TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Administrator Guide
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Prerequisites
• 3. Process Overview
• 4. Configuration Steps
  • 4.1. Add the Bulk Import Module
  • 4.2. Configure Deployment Scope
  • 4.3. Configure Module Settings
  • 4.4. Enable API Access
• Import Process
• 1. Request SFTP Access
• 2. Prepare and Upload Backup Files
• 3. Initiate the Import Process
• 4. Monitor Import Progress
• 5. Manage Imported Courses
• 6. Technical Details
  • Supported File Formats
  • Status Definitions
• 7. Troubleshooting

NOTE: This feature will launch first in Germany and is scheduled to roll out globally at the start of August.

Administrator Guide

1. Introduction

The Bulk Course Import feature enables administrators to import multiple courses from Moodle or other LMS platforms into itslearning simultaneously. This guide describes how to configure, initiate, and manage the import process.

2. Prerequisites

Before you begin:

• You must have administrator access to your itslearning site

• "Global settings" and "Create courses" permissions must be enabled

• You need an SFTP client for file uploads

• Files must be in MBZ (Moodle) or IMSCC format

3. Process Overview

1. Add and configure the Bulk Course Import module

2. Request SFTP access from itslearning

3. Upload course backups to the SFTP server

4. Use the module to start and monitor imports

5. Assign teachers to imported courses

4. Configuration Steps

4.1. Add the Bulk Import Module

• Navigate to Administration > Manage apps

• Click Add module to begin configuration

This initiates the setup workflow for deploying the Course Importer

4.2. Configure Deployment Scope

Define where the Course Importer will be available:

1. Select the appropriate organizational level for deployment: "Search for hiearchy"
   • Entire site: Makes the importer available throughout your itslearning site
   • Specific organizations: Makes the importer available only to selected schools/departments
   • Individual organizational units: Makes the importer available only to specific units

Note: The deployment is hierarchical. Selecting a higher-level organization will make the tool available to all sub-organizations. You do not need to deploy separately for each organization under your site.

4.3. Configure Module Settings

Select app

1. Access the app library and locate the Bulk Import Course
2. Click Include this app

Configure the following settings:

• Role-based access: For this module commonly Administrators (select which roles can use the importer)
• Display name: What admins will see on the Admin page (maximum 60 characters)
• Setup name: Name visible on the Manage Apps page (maximum 60 characters)
• Press Save

NOTE: The bulk importer will be placed under the "Administration" tab by default.

4.4. Enable API Access

The Course Importer requires access to itslearning's Organization API:

1. Navigate to the "Vendor access" tab

2.  Select the vendor "Course import and export"

3. Click "Permit" and confirm the action

Note: API integration only needs to be configured once for your site, even when deploying to multiple organizational units.

Import Process

1. Request SFTP Access

After configuring the module:

1. Contact your itslearning key account manager to request bulk import capability
2. The itslearning services team will set up an SFTP server and provide you with credentials

2. Prepare and Upload Backup Files

Once you have SFTP credentials:

1. Create backup files of your Moodle courses in MBZ format
   • For automated backup information, see the Moodle documentation
2. Use an SFTP client of your choice to connect to the provided SFTP server
3. Create a folder with the ID of the organization you want to import the files for (this ID can be found between parentheses when opening the Bulk import courses module) *
4. Upload all backup files to the created folder on the SFTP server

*For example: if you want to import files for "Neptune college", a folder should be created on the SFTP server with the name "8".

3. Initiate the Import Process

To start the bulk import:

1. Navigate to Administration
2. Open the Bulk import courses module

Select the organization for which you want to import courses

• Only organizations for which you have administrator rights will be shown

If an organisation has no files, a message is shown with instructions. 

1. If files are available, they will be listed
2. Click the Start import button to begin the process

4. Monitor Import Progress

During the import process:

1. Each file will display a status indicating its progress
2. You can follow the progress for each package. The following status can be show:

   • Not started - the file is not yet picked up

   • In progress - the file is being processed

   • Imported - the file has successfully been processed

   • Partially imported - not all resources have been imported. You can click on the link on the file name to open a detailed report to see which resources where not or not fully imported.

   • Not imported - the file has not been imported. This could be because the file is corrupt, or because there was an temporary issue with an itslearning service. If the latter is the case, you can try to import the file again.

You can refresh the page to see updated statuses

For files with "Partially imported" status, click on the filename to view a detailed report

Files that failed to import may be retried if the failure was due to a temporary issue

5. Manage Imported Courses

After import completion:

1. You will be added to all imported courses. These can for example be found on Administration → Courses
2. For each imported backup file one course in itslearning will be created
3. Since backup files don't contain teacher information, you must manually add teachers:
   • Open each course
   • Navigate to Participants
   • Add the appropriate teachers to the course

6. Technical Details

Supported File Formats

The Bulk Course Import supports:

• MBZ: Moodle's native backup format
• IMSCC: Common Cartridge format (IMS standard)

For detailed information on supported content types within these formats, refer to:

• Moodle backup format (MBZ) documentation 
• Common Cartridge (IMSCC) documentation

Status Definitions

During the import process, files can have the following statuses:

• Not started: The file is queued but processing has not yet begun
• In progress: The file is currently being processed
• Imported: The file was successfully processed and the course created
• Partially imported: Some resources could not be imported; view the detailed report
• Not imported: The file could not be processed due to corruption or service issues

7. Troubleshooting

Issue: File not listed

Symptom: File missing from UI

Solution: Check folder and SFTP upload

Issue: Import failure

Symptom: File doesn’t process

Solution: Check file format or retry with new export

Issue: Partial import

Symptom: Resources missing

Solution: Review status report via filename link

Issue: Permission denied

Symptom: Cannot access import module

Solution: Verify roles and required permissions

Issue: API connection error

Symptom: "API connection failed"

Solution: Confirm Vendor Access setup

For unresolved issues, contact your itslearning Key Account Manager or support team with error messages and screenshots.