Peel's SIS MarkBook Export File The Peel DSB uses a student information system commonly known as SIS. It runs on an Oracle data base and has several downloads for Asylum Software products.
Peel's SIS MarkBook Export File 
Peel's SIS has an export file for MarkBook
users to set up classes electronically. This file has a record for every student currently registered in the school.
One file will build or update every class in the school. Teachers must use MarkBook's "Import If" feature to select
the students in a specific class or a specific Home Form from the file. Following are the details of how to obtain the MarkBook
class export from Peel's
SIS and then how to select classes from the file. From the Peel
District's Main Menu, select School in the upper menu bar to view the pop-down menu options. Select Data
Exchange and then click Data Downloads:
The resulting Demographic Export screen has a pair of green and red Download: buttons at the
lower left. Click on the green + button to expose the Types of Downloads
menu shown here. Note that there are three downloads for MarkBook. With your mouse, click on
#50 MarkBook to select that option. Click OK at the bottom center of this screen.
Download #51 will import all secondary student timetables, student attendance, and current
grades in each subject into MarkBook - see the Import Timetable function in section 4-2.
#51 also imports this information into LockerManager for school administrators.
Download #52
imports secondary teacher timetables (period, course/section, room, number of
students) into LockerManager. Both sets of data will end up
on users' handheld computers - MarkBook CNX for teachers, MarkBook Admin Edition
and LockerManager for
administrators. All three downloads should be re-run
periodically to update class and timetable data in MarkBook, in MarkBook Admin
Edition and in LockerManager. See
section 4-8.
Once you click OK
in the previous screen, you will be returned to the Demographic Export screen
following with the MarkBook download highlighted in blue. At the bottom of this screen, you must select a location (Create file in:) and a name (Filename:) for the file about to be generated.
By default, SIS will try to create a file called mb.txt and put it in a folder called
C:\markbook,
a location which likely doesn't exist on the computer. We strongly recommend creating the file on the hard drive, c:\, as shown in the following example. Depending on your
school's modifications, the file may be called mb.txt, or mb_sec.txt, or mb_ele.txt but you may edit this to
any other name. If specifying another location, make sure that the location exists and that it's a secure location away from students! Click once on the Full Extract button near the upper right. This ensures that all students will be selected.
Once you have established the
file's target location and name, click the Create Files
button at the lower right. This will initiate the construction of the file.
You'll likely get a message saying that the file already exists even if it
doesn't. Click OK and the extract will begin. It will take about 20 minutes to complete in a large school.
You'll likely get a "file already exists" message at the end of the
download. Press OK and you'll get a 'XXX records created' message. Depending on
the size of the school, the generated
file will be up to 250 Kb in size. Once complete, use Windows Explorer to copy the file from c: onto a
diskette, a USB stick, or into a secure location in the school's network. That is, copy it to other locations where staff members may use
it but where students do not have access. To leave this Demographic Export screen, click the exit door symbol in the lower
right of this screen. This
SIS-to-MarkBook file has a header. There are sixteen fields per student
including a TAP field and a Miscellaneous field. General details on importing this
kind of data into MarkBook are in section 4-4 and following. In the following
image, the teacher is importing all students in Home Form 7A using download #50.
Note that 7A is typed in the first Import If ... cell at the
center left and the
Import field (#14) is ignored. Ignore the TAP field as well. Once the fields are matched and the Home Form is
specified, click the Import Students button in the lower right and all 7A
students will be filtered from this SIS file. Use the DOB drop-down menu at the
lower left of this screen to match the birth date format to YearMMDD.
Suppose that a
Phys Ed class is being imported into MarkBook. In the following example, all
girls in 7A or 7B are being imported. Import If #1 (highlighted on
field 4) is pointed at the Gender field. F is typed in the Import If # 1
contains cell. F is also specified in the What If ... section. Now, when
the user clicks Import Students, MarkBook will import only those girls
registered in
7A or 7B.
The following MarkBook import image uses
a #50 Peel SIS download file. The first record is a header and there are 607
student records in this sample school. The Import field (14th field) has all of the course
codes and sections for each student. Match Import If #1 against it as per
this image. Match the DOB format
to YearMMDD using the toggle at the lower left. Ignore the TAP filed (not
shown). Type in the course code
in the Import If #1 contains cell - this teacher is importing those students registered in ENG3A0D. Be very careful about
the number zero 0 versus the letter O in the selected course code.
If this teacher attempted to import all students in ENG3AOD, MarkBook
would report zero students found. Note that this is a first semester course and HF2 is ignored. In second semester, ignore HF1.
Once the course and section are specified, click the Import Students
button.
Once the class
has been imported successfully, the teacher may use optional Download #51 to
import all student timetables as in section 4-2.
Both #50 and #51 should be re-run periodically to update all classes and
timetable information.
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