Osiris integration for educational institutions | Custom development
Appfront builds the integration layer between Osiris and the systems your staff actually work in. We retrieve enrolments, course participation, results and attendance, translate them into your own fields and write updates back in a controlled way. Every exchange gets a timestamp, a status and a retry on failure. So nobody has to paste Osiris exports into Excel any more to get two systems in line.
What is Osiris integration software?
Osiris integration software is the layer that connects the Osiris student information system to your institution's other systems. The software retrieves data on applications, enrolments, programmes, courses, groups, results and attendance, translates it into the codes of the receiving system and writes permitted updates back. It also manages sequence, frequency and error handling, so you can see what has been processed and what has been left pending.
Without such a layer, the exchange runs on exports. An administrator pulls a file from Osiris, filters the columns and pastes it into the learning environment or the scheduling package. If a course code changes at the start of a new academic year, the key no longer matches and participants end up in the wrong group. Teachers report an empty group, student affairs investigates and the class has already started.
We build custom because your Osiris configuration, your sub-systems such as Osiris Basis, Student, Docent and Zaak, your authorisation arrangements and your academic year calendar differ at every institution. Which fields take precedence, who may write back and when a change becomes valid is set out in your own process agreements. A generic integration package doesn't know your programme structure, your course coding or your exceptions around resits and exemptions.
Translation tables for codes
Programmes, courses, groups and result types from Osiris get a fixed translation into the keys of the receiving system, so a change in the configuration doesn't immediately break the whole integration.
Controlled exchange
Every batch and every event runs through a queue with a status, a timestamp and a retry on failure. Failed messages stay visible until someone has resolved them or deliberately closed them.
Admin screen for functional management
Your administrators see for each integration what has been processed, which records were rejected and why. They can restart a run without needing a developer.
How we build your Osiris integration software
We start with the export your functional administrator currently pulls from Osiris by hand and pastes into another system.
We record which data comes from Osiris, which system receives it, who owns each field and which direction may write. That makes it clear where the integration starts and stops.
Programmes, courses, groups, roles and result types each get a mapping table. We agree which key takes precedence and how the software handles codes that change per academic year.
We build the runs, the event messages and the admin screen. Your administrator sees the status of every exchange, resolves rejected records and restarts a run without outside help.
We take the integration with Osiris, the learning environment and your identity management live, test on an acceptance environment and hand over monitoring, alerts and logs to your admin team.
What Osiris integration software actually does
The components below appear in almost every Osiris integration. Which ones you need depends on the subsystems you use and the direction in which data may move.
Two directions per field
For each field you define whether Osiris is the source of truth, whether the receiving system may write back, and what happens if both sides change at the same time.
Mapping tables
Programme codes, course codes, groups and result types are kept in manageable tables, so a new structure doesn't require changes to the program code.
Runs and scheduling
Nightly batches for large files, instant messages for enrolments and results. You set the frequency and time window per integration.
Permissions per role
Student administration, teachers, schedulers and administrators see and change only what belongs to their role. Access is removed automatically when a role is revoked.
Alerts on failure
If a run gets stuck or the number of rejected records climbs, the administrator receives a notification with the records involved and the latest error code.
Log and traceability
Every change can be traced by student, course, time and source. That lets you show an examination board where a result came from.
Who we build Osiris integration software for
The software is intended for educational institutions where Osiris is the source system and several other systems need the same data.
Universities of applied sciences
Many programmes, minors and elective courses with course codes that change every year. The mapping table per academic year is the component that makes the difference here.
Universities
Faculties set up Osiris differently and have their own reports. Permissions per role and traceable logging are the core of the integration here.
Secondary vocational education (mbo) institutions
Attendance registration and student support are intertwined. Instant messages to the learning environment and the parent portal carry the most weight here.
Private training providers
Small admin teams, many intake moments and a portal of their own. The admin screen with restartable runs avoids dependence on external help here.
Technology and integrations
This page is about the integration layer between Osiris and your own systems. Related topics can be found under custom software development and app development, for the screens that teachers and students use on their phones. You can read about our approach at building software.
Why Appfront for your Osiris integration software?
An integration is only as good as the agreements on who owns which field. That's what we build on: first ownership per data item, then the technology.
Osiris remains the source system
We don't build a second administration alongside Osiris. The integration respects which data belongs in Osiris and only writes back where your administrators have explicitly allowed it.
A failure must never become a silent error
Every failed exchange stays visible with the reason and the records involved. We'd rather your administrator gets a notification than a group turns out to be inexplicably empty on Monday morning.
Your administrator can adjust things themselves
Mappings, frequencies and restartable runs are in the admin screen. A change to the course structure then doesn't have to end up with a developer every time.
Security and privacy in Osiris integration software
The integration contains personal data of students and staff: names, student numbers, enrolments, results and attendance. Access is role-based, so a timetabler sees different fields from student administration or a teacher. Every view and every change is logged. Retention periods for results and diploma data follow your own policy and the GDPR, and we process no more fields than the receiving side needs.
The software runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. Integrations with Osiris, your learning environment and your identity management use their own keys, which can be revoked per integration.
Frequently asked questions about Osiris integration software
Questions that application managers and information managers ask before they get started.
The software retrieves data from Osiris, translates it into the codes of the receiving system and writes permitted changes back. It keeps messages in the right order, retries failed exchanges and shows in an admin screen what has been processed and what has been rejected. That replaces your manual exports.
In practice this covers applications, enrolments, programmes, courses, groups, timetable participation, results, attendance and student support data. What is possible depends on the Osiris modules you use and on the permissions your administrators grant. We start with the fields you currently transfer by hand.
Usually not in the configuration itself. You do need an account with the right permissions and agreements on which fields we may read and write. Sometimes it makes sense to clean up codes before we integrate, for example when the same course exists under several keys. We discuss that before we build anything.
Yes. The Open Education API, formerly known as the Open Onderwijs API, describes how educational institutions make data available in a fixed format. Where that route is available, we use it, because it makes you less dependent on institution-specific exports. Where it isn't, we build an integration on the interfaces your institution does have.
Messages stay in the queue and are offered again. If the number of rejected records rises or a run gets stuck, your administrator receives a notification with the error code and the students or courses involved. Nothing disappears without a trace, so you can show afterwards what was and wasn't processed.
Your own application management team, with us in the background. Translation tables, frequencies and restarting a run are all in the admin screen, so day-to-day adjustments don't depend on us. For a new module or an extra field, we agree arrangements for maintenance and further development.
Check that first. Osiris has modules and standard integrations that many institutions find sufficient, for example towards Studielink and the national registers. If your bottleneck lies within those, custom work is unnecessary. Custom work pays off if you have your own portal, planning package or reporting layer that the standard can't reach, or if your process needs fields that the standard integration doesn't carry.
Want to replace exports with an integration your administrator can adjust themselves?
Tell us which Osiris modules you use, which exports your administrator currently makes by hand every week, and which system needs to receive that data. We'll show you what the translation tables, the queue with error messages and the admin screen look like, and how that fits with the way we work.