How to Import a Single-School Import File (Full Instructions) – Star Help

The Single-School File import type is a simple import of students, teachers, courses, and classes for one school at a time with a single comma-separated value (CSV) template file.

The following resources will also help you prepare a file of your data:

You can also find more information about preparing the file in Requirements for Preparing Files for Single-School File Import.

This topic also includes steps to prevent unwanted changes being made to your roster after import.

How to Import a Single-School Import File

Who can do this with default user permissions?

District Level Administrators, School Level Administrators

On the Renaissance Home page, select your initials in the upper-right corner. In the drop-down list, select Manage Apps & Users.
Under New School Year Wizards, select Upload Your Roster.
If you do not already have a .csv file to use, select Download File Template.csv (CSV). A SingleSchoolFileTemplate.csv file will be downloaded. Save the file so you can edit it.
For detailed information about the requirements to prepare your .csv import file for a successful import, select Requirements and Tips (PDF). You can also refer to Requirements for Preparing Files for Single-School File Import.
Open the template you just downloaded from Renaissance and fill it in, or review the .csv file you already have to see if it is complete and ready to import.

How can I update the files in Microsoft Excel®?

If you plan to use Excel to update your files be careful to follow these steps to avoid introducing formatting issues that would cause data to import incorrectly.

Rename the extension of your file from .csv to .txt.
Open Excel.
In Excel, browse for the file you renamed and open it. The Import Text Wizard will appear.
Under Choose the file type..., select Delimited. Then check the My data has headers box. Select Next.
In step 2 of the Import wizard, check the comma box as the delimiter and remove any other selected delimiter. Select Next.
In step 3 of the Import wizard:

Under Data preview, click in the header of the first column to select it, and then hold down the Shift key; scroll to the right and click the header of the last column in the file to select all the columns.
Under Column data format, select Text to change the format of all the column headers from General to Text.
Select Finish.

Your file will open and you can update it. Make any changes and save the file.
When you are done and the file is ready to import, change the file name extension back from .txt to .csv.

Save the .csv file.
In Renaissance, on the Import Rostering Data page for the Single-School File import type, drag and drop or browse your computer to upload the file you completed.
From the School drop-down list, select the school you want to import your data into.
From the School year drop-down list, select the School year you want your data imported into.

Which School Year? You can import into either the current school year or a future school year. If you choose a future school year, be very careful that the grades of the students in your import file will match the grades they will be in during the future school year.

Select Next.
On the Identify Rows page, check if all the data is good to go or if you need to make corrections.

You can cancel an import at any time by selecting Exit at the top-left of the page; you will lose any data you have entered so far.

You can also select Back at the top-right of the page to go back one step in the process.

To correct any rows highlighted in orange, select the row drop-down and select the appropriate option: Header Row, Data to Import, or Ignore this row.
the options available in the drop-down list for each row
When you are ready to proceed, select Next.

On the Identify Columns page, check if all the data is good to go or if you need to make corrections.

To correct any columns highlighted in orange, select the column drop-down and choose the appropriate option. Once corrected you will automatically move to the next highlighted column, if there are any.

When you are ready to proceed to the next step (Review Data), select Next.
On the Review Data to Import page, check if all the data is good to go or if you need to make corrections based on errors or changes to the selections in the summary area.

Import errors you might see

A red warning means you cannot proceed to step 4 until the error is corrected in the .csv import file. Red errors might include missing information, such as a missing course or class ID, or duplicate rows.
An orange warning means some data will not be imported but you can proceed without correcting the import file. Orange warnings might include missing first or last names for students or personnel or missing personnel email addresses; any row with this information missing will not be imported.
A black warning is just a notice and won’t impact import or prevent the next step. For example, if your file doesn't include student grades, you can continue, and the information will be imported, but this page will notify you that grades are needed if students will be taking Star tests.

