Installation
Deployment Considerations
Data transfer from your SIS to Principalm Connect uses a human readable text file. Making this file accessible to every user makes it impossible to keep effective restrictions on data – e.g. prevent the school nurse from seeing locker combinations. Transferring human readable text over your network makes it vulnerable to snooping.
This point cannot be over-emphasized. For security reasons (not to mention legal liability!), schools must recognize the importance of safeguarding student data by not allowing unencrypted copies of student records to leave a secure location in the school.
The ideal place for Principalm Connect to be installed is on the machine of a person who is responsible for SIS administration. This way the SIS data never leaves that computer in unencrypted form. You may however wish to use a different computer, because some of Principalm Connect’s features are only usable if you have an Internet connection, which you may not wish to have on your SIS machine.
Under the above deployment model, each user of Principalm has their memory card updated from the single installation of Principalm Connect, probably once or twice per week.
If you would like your users to update their own cards, you can install multiple copies of Principalm Connect, one for each user. But please bear in mind that this increases the number of people who have access to the unencrypted data from your admin system.
Installation Requirements
Before you install Principalm Connect you will need:
Principalm Installer
The Principalm Installer installs Principalm Connect. Download it here.
Activation File
An activation file is usually either provided with a shipped SD card or e-mailed to you when you purchase Principalm. If you have purchased Principalm but do not have an Activation File, please contact Support.
If you do not have an Activation File, you can run Principalm in Demo mode by choosing Demo Only from the License screen inside Principalm Connect.
An SIS Bridge
An SIS Bridge is software that extracts data from your SIS in a format that Principalm Connect can read.
Links to bridges for the various SIS products that Principalm supports can be found at the SIS bridge download page.
If we have not yet constructed a bridge for your SIS, please contact Support. We will be glad to help you connect your system to Principalm.
Photos (Optional)
If you would like to include photos in Principalm, you will need a CD or folder containing photos of your students. Many school photographers provide a CD as part of their package. Please see Photos for more information.
Installing Principalm Connect
To install Principalm Connect on:
Windows
Double-click Principalm_[version number].msi (where [version number] is the version of Principalm) to run the Windows installer. Follow the instructions on screen to install the software.
Note: You may need to be logged on as a user that has administrative permissions to your local machine in order to complete the installation. Alternatively you can choose any destination folder you have read/write privileges to (such as your personal folder) to install Principalm Connect.
Macintosh
- Double-click the Principalm_[version number].dmg (where [version number] is the version of Principalm) file to extract Principalm Connect (you won’t have to perform this step if you downloaded from the internet).
- Drag Principalm Connect to your Applications folder.
Installing and Configuring Your SIS Bridge
If you wish to use demo data for now, you can skip this step.
Please download and follow the instructions to install and configure your SIS Bridge, as described in (3.) above.
Tip: Many new bridges automatically copy over configuration information from Connect when run, provided they are running on the same machine as Connect. Your SIS Bridge user guide will explain whether this applies to you. If it does, you should follow the steps in Setup before running your SIS Bridge software for the first time.