The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) Data Exchange is a service and formal agreement that enables the centralized transfer of verified application data between the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and participating U.S. medical schools. It automates delivery of application materials using standardized formats so information is communicated accurately without manual re-entry.
AMCAS generates data and documents for AMCAS Medical School applications. Slate has an automated process that calls the AMCAS API and downloads the application and its associated documents. The data and documents are then imported through an automated process using standard source formats in Slate. In addition, Slate utilizes a query to send the decisions back to AMCAS.
This document describes the process for setting up the AMCAS integration with Slate.
How the AMCAS integration works
This AMCAS integration connects your Slate instance with the AAMC AMCAS Data Service to support two primary processes:
Inbound (AMCAS → Slate): Retrieve AMCAS application records and associated documents and import them into Slate.
Outbound (Slate → AMCAS): Send decision and status updates from Slate back to AMCAS in the format AMCAS requires.
AMCAS delivers verified application data and materials (for example, verified application content and letters of evaluation) for applicants who have designated your institution.
The integration is composed of three Slate scripts, supporting source formats, and supporting Queries. Scripts are typically executed via a scheduled automation.
Step 1: Initiating the process with AMCAS
Before you start work on the AMCAS integration:
Familiarize yourself with the AMCAS documentation.
Establish AMCAS Data Exchange access through AAMC, including the appropriate agreements for your institution.
Contact AMCAS to receive an AMCAS Data Exchange Service Agreement.
Step 2: Requesting the AMCAS Integration
Create a Service Desk request for the AMCAS components to be added.
🔑 Permissions required: Submit ticket submit
Go to Database → Discover Slate.
Under Level III: Advanced Exploration, select Support Desk.
Select the Category of AMCAS.
Provide the following information:
AMCAS Data Exchange Service Agreement
AMCAS Institution ID, for example
865AMCAS application year, for example
2026or2027
Select Submit.
📝 Some access prerequisites, certificates, and enablement steps require coordination with both AAMC and Technolutions.
Step 3: Technolutions adds objects to your database
Once you submit your AMCAS agreement to us, we can start configuring your database to receive AMCAS data. To do this, we will:
Set configuration keys that let your database target and authenticate with the AMCAS environment.
Install integration assets - fields, queries and scripts provided as an implementation suitcase.
The assets include:
Fields
AMCAS ID: A person-scoped unique for merging ID field. Its field ID is
aamcid.AMCAS Application ID: An application-scoped unique for merging ID field. Its field ID is
amcas_app_id.
Queries
AMCAS Automation: There are two AMCAS Automation queries:
AMCAS Automation - Get Applications: Automates retrieval of application data and documents. Calls the Flow script that executes the connection to AMCAS, connects to the API and downloads the data files and documents.
AMCAS Automation - Send Decisions: Automates the sending of decisions to AMCAS. Calls the Flow script that executes the connection, runs the Decisions to AMCAS query, and sends those decisions via the AMCAS API.
AMCAS Document Check: Used by the AMCAS Get Flow process to determine which AMCAS document IDs already exist in Slate, so the integration can avoid re-importing documents that have already been stored. This query runs as part of the automated retrieval process and is not something clients run directly. This is a custom SQL query.
AMCAS Decisions: This query must return the AMCAS ID and AMCAS Application ID fields so the integration can construct the outbound AMCAS XML.
Slate Flow scripts
Slate Flow scripts are located under the URL path /manage/database/flow/ in your database.
AMCAS Health: A quick health check during setup and troubleshooting. Confirms connectivity to AMCAS and validates certificate-based authentication.
AMCAS Get (Inbound): Retrieves the set of application records from AMCAS and the set of documents associated with those applications. The process prevents re-importing documents already stored in Slate. Dependencies include both source formats and the Documents Check query.
AMCAS Send (Outbound): Executes a Slate query to produce decision and status records, formats the AMCAS-required XML payload, and sends it to AMCAS. Depends on the AMCAS Decisions query.
Step 4: Adding source formats to your database
After Technolutions adds these objects to your database, you must add two source formats, which will process incoming AMCAS data.
Add the AMCAS Application source format
The AMCAS Application source format imports AMCAS application XML according to the AMCAS-provided schema.
To add the AMCAS Application source format:
Go to Database → Source Format Library.
Enter AMCAS Application in the search bar.
Select Add.
Edit the source format’s Notes and Internal Name as needed.
🔔 Do not edit the source format’s Name or Format.
You will not be able to map any fields until you receive or manually upload a file from AMCAS.
