OpenApply & ManageBac Sync On-going Management
Use Cases
There are three actions that may happen during sync:
- User Update: A user’s demographic details (e.g. phone number) may have been updated in one system. During sync, this will transfer to the other system.
- User Creation: If a student is marked as Enrolled in OpenApply for the present academic year or earlier, an account will be created on ManageBac, together with their parents. Any new students created on ManageBac will be synced to OpenApply as Enrolled students.
- User Archive: If a student is marked as Withdrawn or Graduated in either system, they are archived on the next sync, together with their parents (if those parents no longer have any active children in the school).
This section of documentation details expected behaviour for each of these actions, together with common pitfalls and areas for administrators to review.
We strongly encourage administrators to work closely with our support team to:
- carefully review access and edit privileges for all users on ManageBac and OpenApply,
- carefully review their application forms on OpenApply to confirm where parents have access to editing core demographic fields, and
- develop a best practice flow for how data is updated in their systems.
1. User Update
This is when a user’s demographic details are updated in either ManageBac or OpenApply, and the data syncs over.
We strongly recommend that administrators review the access and permissions across both systems to ensure that these updates to data are controlled.
ManageBac
By default, all users on ManageBac are able to alter data in the core sync fields:
- Administrators: Have access and edit rights to all data across ManageBac
- Teachers: Can update student profile information if they have EDIT access
- Parents: Can update their own profile information if they have EDIT access
- Students: Can update their own profile information if they have EDIT access
If you have sync enabled, we strongly, strongly recommend that you lock access and permissions down for teachers, parents, and students. (See Settings > Access & Permissions on your ManageBac account, or refer to page 6 of this document.)
OpenApply
Changes to data in OpenApply may be introduced by:
(A) Administrators with “Ability to create, edit and delete”
Navigate to Settings > Staff Directory to review staff permissions.
(B) Parents on OpenApply who may directly edit the following core fields at any time:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Gender
- Profile Photo
- Home Street Address 1
- Home Street Address 2
- City
- State
- Postal Code
- Country
Parents can access their core profile information via their OpenApply Dashboard.
(C) From Parents via Forms on OpenApply, in the following cases:
- Student information is unlocked and therefore directly editable
- Parents complete forms (any type) that include sync fields
For example, during re-enrolment a parent may be asked to review or update address information. Once saved on OpenApply, this updated information will sync to ManageBac.
2. User Creation
The conditions under which a new student or parent account is created in ManageBac or OpenApply.
(A). A New Enrolled Student in OpenApply
Student is enrolled for the present academic year (or a prior year), and has parents.
The student will sync to ManageBac if:
- Student ID is valid and unique
- Student E-mail is valid and unique
The student’s parents will sync to ManageBac if:
- The parent e-mail is valid and unique
- The parent has an activated OpenApply account
For more information about how to activate parent accounts, see here.
If the parent already exists in ManageBac
There are two possibilities:
1. If all details match, the accounts will automatically be linked. This will occur most frequently with siblings. For example, Ann Epelbuam already has a ManageBac account because her daughter Chloe is enrolled at the school.
When Chloe’s brother Samuel is enrolled, Anne’s ManageBac account will be updated to reflect the additional child.
2. If all details do NOT match, then the account will be flagged as a duplicate and will not be linked. Samuel will sync to ManageBac as an enrolled child without a mother.
Please resolve the duplicate within the admin console.
Common Scenarios
If you are not seeing a student or parent syncing, please run an export from ManageBac via Settings > School Directory. Click on the three dots and Export Students & Parents. You can do a “Find” in the file to check the Student IDs and E-mail Addresses.
Most often when a student is not syncing, the e-mail address was previously taken (often by an existing parent in the system) or the student previously existed in the system (and is currently archived).
Please also note e-mail addresses with accent marks are not accepted by ManageBac.
(B). A New Student in ManageBac
A new student is created on ManageBac. The student will sync to OpenApply as an Enrolled student with a bare bones profile.
(C). A New Parent in ManageBac
A new parent is created on ManageBac. The parent will sync to OpenApply with a bare bones profile.
Note that this parent account will need to be activated.
Final Notes:
- In ManageBac, all administrators can create new students or parents.
- In OpenApply, any administrator with “Ability to create, edit and delete” (see page 28 for more) can create new accounts and change applicant statuses.
3. User Archive
The conditions under which an existing student or parent account may be archived in ManageBac or OpenApply.
