You can export data from Slate to external systems such as Student Information Systems (SIS), Financial Aid Systems, and more.

How Slate exports data

Data exports are built with queries. These exports can be cumulative, incremental, or differential.

Cumulative exports

Exports every record returned by the query every time.

• Example: Start with 1,000 records → Since last export, add 500 → Next export includes 1,500 records

• Settings: Edit Properties → Execution Options → Retrieve all records each time query is run

Incremental exports

Exports only those records returned by the query that weren’t in the last export.

• Example: Start with 1,000 records → Since last export, add 500 → Next export includes only those 500 new records

• Settings: Edit Properties → Execution Options → Retrieve only the new records since the query was last run

Differential exports

Differential exports use queues to track record changes since the last export. They return full rows each time, but only for changed records.

• Example: You start with 1,000 records → Since last export, add 100 & make updates to another 100 → Next export includes 200 records (100 new, 100 changed)

• Settings:

  • Edit Properties → Execution Options → Retrieve only the new records since the query was last run

  • Edit Properties → Queue → Select a queue (when applications is updated, when person record is update, when primary/secondary key is updated).

💡 This is usually what you want for exports to an SIS.

Any code and value translations can be configured within Slate but outside of the query, so the query remains stable and immutable even when new entry terms, majors, and other code changes are introduced. This also ensures that the process on the SIS side remains stable year after year.

📖 Data export methods

Delivery windows

SFTP files

The Schedule Export settings allow you to export files from a query to an SFTP server. There are two ways to do this:

• Using the Technolutions SFTP server. This is the default option, and it's a recommended best practice. This allows us to ensure our servers remain online and operational during the export. Refer to the Scheduling Exports article for details.

• Using a remote SFTP server. This practice is generally discouraged, since the export process will fail if the remote SFTP server becomes unavailable for any reason, such as with a network connectivity or maintenance issue. For configuration instructions, refer to the Sending scheduled exports to a remote SFTP server article.

Exporting files to the Technolutions SFTP servers is the default option, and it's recommended for the best performance. There are two ways to access these files manually:

• The SFTP Explorer tool: Users with SFTP access can view and download files in their SFTP folders. To access this tool, go to the Database page, and select SFTP Explorer in the Import section. 

• Through a client that supports the SFTP protocol: Set up a user account in Slate with the necessary credentials for the SFTP client to connect to the Slate SFTP servers.

📖 SFTP access

Web services

Queries can also export data via web services, instead of a batched file. There are two options for web services:

• You can push data to a remote web service on a schedule. This uses the same Schedule Exports option to send batched data on a consistent schedule. You can define custom headers to enable authentication with the remote service.

• You can call a Slate query as a web service using XML or JSON. Together with the query Queue settings, you can poll the web service on a frequency that you define and can pull down only the new or changed records each time.

📖 Web services

Document exports

Slate supports document exports to an external document management system (for example, OnBase, ImageNow, or Docfinity). Exports can be created in the Query tool using Document Export resources available in the Slate Template Library. Documents can be packaged in one of three ways:

• In a zip archive with an index file

• In a zip archive with the index keys included in the file name

• With every document included in a single combined PDF file

📖 Exporting documents