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Syncing Staff from Compass to Clipboard

Ensure your Staff are flowing seamlessly into Clipboard so you can assign them to Sessions & Teams accordingly.

This process requires IT Admin access in both Compass and Clipboard.

Staff who teach extracurricular Activities, run Fixtures, or mark attendance in Clipboard can be synchronised automatically from Compass. This removes the need to manually add each staff member to Clipboard or keep their SIS ID in step with Compass.

What the sync does

Each day (or on demand), Clipboard requests the list of staff your school has flagged as Clipboard users. For each staff member:

  • New staff are added to Clipboard with Staff-level access

  • Existing staff are matched to their Clipboard record and kept up to date (name, email)

  • Staff removed from the list are frozen in Clipboard - they can no longer log in or be rostered, but their history is preserved

  • Staff re-added to the list are unfrozen and resume normal access

Clipboard identifies each staff member using their CompassPersonID, so renaming, username changes, or email updates in Compass won't create duplicates.

What syncs

Field

Source in Compass

Notes

First name

firstName

Preferred first name, or first name if no preferred name is set

Last name

lastName

Preferred last name, or last name if no preferred name is set

Email

schoolEmail

Used for login and matching

External ID

compassPersonId

Stored on the Staff record

Clipboard records one name for each staff member. If a preferred name is set in Compass, that is the name shown in Clipboard.

What doesn't sync

  • Photos

  • Manager or Admin access levels - new staff are created at Staff level and promoted in Clipboard manually

  • Phone numbers or contact details beyond email

  • Roles, pastoral responsibilities, or year-level assignments

Controlling which staff sync

The sync is permission-based. Only staff assigned the ClipboardAppUser permission in Compass are included.

Clipboard is licensed per staff member. Syncing every Compass staff member - including office, grounds, and non-teaching staff - would bring in people who don't need Clipboard access. The permission lets you choose who syncs.

Prerequisites

Before enabling Staff Sync, confirm:

  • The incoming Compass integration is set up and working for students and guardians. See Steps to Set Up the Compass Incoming and Outgoing Integration.

  • A Compass API user exists with the CompassAPIUserClipboard Role Group and a valid API key.

  • The ClipboardAppUser permission is available in your Compass instance (contact Compass Support if not).

  • The Role Group is populated with the staff you want to sync.

Setup in Compass

  1. Assign the role group that has the ClipboardAppUser to the users you want to sync into Clipboard. Your Compass administrator can set this up; work with them to determine whether it will be best for your use case to have this permission assigned to your existing role groups, or they can create a standalone role group called CompassClipboardAppUser for you.

  2. Staff who are assigned the ClipboardAppUser permission via their role group/s will sync into Clipboard.

  3. Staff who are removed from role groups containing the ClipboardAppUser permission will be frozen in Clipboard.

Enabling the sync in Clipboard

Once the prerequisites are in place:

  1. Let your Clipboard CSM know you're ready to enable Staff Sync. They will turn it on for your school.

  2. Once you have the setting enabled, go to Integrations > Manage Integrations > Incoming > Staff and enable the sync. Ensure you use the Compass API User key provided to you by Compass.

  3. Select Test Run and check the result in Logs. It shows how many staff would be added, updated or frozen, without changing anything. See Previewing an Incoming Sync with Test Run.

  4. Run the sync once to populate. Depending on the number of staff, this typically completes within a few minutes. Select Test Run first to preview who will be added, updated and frozen.

  5. Go to Integrations > Manage Integrations > Logs to confirm the sync completed successfully, and verify the correct Staff synced/froze/unfroze/etc.

  6. Check the Staff list (Settings > Staff) - synced staff will appear with their Compass details.

Ongoing syncs run daily. No manual trigger required. To sync more often, select Manage times under Staff on the Manage Integrations page, then add additional times.

If staff already exist in Clipboard

The sync matches existing Clipboard staff to Compass records by email address on the first run. When a match is found, the Clipboard record is automatically linked to the Compass record and stays in sync thereafter using the CompassPersonId.

To check first, use Test Run. If it shows more staff being added than you have new staff, some email addresses do not match.

Prior to running the sync for the first time, if a staff member exists in Clipboard but their email doesn't match what's in Compass, update the existing profile's email address to match and run the sync.

