Scroll clear to the bottom and click Delete, then Confirm Delete.

How to Use the Report

This report installs a new entry into your Engine tab in System Reports. This report will scan over all current Special Programs for any accommodations that can be migrated into the new layout. You will need access to run Engine Reports and the Data Import Manager in order to use this report successfully.

1. From the Start Page of the District Office, choose System Reports ► Engine (tab) ► TIDE SSE Migration Helper.
2. Click Submit to run the report.
3. After the report completes (Refresh periodically if needed), you'll get a View option. Click that.
4. The report will automatically download into CSV format. Save it somewhere convenient.
   • WARNING: Do NOT manipulate the export file in Excel unless you are familiar with the data format and you can preserve all required leading zeros. Several fields in the new table REQUIRE leading zeros and Excel will strip them off by default. If you have any doubts, use a text editor if you need to manipulate the export file.

Importing the Accommodations into PowerSchool's New Interface

1. From the Start Page of the District Office, choose Special Functions ► Importing & Exporting ► Data Import Manager.
2. Click Choose File next to Source, then browse for the file you downloaded in Step 4.
3. Choose S_ID_STU_SETTINGS_C next to Import Into.
4. Choose Comma for the Field Delimiter and Windows ANSI for the Character Set.
   • While I do not have a Mac to test this on, I believe you may still need to choose Windows ANSI even on a Mac because the engine report uses CRLF line spacing. If you find this not to be true, please let me know so I can update this document.
5. Click Next to move into the Map Columns section. The columns should already be mapped. Click Next again.
6. The PowerSchool default settings are good (exclude header, do not process record, last box unchecked). Click Import.
7. Depending on how many records you have, you may need to click PowerSchool's Refresh button (not the browser refresh) periodically to check the status.
8. Once the import is complete, check your results. The new location for accommodations, by default, is under (Student Selection) ► State/Province - ID ► Student Settings Export Accommodations.
9. If you are satisfied, you can uninstall the engine report from your server. You shouldn't need it again unless additional accommodations are added into the old/deprecated section.

Last, But Not Least

I hope this helps!

Many hours went into building this report and documenting its use. Please do me a favor and leave a review (in the Review tab below) if you use my report and let me know how it worked for you. If you have general questions, feedback, technical issues, or typos with the report or its documentation, feel free to use the Comments tab to let me know. Support is limited but I'll help if I can. Please keep all support questions in the Tech Talk forums. If your questions are beyond the report itself, please ask those questions in the forum so that a wider audience will see them and can assist.

Thank you!

--Vance M. Allen