New Client Administrator Transition Guide
This guide is for SELPA and district administrators preparing for their first implementation of SIRAS. It covers the administrative work needed to prepare user accounts, access levels, provider assignments, caseloads, training data, imported student records, and SIS integration before go-live.
The sections on user access, provider assignments, and caseload management may also be useful after implementation.
Contents
1. Training and Live SIRAS
During onboarding, most administrative preparation and staff practice takes place in the Training environment. The Live or production environment becomes the working system at go-live.
- During a standard transition, user accounts created in Training are migrated to Live before go-live according to the project transition plan.
- Use the Training user list when reviewing accounts during onboarding unless the SIRAS transition team directs you otherwise.
- SIRAS can refresh the Training environment as needed before scheduled staff training.
- Notify the SIRAS transition team in advance when your organization schedules a training so the environment can be prepared at the appropriate time.
Do not assume that a change made in one environment will immediately appear in the other. Confirm the migration and refresh schedule for your implementation.
2. Review User Accounts
Review the user list before training and again before go-live. Confirm that each user is associated with the correct district and schools and has the appropriate access level.
Blocking and removing former staff
User accounts are not deleted. When a staff member leaves, use Block Access to prevent the person from signing in. If the former staff member should no longer appear on your district's user list, remove your district from the account's Site Assignments area.
You do not need to reassign all of the former staff member's students before blocking access. Student assignments can be updated later when the replacement staff member is known.
Username changes
Usernames can be changed, but the change must be completed by SIRAS. Contact SIRAS Support when a name change or other correction requires a username update. SIRAS follows identity-verification procedures to avoid changing the wrong account when staff members have similar names.
Incorrect district associations
If a user is associated with a district where the person does not work, send SIRAS a list of the affected staff so the incorrect association can be reviewed and removed.
3. Assign Access Levels
Access level determines which student records a user can open and which administrative functions are available. Provider assignment is separate and is discussed in the next section.
District access levels
| Access level | Typical use and access |
|---|---|
| District CASEMIS Clerk | The highest district-level access, with full access to all records in the assigned district or districts. |
| District Admin Level I | Commonly assigned to directors and similar administrators. This level can add and edit user accounts. |
| District Admin Level II | Commonly assigned to district-level secretarial or support staff. This level cannot add or edit user accounts or add discipline records. |
| District Wide | Provides dynamic access to all students in the district in the same general capacity as a General User, without assigning the staff member individually to every student. This may be appropriate for psychologists, nurses, program specialists, or similar staff. |
| District Read Only | Provides read-only review access to all records in the assigned district or districts. |
School access levels
| Access level | Typical use and access |
|---|---|
| School CASEMIS Clerk | The highest school-level access, with full access to all records in the assigned school or schools. |
| School Admin Level I | Commonly assigned to principals or school support staff who need to transfer students to or from schools and districts. This level cannot add or edit user accounts or add discipline records. |
| School Admin Level II | May be appropriate for speech-language pathologists, psychologists, and similar users who need access to the entire school and may add themselves as a provider but do not need to transfer students. |
| School Wide | Provides dynamic access to all students at the assigned school or schools in the same general capacity as a General User, without individually assigning the staff member to every student. |
| School Read Only | Provides read-only review access to all records in the assigned school or schools. |
4. Provider Assignments and Caseloads
Access level controls which records a user can open. A provider assignment identifies the staff member's role with a particular student and is used for IEP forms, caseload tracking, and related reports.
- A staff member who serves in two distinct roles, such as both Case Manager and a dedicated service provider, may be assigned twice so each role is represented accurately.
- During training, the exact provider role generally does not change the user's ability to practice once the user already has access to the student. The role becomes more important for accurate caseload counts and for identifying the staff member's responsibility on the IEP.
- District Wide and School Wide users do not need individual student assignments solely to gain access for training.
- After go-live, individually assign District Wide or School Wide staff to students when they directly participate in the IEP, need to appear in a specific provider role, or should be included in role-based caseload counts.
- Blocking a former staff member does not require immediate reassignment of every student. Reassign students when the replacement provider is known.
5. Review Imported Student and Staff Data
Data converted from a prior system provides a starting point, but administrators must review the imported information before go-live. Do not assume that all current students, staff associations, provider roles, or next-year caseload assignments will be complete.
Students who no longer belong to the district
Do not assign staff to a student who is no longer enrolled in your district merely to prepare for training. When a student transfers to a different district, provider assignments are removed as part of the transfer. When a student moves to another school within the same district, existing provider assignments remain and should be reviewed.
