New Learn Integrations - Set Up Process

This page details what is needed for a new integration to be created on Learn. If you are looking for information around integrations please visit the web page below.

Tools within Learn

There are often occasions where a new tool is needed to be integrated within Learn.

• If you have a tool that you would like to integrate with Learn you should contact the Learn Service team as soon as you can. This is done via the IS Helpline. 

An integration typically goes through three phases - preparation, testing and deployment. More information on these phases is set out below. Integrations can take time to move through these phases, we recommend that you allow 3 months for all this work however please do contact the Learn Service team if you are looking to move something through quicker. 

Preparation

In this phase the Learn Service team will work with you to ensure that the integration you are requesting is ready to be integrated into Learn. Typically we will require the following documentation, in particular if you are using student data with an external service: 

• Contact Legal Services to check the terms and conditions, if required they can help with a data processing agreement
• A Data Protection Impact Assessment  (DPIA)  for the new service  should be completed which is approved by the DPO
• Permission from Student Systems to use the data (Student Data Protocol Form) 
• Information Security should be informed of the intention to use the service and provided with any security information they need to be in a position to advise on any concerns.
• Preferably the service should agree to our standard University data processing agreement. 

Only after we are sure it is secure, GDPR compliant and approved by various offices will we be able to integrate the service with Learn. 

It is worth considering at this point if this tool is to be available to all users on Learn, users within a particular school or indeed for users on a particular set of courses. We can help you to understand what restricting access means.

Finally you should also consider support for the tool, this is particularly important if the tool is available widely within Learn.

Testing

This phase will allow you to test the integration, the Learn Service team will work with you on testing the integration in our two testing environments. This phase can take some time and you should ensure you can commit some time to this part of the process.  

Documentation for end users will also need to be considered at this point. The Learn Service team will produce configuration documentation for the system however, end user documentation may well be something that you will need to produce. The Learn Service team are happy to link to any information you produce from our support areas.

Deployment and Ongoing Review

Once the integration is fully tested we can deploy onto the LIVE environment. The Learn Service team will work in consultation with you to decide upon a good date to deploy, please note we do not deploy new functionality on a Friday.

The Learn Service team will have you as a named contact against your integration, this means that if there is a substantive change in the environment you will be contacted to test your integration again to ensure everything is functioning as you would expect. 

There will be an annual review of all integrations on Learn to ensure they are still valid and that any restrictions still apply, it is also a useful reminder for updating documentation that you may have.