Discovery’s Acorn: Connections Tab
Connections
The connections page is where you begin setting up how Acorn will connect to your school’s SIS. The connection page has three main sections:
Connections Table
The connections table will contain a list of possible connections to any of your SISes. You can have multiple connections set up to each SIS as needed.
If there are no connections listed in the table, you can create a new one by clicking the “Add” button.
If you have one or more connections listed in the table there should be an icon beside each Connection Name. This icon indicates the status of the connection.
: The success icon indicates that the connection has been setup, and is ready for use.
: The loading icon indicates that some information is missing, and that this connection has not been fully setup yet.
: The loading icon indicates that Acorn is in the midst of testing the connection, once the test succeeds or fails the icon should change to one of the others.
: The fail icon indicates that the connection has all the required information but the test failed. This normally indicates that one of the parameters is incorrect. Try testing the connection again and look at the test results in the Settings section for more information.
Settings
In the Settings section we modify each of the parameters for a given connection. To modify a given connection, click on its listing in the table. This should change the information listed in the Settings section.
On every connection you will see these two parameters:
- Name: This is the name of the connection, it will appear in the Connection Table, it is only for reference and can be anything you want.
- Bridge: The Bridge parameter indicates which bridge this connection uses to connect to your SIS. Available bridges are listed in the drop-down. If there are no bridges available or the bridge for your SIS is not listed, you may need to download the bridge from the Discovery Software website ( http://www.discoverysoftware.com/support/bridges/ ), or click on the “Get New Bridge” button.
Once you choose a new bridge for your connection, a new group of parameters will appear below the Bridge parameter. These parameters and their use will be detailed in the Settings section for each Bridge.
Test
Click this button to test the parameters you have supplied, consult the bridge specific guide for more information on possible Test Results.
If the Test Results indicate “Connection Successful”, then you are ready to configure your schools on the School screen.
Automatically extract school data
This section is used if you want to have the extractions run overnight, or as soon as you log in in the morning. Once your schools are set up if you choose either of these options the extraction will run automatically using Windows Scheduled Tasks, for any correctly configured school.
- Update demographic/attendance data automatically
- This computer is turned off at night
If you have chosen to use Shared Data, you must ensure to set up the share as per your school’s network security policy.
Help
There are 2 icons in the bottom left corner, that may be of use:
Knowledge Base: The knowledge base is use-able only if you have an internet connection. Pressing this button will open a web browser to the appropriate knowledge base page based on the page you are on when you click this button.
User Guide: This button will open up a local copy of this user guide. Be aware that the knowledge-base may be more up to date than the user guide, as the user guide can only be as current as the version of Acorn that you are using.