Liaison is able to generate data and documents for CAS applications using a CAS API subscription and deliver them directly to Slate. These data and documents are then imported through an automated process using standard source formats in Slate.

The standard Slate source formats were established using data and documents from BusinessCAS, EngineeringCAS, and GradCAS, and so are most valuable when used with those environments. That being said: If Liaison hosts an application, it supports the CAS API. All CAS applications are supported. Refer to Liaison's documentation for more information.

Add the User Account

To enable automated delivery of CAS application data and documents, create a service account with SFTP access:

1. Select Database from the top navigation and click the Slate Template Library.

2. Under Users, add the CAS/Liaison Service Account. 
   Note: If you do not see this user account, refresh the Slate Template Library resources by selecting the refresh link at the top of the page.

3. Select Database from the top navigation and click User Permissions.
   Note: The Security Administrator permission is required to view this page.

4. If needed, search for the CAS/Liaison Service Account. Select it from the list of users.

5. Select Edit User at the top right. 

6. Select the Roles tab. 

7. Under SFTP Access, select Reset Password to generate a new password. A confirmation dialog appears.

8. Enter "RESET" and select OK. A new password is auto-generated to replace and invalidate any previously stored password.

9. Copy and save the password prior to saving changes, because once saved, the password will not be visible. You will need the password to configure the CAS API subscription with Liaison. 

Add the Applications Source Format

To add the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format:

1. Select Database on the top navigation bar and select Source Format Library.

2. Search for "All CAS by Liaison - Applications" and select Add.

3. Navigate to the new source format and click Edit.

4. On the Import Automation tab, update the Import Path/Mask field to specify the file path and file name pattern that the source format should use to pick up the file. For example:

   • liaison/GradCAS_casapi-app-submitted_*.csv, or

   • liaison/BusinessCAS_casapi-app-submitted_*.csv

   

   These file names will be configured in the CAS API subscription step.

   For example, in the subscription, to configure the data files to correspond with the Import Path/Mask value liaison/GradCAS_casapi-app-submitted_*.csv, the following settings in the CAS API subscription can be used:

        "sftpBaseDirectory": "/incoming/liaison/",
        "sftpPathTemplate": "GradCAS_casapi-app-submitted_
                             ___
                             _.csv"

   Note: The user account added in the previous step has access to the /incoming/liaison/ directory. If you choose to configure the CAS API subscriptions to deliver data files to different directories, then the user account must be updated to grant it access to those additional directories. Using the example path and file name pattern shown above, the pre-configured access settings can be used.

To configure the remap settings for the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format:

1. Select Database on the top navigation bar and select Source Formats.

2. Find the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format and select Remap to confirm destinations and to set up additional data mappings for this source format.

3. After selecting Remap you will see all of the Slate destination fields currently mapped for the data points included in the file.

There are three fields that are unique for merging and used to properly import documents. The fields are pre-mapped in the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format:

• CAS/Liaison Application ID

• CAS/Liaison Person ID

• CAS/Liaison School ID

These fields are automatically created during an overnight process that occurs after you have added the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format. The following fields are pre-mapped and should not be adjusted, nor should other fields be mapped to these destinations.

Multiple CAS Applications

If your institution accepts multiple CAS applications (e.g., Business CAS and Graduate CAS), additional copies of the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format can be used to import the data for each separate CAS. This lets you map fields differently and use different static mappings based on application type.

To make a copy of the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format:

1. Select Copy on your existing All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format.

   

2. To copy the existing Remap settings, select Copy Remap Settings, and then select Copy.

   Note: If you do not select Copy Remap Settings, the copied source format will inherit the default, pre-mapped settings from the Source Format Library. Leave this box unchecked if you would like to begin with just the pre-mapped settings from the standard source format.

   

   Important!

   Do NOT change the Name or Format settings of the Source Format. These two settings allow the source format to inherit settings from the standard source format, so changing these settings prevents the data from importing successfully.