Review any import errors or, if there are none, go to the next step. Correct all red warnings to proceed to the next step. To do so, you must update your .csv import file and select Upload an Updated File to start the import process over again with your updated file. You will be taken back to the initial Import page so you can upload the new file (see step 8 above).
After any errors are corrected, review the summary table and change the selections as needed. Removing check-marks will prevent that data from being included in the import. Adding check-marks will include that data in the import. Note: For class and course data, you can only import classes and their information if you choose to import courses, and you can only import class enrollments and teacher assignments if you choose to import the class data.
When you are ready to proceed to the Match Students step, select Next.
Select the rules for matching the students in your file with the students that are already in the system.
1. By default, if your file has SIDs (student IDs) in it, then the first matching rule will be to match on ID. If there are no SIDs in your file, it will match on student First and last name. You can change this rule to match on something else by selecting a different option from the drop-down list. Your options are: ID, First and last name, First and last name and birthday, State ID, and Username.
2. To add another matching rule, select Add more matching rules and from the drop-down list select the data you want to match on.
3. To delete a matching rule, select Delete this matching rule at the end of the rule you want to delete.
4. After you have selected the matching rules you want, review the two check boxes for Grade and Same School Enrollment. Check the box or boxes to have the students in your file matched on grade and/or school enrollment, in addition to the rules selected above.
- Grade: Student grades in the import file must match exactly with the grades in the system. If student grades do not match between both sources, duplicate students might be created.
- Same School Enrollment: Students must already be enrolled in the same school that has been selected for this import. If students are not enrolled in the selected school, duplicate students might be created.
1. After you have selected the rules for matching your students, select Preview Student Matching Results.
2. Review the matching results and confirm how you want the students to be imported by selecting or deselecting the check boxes described here. The numbers in the table will tell you how many existing students will be updated or new students created based on your import file.
- Update matched students from the import file with existing students in the system
- Create new students when there is no match between the import file and the system
1. When you are ready to proceed to step 5 Match Personnel, select Next.
Select the rules for matching the personnel in your file with the personnel that are already in the system.
1. By default, the first matching rule will match on personnel First and last name. You can change this rule to match on something else by selecting a different option from the drop-down list. Your options are: ID, First and last name, First and middle and last name, State ID, and Username.
2. To add another matching rule, select Add more matching rules and from the drop-down list select the data you want to match on.
3. To delete a matching rule, select Delete this matching rule at the end of the rule you want to delete.
4. After you have selected the matching rules you want, review the check box for Same School Enrollment. Check the box to have the personnel in your file matched on the same school enrollment as the school you chose to import into, in addition to the rules selected above.
- Same School Enrollment: Personnel must already be enrolled in the same school that has been selected for this import. If personnel are not enrolled in the selected school, duplicate personnel might be created.
1. After you have selected the rules for matching your personnel, select Preview Personnel Matching Results.
  
  If you see a matching error on the page with a Download error log link, personnel in your file have email addresses that are already being used by existing Renaissance users. Email addresses must be unique for each user in Renaissance. For more information about this error, see Step 5: Match Personnel.
  
  If you see other errors in a popup message, the message will tell you to contact Renaissance Technical Support for assistance.
2. Review the matching results and confirm how you want the personnel to be imported by selecting or deselecting the check boxes described here. The numbers in the table will tell you how many existing personnel will be updated or new personnel created based on your import file.
  - Update matched personnel from the import file with existing personnel in the system
  - Create new personnel when there is no match between the import file and the system
3. When you are ready to proceed to step 6 Match Courses, select Next.
Select how you want the courses in your file to be matched with the courses that are already in the system.
1. By default, if your file has COURSEIDs in it, then the first matching rule will be to match on Course ID. You can change this rule to match on Course Name by selecting Course Name from the drop-down list. If your file has only course names, course name will be selected and there will not be a drop-down list.
2. After you have selected the rules for matching your courses, select Preview Course Matching Results.
3. Review the matching results and confirm how you want the courses to be imported by selecting or deselecting the check boxes described here. The numbers in the table will tell you how many existing courses will be updated or new courses created based on your import file.
  - Update matched courses from the import file with existing courses in the system
  - Create new courses when there is no match between the import file and the system
4. When you are ready to proceed to step 7 Match Classes, select Next.
Select how you want the classes in your file to be matched with the classes that are already in the system.
1. By default, if your file has CLASSIDs in it, then the first matching rule will be to match on Class ID. You can change this rule to match on Class Name by selecting Class Name from the drop-down list. If your file has only class names, class name will be selected and there will not be a drop-down list.
2. After you have selected the rules for matching your classes, select Preview Class Matching Results.
3. Review the matching results and confirm how you want the classes to be imported by selecting or deselecting the check boxes described here. The numbers in the table will tell you how many existing classes will be updated or new classes created based on your import file.
  - Update matched classes from the import file with existing classes in the system
  - Create new classes when there is no match between the import file and the system
4. When you are ready to proceed to step 8 Review & Import, select Next.
Carefully review the table that summarizes what will be imported, looking for anything that might need to be corrected. In the Import File Uploaded by row, you will see the file name of the import and your role. Under that in the Enrollment school Import data row you will see a summary of the numbers of items imported per category, and how many new versus updated will be imported. If a student or personnel member will be updated, you'll see more information in the Updated Existing column. For students, if demographic information is available, you can select View Detail to see the demographic information.
View the Matching Options Review area to remind yourself of the matching rules you selected in previous steps. These are read-only and cannot be edited on this page.
If all of the above looks accurate, read the notice about there not being an undo option; once you start the import there is no way to undo it. Check the I read the above and am ready to start my import box.
Select Start this import to begin the process of importing the data from the file you uploaded into your Renaissance site.
You will see a progress icon and be taken to the Import History page where you will see a summary of the import you just completed. Imports typically take about 3-5 minutes; total import times vary based on the amount of data included.

How do I prevent unwanted changes to my roster?

We highly recommend that you set the Data Editing Restrictions to prevent anyone from modifying rostering information within Renaissance.