On Tuesday, December 12, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting our next LearningBuilder Feature Webinar. This quarter, we’re focusing on our Enhanced Data Import Tool. We’ve been iterating on this feature for some time, and we look forward to sharing more about how it can optimize and augment the data import process.
We invite you to join us! Click here to register, and even if you aren’t able to attend live, you’ll receive a copy of the recording after the event.
Why Enhance Data Import?
We built the Enhanced Data Import Tool as part of our larger, over-arching scheme to upload data into the system faster, with less errors and more functionality.
As already demonstrated by our legacy features like Attendance Upload, how data gets into your system matters. We have saved one of our clients over 10,000 hours per year simply by helping them engage education providers to report attendance.
We envisioned a way that data would be able to “do” more in LearningBuilder, in addition to moving between systems and organizations more easily.
Creating New Possibilities
The Enhanced Data Import Tool goes even further to support expanded engagement with third parties, program stakeholders, and other participants in your larger practitioner ecosystem.
With this feature, you can, for example, import activity data from your membership society or even an internal LMS. It’s now possible to launch all manner of new programs, from continuing education management to uploading student data from academic institutions to jumpstart the registration process, with minimal overhead.
An Alternative to API Integrations
Historically, of the main ways organizations have collected data is through manual entry, whether through paper or online forms. Here’s the thing about manual data entry: It’s laborious. It can also cause delays: That data has to be verified, and sometimes an application can’t move forward without it. And perhaps most frustratingly of all, this data likely exists, in its correct form, in a database somewhere.
Of course, the dream scenario would be that all of this highly important data — from schools, employers, test administrators, and other authoritative sources — seamlessly syncs with your system through a series of API integrations. It’s all automatic and immediate.
This ideal, however, can be hard to make real: Sometimes your desired API doesn’t exist, and sometimes there isn’t a budget to create one. The cost of API integrations varies, depending on the type and complexity of the data, system endpoints, and security requirements involved. We’ve built enough to know it’s not always an option for every program.
If that happens to be the case, the ability to import data in bulk via upload can provide an effective workaround. That workaround is even more effective when those uploads are easier, faster, and more precise, so we made our data imports easier, faster, and more precise.
Optimizing Data Upload
The Enhanced Data Import Tool can handle larger file sizes without affecting system performance. It’s centralized within a single part of the system and has clear buttons and icons to guide end users. You can include downloadable CSV templates to make file formatting more straightforward for your end users. And if you’ve ever had to quit an upload to make corrections and try again, you’ll be happy to know that the Enhanced Data Import Tool will process the valid rows of a file that contains errors. Users can then download a file of invalid rows, fix the errors all at once, and reupload the corrections.
Extending Data Functionality
The Enhanced Data Import Tool doesn’t just improve on the import process. It also adds onto what that data can “do.” For example, data imports can now automatically trigger actions like notifications or application referrals, reducing lag time between steps. Perhaps most significantly, data uploads can now change applications rather than simply add information to them. This allows for increased specificity with regards to your data validation rules and reduces the need for high-level support with tasks like changing records and updating cohort cycle dates.
This functionality also allows program stakeholders like education providers and test administrators move the application process forward. For example, schools can import students into LearningBuilder and start their applications via upload, or test administrators can upload exam scores, which triggers Score Report notifications and updates the test-takers’ applications.
All together, these improvements have the potential to make a tremendous positive impact on your organizational resources.
If you’re ready to see what LearningBuilder’s Enhanced Data Import Tool can do for you, be sure to register for our upcoming Feature Webinar on December 12th at 2:30 pm. And stay tuned: We’ll have more LearningBuilder feature news to share very soon.
