This article provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to help you import your iSAMS data into SchoolsBuddy. Use the index on the right-hand side to quickly navigate to the section relevant to your needs.
1. Overview
SchoolsBuddy imports your essential data—including students, contacts, and staff—directly from iSAMS using Batch API keys. The system performs an overnight data update, ensuring that your information remains accurate and up to date.
Please set up seven separate Batch API keys (the Medical key is optional) via the iSAMS Admin Control Panel > API Keys section.
Creating these keys separately allows SchoolsBuddy to pull different types of data independently, improving load handling and ensuring the data import runs smoothly and in the correct sequence.
2. How to Create a Batch API Key
To set up API Keys, follow the steps below. These may differ slightly depending on whether you use a cloud-hosted or self-hosted instance of ISAMS.
- Log in to ISAMS as an Administrator and click on the Control Panel.
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Select the API Services Manager
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Select Manage Batch API Keys
- Click Create Batch API Key (or Request Batch API Key if you see that instead).
You'll need to request 6 or 7 new keys from ISAMS first (depending on whether you want to share medical information). - Name the key clearly based on its purpose (e.g., SchoolsBuddy – Students; SchoolsBuddy – Contacts) so it’s easy to identify later.
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Set the following key configurations:
State: Active
Mode: Production
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Cache Expiry: 2 to 4 hours (instead of the default 24 hours)
- Select the Batch Methods tab.
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Configure each key by checking the settings as shown in the table below. This is an example of the Contacts key.
Kindly refer to the table below for the correct settings corresponding to each type of Batch API key:
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API Key 1 Groups - SchoolManager - Academic Houses
- SchoolManager - Forms
- SchoolManager - Years
API Key 2 Staff - HRManager - Current Staff
API Key 3 Students - PupilManager - Current Pupils
API Key 4 Contacts - PupilManager - Contacts (Filtered).
- Do not check Contacts, or Custom fields options - see screenshot
- Please check important note below for SchoolsBuddy contact import rule
API Key 5 Medical - This key is optional
- PupilManager - Current Students - Health
- Do not check Custom fields option- see screenshot
API Key 6 Subjects - TeacherManager - Departments, Teaching Forms, SetLists and Sets (For Parents' Evenings /Parent Teacher Conferences and communications)
API Key 7 Leavers (Alumni) - Student Manager - Alumni
⚠️ Important:
Only select the methods listed for each key below.
Please do not select any additional settings or custom fields, as this may prevent SchoolsBuddy from processing the data correctly.
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- Go to the Integrator tab.
- Enter the Integrator as “Faria” and the Product name as "SchoolsBuddy".
- Click Save & Close.
- A pop-up window providing authentication server credentials will appear.
Don't close this window yet — you’ll need these to complete the SchoolsBuddy integration.
3. SchoolsBuddy Configuration
Once you have created the API keys in iSAMS, please follow the steps in this article: iSAMS Data Integration: Part 2 to start integration with SchoolsBuddy.
4. FAQ
Q: What if we need to update any student, parent, or staff details?
A: Please update the details directly in iSAMS as usual. These changes will imports into SchoolsBuddy each night. However, sometimes iSAMS may take a little longer to update its API feed, and you might notice that student records appear before their email addresses are fully updated. We recommend allowing up to 48 hours for all new student details to sync completely.
Q: Will students be automatically removed when they leave?
A: Yes. Students marked as leavers or alumni in iSAMS will be automatically removed.
Q: Will parents automatically be removed when their student leaves?
A: Parents’ accounts will be deactivated unless the student has a sibling currently attending the school with an active SchoolsBuddy account.
Q: Will staff be automatically removed when they leave?
A: No. Both internal and external staff will retain their SchoolsBuddy accounts until they are manually deleted. An Organisation Super Admin user must delete their accounts in SchoolsBuddy. This is due to a limitation of the iSAMS API.
Q: Why adjust the Cache Expiry?
A: SchoolsBuddy queries iSAMS once every 24 hours during the night.
Reducing the cache expiry to 2–4 hours ensures:
Data can be refreshed sooner if needed.
You can run a manual data sync (e.g., if a new student is added during the day).
The system still minimises the load on your iSAMS database by caching results for a few hours.
If the cache is set to the default 24 hours, any new or updated data would not be available until the next day’s scheduled sync.
Q: Can SchoolsBuddy import iSAMS ‘off-school’ attendance each day?
A: No, not currently. In the future, iSAMS may include this data in their public API, allowing SchoolsBuddy to import it.
Q: Can SchoolsBuddy import medical information?
A: Yes. If you provide us with the Medical Batch Method API key, we can import medical conditions for your students.
Q: Will teachers’ classes be imported directly into SchoolsBuddy?
A: Yes, but only set-based classes will be imported to support Parent-Teacher Conferences and communications. Form-based classes are not imported.
Q: Can boarding houses be added to SchoolsBuddy?
A: Our integration currently supports academic houses only. However, some schools have expressed interest in adding boarding houses to student records. Please visit our Product Portal to vote for this feature.
Q: Can student photos be synced to SchoolsBuddy?
A: It is not currently possible to sync student photos via the iSAMS API. However, please contact our Support Team if you are interested, as we may be able to offer an alternative workflow.
Q: We are using one iSAMS account for multiple campuses by assigning years as below. Is this a problem?
Campus 1: Years 1 – 10
Campus 2: Years 20 – 30
A: SchoolsBuddy syncs the year’s display name, so if both Year 10 and Year 20 share the same name (e.g., “Year 5”), they will be imported as one year group. We recommend adding a campus identifier to the year group names to distinguish them in SchoolsBuddy, for example, “Year 5 Campus 1” and “Year 5 Campus 2.”