Onboarding Methods – Benchmark Universe

Onboarding students, teachers, and class rosters into a new software platform should be an easy process for a district’s technical administrator(s).
Benchmark Education offers a variety of onboarding options to make this process as painless as possible! In addition, Benchmark offers a variety of single sign-on options, including Google.

Clever

Clever is a rostering service specializing in the education industry. The district’s administrators work with Clever’s technical team to sync their SIS into Clever’s systems. Benchmark Universe simply and securely pulls the user data from Clever and regularly syncs any updates. Clever offers Instant Login so users can experience one-click access to Benchmark Universe.

Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)

LTI is an industry-wide coding standard that allows for quick and easy integration into any LTI compatible learning management system (LMS). Some common LTI certified systems are Schoology, Canvas, and PowerSchool. There is no need for separate enrollment for districts using these LMS systems.
In less than 10 minutes, a technical administrator can simply integrate Benchmark Universe into the district’s LMS. Then, as each teacher or student launches Benchmark Universe from the integrated link inside of a course, the user is rostered into Benchmark Universe. There is no need to remember a new username or password.

Manual/SFTP (CSV)

User data is maintained by a district’s technical administrator using a series of CSV files (a type of Excel spreadsheet). The administrator uploads these files into Benchmark’s Tech Admin system, which allows large amounts of data to be quickly placed into the system. As data changes are made on the CSVs, they can be re-uploaded. SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is a more automated version of this process, but very similar. Changes to a user’s profile can be made manually in the system as well.

Microsoft School Data Sync (Office 365)

Benchmark Universe can sync with Microsoft, so this is the best option for districts that maintain their user data using Microsoft School Data Sync (SDS) and Azure Active Directory (AAD). The initial connection is made with the district’s system and Benchmark pulls the necessary data to onboard the district. Data changes are automatically synched nightly. A single sign-on (SSO) button can be placed on every user’s Office 365 homepage to provide one-click access to Benchmark Universe.

OneRoster

OneRoster is an industry-wide data management standard developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. Districts can integrate their SIS with a OneRoster Tool Provider, such as ClassLink’s RosterServer. Benchmark simply connects with a district’s RosterServer using secure digital keys and onboards the users and classes. Updates are automatically synched into our system daily.