Term Setup Guide

Setup files you will need

  1. Students
  2. Faculty and Staff
  3. Admin Assignments
  4. Courses
  5. Course Sections
  6. Instructor Assignments
  7. Student Enrollments
  8. (Optional) Course Section Survey Dates

Download the files here: All Term Setup Files

File Formats

Columns denoted with (*) are required.

Students

This file contains essential information for setting up student accounts in ClassRanked, including their name, email, school ID, and default password.

Download the template here: students.csv

Column Type (Length) Description
First Name* Text (128) Example: Andrew
Last Name* Text (128) Example: Miranda
Email* Email (1024)

The school email of the user. Used for logging in and receiving email notifications from ClassRanked at this address.

Example: andy@university.edu
School ID* Text (128)

School issued ID used to identify the user. If the email is not found during login, this field is checked to authenticate the user.

Example: P00012345
Password* Text (must be ≥ 6 and < 32)

The default password a user starts off with. They can change this via the "Forgot Password" flow at a later time.

While technically optional if using alternative login method (Single Sign-On), we highly recommend setting one as an backup way of getting users to their accounts.
User Attributes… Text (128)

Additional columns in this file can be interpreted as User attributes. Each column title will represent a user attribute and the value in the column will be the value of that attribute.

Column: Home Location

Possible Values: Online, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando

Column: Year

Possible Values: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior

Faculty and Staff

This file contains essential information for setting up instructor and admin accounts in ClassRanked, including their name, email, school ID, and default password.

Download the template here: faculty-and-staff.csv

Column Type (Length) Description
First Name* Text (128) Example: Steven
Last Name* Text (128) Example: Johnson
Email* Email (1024)

The school email of the user. Used for logging in and receiving email notifications from ClassRanked at this address.

Example: steven@university.edu
School ID* Text (128)

School issued ID used to identify the user. Used as fallback if email is not found during login.

Example: P00012345
Password* Text (must be ≥ 6 and < 32)

The default password a user starts off with. They can change this via the "Forgot Password" flow at a later time.

While technically optional if using alternative login method (Single Sign-On), we highly recommend setting one as an backup way of getting users to their accounts.
User Attributes… Text (128)

Additional columns in this file can be interpreted as User attributes. Each column title will represent a user attribute and the value in the column will be the value of that attribute.

Column: Home Location

Possible Values: Online, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando

Column: Tenure Track

Possible Values: Associate, Assistant, Tenured, Non-tenure

Admin Assignments

This file maps administrators to specific academic units within your institution's reporting hierarchy, determining their level of access and permissions in the ClassRanked system.

Download the template here: admin-assignments.csv

Column Type (Length) Description
Academic Unit* Text

The shorthand identifier of the academic unit this admin is assigned to.

Must match the Abbreviation       of an existing academic unit.

Example: CS
Email* Email

The email      of the admin assigned to this academic unit.

Example: andy@university.edu
Role Text

Currently we only support the Viewer      role.

Gives admins access to view Reports for the Academic Unit they are assigned to as well as the children underneath that unit.

Courses

This file contains essential information for setting up courses in ClassRanked, including their title, abbreviation, associate parent academic unit, and any custom course attributes.

Download the template here: courses.csv

Column Type (Length) Description
Title* Text (256)

The name of this course.

Example: Introduction to Computer Science
Abbreviation* Text (128)

The course prefix or shorthand code used to identify this course.

Example: CS 101
Parent Academic Unit* Text

The abbreviation of the academic unit this course belongs to.

Example: CS
Course Attributes… Text (128)

Additional columns in this file can be interpreted as Course attributes. Each column title will represent a course attribute and the value in the column will be the value of that attribute. All Sections of this course will inherit this attribute.

Examples:

Column: Course Type

Possible Values: Online, In-Person, Hybrid

Column: Campus

Possible Values: Main, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Downtown

Course Sections

This file contains essential information for course sections in ClassRanked, including section identifiers, affiliated course, term dates, and scheduling details to properly set up course instances.

