Enterprise Portal: Set Up Your Desire2Learn (D2L) Integration

This guide explains how to set up your D2L integration with your ExamSoft Enterprise Portal.

Overview

• Before You Begin
• What You Need
• Procedures
• Complete the Configuration in ExamSoft

Before You Begin

1. Register an app for ExamSoft in the D2L instance.
2. Create a custom user role that has the permissions needed for the integration to pull user, course, and roster information; it also has the rights necessary to allow for pushing grades from ExamSoft to D2L.
3. Create a user with the role created in step 2.
4. Use the API Test Tool to generate an App ID, App Key, User ID, and User Key that is derived from the above steps.

What You Need

• Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome
• D2L Administrator Account
• Note taking software to record values (NotePad, Wordpad, etc.)

References

• API Test Tool:https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php
• Trusted URL:https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php
• Permissions Import File: http://getbrightspace.examsoft.com

Procedures

Complete all of these procedures.

• Register the ExamSoft Application in D2L
• Create a Role and Assign Permissions
• Edit Your Role
• Create the Service User Account
• Impersonate the Service Account
• Authenticate with the API Test Tool
• Complete the Configuration in ExamSoft

Register the ExamSoft Application in D2L

1. Log in to D2L in one tab.
2. Open the API Test Tool in another tab.

   

3. Select the Gear.
4. Select Manage Extensibility.

   

5. Select Register an App.

   

6. Input the Application Name and Trusted URL.

   The Trusted URL is the link to the API Test Tool: https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php

   

7. Copy the Application ID and Application Key into a text editor, such as Notepad.

   

Create a Role and Assign Permissions

1. Select the Gear. 
2. Select Roles and Permissions.

   

3. Select Create/Copy.

   

4. Fill out the New Role with the following values.

   

   • Access
     • Access inactive courses
     • Access past courses
     • Access future courses
   • Sections
     • Access all courses sections
   • Groups
     • Access all course groups
5. Select Save.
6. Back in the role list, select the arrow next to the role that you created, and then select  Import Permissions.

   

7. Select Choose File and browse for the permission file to be imported.
8. Select Next.

   The permissions file can be found here: D2L Permissions File

9. Select Import at the bottom left. Any errors on this screen can be ignored.

Edit Your Role

At this point, the role is provisioned. To be able to search, assign, and impersonate this role, you will need to edit your own current role (typically Administrator) to do so.

1. Select Roles and Permissions.

   

2. Select the drop-down arrow next to Administrator and select Edit Role Permissions. Give Search, Enroll, and Impersonate rights to the newly created role.

   

3. Select Save and Close.

Create the Service User Account

1. Select the Gear. 
2. Select Users.

   

3. Select New User.

   

4. Fill in a name and a role, as shown below, and click Save.

   The name can differ, and a password is optional.
   
   

Impersonate the Service Account

1. Select the Gear.
2. Select Users.

   

3. Search for the newly created account.
4. Next to the account name, select the down-arrow button, and then select Impersonate User.

   

Your current session will now be impersonating this user

Authenticate with the API Test Tool

1. Open the API Test Tool that was open in another tab.
2. Enter the following values:

   

   Host(replace the existing value with your D2L instance URL, without https://)
   App ID
   App Key

3. Select Authenticate.

   Selecting Authenticate may produce the following error: The request's 'x_target' value does not match the allowed values for this application. Contact your administrator.

   If this is the case, it is likely the trusted URL within the app in Step 4 was not properly set to:  https://apitesttool.desire2learnvalence.com/index.php

4. Select Continue when prompted.

   Authenticating uses the active session on that host to generate a User ID and User Key. In a previous step, impersonating the service account made that the active session so that the credentials for that account are used rather than a full administrator account.

5. Copy the User ID and User Key into the same notepad that you recorded the App ID and App Key.

   

   
   Provide these values to your ExamSoft contact. If you need further assistance setting up your D2L instance with ExamSoft, please contact your ExamSoft Implementation Consultant.

Complete the Configuration in ExamSoft

1. Log in to your ExamSoft portal as an Institution Admin.
2. Select Admin and then select Global Settings.

   

3. Select the LMS Settings menu (at the top).

   

4. For LMS Type, select D2L, and enter the configuration settings:
   • D2L Instance URL: Enter the URL that you use to access your D2L instance.
   • App ID, App Key, User Id, and User Key: Paste the values that you copied from your D2L instance.
     Note: After you enter the token, the portal will confirm that the connection between the ExamSoft Portal and your D2L instance is configured. If it is successful, a green check mark and Verified will appear and the remaining options are made available.
     

     

     
     
     • D2L Instance URL: Enter the URL that you use to access your D2L instance.
     • App ID, App Key, User Id, and User Key: Paste the values that you copied from your D2L instance.
5. Select the Configure button.
   
6. Select the desired Course ID, Student ID, and Student ID Type. 

   Note: These values are the elements from the D2L environment that will end up being the User ID and Course ID in ExamSoft.

   

7. Select the applicable Course Admin and Student Roles.

   Note: The value selected for Course Admin roles will dictate which D2L users are synced to ExamSoft as admins. The value selected for Student roles will dictate which D2L users are synced to ExamSoft as students.

8. Select Save at the top of the screen.

Find more information on syncing courses here: Enterprise Portal: Sync Courses from Your LMS

Run the Sync Process

1. Select Edit Sync Settings.
   
2. If this is your first time visiting this page, select Refresh Courses to retrieve the list of the courses from D2L.
   Note: Keep in mind that you are not yet syncing the courses, just retrieving the full list of courses from your D2L instance. 
3. Within the Select Courses tab, select the desired courses using the + icon to add them to the sync list.
   

   

    

4. Select the Edit Sync List tab, and then enter the dates and assign the department for each course.

   Note: You can assign dates and departments to multiple courses at once. Select the checkbox for each course that has the same department or the same start and end dates. Then, select the appropriate button at the bottom of the screen.

   

5. Select Save.
6. Select Sync Now to manually sync.
   
   Note: If the sync is successful, you will receive a success message in the upper-right hand corner of the screen confirming your sync.
7. (Optional) Select to automatically sync your courses at a pre-determined time daily, by enabling Auto Sync On/Off and entering your preferred time.
   

If you do not see the data that was supposed to sync over, see: Enterprise Portal: LMS Sync Errors

Verify the Sync

1. Select the ExamSoft logo (in the top left corner) to navigate to My Departments.
2. Select a department that you selected while editing the Sync List.
3. Verify that the courses were imported successfully.
4. Select one of the imported courses.
5. Select Students (at the top), and verify that the roster has synced from D2L.
6. Repeat the above steps for the other departments and courses.