This blog post shares how ABCloudz partnered with Ellucian to deliver an automated student data integration between Ellucian Colleague and Maxient, a leading student conduct and case management platform. We designed a robust, reusable integration pipeline using Ellucian Data Connect, helping a major U.S. college eliminate manual data processes, reduce administrative overhead, and significantly improve data accuracy.
If your institution uses Ellucian products and faces integration challenges, this post provides deep technical insights into how our team solves complex integration scenarios to streamline your educational data workflows.
If this project isn’t quite what you’re focused on right now, take a look at our broader portfolio of higher education work or explore other Ellucian integration solutions we’ve delivered.
Background and business context
Educational institutions today rely heavily on software solutions to effectively manage student data, support case management processes, and ensure student success. For one large public community college in the United States, integrating student data between two critical systems presented a significant technical challenge. The college used Ellucian Colleague as their primary Student Information System (SIS) and Maxient as their student conduct and case management platform.
Understanding the integration challenge
Maxient is a software platform used by colleges and universities across the U.S. to manage student conduct and support cases in a centralized, auditable system. Institutions rely on Maxient for a wide range of scenarios, such as tracking academic integrity violations, recording incidents of student misconduct, and managing behavioral intervention cases. For example, when a student is reported for plagiarism or disruptive behavior, staff can log the incident in Maxient, document all follow-up actions, and track outcomes from warning letters to disciplinary hearings. The platform also helps case managers coordinate student support by monitoring referrals for counseling or wellness checks. By centralizing these processes, Maxient ensures staff have timely access to accurate records and supports compliance with regulations like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
Ellucian Colleague as a central student data hub
Ellucian Colleague serves as the central hub for student data at hundreds of U.S. colleges. It stores all key information: demographics, academic records, course registrations, housing, and more. Reliable platforms like Maxient depend on Colleague to deliver up-to-date, accurate records for effective student support.
For student case management platforms like Maxient, integration with a system like Colleague is critical. Automated, timely data delivery helps staff respond quickly to student needs, address behavioral or conduct issues, and stay compliant with regulations. Manual or fragmented integrations lead to delays, mistakes, and extra administrative work.
Ellucian’s call for expert help
To solve this integration issue effectively and create a reusable integration approach for other institutions, Ellucian turned to ABCloudz, relying on our team’s extensive technical expertise with Ellucian Data Connect, Ellucian Ethos APIs, and educational data workflows.
Ellucian’s goal was to establish a standard, repeatable integration model that could be rapidly deployed at any college using Colleague. This approach would save time, lower costs, and improve student case management for institutions across the country.
Current state architecture before automation
The diagram below illustrates the manual data exchange workflow as it existed before automation:
1. Staff extract student data from Colleague: Staff run custom SQL queries or reports in Ellucian Colleague to get student demographics and course schedules.
2. Staff prepare and format pipe-delimited TXT files: They clean and format the data using spreadsheets or scripts, making sure the file matches Maxient’s requirements. This step is slow and prone to mistakes.
3. Staff securely transfer files to Maxient using SFTP: Staff log in to Maxient’s SFTP server and manually upload each file, handling credentials and transfers for every batch.
Staff handle errors and issues manually
Staff managed errors by hand at every stage: missing data, formatting mistakes, failed uploads, or connection issues. With no automated logging or alerts, troubleshooting was slow and required extra effort. As a result, staff spent too much time on routine data tasks, which often caused errors and late updates in Maxient. Growing data volumes made the manual process increasingly unsustainable.
Future state architecture goals
After analyzing the existing process with the client and Ellucian, we defined clear goals for the new integration workflow. We focused on building fully automated, scheduled data flows from Colleague to Maxient, eliminating routine manual intervention. Validation, audit trails, and automated error notifications are built in to provide transparency and prompt resolution of issues. All data transfers use encrypted protocols and meet FERPA security and privacy standards. The solution is designed for easy scalability and reuse, with standardized mapping and straightforward configuration for other institutions.
Project execution and implementation phases
We broke the integration project into five focused phases to ensure thorough analysis, careful planning, and reliable automation from Ellucian Colleague to Maxient.
Phase 1. Detailed technical assessment and planning
Our first step was a detailed review of how the college managed student information in Ellucian Colleague and what data Maxient required. We mapped out all manual steps, identified file formats, and noted pain points like file transfer inconsistencies and delays.
Working with the client and Maxient, we defined two main data sets for integration:
- Demographics: Names, addresses, phone numbers, email, date of birth, ethnicity, gender, GPA, housing, emergency contacts, advisor info, and specific statuses (e.g., ROTC, athletics).
- Course schedules: Course codes, numbers, days, times, building and room, and instructor names.
With these requirements clarified, we mapped Ellucian Colleague’s APIs through Ethos Integration to see how to access all necessary data. This uncovered two key needs:
- Student selection logic: We determined specific criteria for selecting students whose data should be included in each export. For instance, only students with certain admission statuses or active registrations for current and future academic periods needed to be included.
- Field-level customization: Some data fields required transformations such as converting names to uppercase, truncating middle names, formatting phone numbers uniformly, and rounding GPAs accurately.
