Wonde is our preferred integration partner used to sync data from Veracross. Wonde has recently introduced support for the Veracross integration, so the integration is currently limited to the core data set which you can find in the file attached to this page, however, more features are under request. If there are any features you would like for your data integration in future, please make both the Wonde and SchoolsBuddy teams aware for roadmap planning; you can submit SchoolsBuddy requests to our Product Portal, where you can vote for and submit ideas for new features.
The Onboarding Process
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Receive contact from Wonde
We will start the process by contacting Wonde to request access.
A representative from Wonde will get in touch with the lead contact at your school to work through the process of enabling your MIS/SIS to sync with Wonde. This will include some auditing. You will have to authorise our connection with Wonde.
Wonde to VeraCross integration guide
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Receive confirmation from SchoolsBuddy that data is synced & checked
Wonde will alert us when they have completed setting up your school's data and we will configure the daily sync to SchoolsBuddy. A sync will run every night.
PLEASE NOTE **As standard we import only Priority 1 contacts for all Students. If you would also like Priority 2 or more contacts imported please let us know
A review of the data will be carried out to ensure everything is in order and we will send you confirmation or any follow up queries. After data has been imported we will arrange a meeting to show you how to perform your own data validation checks in SchoolsBuddy.
Please visit the Wonde website for information on Policies, Data & GDPR.
Names
SchoolsBuddy can display first name from either Wonde's legal name field or the preferred name (forename). By default, this will be set to legal name as first priority.
Email Addresses
Please note
- all SchoolsBuddy users must have a unique email address to be able to access the system. Please ensure all parents, staff and students have a unique valid email address in the record in Veracross. Staff emails are subject to a domain control for your staff email address (for example, @school.com), but this can be removed if required.
- If you wish students to have access to SchoolsBuddy then they must also have a unique valid email address in Veracross/Wonde.
- Students and parents sharing the same email addresses causes data integrity issues in SchoolsBuddy. If you wish to allow email sharing SchoolsBuddy will disable importing student email addresses.
Contact Phone Numbers
At the moment, SchoolsBuddy only sync one phone number per parent/guardian from Wonde. This will be the first non-null value from Wonde's contact fields in priority order: "mobile", "primary", "phone", "home", "work".
Attendance
Wonde can retrieve daily attendance marks from Veracross. However, at the time of writing (October 2022), the Veracross API for master attendance does not identify which session the student is absent for, only the date. Therefore Wonde has defaulted all attendance session marks to "AM" . Regardless of whether a student is absent in the morning or afternoon, this will be shown as "AM" in SchoolsBuddy. Unfortunately, we are unable to change the terminology to "Absent" as this would affect other schools using Wonde with SISs that can support AM and PM session absence. Please read our guide to see how absence marks are displayed in SchoolsBuddy: Absentee Alerts / MIS Absence.
Medical conditions and Dietary Needs
Wonde have not yet integrated Medical Conditions from Veracross. SchoolsBuddy can only receive dietary needs via Medical Conditions sync from Wonde so this is also not available currently. If you would like SchoolsBuddy to receive Medical conditions please mention it during your onboarding. SchoolsBuddy can facilitate manual import of medical & dietary information in the meantime.
Please see Custom forms: Capturing transport, medical or other information from parents or contact us for more information.
Student Photos
Currently student photo is not available in the Veracross API, and SchoolsBuddy does not retrieve student photo from Wonde. Student photos can only be synced automatically from ManageBac, for all other SISs we offer an SFTP upload facility. Please contact us for more information.
Future Students
If you would like to sync Future students to SchoolsBuddy, please request this during your onboarding. The SchoolsBuddy and Wonde teams may refer to these as "pre-admissions". At the time of writing (October 2022) Wonde is unable to support setting grade level for a future student, instead they are allocated in SchoolsBuddy to one 'grade' labelled as "Pre-admissions" until they are enrolled.
Other Programs Registration (OPR)
At the time of writing (October 2022) Veracross does not facilitate OPR data in their API. SchoolsBuddy can support external students with a manual CSV import process, or by providing the ability for students (and/or parents) to register themselves. External students must be manually maintained by a Super Admin user. For information and advice on managing external students please contact us.
FAQ
Q: What time does SchoolsBuddy sync with Wonde?
A: Schools in APAC region: 18:00pm UTC (2:00am CST)
Schools in EMEA region: 2:30am UTC
When attendance sync is enabled, this is typically set at 9:30am and 2:30pm in your timezone, but can be adjusted if required.
Q: What time does Wonde sync with Veracross?
A: Wonde runs staggered reports on students, employees, contacts, classes etc. over the course of an hour, generally every 4-5 hours and attendance more frequently every two hours. Your school will have visibility of the report schedule via the Wonde portal. Timing of the attendance report can be adjusted if it does not fall in line with SchoolsBuddy attendance sync timings.
Q: What if we need to update any student/parent/staff details?
A: Update the details in Veracross as usual. These will sync to SchoolsBuddy within 24-48 hours. If you need to make urgent changes Super Admin users can also edit some limited details directly within the Reception > Users section of SchoolsBuddy (for example, quickly editing an email address before sending out a school communication).
Q: Can I see sync logs in SchoolsBuddy? Why does a user record fail to sync?
The SchoolsBuddy team monitor and retry any general sync failures that could be caused by maintenance downtime or the Wonde API not being available. Sync logs are not currently available to view in SchoolsBuddy but the Support team will help to troubleshoot any sync errors should you notice. The most common sync error is that two records have different IDs and the same email address; in this case the second record will not be created. Staff records may also be skipped if they don't have the expected email domain ( e.g. @school.com); domain controls can be removed to allow personal email addresses for staff on request to the support team.
Q: Will students automatically be removed when they leave?
A: Yes, as long as they are marked as a leaver/ alumni in Veracross. Wonde provides SchoolsBuddy with a data feed of records to delete.
Q: Will parents automatically be removed when their student leaves?
A: Parents' accounts will be deactivated unless the student has a sibling at the school who still has a SchoolsBuddy account.
Q: Will Staff automatically be removed when they leave?
A: Yes, internal staff (synced via Wonde) should be archived when they leave. All external staff (manually added), will still have access to SchoolsBuddy until they are deleted. An Organisation Super Admin user will need to delete their account manually in SchoolsBuddy.
Q: Are Homerooms / registration classes automatically updated?
A: Yes, if there are no students in the homeroom/ registration class it will be deleted automatically. However, if the homeroom registration class is deleted and reinstated next year, it will not automatically return - please contact SchoolsBuddy to reinstate it.
Q: Will teachers' subject classes be imported to SchoolsBuddy?
A: Teachers' subject classes will be imported for the purpose of setting up Parent Teacher Conferences and communications.
Q: Can Passport information be synced to SchoolsBuddy?
A: SchoolsBuddy does not currently import passport information from Wonde. Passport Information can be synced from OpenApply currently for the Tuition Fee Billing module, but it is currently not used in any other part of the system.
SchoolsBuddy can facilitate manual import of passport information in the meantime. Please see Custom forms: Capturing transport, medical or other information from parents or contact us for more information.