CatapultEMS PowerSchool Plugin Setup Instructions

Content

Download & Install Plugin

  1. Download Catapult Plugin v3.0 (leave in zip format).
  2. Log into PowerSchool - Admin (District Office).

  3. In the left pane, choose System Management > Server > Plugin Configuration (Old UI: System > System Settings > Plugin Management Configuration).

  4. Choose Install (upper right).

  5. Choose Browse then choose the downloaded plugin location.

  6. Choose Install.

  7. Once the plugin installs, it shows up in the list of plugins. Select the enable checkbox.

  8. In the right pane popup, choose Enable.

Staff to Student Export

  1. Confirm you are in the District Office.

  2. From the left pane, choose Data and Reporting > Exports > Data Export Manager (Old UI: Importing & Exporting > Data Export Manager).

  3. Change "Category" to Additional Data Sets.
  4. Change "Export From" to Catapult Staff To Student Upload.
  5. Choose the CC checkbox (which selects all the items below cc)
  6. For each label, delete the underscore and everything before it. (The a, b, c letters are only used to force sorting)
    • Change  CC.a_school  to  school
    • Change  CC.b_teacher  to  teacher
    • Change  CC.c_student  to  student
    • Change  CC.d_period  to  period
    • Change  CC.e_name  to  name
    • Change  CC.f_course_number  to  coursenumber
    • Change  CC.g_sectionnumber  to  sectionnumber

  1. Choose Next.

  2. Optionally, apply filters.

  3. Choose Next.

  4. Export File Name: StaffToStudentExport.csv  *** Match file name exactly. No underscores. File extension must match. ***
  5. Line Delimiter: CR/LF
  6. Field Delimiter: Comma
  7. Character Set: UTF-8
  8. Select Include Column Headers.

  9. Select Save Template.

  10. For Name, enter CatapultEMS StaffToStudentExport. Optionally, add a description.

  11. Select Save as New (or Save if the template has already been saved before).

Staff Export

  1. Confirm you are in the District Office.

  2. From the left pane, choose Data and Reporting > Exports > Data Export Manager (Old UI: Importing & Exporting > Data Export Manager).

  3. Change "Category" to Additional Data Sets.
  4. Change "Export From" to Catapult Staff Upload.
  5. Choose the Users checkbox (which selects all the items below users).
  6. For each label, delete the underscore and everything before it. (The a, b, c letters are only used to force sorting)
    • Change  USERS.a_id  to  id
    • Change  USERS.b_school  to  school
    • Change  USERS.c_namefirst  to  namefirst
    • Change  USERS.d_namelast  to  namelast
    • Change  USERS.e_email  to  email
    • Change  USERS.f_mobilenumber  to  mobilenumber
    • Change  USERS.g_title  to  title

  1. Choose Next.

  2. Optionally, apply filters.

  3. Choose Next.

  4. Export File Name: StaffExport.csv  *** Match file name exactly. ***
  5. Line Delimiter: CR/LF
  6. Field Delimiter: Comma
  7. Character Set: UTF-8
  8. Select Include Column Headers

  9. Select Save Template.

  10. For Name enter CatapultEMS StaffExport. Optionally, add a description.
  11. Select Save as New (or Save if the template has already been saved before).


Student Export

  1. Confirm you are in the District Office.

  2. From the left pane, choose Data and Reporting > Exports > Data Export Manager (Old UI: Importing & Exporting > Data Export Manager).

  3. Change "Category" to Additional Data Sets.

  4. Change "Export From" to Catapult Student Upload.


  5. Select the Students checkbox (which selects all the items below users). 


  6. For each label, delete the underscore and everything before it. (The a, b, c letters are only used to force sorting)
    • Change  Students.a_id  to  id
    • Change  Students.b_school  to  school
    • Change  Students.c_namefirst  to  namefirst
    • Change  Students.d_namelast  to  namelast
    • Change  Students.e_mobilenumber  to  mobilenumber
    • Change  Students.f_email to email 
    • Change Students.g_contactnameprimary  to  contactnameprimary



  1. Scroll down to show additional data. For CatapultEMS, you can omit the columns labeled ("used by CatapultCONNECT only")
    • Change Students.h_contactphoneprimary  to  contactphoneprimary
    • Change Students.i_contactemailprimary  to  contactemailprimary
    • Change Students.j_zipcode  to  zipcode (used by CatapultCONNECT only)
    • Change Students.k_busroute to  busroute (used by CatapultCONNECT only)
    • Change Students.l_grade to  grade
    • Change Students.m_lunchbalance to  lunchbalance (used by CatapultCONNECT only)
    • Change Students.n_primarylanguage  to  primarylanguage (used by CatapultCONNECT only)
    • Change Students.o_primaryZip  to  primaryZip (used by CatapultCONNECT only)



  1. Scroll down to show additional data. Use these columns to filter your contacts/guardians. CatapultEMS does not use these columns directly.
    • Change Students.z_ContactPriorityOrder to ContactPriorityOrder
    • Change Students.z_IsCustodial to IsCustodial
    • Change Students.z_IsEmergency to IsEmergency
    • Change Students.z_IsEmergency to ReceivesMailFlg



  1. Choose Next.
  2. Optionally, apply filters. For example, you can filter contacts/guardians based on IsCustodial, IsEmergency, etc.

