Automating creation of the course uploader

Create a set of online courses in bulk using SCORM content

This is an advanced concept and may not be appropriate for all LMS administrators. Please consult your Learnsoft Operations Manager for guidance. 

You may receive a set of SCORM objects from a 3rd party vendor or other source and want to bulk upload these to your LMS. 

Step 1. Add the SCORM files to your FTP

You will most likely have received a series of zip files. This will need to be unzipped and the folders uploaded to the FTP for your site. As outlined in [GUIDE: Uploading scorm to ftp], each SCORM package should be in a separate folder and contain an imsmanifest file in the folder.

Step 2. Gather information to build a course uploader file

There are several required fields that must be populated for the course uploader to work. Some of these are choices but these two you will need to gather from your LMS site: 

Catalogs – The IDs for the catalogs where you want the courses to appear. Find this by going to Advanced View > Catalogs and note the number in the ID column for the Nodes where you want the courses to appear. You can also create a New catalog entry and then note the ID.

Division IDs –  The IDs for the divisions you want to have access to the courses. Advanced View > User Management > Divisions and note the number in the Division ID column. Remember this is recursive so if a higher level of the tree is selected; all lower levels in the direct line will be included in the scope. If you want to include multiple division IDs, separate them with a comma.

Step 3. Pre-Populate the course uploader file using FTP connection and PowerShell script

This powershell script ( FTPCourseXLSCreator) can be used to expedite creation of the course uploader file based on scorm files in your site's FTP. 

  1. Download the PowerShell file above and save it to your computer

  2. Right click on the file and select “Run with Powershell”

  3. Fill out the FTP configuration that pops up with the following info. 

    1. FTP Server: The Server URL

    2. FTP Username: ftp username

    3. FTP Password: ftp password

    4. FTP Root Path: The Folder path, including leading and trailing forward slash, including the whole path EXCEPT the final folder in the path that contains the SCORM folders

    5. FTP Scorm Folder: The ftp folder containing the actual SCORM folders, without any forward slashes. This needed to be broken out for generating the XLS file and paths in the Powershell code

    6. Catalog IDs: The catalog IDs where the SCORMs will be loaded. Separated by commas without spaces. See Step 4 below for more details

    7. Division IDs: The division IDs that will have access to these SCORMS. See Step 4 below for more details

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  4. You will see an output in the black terminal window that shows the code stepping through the FTP locations for the SCORM files

  5. When prompted, save the resulting XLS file in a location you can find it. 
    Note: if you save it as an already existing XLS file, it will annoyingly prompt you twice if you want to overwrite it with the second pop-up often hiding under other windows. That being said, its highly recommended to save it as a new name or delete the existing file.