Enterprise-level applications such as Blackboard Learn must integrate and be able to process information from external data-sets such as Student Information Systems (SIS). These systems can produce information to create users and course shells. However, creating a robust Data Integration process is the hidden veil for Blackboard Learn administrators. Our coming discussions should lift the veil from this important, and sometimes mystical, process.
The snapshot tool consists of three different components: data source, properties file, and the snapshot script. The properties file can be thought of as a map for our snapshot tool. This tells the tool what information is coming in from our external data and how it should be handled within our environment. One important item in the properties file is the data source key.
A data source key helps designate different types of data from one another within the snapshot tool....