This tutorial explains how to use the new importing grades feature in Peoplesft (LOUIE). If you have set up a grade book column in your Bb Vista class you can now import those grades directly into Peoplesoft . This new feature will save time and effort in posting your grades at the end of the semester.
You will learn how to set up an appropriate column that will allow you to import grades and how to use the Grade Import Tool to bring the grades directly into Peoplesoft.
1. Setting Up Grade Book Column
To set up this new feature you will need to have a column in your grade book set up to feed to Vista. This can be a current column that you rename or a new column that you create. There are only certain types of columns that will feed into Peoplesoft: Alphanumeric, Letter Grade, Text, and Selection List, The column will need a specific title: Semester Grade. This title must be entered as shown. Do not abbreviate Semester or change all text to upper case or lower case. To set up this Semester Grade column you can do one of the following:
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Rename a Current Column
If you currently have a column that you use to display the students’ final letter grades, you can use that column if it is an approved column: Alphanumeric, Letter Grade, Text, and Selection List. If this is so, you can edit manually-created columns. If you plan to rename a column and need to know the steps involved, please review the information at Renaming a Current Column. - Create a New Column
Only certain types of columns will import into Peoplesoft: Alphanumeric, Letter Grade, Text, and Selection List. To learn more about creating these columns review the information at Creating Columns.
2. Releasing the Grade
Once you have your Semester Grade column created you must release the grade to students. If you do not release the grades you will lose the ability to import grades when in Peoplesoft. To learn more about releasing grades review the information at Releasing Grades.
3. Importing Grades into Peoplesoft
Once you have a column set up in your Bb Vista grade book labeled Semester Grade you can then enter Peoplesoft to import the grades posted in this column. Remember that only certain types of columns will import into Peoplesoft: Alphanumeric, Letter Grade, Text, and Selection List. To learn more about these column types review the information at Creating Columns (link to Creating Columns content). The column will need a specific title: Semester Grade. This title must be entered as shown. Do not abbreviate Semester or change all text to upper or lower case.
In Peoplesoft enter the Faculty Center. Select the class Grade Roster icon to access the Grade Roster for your class.
You will see the new option Import Vista Grades button. The following steps will walk you through how to import grades:
- In the Grade Roster Type field select the Final Grade option. The grade import feature is not available for mid-term grades at this time. You will need to enter mid-term grades manually.
- Select the Import Vista Grades button.
- The grades from the Semester Grade column in your grade book will import into Peoplesoft. NOTE: If there is a student on the Peoplesoft roster that is not in your Bb Vista class, an error message will appear: “The following student(s) were not found in the Vista Gradebook: (ID number – last name, first name).”
- Select OK and research this issue. Why is there a difference between your Bb Vista class and your official class roster?
NOTE: Students in your Bb Vista class who are not officially enrolled will not appear in your Peoplesoft roster. Students added to finish incompletes from another section or guest students will not feed into Peoplesoft when importing grades.
- View the imported grades. Any grades that are highlighted in red are unauthorized grades and MUST be edited by you. These would include any grades with a plus or minus sign, numeric characters, or anything other than A, B, C, D, F, I, or P.
NOTE: When the instructor imports grades to PeopleSoft from Vista, imported grade data are validated against what's appropriate for the class in question (i.e., is the class Pass/Fail, Letter-Graded, Research-graded, etc.) and what might be unique to the student's situation (e.g., if a student is auditing a course the only valid grades are AU and AUF). In short, grades other than what are currently listed on the support page can be valid in given situations. In particular, we don't want to discourage faculty members from entering valid IP grades for students where these may be appropriate given the class grading basis.
- Edit any grades in Bb Vista if necessary and import the grades again. Or you can do the following steps and assign the grades. Then edit the grades while in Peoplesoft.
- Select the Assign Vista Grades to Students button.
- A dialog box appears that warns that you will overwrite any current grades that are visible. Select OK.
- The grades will transfer from the Vista Grade column to the Roster Grade column.
- Review grades for accuracy.
- If you need to edit any grades, you can use the drop down menu to post grades directly into the Roster Grade field. You should also edit the grade in your Bb Vista grade book.
- Select Save.
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- You have successfully imported the grades into Peoplesoft!
- Follow the normal approval steps to complete the posting of grades. If you have approval rights, you will see the Approval Status drop-down menu at the top of the page. Select Approved. Remember to select Save after approving the grades. This will ensure that your grades are saved on the system and do not disappear.
Combined and Cross-listed Sections
The grade import can work with some combined and cross-listed classes, but if you receive an error message when importing the grades from a section that is combined in Bb Vista, this combination may not allow this feature and you will need to post grades manually in Peoplesoft.
Questions about Importing Grades
If you have any questions about setting up your grade book in Bb Vista, please contact the e-Learning Center Faculty Help Line at 523-5554 or toll-free at 866-802-5256. If you have any questions about posting grades in Peoplesoft, please contact the Solutions Center at 523-1511 or review these instructions.
