Additional Notes for Community Colleges

Additional notes for North Carolina Community Colleges (NCCC)

If CrossRoute is being setup and installed for the Colleague import, please see additional information below.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:

North Carolina Community College System Office (NCCCSO) will provide the CFNC_WinSCPUploader.zip package to be installed on the same CFNC Windows server (at the local college) that contains the CrossRoute installation so that downloaded files can be transferred securely to the internal Colleague server.  To obtain CFNC_WinSCPUploader.zip, refer to: NCCCS Release N99_XSU203830-R18*001

• NCCCSO requires a Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 2012 R2 Server
• CFNC server should be placed in the college DMZ and allowed outbound access via port 443 to specific URLs:
  • BETA (xroadsapibeta.cfnc.org)
  • PRODUCTION (xroadsapi.cfnc.org)
• Dot Net 4.5x is required before CrossRoute is installed

PROCESS OVERVIEW:

If you are setting up CrossRoute to use with the Colleague import, it is recommended that you not use FTP. Files are transferred using SFTP in the Post Process when using the NCCCS-specific post processing command.

The CFNC system retrieves Web-based admissions applications and makes the application data available for campuses to securely download in various formats. 

• The four files required to import into Colleague are:
  1. Main
  2. Institutions
  3. Miscellaneous
  4. Test Scores
• Three of these four files (Main, Institutions, and Miscellaneous) have been pre-configured in CrossConnect for each community college based on the Colleague import requirements provided by the NCCCSO.
• The CrossRoute tool:
  • Automates the process of securely downloading CFNC applications, in the Main, Institutions, and Miscellaneous file formats, from a Web server to an intermediate host server at the local college
  • Runs a NCCC-specific post process (CFNC_WinSCPUploader.zip package) that:
  • Converts the three Colleague files (downloaded from CFNC) from variable-length to fixed-length to meet the Colleague import requirements
  • Generates the Test Scores file
  • Securely transfers all 4 Colleague files to the internal Colleague server

When CrossConnect, CrossRoute, and Colleague have been properly configured and the NCCCS Release is installed:

1. Applications are securely downloaded (based on the college’s schedule) from CFNC using SSL with 2048 bit encryption, and converted to Colleague-formatted files.
2. Converted Colleague files are securely transferred from the intermediate host server to the internal Colleague server and then imported into Colleague.

Note: CrossRoute and NCCCS Release N99_XSU203830-R18*001 are required to be installed and configured when automating the import of CFNC applications into Colleague.

SETTING UP CROSSROUTE:

If you are setting up CrossRoute to use with the Colleague import, you need to enter as the file name “C:\CFNC\downloads”

CONFIGURING CROSSROUTE AND USING THE NCCCS POST PROCESSING COMMAND:

1. Enter the Post Processing command that will run after the download completes.

C:\CFNC\CFNC_SendFilesToColleague.bat "{filename}" 4 NCCCSCCP_

• The file name “NCCCS Colleague Files.zip” is extracted from CrossConnect
• “4” represents the current version of CFNC download you have been using to download CFNC application data.   If you are not aware of which version is correct (will either be 2 or 3), check your Legacy Downloads in the Control Center using the account that has slots configured for the CFNC Datatel files and check the version number.  If the assigned project for the slots ends in V2, use 2, otherwise use 3.
• The string “NCSO” is a local selection and is the prefix for the converted files
• Files are converted and renamed to the following before transferring to the Colleague server:
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.main
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.misc
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.inst
  • NCSO_yyyymmddhhmm.tests