Your account team is here to help you determine the right options for your institution and your transition. To best support you, it’s important to have some detailed and up to date information about your current Blackboard Learn usage. We provide the Blackboard Learn Transition Planning Building Block to help you easily gather core system details. Use this building block with the Information Gathering Workbook to collect additional important information about your plans—including SaaS and Ultra compatibility/equivalency information for building blocks.
Resources
You will need the following materials to gather information about your system and begin planning:
- Blackboard Learn Transition Planning Building Block (.war file)
- Learn SaaS Information Gathering Workbook (.xlsm file)
Visit the Community site to download all of the information gathering materials, including the building block to install on your production Blackboard Learn environment. These resources are available in English only.
The instructions below are based on version 1.5.3 or higher of the Building Block. If you have an earlier version installed, please upgrade to receive the latest functionality. The building block was previously known as Blackboard Learn Migration Information Gathering
More on how to install and manage building blocks
Getting started and providing the information to Blackboard
With the Building Block and Workbook, you can gather key data and information about your current Blackboard Learn environment, building block compatibility, and your plans for migration. You can access these reports from the Administrator Panel after the building block is installed and enabled. In the Tools menu, select Learn Transition Planning to get started.
- Open the Information Gathering Workbook. Enable macros for best results when working with the workbook. Initially, review:
- Information Gathering – here you can document your plans and other details
- Migration Planning Checklist – here you can track key milestones for your migration
- In System Admin > Learn Transition Planning, download and open the two files under Main Report – CSV download. Use the “Import” button in the corresponding sheets to import this data (or manually copy and paste):
- Main System Report
- Building Blocks
- Refer to the section below to review and complete the Other Integrations sheet, and add comments on the Building Blocks and Main System Report sheets as needed.
- Email your workbook to [email protected]
After receiving the file, your account team will reach out to review and discuss in more detail. The workbook is a living document that is updated as you develop your plans and progress through your path to SaaS.
Planning for Building Blocks and other integrations
The Building Blocks and Other Integrations worksheets help document your plans and needs for integrations and customization.
Use data from the Transition Planning Building Block along with institutional knowledge to review and complete these sheets. The results include Ultra compatibility and equivalency information for your installed Building Blocks, in addition to SaaS compatibility details. The documents will likely evolve as you explore your options, solidify your plans, and transition to migration planning. This worksheet is important for any migration method you choose.
Prepare your building blocks and integrations for migration:
- Ensure you have acquired the installation .war file for all building blocks you plan to use, and that the files are ready to install when migration planning begins. The Building Block CSV indicates if the .war file is present in the filesystem.
- Contact the building block vendor (for 3rd party building blocks) for information/assistance on migration options where applicable, or if you find important Building Blocks that are not marked as SaaS Compatible.
- Indicate in the Building Block sheet which building blocks you have decided not to install in the migrated environment.
- Document other integrations that may need attention in the Other Integrations sheet.
Additional reports
The Blackboard Learn Transition Planning Building Block provides several reports. Only the two files under Main Report – CSV download are required for planning, but there are additional reports you may find useful:
- Main Report – View in Learn - This report provides key data about your current Blackboard Learn environment, metrics, building blocks (including SaaS compatibility details), and customizations in the Learn user interface.
- Main Report – CSV Download: This report provides two CSV files for import into the Information Gathering Workbook:
- the main report with various system details
- a list of building blocks and whether the installation .war file is present on the file system
- Unique Logins Report: This report may be requested for additional user data. This is a longer running query and may take an hour or more on some systems.
- Building Block Usage Report: This report lists building blocks and includes a column to indicate usage (hits) if tracked in activity accumulator. This is useful to understand which building blocks are actively used.
This report is currently only available for systems running an Oracle database and can take more than an hour to run on some systems. You can also obtain the SQL to run directly on your database server if desired.
- Building Block Migration Exports: This report conveniently downloads data requested by building block vendors that may be needed for a course-based migration.
- Export Course Lists: This report is primarily for customers planning a course migration. It allows you to download lists of all courses or active courses, with additional details to help plan for course migration batches.
