Certification Upload

Use the OH Certification Upload page to automatically download and import employee certification data from the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) into the application. The data file is posted on the ODE website with updates every Monday morning.

This page retrieves the current credential file from ODE's website, matches employees by their State Staff ID, and updates their certification records, including teaching fields, endorsements, and limitations.

If there is a change in a Certification type record, the corresponding record is deleted from the Certification Types reference table, and a new record is added.

After the data is imported, it is available on the employee's Certifications/Licenses page.

Menu path

From the Human Resources menu, select State. From the State - OH menu, select Certification Upload.

Prerequisites

• The Certification Upload contains both Human Resources and EMIS information. To access this option, a user must have a security resource with the HRM and EMIS packages. For a list of security resources, refer to the EMIS security resources and Certification Upload security resources. Use the User Access page to assign the appropriate resource to each user.

• Enter the State Staff ID (Certification ID) on the Personnel tab of the Employee Information page. If the system cannot match an employee's State Staff ID to the ODE credential record, an error is generated in the report.

• Enter the District IRN on the EMIS Profile page to upload certifications non-interactively.

• Enter valid information in the following fields on the Human Resources Profile - State page: 

  • Purge Expired Certifications

  • Purge Unassigned Endorsements/Teaching Fields

The certification type and certification area code descriptions determine the appropriate certification type and area codes. Therefore, the descriptions must match the file precisely without case sensitivity.

Certification Upload security resources

The following table lists the Certification Upload security resources, functions, and descriptions.

Upload Certifications

1. On the OH Certification Upload page, the District IRN is retrieved from the EMIS Profile page.

2. In the Purge Expired Certifications field, select Do Not Purge.

3. In the Purge Unassigned Endorsements/Teaching Fields field, select Do Not Purge.

4. Select Submit, and then Yes.

5. If errors are found, an error log is created. Save the error log.

6. Select OK.

7. Navigate to the folder containing the error log.

8. Inspect the error log. Update data if needed.

9. Repeat these steps until all the required data is included.

After the data is imported, it is available on the employee's Certifications/Licenses page.

Upload Process

The application establishes an anonymous HTTPS connection to https://public.education.ohio.gov/misc/ and retrieves the issued_credentials.txt file.

The data transfer may take several minutes due to the large file size.

The application checks if:

• The Valid In Organization IRN field or one of the fifteen District IRN fields in the ODE Certification data file matches the District IRN on the EMIS Profile page, or

• There is a value in the State Staff ID field on the Personnel tab of the Employee Information page.

The relevant records are temporarily saved to the ohcert_upload table. The cert_upload.rpt file is generated. The report lists updated certifications (new or changed). If errors are encountered, an error log is created.

The application determines the Employee number based on a matching State Staff ID (Certification ID) on the Personnel tab of the Employee Information page and links the records. The Credential Key, educ_cred_key, from the data file uniquely identifies a certification. The Credential Key becomes the certification number and links the associated teaching fields, endorsements, and limitations.

Upload Certifications Externally

This highly unusual procedure will require you to work outside of the application.

1. To run the upload non-interactively, enter "fglrun cert_uploadEoh.42r n" at the command line prompt and press Enter. Using the command's syntax, you can also set up the upload to run as a scheduled task. There is no progress indicator while the application retrieves and processes the data file.

2. The process is canceled if the District IRN is not found on the EMIS Profile page, and an error is logged to the $FASLOGDIR/cert_uploadEoh.log file. In addition, any errors encountered during file retrieval and processing are written to the error log.

3. The location and name of the certification report are $FASTAPDIR/cert_upload.rpt. The report lists the updated certifications and any certifications with errors. It is important to inspect the log file and report when you run the upload non-interactively.

Purge Expired Certifications

During this process, the expired certifications are purged from the employee’s Certifications/Licenses page. Expired endorsements under valid certifications are not purged.

1. On the OH Certification Upload page, the District IRN is retrieved from the EMIS Profile page.

2. From the Purge Expired Certifications field, select an option.
   The default option is retrieved from the Purge Expired Certifications field on the Human Resources Profile - State page.

3. Select Submit, and then select Yes.

4. Save the upload purge log and error log.

5. Select OK.

6. Navigate to the folder containing the error log.

7. Inspect the error log. Update data if needed.

8. Repeat these steps until all the required data is purged.

Purge Unassigned Endorsements/Teaching Fields

During this process, the unassigned Endorsements and Teaching Fields are purged from the employee’s Certifications/Licenses page.

1. On the OH Certification Upload page, the District IRN is retrieved from the EMIS Profile page.

2. From the Purge Unassigned Endorsements/Teaching Fields field, select an option.
   The default option is retrieved from the Purge Unassigned Endorsements/Teaching Fields field on the Human Resources Profile - State page.

3. Select Submit, and then select Yes.

4. Save the upload purge log and error log.

5. Select OK.

6. Navigate to the folder containing the error log.

7. Inspect the error log. Update data if needed.

8. Repeat these steps until all the required data is purged.