Via ManageBac
- An entire year group is archived in ManageBac.
This is most common upon graduation.
All students in the year group are archived (via Edit Group Settings). These students will be archived on the system and marked as Graduated with the date of archival.
These students’ statuses will be updated in OpenApply upon sync.
- Student is marked as Withdrawn in ManageBac.
The student status will be updated in OpenApply upon sync.
- Parent is archived in ManageBac.
Nothing happens in OpenApply.
- Student is Withdrawn or Graduated in ManageBac. What happens to the parents?
If a parent does not have active children in ManageBac, they are automatically archived. The parent account will remain active if there is at least one child still enrolled at the school.
For example, if Chloe graduates but her younger brother Samuel is still enrolled, her parents will still retain their ManageBac accounts.
OpenApply does not archive parents under any conditions. Upon logging in to OpenApply, a parent would still see the student statuses and have access to any forms (for example, alumni forms) that the school requests.
Via OpenApply
- Student is marked as Graduated in OpenApply.
They are archived in OpenApply. Upon sync, the date and the status are updated in ManageBac.
- Student is marked as Withdrawn in OpenApply.
Same as above.
4. Deletions
The sync does not support user deletions.
Once a day, our system checks for deleted users, and then stops any further sync across systems. In other words, we will not sync deletions.
(A) I mistakenly created a student in ManageBac that has synced over to OpenApply. Can I delete the student?
If you delete the student in ManageBac, nothing will happen to the student in OpenApply. The remaining profile will simply be excluded from sync. (The same is true vice versa.)
In this case, we recommend deleting the student directly in both systems.
(B) I created a student in ManageBac that was synced over to OpenApply. I deleted him in OpenApply by accident!
Nothing will happen to the profile in ManageBac, but it will be excluded from further sync. (The same is true vice versa.)
If this was a mistake and you need to re-enable sync, please let us know and we will manually re-enable the flow.
OpenApply & ManageBac Sync FAQs
Students
- I just enrolled a new student in OpenApply. It’s been more than two hours and I don’t see them in ManageBac. What happened?
Please review the following information in OpenApply:
- They have a first and last name on their profile
- They have a valid and unique email address (not using a parent's email)
- They have a valid Student ID
- They are marked as enrolled with the enrolment date current
- They are enrolled in an academic year that is current
If the Student E-mail or ID is already used on ManageBac, the student will not sync.
- I just enrolled a new student in OpenApply. They’ve synced over to ManageBac but they are missing information.
Please double-check the fields you’re using on your forms, to confirm that the fields are the correct global fields. If they are custom fields, they are excluded from the sync.
- I just enrolled a new student in OpenApply. They’ve synced over to ManageBac but they didn’t get a welcome e-mail.
Welcome e-mails are not automatically sent. Please navigate to Settings > School Directory to send welcome e-mails.
Parents
- My newly enrolled students synced successfully over to ManageBac, but I don’t see the parents appearing.
Only parents with activated OpenApply accounts will sync over to ManageBac.
- The parents have synced to ManageBac but they have not received a welcome e-mail.
Welcome e-mails are not automatically sent. Please navigate to Settings > School Directory to send welcome e-mails.
- Parent change e-mail notifications
As a security measure, e-mail change notifications are sent out by ManageBac and OpenApply to any parent where the e-mail address has changed.
Miscellaneous
- I need to add or remove a year level.
We will help you create or remove this new year level. Please do not do this independently.
- What is the difference between e-mail activation and verification?
We allow user accounts on both ManageBac and OpenApply to be created either individually or in bulk, but users cannot login until their accounts are activated.
Accounts are activated via a welcome e-mail that invites the user to login and set their password for the first time.
When a user logs in for the first time, we send a verification e-mail to their e-mail address, to independently confirm the e-mail address is accurate.
Only verified accounts have access to the Single Sign-On Launchpad.
- Can I update account information in bulk?
Yes, absolutely. There are a few places in both systems where you can update core information in bulk, either through a bulk edit screen or through a CSV import. We recommend working together with our support team to fix this.
- I marked a student as Enrolled in OpenApply, then I marked him as Waitlisted. However, I still see the record in ManageBac.
Unfortunately, our systems will sync only students with the following statuses:
- Enrolled
- Graduated
- Withdrawn
Since Waitlisted in OpenApply does not have a corresponding status in ManageBac, it cannot sync. In this case, we recommend either deleting or archiving the ManageBac record until the student is (maybe) Enrolled in the future.