  3. Choose Next.

  4. Export File Name: StudentExport.csv    *** Match file name exactly. ***
  5. Line Delimiter: CR/LF
  6. Field Delimiter: Comma
  7. Character Set: UTF-8
  8. Select Include Column Headers

  9. Select Save Template.

  10. For "Name," enter CatapultEMS StudentExport.csv. Optionally add a description.

  11. Choose Save as New (or Save if the template has already been saved before).


School Export

  1. From the left pane, choose Data and Reporting > Exports > Data Export Manager (Old UI: Importing & Exporting > Data Export Manager).
  2. Change "Category" to Additional Data Sets.
  3. Change "Export From" to Catapult School Upload.
  4. Select the Schools checkbox (which selects all the items below users)
  5. For each label, delete the underscore and everything before it. (The a, b, c letters are only used to force sorting)
    • Change  Schools.a_schoolCode  to  schoolCode
    • Change  Schools.b_schoolSiteNamel  to  schoolSiteName
    • Change  Schools.c_address  to  address
    • Change  Schools.d_phoneNumber  to  phoneNumber
    • Change  Schools.e_mergeWithSchoolCode  to  mergeWithSchoolCode
    • Change  Schools.f_pluginVersion  to  pluginVersion

  1. Select Next

  2. Optionally, apply filters.

  3. Select Next.

  4. Export File Name: SchoolExport.csv
  5. Line Delimiter: CR/LF
  6. Field Delimiter: Comma
  7. Select Include Column Headers.

  8. Select Save Template.

  9. For "Name," enter CatapultEMS Schools. Optionally, add a description.
  10. Select Save as New (or Save if the template has already been saved before).


Attendance Export

(Only needed for CatapultCONNECT customers.)

  1. From the left pane, choose Data and Reporting > Exports > Data Export Manager (Old UI: Importing & Exporting > Data Export Manager).
  2. Change "Category" to Additional Data Sets.
  3. Change "Export From" to Catapult Attendance Upload.
  4. Select the Students checkbox (which selects all the items below users)
  5. Change Labels for Export:   students.a_ (etc) only used to force sorting
    • Change  Students.a_school  to  school
    • Change  Students.b_student  to  student
    • Change  Students.c_period  to  period
    • Change  Students.d_absenceCode  to  absenceCode
    • Change  Students.e_teacherName  to  teacherName
    • Change  Students.f_date  to  date

  1. Select Next.

  2. Optionally, apply filters.

  3. Select Next.

  4. Export File Name: AttendanceExport.csv    *** Match file name exactly. ***
  5. Line Delimiter: CR/LF
  6. Field Delimiter: Comma
  7. Select Include Column Headers.

  8. Select Save Template.

  9. For Name," enter CatapultEMS AttendanceExport. Optionally, add a description.

  10. Select Save as New (or Save if the template has already been saved before).


SFTP Setup

  1. In the left pane, choose System Management > Server > Plugin Configuration (Old UI: System > System Settings > Plugin Management Configuration).

  2. Select Remote Connection Manager.

  3. Select Remote Connection Manager link (bottom of the page).

  4. Select Create Connection.

Edit Remote Connection Screen

  1. Name: CatapultEMS
  2. Protocol:  SFTP
  3. Host: sftp.catapultems.com
  4. Port: 22
  5. Authentication Type: Password
  6. Enter username (provided by Catapult)
  7. Enter password in both fields (provided by Catapult)
  8. Choose Test Connection
  9. FingerPrint: The first time you connect, it says "Connection failed" because "The server host key does not match with any known hosts in the system." Select Yes, Accept Host Key.
  10. Remote Path:   / (unless Catapult specifies otherwise)
  11. Check Allow upload
  12. Select Submit

Scheduled System Templates

  1. From the left pane, choose Data and Reporting > Exports > Data Export Manager (Old UI: Importing & Exporting > Data Export Manager).
  2. Select the My Templates tab
  3. Select the calendar icon to the right of each of your newly saved templates

If you don’t see the calendar then you need to upgrade your permissions: System Management > Security > Under "User," choose User Roles > User Access > (desired role) > Export/Edit (tab) > User can set up and run scheduled system templates).

  1. On the Schedule pop tab
    • Check Schedule Active
    • Days to Execute:  select desired days (For example, Mon-Fri)
    • When to Execute: Enter desired time (Catapult recommends after school but before 11:00 pm PST. Rather than setting the same time for all exports, PowerSchool recommends 10-minute intervals between each scheduled export.)
    • Send Output To: CatapultEMS (SFTP name entered in the sftp step above)
    • Path:   [leave blank]
    • Email Completion: optionally, enter your email.

  1. Setup a schedule for each of the following Catapult templates. 
    • Staff
    • Staff To Students
    • Students
    • Schools
  2. For CONNECT customers, setup schedule for Attendance Export. 

Manually update data in CatapultEMS

CatapultEMS automatically imports data each night. As long as you have automated uploads each evening, the data in CatapultEMS should never be more than a day old. However, if you are testing or have significant changes that you would like to see right away rather than waiting over night, here's how.

  1. Log into PowerSchool
    1. In the left pane, choose Data and Reporting > Exports > Data Export Manager.
    2. Choose the Scheduled System Templates tab.
    3. Choose the triangular "Play" buttons next to each of the CatapultEMS uploads. Do all four of them.
  2. Log into CatapultEMS as District Safety Team
    1. From the District Command Center, choose District Settings > Import Data for District.
    2. Choose Import Data Now.