The Records Transfer feature requires some initial setup. To access the configuration page, select Records Transfer | Records Transfer Config from the navigation menu. Only an Admin type of account can access this page.
General Options
The General Options section contains information that must be filled out in order to identify your district in the central registry of Aeries districts participating in Records Transfer.
External URL – The URL of your public-facing Aeries Web instance. The site must use HTTPS and Anonymous IIS access.
Registered URL – This is the URL that is already registered for your district. If this ever needs to change, first change the value in the External URL field and then click the Update Records Transfer URL button to change your registered URL in the central registry.
NOTE: Hosted Districts should use their Admin URL for the External URL field.
Configure Schools
In the Configured Schools section, you will enter contact information for each of your schools that will participate in the Records Transfer process. Not all schools need to be configured. For example, schools such as summer schools and the Inactive school will likely be excluded from this process.
Begin by clicking the Expand button under the Non-Configured Schools heading and choose the first school to configure.
CDS – This is the CDS code currently stored for this school in the LOC table. This value is not editable from the Records Transfer Configuration page and must be changed on the School Options page if it is incorrect.
Contact Name – The name of the person who will be requesting records on behalf of this school, such as the registrar.
Contact Email – The email address of the person who will be requesting records on behalf of this school. This field is required for the school to be considered “configured”.
Contact Phone – The phone number of the person who will be handling records requests for this school, in case the other school needs to call.
Incoming Request Email List – A list of email addresses, delimited by semicolon, to receive notification when a request for records is received for this school.
Repeat the steps above for each additional school that needs to be configured. There is no Save button on this page. The next time the page is loaded, all the schools for which information was entered will now appear under the Configured Schools heading. If more schools need to be added in the future, the steps above can be repeated. If a school needs to be removed, simply blank out all the information for that school, and that school will move back to the Non-Configured Schools area the next time the page is loaded.
Configure Forwarding URLs for Schools
This step only applies to districts and other LEAs that manage certain schools using a different instance of the Aeries application. For example, a district may manage a charter school that has its own URL for accessing Aeries, and possibly even a separate database. The Records Transfer system can be configured to forward requests from the district's primary Aeries URL to a separate URL on a school-by-school basis. Click Configure School URLs to expand a list of all schools that are managed by the current district/LEA, according to our central registry.
Enter the forwarding URL for each school that needs its requests forwarded. Furthermore, if the school uses a separate database from the current database, click Sync Key to transfer the LEA's PGP private key to that school's database so that forwarded requests can be successfully decrypted.
District Authorization Code
A District Authorization Code*, which is provided by Aeries support, is required to use the Records Transfer system. Go to the District Options page by navigating to School Info | School Options and choosing school code 0. Click the Change button to continue. There is an Update Auth Code button on this page under the Security for External Connections section. Aeries hosted customers will not see these fields when in edit mode. Please enter a support ticket with Aeries support when ready to have the Auth Code updated.
Generate Keys
Before the exchange of encrypted data can take place, your District’s public/private key pair must be created. While on the District Options page in Edit mode, click the Generate Key Pair button under the Security for External Connections section.
After a moment, the following message will display. Click OK to continue and return to the District Options page.
Click the Save button to finish.
Now, when the page is in Edit mode, there will be a View Public Key button. Click this button to display your District’s public key. This is for informational purposes only. There should never be a need to use this information except when troubleshooting with Aeries Support.
Unique District Identifier
This option only applies to districts, charter schools, or other LEAs that, for any reason, need to authenticate to the Records Transfer system using a CDS code or other identifier that is different from what is stored in the County + District + School fields in the District record. This scenario may occur due to certain state reporting requirements, for example. If this setting is required, enter the appropriate value in the Public CDS or Unique District Identifier field under the Security for External Connections section.
Test Settings
Once the above information has been entered on the District Options page, click Test Settings while in Edit mode to run several tests that validate certain settings such as the CDS code, Authorization Code, and PGP key pair.
*Aeries Software also provides this code when configuring the Aeries Mobile Portal App (iOS, Android). If your district is already using the app, then the Authorization Code has already been entered into your system.