SchoolTool Implementation and Configuration Guide

Use the Schoology SchoolTool app to provision users, courses, and enrollment from SchoolTool into Schoology.

This article is for new Schoology users who also use SchoolTool, or for existing Schoology users who want to start using SchoolTool to provision users, courses, and enrollments into Schoology. Use the instructions in these articles to implement the SchoolTool integration for your school or organization. You can read this page in its entirety, or use the links outlined below to jump to specific steps in the process.

If this is your first time configuring this application, we strongly recommend reaching out to your Schoology representative for assistance.

Prior to getting started, you will need to obtain your SchoolTool Domain and Authorization Token from your SchoolTool representative.

SchoolTool Integration Overview

Schoology has developed a Student Information System (SIS) integration platform that enables Schoology to integrate with any SIS that provides a web services API. The integration provides a seamless method for keeping Schoology populated with users, courses, school, and enrollment data.

This section will address the following questions:

What information is transferred from SchoolTool to Schoology?
What information is transferred from Schoology to SchoolTool?
How often is information updated between the systems?
What is required to implement the SchoolTool App in Schoology?
What are the limitations to the SchoolTool integration?

What information is transferred from SchoolTool to Schoology?

Schoology will pull the following information from SchoolTool:

School building information
Grading periods
Users (staff and student accounts)
Courses, Sections, and Enrollments

All of the information listed above will be managed in SchoolTool and changes and updates will be transferred seamlessly to Schoology. However, it is important to note that in order to keep a consistent data model, any changes or updates made in Schoology will not be transferred to SchoolTool. You can add additional courses and users in Schoology that are not in SchoolTool without affecting your SchoolTool instance. This option is helpful if you want to do cross-school enrollments or if you have guest instructors, or if you have advisers that are not in SchoolTool.

What information is transferred from Schoology to SchoolTool?

The integration between SchoolTool and Schoology is a one-way sync and runs from SchoolTool into Schoology. No information in Schoology will be passed back to SchoolTool.

How often is information updated between the systems?

As an organization, you may determine the frequency of updates between the two systems.

The following options are available:

Manual (the system admin must manually sync the SchoolTool app in Schoology)
Scheduled (the syncing can occur on a daily schedule)

What is required to install the SchoolTool app in Schoology?

You will need to obtain your SchoolTool Domain and Authorization Token from your SchoolTool representative.
It is recommended that you sync your Active Directory with your SchoolTool instance.

What are the limitations to the SchoolTool integration?

SchoolTool does not send user accounts over the API if they have no enrollments. Therefore, users who are not enrolled in any courses in SchoolTool will not have accounts created in Schoology. Any staff without enrollments, such as administrators and advisors, will need to have their Schoology accounts manually created by a System Administrator.
The SchoolTool integration with Schoology is a one-way sync that runs from SchoolTool into Schoology. No grade or attendance data in Schoology will be passed back to SchoolTool via the Schoology SchoolTool integration. However, SchoolTool offers its own assignment grade passback integration option. Contact your SchoolTool representative for more information.

SchoolTool Integration Instructions

Now that you have acquired your Domain and Authorization Token from SchoolTool, you are ready to begin configuring the SchoolTool Schoology app.

You will need to set up the Configuration, Schools, and Terms tabs before you can start syncing Users, Courses, and Sections.

Configuration

Credentials

Enter your SchoolTool domain, as well as the Database Number and Database Key for your SchoolTool instance into the above fields in the Schoology SchoolTool App. Click Save API Credentials.

Sync Timing Options

Use SchoolTool Sync Timing Options to:

Choose whether the sync between SchoolTool and Schoology is manual or scheduled.
Set the frequency of the sync.

Manual: The system admin must manually sync the SchoolTool app in Schoology.

Scheduled: The sync occurs daily.

Save Sync Options to save your settings. You can also change the settings at any time by re-saving the sync options.

This setting provisions users, courses, sections, and enrollment from SchoolTool into Schoology. You may also navigate to the respective tabs in the app and manually sync users, courses, or sections and enrollment at any time.

Test Mode

Check Test Mode when implementing the Schoology SchoolTool app for the first time.

This option will prepend all of the email addresses brought over during the sync with test_ [email address] to test the import. Since email addresses must be unique across Schoology, this option allows you to run a "test sync" while preventing email conflicts when you are ready to enable the sync.

If you are unsure if you should be checking or unchecking the Test Mode option, contact your Schoology representative.

Schoology Acting User

To make any changes to the SchoolTool app, you must be its acting user and a Schoology administrator for your organization. Active users see the following message displayed in the Schoology Acting User area:

If you don't see this message, click the button to make yourself the acting user for your account.

Schools

If you have more than one school or building in your Schoology Enterprise account, choose which Schoology school or building you would like your SchoolTool data to sync into:

Terms

After you've completed setting up the Configuration and Schools tabs, you're ready to map your SchoolTool Terms to your Schoology Grading Periods.

After you create your schools, they are listed in the Terms tab of the SchoolTool app.

Map all of the existing SchoolTool terms to their corresponding periods in Schoology.

If a term already exists in Schoology, choose the corresponding term in the dropdown.
If it does not exist, select Create New Grading Period from the dropdown.
If you have already created Grading Periods in the Grade Settings area of System Settings, but you do not see the Schoology Grading Periods appearing, click Refresh Data in the upper right corner of the Terms screen.

You can also map a grading term in SchoolTool to multiple grading periods in Schoology. To map one SchoolTool term to more than one Schoology grading period, click the blue Add link to the right of the Schoology Grading Period dropdown.

After setting up your Configuration, Schools, and Terms tabs, contact your Schoology representative or the Schoology Onboarding team before proceeding with the rest of the SchoolTool integration. Your Schoology representative will provide additional guidance and instructions to ensure seamless integration.

You can work with your Schoology representative to use the Data Prep tool to ensure a successful integration.

SchoolTool App Synchronization

Now that you have configured your app, you are ready to sync users, courses, and sections.

Users

To sync users from SchoolTool to Schoology, you must select the role to which the account will be mapped.

Check the box to the left of the school name.
Map the Student role in SchoolTool to a role in Schoology. Most schools select the Student role in Schoology as well.
Map the Staff role in SchoolTool to a role in Schoology.
Click Sync Users to begin your first User sync with SchoolTool. This button also allows you to manually sync users at any time.
- If you do not want to provision certain roles into Schoology, you can select Do Not Sync.
- User accounts are not included in the Users' sync unless they are enrolled in courses. Any staff without enrollments, such as administrators and advisors, will need to have their Schoology accounts manually created by a System Administrator.
- Passwords are not included in the sync. Schoology auto-generates passwords for all users created from the sync. You can view and export passwords in Manage Users. These passwords can be used for login for any organization not using Single Sign-On. If required, school-issued passwords can be imported via a manual User Import.

Courses

To provision Schoology with the courses in your SchoolTool instance, select the school(s) for which you'd like courses provisioned. Then click Sync Courses to bring in SchoolTool courses into Schoology.

Sections

To provision Schoology with the sections and enrollments in your SchoolTool instance, select the school(s) for which you'd like sections provisioned. Then click Sync Sections/Enrollments to bring in SchoolTool sections and enrollments into Schoology.