This documentation is an overview of the technical involvement for CampusGroups. While we actually have no technical requirements, many partners choose to utilize some integrations/automations for a more seamless user experience.
You can also find a checklist of technical items that need to be completed within your instance by navigating to Admin > Settings > Platform Implementation.
All partners must decide how to manage the creation of User Accounts, which can be done through any combination of the following methods:
Most partners will start with a single flat file upload to at least get started with plans for either regular flat file upload with each incoming batch of students or a direct API integration. Just-in-time provisioning may be useful for users that should not be pre-provisioned such as staff or faculty members which may not be required to use the platform.
The only fields required to create a new User Account are: 1. First name 2. Last Name 3. User type (assigned by you; e.g., student/staff/alumni) 4. Email address. We strongly suggest also including some sort of unique user identifier such as a netid if a user’s email address may change over time. Any other fields are completely optional, and up to the campus to decide what (if any) should be shared. You may find a list of our standard profile fields on our Excel template, and we also offer the option to create your own custom profile fields.
Most campuses elect to configure Single Sign On (SSO) so users may log in to CampusGroups with their existing campus credentials. We support CAS and SAML which should provide support for most existing systems (ADFS, Shibboleth, etc). You can learn more about your options on our help center.
Our API can be used to integrate CampusGroups with existing platforms for many different purposes. The most common use cases are for User Account creation/update and syncing campus calendars.
Creating and updating users and memberships is available through a XML based API which may be used either directly over HTTPS or by uploading files into a FTPS server. Various XML based endpoints are also available for you to pull data from the platform including users, memberships, events, groups, attendance and more.
You can navigate within your instance to Admin > More > API to find API documentation. We are also happy to provide our API documentation upon request.
The Data Warehouse module lets you retrieve raw data from the platform without any sort of preprocessing so that you may integrate that data as preferred within your own data processing systems. More information about the Data Warehouse module may be found on our help center.
We do offer the ability to allow for custom branding options including a custom domain/vanity URL, white labelling, and customizing the FROM email address for emails being sent from CampusGroups (SMTP integration).
We do also provide other native integrations for a more seamless user experience including the ability to connect with personal calendars, LMS, CRM, SIS, Payment Gateways, Room Reservations Software (EMS and 25Live), existing mobile apps, and more.
We take accessibility very seriously and are constantly improving our product based on feedback. We are currently compliant with 508 Standards - AA compliant, striving for compliance. Our VPAT can be provided upon request.
The platform is available as a website which may be accessed from all current web browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge) on both computers and smartphones. Native mobile apps are also available in the Play Store and App Store for both Android and iOS devices.
The platform is developed with a strong emphasis on security and availability and incorporates as many best practices as possible to ensure that the platform can be available at all times and as securely as possible: HTTPS over TLS 1.2, Redundant servers spread over multiple datacenters, multi-layered infrastructure, defense in depth, automatic scaling based on load, etc
The platform functions on top of a MySQL database, a Microsoft based web layer (IIS, .Net) and various AWS cloud provided components (load balancing, S3).
We are happy to provide additional documentation including our HECVAT, Disaster Recovery Plan, Incident Response Plan, Information Security Policy, Architecture Diagrams, or other documentation as required.