Add the AMCAS Documents source format
AMCAS generates PDFs associated with the applications delivered in the data files. The AMCAS Documents source format imports a ZIP package, generated by the AMCAS Get script, that contains documents and an index file that describes each document. These PDFs are associated with Slate records using the unique IDs imported via the AMCAS Application source format.
To add the AMCAS Documents source format:
Go to Database → Source Format Library.
Enter
AMCAS Documentsin the search bar.Select Add.
Edit the source format’s Notes and Internal Name as needed.
Step 5: Remapping the source formats
With these two source formats in your database, you must now configure them to translate incoming AMCAS data and documents to Slate fields and material types.
Remapping the AMCAS Application source format
Import a sample file for the source format. You can do this with a sample file using Upload Dataset, or you can go to Queries → AMCAS Automation and run the query.
Review and update field mappings based on your data model and process.
Complete the remap configurations.
Activate the remap settings by selecting Edit → Remap Active → Active from the source format overview page. When this flag is active, data for existing files uploaded on or after the Remap As Of Date that are awaiting import are imported using the remap settings as you have configured them.
Confirm that the behavior of the import matches what you expect.
Repeat until you are satisfied with the configuration of the remap settings for the source format, then repeat for the other of the two source formats.
Remapping the AMCAS Documents Materials File
You must configured the AMCAS Documents source format to map incoming PDF documents to Slate material types.
Only those document types that you map to a valid Slate material type will be imported. Files associated with unmapped document types remain in the SFTP directory until they are either mapped and imported or else purged.
Go to Database → Source Formats.
Select AMCAS Documents.
Select Remap.
Select Field Mappings.
Review and update any of the field mappings as necessary.
Select Prompt Value Mappings.
Select the Slate material type that should be used to store each of the AMCAS document types.
Select Save.
Step 6: Configuring the AMCAS queries for automated data export
Lastly, you must configure the two AMCAS queries in your database to export data to AMCAS on a schedule.
The AMCAS Automation - Get Applications query
This query automates the retrieval of AMCAS data and documents via the AMCAS API. The query calls a Flow script endpoint to run retrieval. It can be configured to run on a schedule.
The script receives the list of applications, documents associated with each application (removing the document IDs already present in the Slate database), and posts the data to the Slate database.
To configure the query:
Go to Queries / Reports.
Select AMCAS Automation - Get Applications.
Select Edit Query.
Configure the query to run on a schedule. Follow the steps in Scheduling Data Exports and these recommendations:
Select only the Overnight: 2:00AM–4:00AM window unless there is a strong use case to include additional windows.
Delivery windows are in Eastern Time and are presented as two-hour blocks. Example: If the 12:00PM–2:00PM window is selected, delivery will occur sometime between 12:00PM and 2:00PM. If generation occurs after 2:00PM, it is treated as a late delivery for notification purposes.
Delivery windows are designed around typical Slate load patterns. For example, there are no delivery windows between 5:00PM and 8:00PM, which is commonly used for decision releases.
Select Save.
The AMCAS Decisions query
The AMCAS Decisions query is used to select the records and decisions to send the action codes to AMCAS.
To configure the query:
Go to Queries / Reports.
Select AMCAS Decisions.
Select Edit Query.
Confirm the query includes all required fields using your institution’s decision codes.
Update the data to include your institution AMCAS ID and other applicable data fields.
The AMCAS Automation - Send Decisions query
This query automates the push of AMCAS decisions via the AMCAS API. The query calls a flow script endpoint to run the AMCAS Decisions query. It can be configured to run on a schedule.
The script gets the list of application and the associated decisions, and posts the data to AMCAS.
To configure the query:
Go to Queries / Reports.
Select AMCAS Automation - Send Decisions
Select Edit Query.
Configure the query to run on a schedule. Follow the steps in Scheduling Data Exports along with the following recommendations:
Select only the Overnight: 2:00AM–4:00AM window unless there is a strong use case to include additional windows.
Delivery windows are in Eastern Time and are presented as two-hour blocks. For example, if you select the 12:00PM–2:00PM window, delivery occurs between 12:00PM and 2:00PM. If generation occurs after 2:00PM, it is treated as a late delivery for notification purposes.
Delivery windows are designed around typical Slate load patterns. For example, there are no delivery windows between 5:00PM and 8:00PM, which is commonly used for decision releases.
Select Save.
Monitoring scheduled runs
There are two common ways to monitor scheduled exports:
Configure a notification in the Schedule Export settings of the query.
Go to Database → Job Activity Monitor to see the history and results of all scheduled jobs.
Validation checklist
To validate your integration:
Confirm certificate and endpoint connectivity using AMCAS Health.
Validate inbound imports using AMCAS Get.
Validate outbound XML and transmissions using AMCAS Send.
Schedule the run cadence and monitor results.