Introduction

Each month, the Agency of Education (AOE) processes district provided student data through a Direct Certification (Direct Cert) validation process to identity those students who are eligible/participating in the Free Reduced Lunch (FRL) program.

Two-Part Process

To ensure that all students are included in the monthly Direct Certification Validation there are two parts to the process. 

For Part 1 – Generate and upload the files needed for Direct Certification preparation. For reference, use our article regarding the Match Collection process.

For Part 2 – Continue with this article to generate and upload files for Direct Certification.

To learn how to download the Direct Certification monthly reports, use this article.

Of Note:

Note: Files uploaded to EdFusion are processed in a hierarchy. See this entry within the AOE’s Knowledge Base for the Processing Order.

As such, it is important to set the files to upload after hours (if possible) as to not interfere with other files processing, especially close to a Submission Window.

Step 1 – Generating the files in PowerSchool

Navigate from the District Home Page > Reports > System Reports > State Reporting tab > Open each Report Extract you wish to be generated (in a new tab).

• For the Direct Certification process, the files required are:
  • 00_Student_Identity
  • 04_PS_Enroll
  • 05_PS_GradeProg

Note: The file name under state reporting tab contains a leading zero naming convention. However, the naming convention will change depending on which Data Collection Name is selected within the extract.  

0_Student Identity file

• Schools to Include
  • Select all schools
• Current selection
  • Select All Students
• Data Collection Name
  • 03_NightlyCollection_Unofficial

4_PS Enrollment file

• Schools to Include
  • Select all schools
• Current selection
  • Select All Students
• Data Collection Name
  • 03_NightlyCollection_Unofficial

5_PS Grade Progress file

• Schools to Include
  • Select all schools
• Current selection
  • Select All Students
• Data Collection Name
  • 03_NightlyCollection_Unofficial

Step 2 – Downloading the files in PowerSchool

Once the files have completed processing, the screen will automatically open to the “Report Queue (ReportWorks) – My Jobs” screen.

The completed files can also be accessed by clicking on the “Report Queue” icon in the upper right corner.

Completed Reports

Once at the Report Queue (ReportWorks) screen, check to see that the jobs have completed under the Status column.

Step 3 – Accessing EdFusion

Once the files are downloaded, navigate to the AOE’s State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) “EdFusion”.

Prior to accessing the AOE site EdFusion, your VT State lead will need to email the AOE. “AOE – SLDS Support Group” <AOE.SLDSSupportGroup@vermont.gov>

Using your credentials, log into EdFusion.

Step 4 – Uploading files in EdFusion

From the homepage > hover over Integrate > select Submission Upload.  This will take you to the Submission Upload screen.

This will take you to the Submission Upload screen where the Submission files can be uploaded.

Once at the Submission Upload screen > under Domain > use the dropdown arrow to select “Submission”.

Next select “Choose File”

Then click “Choose File” and select the two files needed for the Match Collection.

Once there is a green dot to the right of each file, click Upload.

WAIT on this screen until the following message appears, then click “Schedule Now”. (Failure to wait and select Schedule Now will result in the files not processing)

Once the following message appears the files have been successfully scheduled.

Step 5 – Viewing Upload file History

To view the files and see that they processed from Integrate > select Submission SFTP

This takes you to the Upload History.

Upload History column headers:

• Upload Batch ID
  • If there is a need to contact the AOE for questions around a file upload, use this Batch ID for the AOE to reference.
• Domain
  • This indicates the “type” of submission upload. Some examples are:
    • Match Collections
    • DC#03
    • DC#04
• Process Type
  • This indicates if the files were uploaded to processed immediately or are scheduled.
• Process Mode
  • This indicates if the files were manually uploaded to EdFusion or if they were uploaded via SFTP.
• Validations
  • This provides a status of the files uploaded.
  • Processed with errors
  • Abort – this could mean the file was not formatted properly or there were not real changes to what was submitted previously.
• Created Time
  • Provides a time and date stamp of when the files processed or are scheduled to be processed.
• Status
  • Indicates if a file has processed or is scheduled.
• View Details
  • Scheduled – if for example you have nightly auto uploads scheduled until such time as the files process. 
  • Immediate – indicates that file is in process.
  • View Details – appears once an upload has completed processing and contains a hyperlink that will take you to details of the upload.

Step 6 – Viewing file Upload Errors

To view the file upload details, click on the View Details hyperlink which will take you to details about that specific batch of files.

• Upload Batch ID Name
  • Provides the Batch ID assigned to this upload. To be used when contacting the AOE with questions around this upload. 
• The error files produced for Direct Certification can be exported to be analyzed.

Once within the Batch, click on the “Export Error Files” button to download the files. Use the “Back” button (not the browser back button) in upper right corner to navigate back to the Upload History main page.

Go to your downloads to locate the zipped file and open it.

Each “Submission Upload Error Files” zip will contain the following:

• Error Message Summary
• Files with Errors
  • Any corresponding file with errors, will also have a detailed error file. 

This information will be useful when analyzing the errors for resolution.

Error Message Summary File

The Error Message Summary file will provide you an overview of each file containing errors as well as the specific errors within each file.

Files with Errors

Each error file will contain the data submitted for that student along with an error reason.

Open and filter the file on “ErrorReason/Remarks” column to view errors for resolution.

Note: Some errors are “dependent” upon one another. For example:

If the PermNumber is blank in the 00_Student_Identity file, the same error will appear in 04_PS_Enroll and 05_PS_GradeProg.

Once the error has been corrected in the 00_Student_Identity file, the errors for 4_Enroll and 5_GradeProg will drop off naturally.

Work through resolving the errors, then:

• Make any necessary updates in PowerSchool.
• When all errors have been resolved, resubmit the three files used for Direct Certification to EdFusion.
• Check to verify you have reached zero errors.

You now have the steps to extract and upload the Direction Certification files for analysis.