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Managing Pre-Admissions Students and Guardians with Manual Uploads and SIS Integration

This article is helpful when you need Pre-Admissions Students and Guardians in Clipboard for Activity Selection, but your SIS doesn't allow the data to by synced via an integration.

Overview

This article is intended for IT Admins who need to manage pre-admissions students and guardians when they cannot be integrated from your Student Information System (SIS).

To do this, you’ll need to turn off your student and guardian integration, then upload the pre-admissions student and guardian as internal.

Please follow the steps below carefully, because this is a high-risk action. If you accidentally duplicate the students or guardians in your account and the Clipboard team need to intervene manually, a migration fee may apply.
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If you are unsure about your integration setup, please refer to your school's IT Admin user or contact [email protected].

Understanding the Process

Key Requirements

For this process to work successfully, you must have:

  • Accurate SIS IDs for all students and guardians you plan to upload

  • Confirmation that SIS IDs will not change between upload and integration activation

  • Understanding that SIS IDs are case sensitive

  • Understanding that integrations will be temporarily switched off until your SIS rollover is complete

Prerequisites

Before beginning this process:

  1. Confirm you have IT Admin access to Clipboard

  2. Obtain complete and accurate SIS IDs for all pre-admissions students and guardians

  3. Understand your school's SIS rollover timeline (e.g., when year 4 students move to year 5)

  4. Have internal school approval to temporarily disable your student and guardian integrations

Step-by-Step Process

Step 1: Prepare Your Upload Files

  1. Create CSV files containing:

    • Student information with correct SIS IDs

    • Guardian information with correct SIS IDs and email addresses

Important Notes:

  • SIS IDs are case-sensitive - "ABC123" is different from "abc123"

  • Ensure all SIS IDs are exactly as they will appear in your SIS integration

Step 2: Disable SIS Integrations

  1. Navigate to Integration in Clipboard (access via https://go.clipboard.app/integration/manage)

  2. Locate your student and guardian integration toggles

  3. Turn off both student and guardian integrations

Warning: Your existing students and guardians will no longer receive updates from your SIS while integrations are disabled. Plan this carefully around your school's operational needs.

Step 3: Upload Pre-Admissions Students & Guardians

  1. Navigate to the Student page in Clipboard

  2. Select More > Upload Students or Upload Guardians

  3. Upload your prepared CSV files, ensuring you upload to your School (NOT EXTERNAL)

  4. In the second step of the upload process, select "Add New" (not "Update")

    • This creates new internal students/guardians without affecting existing integrated students/guardians

  5. Complete the upload process

  6. Verify that the new students and guardians appear in your student list

Step 4: Grant Portal Access and Assign to Activities

With your pre-admissions students/guardians now in Clipboard, you can:

Step 5: Re-enable SIS Integrations

Once your SIS rollover is complete and pre-admissions students appear in your SIS as current students:

  1. Return to Integration settings

  2. Turn on your student and guardian integrations

  3. Click "Run Now" to force a full sync

  4. Monitor the integration logs to confirm successful synchronisation

Step 6: Verify Linking

After re-enabling integrations:

  1. Check that manually uploaded students/guardians have linked with SIS data

  2. Verify there are no duplicate student/guardian records on the Students Tab

  3. Confirm that guardian portal access remains active

Clipboard uses SIS IDs to match and link students/guardians. Provided the SIS IDs match exactly (case sensitivity taken into account), your manually uploaded students/guardians will merge with the incoming SIS data without creating duplicates.

When to Use This Approach

This process is suitable when:

  • Your SIS cannot integrate pre-admissions students in Clipboard

  • You need to manage Activity Selections before official enrolment start date for students

  • You have confirmed SIS IDs that will not change

  • Your school can operate with Clipboard integrations temporarily disabled

  • You understand your SIS rollover timeline

When NOT to Use This Approach

This process is not recommended when:

  • You don't have confirmed SIS IDs for pre-admissions students/guardians

  • SIS IDs may change between upload and integration activation

  • You need continuous SIS synchronisation for existing students/guardians

  • Your SIS can integrate pre-admissions students through standard processes

Troubleshooting Common Issues

"I've uploaded students/guardians but they're not linking with the SIS integration"

Solution: Check the following:

  • Verify that SIS IDs in your upload file exactly match the SIS (remember: case-sensitive)

  • Confirm that email addresses match between your upload and the SIS

  • Check integration logs for any error messages

  • Ensure you selected "Add New" rather than "Update" during upload

"I've created duplicate students/guardians"

Solution: This typically happens if you re-uploaded existing integrated students/guardians. Contact [email protected] for assistance in merging duplicate records. To prevent this, only upload new pre-admissions students/guardians who are not yet in your SIS integration.

"My integrations won't turn back on"

Solution:

  1. Check your integration logs for error messages

  2. Verify your SIS connection is active and responding

  3. Try turning the integration off and on again

  4. If issues persist, contact [email protected] with your integration log details

Related Articles

Need Additional Support?

If you encounter issues not covered in this guide or need assistance with your specific SIS integration setup, please contact [email protected] with:

  • Details of your SIS platform

  • Screenshots of any error messages from integration logs

  • The approximate number of pre-admissions students/guardians you need to manage

  • Your school's rollover timeline

For additional support, contact [email protected]

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