Download the template here: course-sections.csv

Property Type (length) Description
Title* Text (256) Title of the course.
Course ID* Text

The abbreviation of the course this section is an instance of.

Example: CS 101
Section ID* Text (128)

The specific Section that the instructor teaches.

Example: CS 101-01
Term Text (128)

The term this Section is part of. Must match the name of the term in ClassRanked. Only applicable if you are trying to upload multiple terms worth of data together.

Example: 2025 Spring
Start Date* Date (time optional)

The day this specific course section starts. If unspecified, the default start time will be at 12:00 AM of this date.

Example: 01/16/2025
End Date* Date (time optional)

The day this specific course section ends. If unspecified, the default start time will be at 11:59 PM.

Example: 05/03/2025
Course Attributes… Text (128)

Additional columns in this file can be interpreted as Course attributes. Each column title will represent a course attribute and the value in the cell for each row of that column will be the value of that attribute.

Examples:

Column: Course Type

Possible Values: Online, In-Person, Hybrid

Column: Campus

Possible Values: Main, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Downtown

Instructor Assignments

This file specifies which instructors are assigned to teach which course sections, by mapping their emails to the Section ID (referred to here as Academic Unit)

Download the template here: instructor-assignments.csv

Property Type (length) Description
Academic Unit* Text

The Section ID      of the course section that a instructor is enrolled in. Must match a Section ID      from the Course Sections file.

Example: CS 101-01
Term Text (128)

The term the instructor is assigned to this course section. Only needed if you are trying to upload multiple terms worth of data together.

Example: 2025 Spring
Email* Email

The email      of the instructor assigned in this course section.

Example: faryal@university.edu
Role Text (128) Always Primary Instructor     

Student Enrollments

This file specifies which students are enrolled in which course sections, by mapping their emails to the Section ID (referred to here as Academic Unit)

Download the template here: student-enrollments.csv

Property Type (length) Description
Academic Unit* Text

The Section ID      of the course section a student is enrolled in. Must match a Section ID      from the Course Sections file.

Example: CS 101-01
Term Text (128)

The term the student is enrolled to this course section. Only applicable if you are trying to upload multiple terms worth of data together.

Example: 2025 Spring
Email* Email

The email      of the student enrolled in this course section.

Example: andrew@university.edu

(Optional) Course Sections Survey Dates

This file allows you to set custom survey start, end, and result release dates for each course section - optional if using native course syncing tools in ClassRanked.

Download the template here: course-section-survey-dates.csv

Property Type (length) Description
Section ID* Text

Section ID      of the course. Must match a Section ID      from the Course Sections file.

Example: CS 101-01
Survey Start Date* Date (time optional)

The day the survey for this course section starts. If unspecified, the default start time will be at 12:00 AM of this date.

Example: 04/28/2025
Survey End Date* Date (time optional)

The day the survey for this course section ends. If unspecified, the default start time will be at 11:59 PM of this date.

Example: 05/03/2025
Admin Release Date Date (time optional)

The day this specific course section releases its results to admins. If unspecified, the default release time will be at 12:00 AM of this date, unless otherwise specified.

Example: 05/04/2025
Instructor Release Date Date (time optional)

The day this specific course section releases its results to instructors. If unspecified, the default release time will be at 12:00 AM of this date, unless otherwise specified.

Example: 05/06/2025

Upload Steps

To ensure data accuracy, always download your upload receipts from the Activity Monitor at each step, immediately after uploading a file. Receipts help you quickly verify uploads and resolve potential issues.

You can access the Activity Monitor from the upper right hand corner of the ClassRanked site, next to Account.

