Academic credentials received through Educational Perspectives are imported into Slate automatically. The following steps describe how to configure Slate, where the documents match existing records in Slate or, if desired, create new records. 

Source Format

The Educational Perspectives Source Format extracts the ZIP archive that Educational Perspectives will send and assign the materials in the archive to the appropriate records and material types using the index file. 

1. Click Database on the Slate navigation bar and select Source Format Library in the Import section.
2. Locate the Educational Perspectives line (with DIP in the Format column) and click the Add link.
3. Select Source Formats In the upper-right corner of the page. The Source Formats page appears.
4. Click Edit next to the Educational Perspectives Source format.
5. If you want to prevent the source format from creating new records if a matching record cannot be found, change the Update Only value to "Update only." Note: This setting will prevent the import from creating new records if an existing record does not exist. However, the documents will still be created and available for manual processing in Batch Acquire.
6. Click Save.

The /incoming/EP/ directory is created the first time the SFTP sweep runs after the Source Format has been added to the database, which generally occurs approximately every 15 minutes. The directory can also be manually created if desired. This directory must exist before Educational Perspectives can connect, so keep this in mind when moving on to the following steps.

User Account

The Educational Perspectives user account is a service account that will provide Educational Perspectives with access to drop off files to your /incoming/EP/ SFTP directory.

Caution: Do not change any other settings for the user account. These settings are required for Educational Perspectives to connect successfully to Slate.

1. Click Database on the Slate navigation bar and select Slate Template Library in the Configurations section.
2. Locate and select the Users heading. Locate the Educational Perspectives Service Account line and click the Add link. Select Add in the popup.
3. Click Database on the Slate navigation bar and select User Permissions in the Users & Access section.
4. Select the Service Account, Educational Perspectives on the Active Users page. The service account summary page appears.
5. Click Edit User. The Educational Perspectives Service Account popup appears.
6. Select the Roles Tab.  7. Locate the  SFTP Access area and click the Reset Password link. A popup appears to confirm resetting the password. Enter RESET in the popup and click OK.
8. Copy the generated password and paste it into a temporary document. This is the server password that you will provide to Educational Perspectives. After selecting Save, this password will not appear again. The Reset Password link allows you to generate a new password if necessary.
9. Copy the Username line value. You will provide the username to Educational Perspectives so that they can configure the SFTP connection.

Final Slate Configuration

Once you have received at least one file from Educational Perspectives, you can confirm and customize the remap settings and activate the import for automatic processing.

Remap Settings

The remap settings of the Source Format tell Slate how to process the data for the uploaded files. As with other standard Source Formats, standard fields have been pre-mapped, but you can adjust these standard mappings.

Remap Activation

Once finished customizing the Remap settings, turn on the import using the following steps:

Select Database on the top navigation bar and select Source Formats. Select the Educational Perspectives Source Format. Set the Remap Active flag to Active. Select Save.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often are documents delivered?

Educational Perspectives delivers the zip files to Slate daily, and Slate sweeps the SFTP directory for new files approximately every 15 minutes. 

Why are we seeing documents go to Batch Acquire?

Documents will be sent to Batch Acquire for the following reasons:

• The Educational Perspectives Source Format is configured to not create new records (via the Update Only setting), and an existing matching record could not be found in Slate.
• Not enough data was included in the index file to match onto an existing record or create a new record.
• The document's filename was not included in the index file.
• The index file did not contain a document type, or the document type sent in the index file was not mapped to a material type in Slate.
• The document type was mapped to a school-scoped Slate material, but the index file did not include a school.

Why are duplicate person records being created in Slate?

Sometimes an institution may send more than one document for a student, such as a transcript and a letter of recommendation. If the school sends these documents simultaneously, they are likely to be delivered in the same zip file, meaning the same student will be listed in two rows in the index file. If the Source Format is configured to allow record creation, it is not configured to dedupe records in the source, and that student does not yet exist as a record in Slate, then two records will be created for that record. The duplicate records can be merged via Consolidate Records in Slate.

I forgot to map a document type, and now many documents are in Batch Acquire. Is there a way to assign these documents in batch? 

Yes! After you map the document type that was not mapped before, you can run a Retroactive Refresh. Any material in Batch Acquire from the selected sources will be eligible for the refresh. If the Slate material type you selected is school-scoped, you will need to select the school destinations for the refresh in addition to the Material Filename and Material Code destinations. Otherwise, only the material destinations need to be selected.

Support Resources 

For assistance and support on any of the steps for Educational Perspectives, reach out to them via email at info@edperspective.org.