Create Download Schedule in CrossConnect

1. CrossConnect > CrossRoute
2. Navigate to the CrossRoute area of CrossConnect
3. Click the + New Schedule button
4. Name: Enter a name for the scheduled download
5. Select an Export Project from the Filter Export Projects area
   • Export Project dropdown shows all created export projects (applicants, transcript and recruitment)
   • If you select filters using the Export Type (Applicants, Transcript, Prospects) and/or Created By fields, the options in the Export Project list will change
6. Set the Schedule Frequency (how often you want the schedule to run)
   • Daily – use if you want to download only once a day
   • Weekly – Use if you want to download multiple times a day, week, or month (most common)
   • Monthly – Use if you want to download only once a month

7. Set the Start Date – when the schedule should start running
8. Set the Start Time – the time you want the download to start
9. Select Yes or No to the Repeat field - to indicate ability to repeat multiple times per day
   • If set to Yes, enter the additional information into the Every field
     • Enter the number and select the time unit (either minutes or hours) from the dropdown menu (e.g., Every 30 Minutes)
   • If set to Yes, enter the End Time – when the schedule should stop running for the day
10. If you selected Weekly for the Schedule Frequency, you will see the Days checkboxes; check the days you would like the schedule to run
11. If you will be running any post-download processes, enter the command in the Post Processing Command field

12. Select No to the FTP Enabled field (functionality does not work)
13. Select Yes or No to the Schedule Enabled field – if you want the schedule you’ve just setup to be started once you click Save, select Yes; if you are not ready for the tool to start downloading on the schedule you’ve just set up, select No (you can always edit the schedule at a later date and enable the schedule when you are ready)
14. Click Save to save your new schedule
15. On the main CrossRoute screen, click the Update Client Service button

There are a few notes for Community Colleges when setting up their import to Colleague. Follow the instructions from "CrossRoute Schedule" and take note of the following:

Post-Processing Command

Enter the Post Processing command that will run after the download completes:
C:\CFNC\CFNC_SendFilesToColleague.bat "{filename}" 4 NCSO_

• NOTE: the above command has to be entered exactly as it appears above
• The string “NCSO_” is a local selection and is the prefix for the converted files
  • You should change the "NCSO" to something specific for your college & each app. This will be very helpful in troubleshooting. You have a maximum of 6 characters plus the underscore. For example, if you have a UG, CCP, CIHS, WCE, and NC College Connect App, they would all have different strings (CFNCUG_, CFNCCP_, CFNCEC_, CFNCCE_, CFNCCC_). 
• {filename} represents a literal string and the program automatically replaces it with the actual file name when the program runs and must also be enclosed in quotes
• The number 4 represents the current version of CFNC download
• Files are converted and renamed to the following before transferring to the Colleague server, e.g.
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.main
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.misc
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.inst
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.tests

Determining the schedule cadence

The import is basically 2 parts:

1. CrossRoute, which is scheduled on each separate application. This SFTP’s the files to Colleague.
2. Colleague Import, which is also scheduled – you need to set this schedule just a bit later than the CrossRoute schedule so the files have time to transfer into the Colleague directory.

Each application should be on its own schedule/cadence. How you determine the cadence is based on your Colleague Import and your college process. Some guidelines:

• The Colleague schedule should be 2 minutes after the CrossRoute schedule
• The CrossRoute schedule should be different for each type of application with no overlap

Consider this scenario: a College has 5 different types of applications and wants to import them hourly. If a college has 5 different types of applications, then you would need to space them about 12 minutes apart, and repeat that no earlier than 60 minutes later.

Example 1: 

Because Colleague uses the same program to import all application types, you could get by with having 1 Colleague schedule that runs a few minutes after each CrossRoute schedule (Example 1).

Example 2:

It is sometimes easier to understand if you set up a Colleague Schedule to correspond with each CrossRoute schedule (Example 2)

If the college only wants to import each application type once per day or every 4 hours, then the frequency would change for CrossRoute and Colleague schedule  in the Example 2, but the Frequency for Colleague in the Example 1 would need to remain consistent with the timing between when each application type is scheduled.