  1. Upload Faculty and Staff.

    1. Go to: https://insights.classranked.com/admin/faculty_and_staff

    2. From Faculty & Staff table: Click Add Faculty → Upload Faculty (.csv) and upload your Faculty and Staff file.

      Upload Students

    3. Go to: https://insights.classranked.com/admin/students
    4. From Students table: Click Add Student → Upload Students (.csv) and upload your Students file.

  1. (Optional) Update Reporting Hierarchy

    In the example, we navigate into the School of Environmental Engineering and create a new Department called, “Department of Civil Engineering”
    In the example, we navigate into the School of Environmental Engineering and create a new Department called, “Department of Civil Engineering”
    1. Go to: https://insights.classranked.com/admin/reporting_hierarchy
    2. By clicking through the table, navigate to the Academic Unit under which you would like to create a new Academic Unit.

  1. Upload, Add, or Remove Admin Assignments

    1. Navigate back to: https://insights.classranked.com/admin/faculty_and_staff
    2. Option 1: Recommended for bulk adding admin assignments:
      1. From Faculty and Staff table: Click Add Faculty → Upload Faculty Roles (.csv) and upload your Admin Assignments file.
    3. Option 2: Recommended for one-off updates and removals:

      1. From Faculty & Staff table: Double click on any faculty member's name to manage their admin role assignments.

        Upload Courses

    4. Go to: https://insights.classranked.com/admin/course_catalog
    5. From the Courses table: Click Add Courses → Upload Courses (.csv) and upload your Courses file

  1. Create a Term

    1. Go to: https://insights.classranked.com/admin/terms

    2. From the Terms table: Click Create Term

      Upload the following files into your newly created term*:

    3. From Sections table: Click Add Course Sections → Upload Course Sections (.csv) and upload your Course Sections file.
    4. From Sections table: Click Add Course Sections → Upload Instructor Assignments (.csv) and upload your Instructor Assignments file.
    5. From the Student Enrollments table: Click Add Enrollments → Upload Enrollments (.csv) and upload your Student Enrollments file.

  1. Setup Survey Project for this new Term.

    1. Navigate to: https://insights.classranked.com/admin/distribution_series
    2. If you are creating a new Survey Project**:
      1. On the top right hand corner, Click Create Survey Project and provide your new Survey Project a name
      2. A new table should appear titled whatever you provided as the Survey Project name.
      3. Continue with the same steps below, for “If you are adding a term to an existing Survey Project”
    3. If you are adding a term to an existing Survey Project:
      1. From the Survey Project table you are interested in adding a new term to: Click Add Term
      2. Fill out the required fields to create a Survey Project.
        1. Term: The term you want to survey.
        2. Survey: The template you want to survey.
        3. Default Start Date: The start date of the Survey Project
        4. Default End Date: The end date of the Survey Project
        5. Default Report Release Date: The fallback date that admins and instructors will be able to view the results of a survey project—if a section-level one is not provided.

  1. Add or Upload Course Sections Survey Dates into Survey Project

    In the example, we set the survey dates to start 5 days before the end of the course section and end 10 days after. We sync all course sections from the Term.
    1. Option 1 (recommended): Use Auto Import
      1. Click Sync Course Sections
      2. Set Survey Date rules - these will be applied to all Course Sections.
      3. Set Syncing rules - Only course sections that match the rules you set here will be brought into the survey project. This will update as new course sections are added in the term.
    2. Option 2: Upload via .csv
      1. From Course Sections table: Click Add Course Sections → Upload Course Sections (.csv) and upload your Course Section Survey Dates file.
        1. The Course Sections provided must match Course Sections that exist in the term you are affiliated with.

Footnotes

* Any of these uploads can also be done manually for one-off sections, instructor assignments, or enrollments not included in your CSV.

** Create a new survey project if you’re:

  1. Evaluating something fundamentally different—like a new template with major question changes.
  2. Shifting your evaluation’s purpose—capturing different insights or measuring new outcomes.
  3. Drawing a clear line between past data and new results. When your survey evolves drastically, a separate project ensures your reports stay clean and actionable.

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