Provider and caseload imports
The conversion process may include provider assignments from the prior school year. New-year assignments still require review and may need to be entered or corrected manually. Matching imported staff to SIRAS accounts depends on sufficiently aligned names and account information; assignments that cannot be matched reliably may not be applied.
- Students who have left the district or should be transferred elsewhere
- Staff associated with the wrong district or school
- Missing, outdated, or incorrect provider assignments
- Next-year caseload changes that were not available in the prior system
- Staff records that could not be matched to a SIRAS account
- District Wide or School Wide users who have access but still need a specific provider role for IEP or caseload purposes
6. Coordinate SIS Integration and Data Exchange
During onboarding, identify how information will move between the district's Student Information System (SIS) and SIRAS. The transition plan should define which system is responsible for each type of data, how often information will be exchanged, and who will review integration results.
Confirm the following with the district's SIS staff and the SIRAS transition team:
- The SIS vendor, district technical contact, and SIRAS integration contact
- Which student demographics and enrollment fields will be imported from the SIS into SIRAS
- Whether parent and contact information will be imported separately
- Which special education or Section 504 data will be exported from SIRAS back to the SIS
- The schedule for test files, routine exchanges, and the production cutover
- How unmatched students, rejected records, duplicate records, and other integration exceptions will be reviewed
- Whether the implementation includes Aeries-specific integration or single sign-on
- Which system is the authoritative source for each shared field after go-live
- Whether secure SFTP access is required, who will receive the credentials, and who will complete and document the manual connection test
Contact SIRAS to obtain the district-specific SFTP credentials, then use SIRAS SFTP Connection Settings and File Access to configure and manually test the connection before an automated job is enabled.
SIS integration resources
- SIRAS SFTP Connection Settings and File Access – host, port, credential delivery, manual connection testing, filenames, and troubleshooting
- SIS Integration Guide – overview and planning guidance for staff responsible for SIS data exchange
- Aeries Integrations – resources for clients using Aeries
- Data Import: Demographics from SIS to SIRAS – student demographic and enrollment data received by SIRAS
- Data Import: Contacts from SIS to SIRAS – parent and contact data received by SIRAS
- Data Export: SPED and 504 Data from SIRAS to SIS – information sent from SIRAS for use by the district SIS
- Single Sign-On with SIRAS – SSO planning and setup information
7. Prepare Staff for Training
Before staff training, make sure each participant can sign in and has access to an appropriate practice record.
- General Users and other users whose access is limited to assigned students will usually need one or more practice students assigned to them.
- District Wide users can practice on any student in the assigned district without an individual student assignment.
- School Wide users can practice on any student in the assigned school or schools without an individual student assignment.
- The exact provider role is less important for basic training access, but it should be corrected before go-live when accurate caseload tracking or IEP role identification is required.
- Tell SIRAS the training date in advance when a Training-environment refresh or other preparation is needed.
8. Go-Live Readiness Checklist
- Confirm that all expected staff accounts exist in Training and are included in the migration plan.
- Block former staff and remove obsolete district or school associations.
- Verify usernames, names, email addresses, and site assignments.
- Confirm the appropriate district, school, administrative, wide, or read-only access for each user.
- Review imported students and identify records that no longer belong to the district.
- Review current-year and next-year provider assignments and caseloads.
- Identify users who need individual provider assignments in addition to wide access.
- Confirm the SIS integration scope, data owners, technical contacts, and exchange schedule.
- For file-based exchanges, confirm that SFTP credentials were received securely and that the manual connection and file-transfer test succeeded.
- Complete test imports and exports and resolve unmatched, rejected, or duplicate records.
- Confirm which system is authoritative for each shared field after go-live.
- Confirm the final Training refresh, user migration, data-conversion, and go-live dates with the SIRAS transition team.
- Submit unresolved username, district-association, account-sharing, or data-conversion issues to SIRAS before go-live.
9. When to Contact SIRAS
Contact SIRAS Support or your assigned transition contact for assistance with:
- Changing a username
- Removing an incorrect district association
- Handling an account that must remain available to another district
- Preserving or reviewing provider assignments when staff leave
- Scheduling a Training-environment refresh
- Confirming which accounts and data will migrate to Live
- Questions about unmatched staff, provider assignments, or other converted data
- Planning, configuring, or testing SIS imports, exports, Aeries integration, or single sign-on
- Obtaining, replacing, or troubleshooting SFTP credentials and connection settings
Email: [email protected]
Legacy source document: This guide was developed from the original New Client Transition FAQ. The Word document is retained for historical reference, but this Article 422 guide should be used as the current guidance.