If the first sync runs and the emails don't match, it will create a new staff profile. Please contact Clipboard support, who will have our team clear the duplicate profile, then update the existing profile's email address in Clipboard to match the Compass email, and run the sync.

Managing staff lifecycle

Adding a new staff member

  1. Add the staff member to your school's CompassClipboardAppUser Role Group in Compass.

  2. Wait for the next daily sync, or contact your IT Admin to trigger a manual sync.

  3. The staff member appears in Clipboard with Staff-level access.

  4. Promote them to Manager or Admin in Clipboard if needed (Settings > Staff > select staff > Edit > Access Level).

Staff member leaves the school

Mark the staff member as Left in Compass as part of your normal offboarding, or remove them from the Role Group. They are frozen in Clipboard at the next weekly full sync, or straight away if an IT Admin selects 'Run Now,' freezes them in Clipboard.

Staff member changes name, email, or takes a new role

No action required. The daily sync automatically picks up name and email changes. Clipboard access levels (Staff / Manager / Admin) are managed in Clipboard and should be updated manually when responsibilities change. Make these changes in Compass. Changes made in Clipboard, including deactivating a synced staff member, are replaced by the sync.

Troubleshooting

A staff member I expect to sync isn't appearing

  1. Confirm they're in the CompassClipboardAppUser Role Group in Compass.

  2. Check they have a valid email in Compass.

  3. Look in Integrations > Incoming > Logs for the latest sync run and any errors.

  4. If the issue persists, contact Clipboard Support.

A staff member shows the wrong name on a session

The session was likely created before the staff member had a valid CompassPersonID. Once the sync populates their identity, newly created sessions show the correct name. Existing sessions may show "Clipboard User" and can be corrected by editing the session.

Too many staff were synced, or the wrong ones

Remove the affected staff from the CompassClipboardAppUser Role Group in Compass. The next sync freezes them in Clipboard. History is preserved and they can be unfrozen by re-adding them to the Role Group.

The sync was blocked or didn't run

Clipboard has a safety guardrail that stops a sync that would freeze a large number of staff at once (more than 10 staff, and more than 50% of the total). This prevents a misconfigured Role Group from locking out your school. Contact Clipboard Support if this happens - we'll review the sync with you before running it.

Duplicate staff appearing

The sync uses a stable identifier that doesn't change when emails or usernames update, so duplicates shouldn't occur.

If you see duplicates, contact Clipboard Support with an example.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Do I need to set the CompassPersonID on each staff profile manually?

A: No. The sync handles this automatically. Existing CompassPersonID values are preserved and used for matching.

Q: How often does the sync run?

A: A partial sync is run once per day, updating any recent changes made in Compass. A full staff sync runs once a week, repeating from the date/time of the last manually triggered sync. Please contact your IT Admin if you need a manual sync (for example, to onboard new staff immediately).

Q: What happens to a staff member's team assignments when they're frozen?

A: Team memberships, historical sessions, and attendance records are preserved. The staff member can't log in or be rostered on new sessions until unfrozen.

Q: Can I sync only teaching staff and exclude non-teaching staff?

A: Yes. Only assign the Role Group to staff you want synced.

Q: Can casual or external coaches be synced?

A: Only if they exist in Compass and are in the CompassClipboardAppUser Role Group. Otherwise, add them directly to Clipboard as Staff. The sync won't touch them.

Q: What if a staff member's email differs between Compass and Clipboard?

A: On the first sync, matching is attempted by email. If emails don't match and the staff member isn't already linked via CompassPersonID, a new Clipboard account will be created. Align emails before the first sync to avoid this.

Q: What happens if the sync is enabled and a staff user is in Clipboard but not in Compass?

If Clipboard and Compass cannot match the user, they will be excluded from the integration, and the user's profile will not change in Clipboard. However, if a staff member does not have a CompassPersonID in Clipboard, they will be unable to write back to Compass on sessions or attendance.

Getting help

Reach out to our support team via the in-app help chat or at [email protected] with:

  • Your school name

  • The issue you're seeing

  • Approximate time of the sync run (if relevant)

  • Name/email of any staff members affected

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