Graduate Import via SFTP File Drop

Graduate Import via SFTP File Drop


Tassel supports two ways to import graduate data: manually through the web application or by uploading a file via SFTP. This guide explains how to prepare for and upload files using SFTP.

For help with manual imports or SFTP questions not covered here, contact your Customer Success Manager.

Getting Started

To use SFTP for imports, notify your Customer Success Manager well before your opening date. This gives our team enough time to complete the setup on our end.

Tassel will provide a username and password that can be used to securely connect to the SFTP service after setup is complete.

Your First Upload

Once you have received confirmation from Tassel that configuration is complete, you can test the connection by uploading a file called email.txt to the filedrop subdirectory. It should contain valid email addresses, one per line, each of which will receive a report on the outcomes of the automated import process. An administrator can also see import results on the Graduates->Add->Import Status page.
The SFTP server’s address is sftp.tassel.com.

Preparing Your Import File

Your import file must meet certain criteria for your import to be successful:
  1. It must be a valid Excel file with the extension .xlsx or a valid CSV file with the extension .csv
  2. The first row must be a header that names the graduate data element in that column. The columns can be in any order, as long as the header values match the expected values exactly. Header names are case-insensitive. The column names are:
    1. StudentID: a unique identifier for each student. This value is supplied by you and ought to be something that can link back to the student in your database
    2. FirstName: the student’s first name
    3. MiddleName: the student’s middle name
    4. LastName: the student’s last name
    5. FullName: the full name of the student. This can simply be the FirstName, MiddleName and LastName concatenated together, but it can also be any other value
    6. Email: an email address at which the student can receive emails sent from Tassel
    7. GDFs: The names of any Graduate Data Fields that you have created.
    8. ImportingCeremony: the numerical ID of the graduation ceremony to which the graduate is being added. Please note that every row in your import file must have a value in this column. If a value is missing, the import will fail and the missing graduate will need to be re-uploaded. You can find the ceremony ID number in the Tassel hub:
      1. Log in to Tassel’s administrative hub at hub.tassel.com. You should have received an email with instructions to set up your account and password. If you need help or do not have this, please contact us.
      2. Click on the Ceremonies module in the navigation bar at the top of the page.
      3. Identify the ceremony or ceremonies into which you will be importing. The number that you need is in the Ceremony Id column.
  3. Mandatory fields are: FirstName, LastName, FullName, Email, ImportingCeremony and any Graduate Data Fields that are Required.
  4. Only the first tab in an Excel workbook is imported; all others are ignored.

Importing Your File

To begin the processing of your import file, connect to sftp.tassel.com with the credentials that have been provided to you. Change your current directory to the filedrop subdirectory. Copy the import file to the server and it will be automatically loaded and processed. The file will disappear from the directory once processing begins.

Within a few minutes after uploading the file, you should receive an email at the address or addresses in the email.txt file. The message will contain information about how many graduates were in the file, how many importing ceremonies were identified, the number of students successfully imported, and if there were any problems, a list of the students that were not loaded and the reason why.

Importing Only

Please note that the automated import process is only for importing new graduates or adding existing graduates to new ceremonies; if your import file contains updates to existing graduates, those changes will not be processed. If you would like to perform a bulk update of existing graduates from an Excel or CSV file, that function is available in the Tassel hub.

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