These findings shaped our configuration for the automated pipelines and set a clear direction for the rest of the project.
Phase 2. Integration design using Ellucian Data Connect
With the requirements and data processes clarified, we began designing the integration using Ellucian Data Connect.
We structured the solution around two dedicated pipelines: one for demographic data, and another for course schedules. For each pipeline, we defined field-level transformation rules, including converting names and addresses to uppercase, formatting dates as YYYY-MM-DD, rounding GPAs to two decimals, and standardizing phone numbers as XXX-XXX-XXXX. This ensured all exported data matched Maxient’s import requirements.
We scheduled both pipelines to run daily, keeping Maxient updated automatically and eliminating the need for manual data transfers.
Phase 3. Development and configuration of Data Connect pipelines
With our integration strategy set, we configured two main Data Connect pipelines to automate data flow according to the defined transformation rules.
One pipeline runs daily to extract and transform student demographic data from Ellucian Colleague, outputting a pipe-delimited text file for Maxient.
The second pipeline also runs daily to extract and transform student course schedules, handling details like HH:MM time formatting and day abbreviations, and exports the results in a space-delimited file.
For secure and reliable transfers, we included support pipelines for credential validation, confirming Data Connect could connect to SFTP or Amazon S3 before file transfer. Additional audit and error reporting pipelines send automated notifications and maintain detailed logs, helping administrators quickly identify and resolve any issues.
Phase 4. Advanced data handling and validation
We used Data Connect pipelines to automate file generation in the exact formats Maxient requires. Demographic exports use pipe-delimited text files, and schedule exports use space-delimited text files, removing manual formatting errors.
For complex data transformation, we relied on JavaScript within Data Connect. Scripts handled GPA rounding, standardizing phone numbers, converting fields to uppercase, and trimming middle names. This ensured every exported record met Maxient’s requirements.
Our pipelines support incremental data updates, exporting only new or changed records since the last successful run. This kept transfers efficient and avoided sending unnecessary data.
At every stage, automated validation checked data quality. Each pipeline produced clear audit and error logs. If a validation failed, the system sent email alerts to stakeholders for fast resolution.
Phase 5. Secure and automated data delivery
We set up secure automated transfers using SFTP. Pipelines sent files directly to Maxient’s servers without manual steps, improving both security and compliance. Credentials for file transfers were securely managed within Data Connect, minimizing security risks and eliminating manual handling.
We tested the full delivery process with Maxient to confirm that files were received and imported correctly. Automated notifications confirmed daily transfers, keeping the client up to date on data status.
With these final steps, we delivered a fully automated, secure, and reliable integration that improved operational efficiency, data accuracy, and student support.
Future state integration architecture
After automating the integration, the process of transferring student data from Ellucian Colleague to Maxient now runs on a scheduled, fully automated workflow. Each stage is handled without manual steps, with validation and monitoring built in throughout.
The diagram below shows the streamlined, automated workflow:
- Data extraction: Data Connect automatically pulls student demographics and schedules from Colleague using Ethos API on a set schedule.
- Transformation and validation: Data Connect applies all required field mappings, standardizes formats, filters records, and checks for data quality.
- File generation: The system generates pipe-delimited files for demographics and space-delimited files for schedules, ready for Maxient.
- Secure delivery: Data Connect transfers files securely to Maxient via SFTP or Amazon S3 using managed credentials. Maxient receives and imports files automatically, ensuring records stay current.
At every step, Data Connect provides automated logging, auditing, and error notifications. If any issue occurs, stakeholders are alerted immediately, supporting fast resolution and complete transparency.
Key benefits and operational improvements
With this future-state architecture in place, the college achieved several critical improvements:
- Fully automated workflow: The entire data exchange runs on a nightly schedule without manual intervention.
- Built-in validation and error reporting: All data is checked and validated before transfer, and any issues trigger immediate alerts.
- Improved data accuracy and timeliness: Student demographic and schedule data is always current within Maxient, enabling responsive case management.
- Reduced operational overhead: Staff no longer spend hours on extraction, formatting, or troubleshooting—resources are freed for higher-value tasks.
- Secure, auditable, and scalable: Credentials are securely managed, transfers are logged, and the design supports future scaling or adaptation for other institutions.
Want to see more success stories?
Take a look at our full list of projects showcasing how we help colleges and universities leverage Ellucian and additional technologies throughout the higher education sector.
Designed for scalability and reuse
Our team built this integration with a clear focus on future scalability. While the initial deployment was tailored for a single large public community college, we developed every component of the solution with broader applicability in mind. From the earliest planning stages, we collaborated closely with Ellucian to ensure all data pipelines, transformation logic, and automation routines could be reused without extensive customization.
Automate your Ellucian integrations with ABCloudz
If your institution relies on Ellucian solutions and you’re facing integration, migration, performance optimization, or modernization challenges, ABCloudz has the expertise to support your needs. Let’s connect to discuss how our technical experts can help streamline your workflows and modernize your educational data integration infrastructure.
Contact ABCloudz today to plan your integration journey.
