Introduction

Course rosters for use with WebCT Vista must be specifically-formatted for use with the automated Vista enrollment system. Incorrectly-formatted rosters will be returned for reformatting before being processed. Incorrect formatting and invalid user data will significantly delay the processing of your course roster.

Formatting Requirements

A Vista course roster should be submitted to webcourseware@bu.edu using the formatting below. For your convenience, a sample template is provided for download.

The course roster must be submitted as a Microsoft Excel (.xls) file that contains three columns: "NAME", "BUID" and "BULOGIN".

• The NAME column will contain the full uersname formatted "Last name, First name" (e.g., "Smith, John").
• The BUID column will contain BU user IDs, starting with an upper-case "U".
• The BULOGIN column will contain BU Login names.

The information entered in the BUID column must include the 'U', i.e. U12345678 instead of just 12345678. If the "U" is left off the BUID, it will need to be manually added, delaying processing of the request. The format of the number itself can be U12-34-5678 or just U12345678.

Please review all user data before submitting a roster; invalid user data will require that the roster be returned to your office for correction before processing.

Example of a correctly formatted roster

About the Validation Process

Each record in a submitted roster is validated against the BU Online Directory information before a final enrollment XML is generated. This validation is done via the BUID number. The lookup tool queries the server for the BUID that is supplied in the Excel data. A BUID missing a "U" will generate an error.

If the BUID is found in the BU Online Directory, the BU Login name in the spreadsheet's BULOGIN column is compared to that in the BU Online Directory. If the BU Login name matches the name from the BU Online Directory, that BU Login is used. This ensures that the names match what will be provided when the automated roster system adds the user to an academic class.

If the BUID validation fails, a secondary lookup is performed using the BU login name provided in the submitted roster. The person processing your roster is presented with the information from the Excel data sheet to compare with the BU Online Directory data for the login name. Records are reconciled manually; most of these records will contain similar data but with an separate BU ID. In these cases, an incorrect BU login name was recorded in the Excel data. After reviewing these records, we correct the data in the spreadsheet and rerun the process. Individual records that cannot be reconciled will be removed from the roster and the validated roster will be imported into Vista. Any records that are removed will be returned to the individual submitting a roster for reconciliation.

Response Time

Correctly-formatted Vista rosters with valid user information will require 1 full business day for processing. Rosters that contain incorrect formatting or invalid user information will be returned for correction and delay processing as a result.