Implementation Guide for Schools integrating their Student Management System with RollCall using the Custom Push Integration

1. Overview

The Custom Push Integration provides schools with an alternative way to synchronise student and parent information with RollCall when a standard integration with their Student Management System is not available.

Unlike standard integrations where RollCall retrieves information directly from the school's system, the Custom Push Integration works by having the school provide the data to RollCall in a defined JSON format.

The integration supports:

• Student records
• Parent/contact records
• Student–parent relationships
• Student and parent removals

Data can be provided through:

• A JSON file uploaded through the RollCall Admin Portal
• An API request, where this has been configured for the school

The most recently provided dataset is stored by RollCall and used for Preview and synchronisation.

2. How the Custom Push Integration Works

The main difference between a standard Student Sync integration and Custom Push is who provides the data.

With a standard integration:

RollCall → Connects to the school's system → Retrieves data → Synchronises

With Custom Push:

School → Provides data to RollCall → RollCall processes data → Synchronises

Because RollCall does not retrieve the information directly from the school's system, the school is responsible for ensuring the data provided is accurate and up to date.

3. What Data Syncs

Students

The Custom Push Integration supports the following student information:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Student Number
• Student Card Number
• Date of Birth
• Grade
• Last Modified Date
• Enrolment Date
• Address
• Campus

Student Number

The Student Number is the student's identifier from your Student Management System.

It must be unique for each student and is used to identify and match the student within the integration.

Student Card Number

The Code field represents the student's card number used for scanning.

This value should be unique.

Future Students

All students provided within the JSON file are synchronised.

If an Enrolment Date is provided, RollCall uses this information to determine the student's expected start date and whether they are considered a future student.

Unlike some standard Student Sync integrations, Custom Push does not automatically exclude future students. If the student is included in the supplied data, they will be included in the synchronisation.

4. Parents / Contacts

The integration supports the following parent/contact information:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email Address
• Mobile Phone Number
• Parent Identifier
• Date of Birth
• Last Modified Date

Parent Email Address

The parent's Email Address is their main identifier within RollCall and must be unique.

Schools should ensure each parent has their own valid email address before providing the data.

5. Student–Parent Relationships

Relationships are supplied separately to the student and parent records.

Each relationship identifies:

• The parent's email address
• The student's Student Number
• The relationship between the parent and student

For example, the relationship may identify the contact as the student's parent.

If no specific relationship name is supplied, the relationship defaults to PARENT.

6. How Parent Eligibility Is Determined

Custom Push provides schools with greater control over which parents are sent to RollCall.

If Parents Are Already Filtered

If your school can determine which parents should have access to RollCall before providing the data, only those parents need to be included.

In this scenario, RollCall treats the supplied parent information as the contacts your school wants synchronised, and no additional parent filtering is required.

If Parents Cannot Be Filtered

If your school cannot filter parent information before sending it to RollCall, additional information can be supplied for each parent:

• Priority
• Lives With Student
• Correspondence

RollCall can then use these values when applying the configured parent filtering rules.

Important: The presence of these parent-filtering fields determines whether RollCall applies additional parent filtering. If they are not supplied, the parent information provided by the school is treated as already filtered.

7. Previewing Your Data

Before completing a synchronisation, schools can generate a Preview of the supplied information.

To generate a Preview through RollCall:

1. Navigate to your Custom Push Student Sync Integration.
2. Upload the required JSON file.
3. RollCall saves the uploaded information against the integration.
4. Generate the Preview.
5. Review the proposed student, parent and relationship changes.
6. Complete the synchronisation once you are satisfied with the Preview.

Uploading a file does not immediately synchronise the information into RollCall.

Best Practice: Always review the Preview before completing a manual synchronisation, particularly when uploading a new or significantly changed dataset.

8. Manual Synchronisation

When a manual synchronisation is completed, RollCall uses the most recently supplied JSON data.

This may be information provided through:

• The RollCall file upload, or
• The Custom Push API

The synchronisation then follows the standard RollCall Student Sync process.

Schools will be prompted to select the appropriate Sync Mode before proceeding.

9. Automatic / Nightly Synchronisation

Custom Push differs from other Student Sync integrations because RollCall does not retrieve new information from the school's system automatically.

For the nightly synchronisation to use the latest information, the school must send or upload an updated dataset before the nightly sync runs.

RollCall's nightly Student Sync process runs at:

14:00 UTC

Schools using Custom Push are advised to provide their latest information at least one hour beforehand.

What happens if new data isn't provided?

If the school does not provide a new dataset before the nightly synchronisation, RollCall will use the most recently saved dataset.

This means it is important that schools establish a reliable process for regularly providing updated information.

10. Removing Students and Parents

Custom Push supports identifying students and parents who should be removed through dedicated deletion lists.

These include:

• Deleted Student Numbers
• Deleted Parent Codes

This allows the school to tell RollCall when a previously synchronised student or parent is no longer part of the current dataset.

Schools should ensure their integration process correctly identifies records requiring removal rather than simply omitting records without considering how the synchronisation is configured.

11. Data Requirements

Because the school is supplying the information directly, the data must follow RollCall's required Custom Push format.

Some particularly important requirements include:

• Student Numbers must be unique.
• Parent email addresses must be unique.
• Parent identifiers should be unique.
• Student Card Numbers should be unique.
• Student–parent relationships must reference the correct Parent Email and Student Number.
• Dates and timestamps must use the required format.
• All date/time values must include timezone information.

Incorrect or duplicate identifiers may prevent information from synchronising correctly.

12. Important Rules

When using Custom Push:

• The school is responsible for providing the data to RollCall.
• RollCall does not retrieve information directly from the school's Student Management System.
• All students included in the supplied JSON are eligible to be synchronised, including future students.
• Parent filtering is only required when the school cannot provide an already-filtered parent dataset.
• The latest supplied dataset is stored and used as the basis for synchronisation.
• If an updated dataset is not supplied before the nightly sync, the previously saved dataset will be used again.
• Student Numbers and Parent Email Addresses are important identifiers and must remain consistent.
• A Preview should be reviewed before completing a manual synchronisation.

13. What to Expect When Going Live

There is no downtime for RollCall users when the Custom Push Integration is activated.

Before going live, we recommend confirming:

• Your JSON follows the required RollCall format.
• Student Numbers are unique and consistent.
• Parent email addresses are valid and unique.
• Student–parent relationships reference the correct records.
• Your parent filtering approach has been confirmed.
• Enrolment dates are supplied where required.
• Campus values align with your RollCall setup.
• Your process for providing updated data has been established.
• Your first Preview has been reviewed.

For schools using automated API requests, the process for regularly sending updated information should also be tested before enabling the nightly synchronisation workflow.

14. Troubleshooting

If information does not appear as expected, check:

• The latest JSON file/data was successfully provided to RollCall.
• The JSON follows the required structure.
• Student Numbers are present and unique.
• Parent email addresses are present and unique.
• Relationships reference a valid Parent Email and Student Number.
• Parent filtering information is being supplied correctly, if filtering is required.
• Enrolment dates are correct for future students.
• Date/time values contain timezone information.
• The latest data was provided before the nightly synchronisation.

Generating a Preview is the recommended first step when investigating unexpected student, parent or relationship changes.

Need Assistance?

The Custom Push Integration requires coordination between the school, its Student Management System or integration provider, and RollCall.

Before implementation, please contact the RollCall Support Team to confirm:

• Your required data format
• How parent filtering will be handled
• Whether data will be uploaded manually or sent via API
• Your synchronisation process
• Authentication requirements, where API requests are being used

RollCall recommends completing and reviewing a Preview before the first live synchronisation.