Syncing student and staff information with Annie

Student and staff data integration with Annie

To use Annie, data for participating students and staff must be transferred to the system. There are several ways to achieve this:

1. Manual data input in the Admin view

Preparation Time: Available immediately, but input time varies.
Process: Data is editable directly in the Annie admin interface (e.g., “Add User”).
Advantages: No automated systems required; data is available instantly.
Considerations: Labor-intensive and prone to error without automation; currently available only for managing staff data.

2. Batch upload with Excel files

Preparation Time: Approx. 2–5 calendar days (1–3 hours of active work) per message dispatch.
Process: Export the required data from the educational institution’s systems and enter it into the Annie Excel template. Upload the completed file in the Annie interface.
Advantages: Flexibility in data handling and the ability to manually verify data before import.
Considerations: Labor-intensive and requires familiarity with data conversions. Potential for manual errors.

3. Automated API Integration

Preparation Time: 4-8 hours of active work as a one-time setup.
Process: A secure connection is defined via APIs between the Student Information System (SIS) and Annie, ensuring Annie has up-to-date student and staff data daily.
Advantages: Fully automated; enables data-driven use cases.
Considerations: Requires completing an integration project.

What does automated API integration mean?

Integration allows for personalized support services via the Annie support bot, based on each student’s background and academic progress. Automation also creates new possibilities, such as triggering support messages based on accumulated data (e.g., absence patterns).

A key part of the integration is correctly linking students with the right professionals so that support requests generated through the bot reach the correct personnel.

Supported Student Information Systems:

Annie supports integrations with any SIS that provides a REST API or automated file transfer (via sFTP). Most systems can be integrated, but specific examples of such systems are Peppi, SISU, Primus/Wilma, OSIRIS, Magister and Salesforce.
If you use another system, contact us to explore what an intervention would require!

The Integration Process

You can arrange to start the process with your Annie contact person.

First Integration Meeting

Purpose and goals of the integration.
Forming the project group and assigning responsibilities.
Reviewing and commenting on the integration checklist.
Agreeing on next steps (technical process, data validation).

Between Meetings

Technical construction and testing of data transfer.
Commencement of data content validation.
Confirming data protection and contractual aspects (by this stage at the latest).

Second Integration Meeting

Observations on technical functionality and potential follow-up actions.
Observations on data integrity and potential follow-up actions.
Decision on going live with the integration.

Post-Integration

Continuous monitoring and automatic reporting of integration errors/warnings.
Potential additions to data content for new use cases.

Technical Documentation

Data Content to be Transferred

1) Student Data (API)

Mandatory: Phone number, First name, Last name, Student ID, Group, Degree, Campus/Location.
Optional (used for targeting interventions): Study start date, estimated graduation date, internship start date, thesis start date, absences in the last month, no credits earned in six months, or a “concern flag” marked by a teacher.

2) Staff Data (API)

Mandatory: User ID, Email address, Phone number, First name, Last name.
Optional (used for role mapping): Job title, Campus/Location(s), Assigned group(s).

3) Role Mapping To direct support to the right people, students must be mapped to specific staff members. This can be individual (e.g., naming a specific counselor for a student) or group-based.

Data Transfer Description

Process: Data is transferred via REST API as separate datasets for students and staff.
Security: All communication is secured via HTTPS. Authentication is performed using an API Key in the request header. Firewalls are configured to allow traffic only from authorized IP addresses.
Error Handling: Warnings do not prevent data from being saved, but errors will block the specific record. The entire dataset is not rejected due to individual errors. Error reports are sent via email.
Automation: Schedules can be automated (e.g., every weekday morning).