The Incoming Settings tab allows you to set up the features for inbound provisioning.

To access the Incoming Settings tab

  1. Sign in to Blackboard.
  2. Access the Administrator panel.
  3. Select Platform Extensions from Cloud Management.
  4. Choose Edit Settings from the Grade Export v2 menu.
  5. Select the Incoming Settings tab.

Schedule Job

  1. If Set Job Status is Enabled, the provisioning job will run based on the CRON schedule set in the next step. If it is Disabled, the job will not run on a schedule but can still be manually run. We recommend that you leave the job disabled while you are setting it up and set it to enabled when you have finished.
  2. Enter a valid CRON expression in the CRON Schedule field to determine when the job will run. A good value is 0 0 2 1/1 * ? * ; this will set the job to run at 2:00 am every day.
  3. Enter the default folder where gradable items will be created in the Provisioning Content Area field. This default can be overridden in the transaction.
  4. The Content Item Provisioning Check defines the rule for adding provisioned content items to the course. Choose from the following options:
    • No Restrictions: always adds items from the feed as new content items
    • One-Time Only: adds any given item only once
    • Update Matches By Name: adds items on the first pass; on subsequent imports, updates them based on a match with the content item title
    • Update Matches By Metadata: adds items on the first pass; on subsequent imports, updates them based on a match with a metadata attribute that is included in the item's optional data. The match is based on the attribute with the key as defined below.
  5. The Grade Column Provisioning Check defines the rule for adding provisioned manual grade columns or grade columns created as a result of provisioned content items to the gradebook. Choose from the following options:
    • No Restrictions: always adds items from the feed as new grade columns
    • Update Matches By Name: Adds items on the first pass; on subsequent imports, updates them based on a match with the content item title
    • Update Matches By Metadata: adds items on the first pass; on subsequent imports, updates them based on a match with a metadata attribute that is included in the item's optional data. The match is based on the attribute with the key as defined below.
  6. The Metadata Key field will appear if you choose Update Matches By Metadata for either Content Item Provisioning Check or Grade Column Provisioning Check. In this field, enter the metadata key that will be used to perform the matching pattern to determine whether items are updated.
  7. In the REST Key (Ultra only) field, enter the key use for Learn REST calls for Ultra, registered with the public REST API. This is necessary when creating items for Ultra courses.
  8. In the REST Secret (Ultra only), registered with the public REST API. This is necessary when creating items for Ultra courses.

Course Copy Settings

Select Yes to include the extended data from the source course in the target course when performing a course copy.

Source Transfer Settings

Fill in the following  information about the transfer settings for the provisioning file.

SaaS only support SFTP.

  • Server: enter the URL or IP address of the SFTP server.
  • Port: enter the SFTP port (typically 22).
  • Username: enter the SFTP username.
  • Password: enter the SFTP password.
  • Path: enter the path for the incoming files.

File Format

Fill in the following information about the provisioning file.

  • Field Delimiter: enter the field delimiter of the incoming file (example: |).
  • Field Qualifier: enter the character to use if the data extracted contains the delimiter (example: ").
  • Format for date column: enter the formatting for any date fields included in the incoming file. Use Java SimpleDateFormat.
  • Course Filter Mask: Enter a regular expression to match the courses that should have their data processed. If this is left blank, all courses are processed.

Default Visibility of Provisioned Items

Select whether provisioned content items should be Hidden or Visible to students by default.

Grade Column Settings

  1. Select Make Grade Columns visible to Students? if manual, weighted, and total grade columns should automatically be visible to students (assignments and tests are made available based on the JSON “available” attribute).
  2. Select Include Grade Columns in Calculations? if grade columns should be included in the calculation of calculated columns.
  3. Select Use running total in calculations? if calculated columns should be created as running totals. A running total only included items that have grades or attempts.
  4. Select Hide the default total and weighted total columns (Classic only)? if the default total and weighted total column should be hidden from the instructor view in Original courses.
  5. Select Enable Anonymous Grading if columns should be created to be graded anonymously.
  6. From the Default Calculation Setting (Ultra Courses only), choose the default calculation function for calculated grade columns in Ultra courses.

Click Submit to save.

Flat File Specifications
REST Specifications