Ally uses LTI to integrate with your Learning Management System (LMS). LTI is a standard developed by IMS Global for secure and seamless integrations.

The standard allows users to access Ally without leaving Blackboard Learn. Forget about logging into multiple sites: LTI allows a secure exchange of information that enables a cohesive experience for your users.

There are two versions of LTI: v1.1 and v1.3. Each version requires different configuration steps. The current version is LTI v1.3. The biggest difference from previous versions is the upgraded security model based on OAuth2, OpenID Connect, and JSON Web Tokens.

Ally is moving to LTI 1.3 to take advantage of the upgraded security model.

What does this mean to you? If you are new to Ally, nothing. We do the Ally integration set up with you. But if you already have Ally integrated with your LMS, you’ll need to reconfigure your integration with LTI 1.3.

Reconfigure your Ally integration with LTI 1.3

A typical institution would have these three Ally tools available in the root account:

Each tool has a corresponding LTI developer key and application.

You’ll need to configure each tool following the same process.

  1. Register each Ally tool

Register each Ally tool

You can only register one tool at a time.

  1. From your D2L environment, open the Admin Tools and select Manage Extensibility.
    Admin tools menu open with the Manage Extensibility option highlighted.
  2. Select LTI Advantage.
    Manage extensibility page opened with LTI Advantage tab highlighted
  3. Select Register Tool.
  4. Select the Dynamic option.
  5. Copy and paste the link for the tool you want to register into the Tool initiation registration endpoint field. Replace [AllyEnvironment] with the environment information your institution is hosted in.
    • Institution report: https://[AllyEnvironment]/api/v2/auth/lti/1.3/register/institution
    • Client configuration: https://[AllyEnvironment]/api/v2/auth/lti/1.3/register/config
    • Course accessibility report: https://[AllyEnvironment]/api/v2/auth/lti/1.3/register/course
  6. Check the Configure Deployment check box.
    Register a tool page open with the recommended settings.
  7. Select Register.

Ally environment for your region

Use the information for the Ally environment your institution is hosted in.

  • US data center: prod.ally.ac
  • Canadian data center: prod-ca-central-1.ally.ac
  • European data center: prod-eu-central-1.ally.ac
  • Singapore data center: prod-ap-southeast-1.ally.ac
  • Australian data center: prod-ap-southeast-2.ally.ac

Configure tool deployment

  1. From your D2L environment open the Admin Tools and select Manage Extensibility.
  2. Select LTI Advantage.
  3. Select the tool.
    LTI Advantage page is open with a table of tools registered. An arrow points points to the tools to select.
  4. Select View deployments at the bottom of the page.
  5. Select the deployment corresponding to the application. For example, if you selected the Institution report tool earlier, select the Institution deployment now.
    An arrow points to the table of deployments. Select a deployment to get the ID.
  6. Under Security Settings, check these check boxes:
    • Org Unit Information
    • User Information
    • Link Information
    • Open as External Resource
  7. Copy the LTI Deployment ID at the bottom of the page to send to Ally.
  8. Select Add Org Units and make the tool available to the appropriate organizational unit.

    The Course Accessibility Report must be available to all descendants.

  9. Use the same Name and Description
  10. Copy and paste the appropriate link into the URL field. Replace [AllyEnvironment] with the environment information your institution is hosted in.
    • Institution report: https://institution.[AllyEnvironment]/api/v2/auth/lti/1.3/target
    • Client Configuration: https://config.[AllyEnvironment]/api/v2/auth/lti/1.3/target
    • Course Accessibility report: https://course.[AllyEnvironment]/api/v2/auth/lti/1.3/target
  11. Save the deployment.