ARTICLE: PowerSchool API Setup Instructions

ARTICLE: PowerSchool API Setup Instructions

PowerSchool API (North America)




PowerSchool API Setup Instructions:

In order to connect to PowerSchool’s API, we need to organize with both your school and PowerSchool.  With both parties set up correctly, Reach will be able to add your school to the nightly sync for daily updates, as well as perform your initial import.

1. Follow the instructions outlined here (How To Export PowerSchool Database Extension Definitions) and send Reach Support the field headers (support@reach.cloud).  A Reach Developer, once assigned, will take the information and build a plugin file for the school to later install. This plugin file can be either a .xml file or a .zip file depending on the schools requirements.  After receiving the plugin file from a Reach Developer, proceed to step two.

2. With in the school's PowerSchool system, under their System Management tab > Server > Plugin Configuration screen, the plugin can be uploaded.  Please reference PowerSchool's support doc on how to install the plugin within PowerSchool. Plugin Management Setup - Install Plugins



As soon as the plugin is installed, a prompt will display with a pop-up titled “Plugin Registration”.  There is a button at the bottom of the pop-up labelled “Register”, which must be clicked on the register button after installing the plugin to ensure Reach receive their credentials.




3. After registering the Reach plugin, it must be enabled.  On the Plugin Configuration screen, scroll to the "REACH Data Access with Contacts" plugin and click on the checkbox to enable the plugin. 



Once the box is checked, a sidebar will be presented that lists Reach's access controls for the enabled the plugin. 



The plugin must be marked enable here. Please note at this screen, if the plugin has been mis-configured by the Reach developer, an error message may be seen at the top that prevent the plugin from being installed.  If this occurs, the Reach Developer will need to alter the plugin and create a new one, and the steps outlined in this document will need to be repeated.  Please see an example error with the plugin screenshot below.



If there are no errors and the plugin has been enabled, proceed to the next step.

4. To complete Reach's access, navigate to the Reach plugin after enabling and enabling V1 API access.  The Reach plugin should visibly be enabled in the list, and you can click on the blue label of the Reach plugin to navigate to the plugin settings.



On this screen, a section called Data Provider Configuration highlighted blue will need to be selected.



Once at the screen titled Data Provider Configuration for REACH Data Access with Contacts, notice a section called Additional Configuration.  In that section, there is a drop down for the setting labelled Access Level for v1 APIs, in which the option Read Access will need to be selected.  Once selected, click the Submit button in the bottom right corner of the section to confirm and save this setting.  Once it is successfully enabled, a green success message should be visible.



5. At this stage, the configurations should be all set and a Reach developer is ready to follow the usual sync process of confirming data access and proceeding with mapping, student numbers confirmation, etc.

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