When connecting your Student Information System (SIS) to the Edlio App and Mass Communication, using a pre-built Direct SIS API connection provides the fastest and most seamless synchronization experience. With an API connection, Edlio communicates directly with your SIS server on an automated nightly schedule to ingest student, staff, and family rosters without needing manual file exports or spreadsheets.
Video chapters & timestamps
0:00 - Introduction to API setup: How to connect your SIS using one of Edlio's pre-built direct API connectors.
0:20 - Opening New Integration & the 1-per-column rule: Click New Integration to view available API integrations on the left; remember that districts can only connect one active API integration at a time to prevent data conflicts and maintain a clean source of truth.
1:00 - Selecting your SIS & prerequisite plugin installation: Example walkthrough using PowerSchool. Detailed setup instructions and plugin download links (.zip) are provided in-app. The plugin must be installed unextracted in PowerSchool Server Plugin Configuration to enable API data transfer.
1:45 - Entering secure credentials: Input your SIS API URL, Client ID, and Client Secret. These credentials act as an encrypted high-security handshake provided by your SIS administrator.
2:25 - Connecting and testing credentials: Data Setup automatically tests your credentials against the SIS endpoint and loads all active campuses and schools discovered in your SIS.
2:55 - Mapping SIS schools to Edlio school sites: Match each SIS campus to its corresponding Edlio school site 1-to-1 (e.g. Aspen Elementary to Aspen School Site). Unneeded entities (like adult education or maintenance sites) can be left unmapped so unwanted data is not imported.
3:45 - Selecting data entities to sync: Choose which groups to bring over (Students, Parents/Guardians, Teachers, and Non-Teaching Staff). Classrooms and course enrollments are configured separately.
4:40 - Entity-specific settings: Review field settings determining how incoming SIS roster data maps into Edlio profiles and contact accounts.
5:05 - Review, nightly schedule, and activation: Verify mapped schools and selected data categories. Syncs run automatically once a night overnight. Click Connect to establish the connection and receive your green "Connected" badge.
6:15 - Management controls (Sync Now & Pause/Resume): Click Sync Now to trigger an immediate manual data pull, or click Pause to halt syncs during SIS maintenance or summer rollover without losing your configuration.
7:15 - Additional options: Fetch fresh data, edit mapped schools or credentials, or safely disconnect if changing SIS providers.
Key takeaways from this video
One API connection at a time: To ensure data integrity and avoid conflicting roster feeds, your district can have only one active direct SIS API connector configured in Data Setup.
Selective school mapping: You only import data for the schools you choose to map. Unmapped schools or administrative facilities in your SIS are ignored, preventing clutter in your Edlio user directory.
Nightly automated runs: By default, syncs execute automatically once every night overnight based on your district's local time zone.
On-demand "Sync Now": When you update rosters, add emergency contacts, or adjust staff assignments in your SIS, click Sync Now in Data Setup to ingest the latest changes immediately without waiting for the overnight run.
Safe pause for rollovers: The Pause button suspends all incoming syncs while keeping credentials and school mappings intact—ideal for annual summer rollover periods.
Step-by-step API connection walkthrough
To connect a direct API integration in your Edlio App dashboard:
Navigate to Data Setup in the main sidebar and click New Integration (or Connect your first integration).
Select your SIS from the Direct API list on the left (e.g. PowerSchool, Aeries, Skyward Qmlativ, Synergy, Veracross, Sylogist, or OneRoster 1.1 REST API).
Follow the in-app prerequisite instructions to install any required plugins or generate OAuth API keys within your SIS administration console.
Enter your API Base URL, Client ID, and Client Secret (or security certificates) and click Connect.
On the Connect & Map screen, map your SIS campus codes to your corresponding Edlio school sites. Leave any non-instructional or unused facilities unmapped.
Select the data categories to ingest: Students, Staff, and Parent/Guardian Contacts.
Review your configuration on the final step and click Connect. Your integration is now active and will run nightly.
💡 Best-Practice Adoption Tip: Before setting up an API connection, confirm with your SIS administrator that your API client credentials have read-only access enabled for student, staff, and contact endpoints. Testing the credentials in Data Setup immediately verifies network firewalls and endpoint permissions before scheduling nightly synchronization.
Related articles