3. In your newly copied source format, select Edit at the top right and select the Import Automation tab.

4. Update the Import Path/Mask field to specify the path and file name pattern that the new source format should use to pick up the file. For example:

   • liaison/GradCAS_casapi-app-submitted_*.csv, or

   • liaison/BusinessCAS_casapi-app-submitted_*.csv

   Note: The path and file name pattern must be different and not overlap with any other source format.

   Note: While editing the Name and Format settings of the source format prevents the source format from inheriting the settings from the standard source format, the notes on the different source formats can be edited individually.

Testing

Use the steps below to verify your configurations and test importing the application data:

1. Complete the remap configurations in your production environment.

2. Refresh the test environment.

3. Activate the remap settings in the test environment.

4. Confirm that the behavior of the import matches what you expect.

   Repeat steps 1-4 as necessary until you are satisfied with the configuration of the remap settings for the source format.

5. Once you are ready to import the data into production, proceed to the Activation step below.

Note: Documents sent from Liaison will not be imported into test environments. Learn more about behavior in test versus production environments.

Activation

Once you have finished testing the remap configurations, the source format can be activated in production:

1. Navigate to the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format and click Edit.

2. Update the Remap Active flag to Active.

   Note: When this flag is active, data for existing files uploaded on or after the Remap As Of Date that are Awaiting Import will be imported using the remap settings as they are currently configured.

   

      

3. Click Save.

Add the Materials Source Format

Liaison will deliver PDFs associated with the applications delivered in the data files. An hourly process runs between the hours of 2:30AM and 10:30AM ET to associate the PDFs with Slate records using the unique IDs imported via the All CAS by Liaison - Applications source format. The material types the documents are stored as must be configured in the All CAS by Liaison - Documents source format.

The Documents source format relies on the Applications source format to be active to enable the import of documents to records. So, the All CAS by Liaison - Documents and All CAS by Liaison - Applications source formats must have their Remap Status set to Active.

Note: Since the All CAS by Liaison - Documents source format is not actually a data feed, you will not see records appear for this source format, nor will you see fields to map in the Remap configurations.

To add the All CAS by Liaison - Documents source format:

1. Select Database on the top navigation bar and select Source Format Library.

2. Search for "All CAS by Liaison - Documents" and select Add.

Remapping the Materials File

1. Select Database on the top navigation bar and select Source Formats.

2. Select the All CAS by Liaison - Documents source format and click the Remap button.

   Note: Since this source format is not used to import data, the Fields page will be blank.

3. Go to the Value Mappings page. Click Material.

   

4. Select the Slate material type that should be used to store each of the Liaison document types.

   Note: Only document types that have been mapped to a valid Slate material type will be imported. PDFs associated with unmapped document types will remain in the SFTP directory until they are mapped (and imported) or purged.

The All CAS by Liaison - Documents source format does not contain data points to map. Material type translations need to be configured.

No! Only one All CAS by Liaison - Documents source format is needed to import PDFs sent by Liaison for any CAS application.

Should I set an Import Path/Mask?

No! The process that runs to import the documents will pick them up from the /incoming/liaison/ SFTP directory. Since the All CAS by Liaison - Documents source format is used exclusively to provide the material type translations, it is imperative that the import path/mask setting be left blank.

Setting up Mappings

Liaison considers some documents to be person-scoped, meaning the documents are sent once per person, without any application-specific information. These types of documents are imported to the Folio and should be mapped to a material type with the scope Person/Application.

Anything specific to a school record (for example, a transcript) can be configured to import to a Person/Application- or School-scoped material type. If a document is mapped to a school-scoped material, but the school record with which the document is associated does not exist (either because it was deleted, not successfully created, or updated), the document will be sent to Batch Acquire for manual processing after 3 days.

Documents that are associated with a specific application from Liaison will be associated with the application record. These documents should be mapped to a material type with the scope Person/Application.

If a document is mapped to a material that is not of a valid scope, that document will not be imported.

Additional information about the document types that are sent as part of the CAS API subscription can be found in Liaison's documentation.

Since this source format is not a data feed, there is no way to retroactively refresh previously uploaded documents.