Common Black College Application

Hello first timers! If you are ready to set up the integration between Element451 and CBCA follow the steps below.

If you are self implementing:

1. Contact CBCA and let them know you are setting up the integration with Element451. You’ll want to create a key pair for the SFTP connection and share the public key with CBCA. Additionally, you will want to let CBCA know what students you want sent in the integration. For example, Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026 students who selected the school in their top 4 and also have a GPA of 2.8 and higher.
2. Once CBCA confirms the public key is set up and provides username, add the SFTP as a Data Connector in the I+E feature.
3. Once connected, start an import task in your Element451 instance and select an application file to use as a test file. Apply the Common Black College Application template to the file.
   1. Using the table here, run through your template and add or remove any fields you need from the application. Pay special attention to anything with notes/highlighted. All family and application information are handled at the bottom of the template within calculated fields.
   2. For majors, you will need to create a regular data source as a crosswalk to translate CBCA majors into the majors your built in Element451. Typically, the data source has 4 columns, column_1 will be the CBCA code, column_2 will the CBCA name, column_3 will be the E451 major name, and column_4 will the the E451 guid code. Here’s a list of the CBCA Majors. If you do not offer the major that CBCA lists, you can insert your undecided major and GUID code.
4. Test the import by running a file through and review the records that were created.
5. Once you are ready to go live with the integration, you will edit the SFTP path and utilize dynamic file naming so it picks up the new application file every day.
   1. The path name might look along the lines of home/<school name>/share/[date:now,format=d_m_y]_*.zip
   2. After saving the path name, the folder for today should come up and you will be able to select the applications csv file and save, then you can set the schedule to run daily.

If you want Element451 to implement the integration, using professional service credits:

1. Reach out to your Element451 Account Manager to request Element451 to implement the CBCA integration.
2. An Element451 team member will reach out to schedule a meeting to review the template and ask any questions.
3. After the meeting, the Element451 team member will work on edits and then move to the testing phase.
4. For the testing phase, Element451 runs a small sample of records through the import by hand. These records will be imported into a segment and shared with your team to review.
5. After confirmation that the records are populated correctly, the Element451 team member will turn on the scheduler and your CBCA integration will be live!

Every year, you will want to update the import task to import the new terms.

If you are self updating:

1. Reach out to CBCA to edit what students get sent in the integration. For example, originally the query was Fall 2025, Spring 2026, and Summer 2026 students who selected the school in their top 4 and also have a GPA of 2.8 and higher, but now you want to update the terms to Fall 2026, Spring 2027, Summer 2027.
2. Pause your import task schedule. Edit your import task and go through each user-applications- and user-milestones- fields and update the term scope section to the new terms.
3. Test the import by running a file through and review the records that were created.
4. Once everything looks good, you are able to reset your schedule and be live with the integration until the next cycle!

If you want Element451 to update, using professional service credits:

1. Reach out to your Element451 Account Manager to request Element451 to implement the CBCA integration.
2. An Element451 team member will reach out to schedule a meeting to discuss updates.
3. After the meeting, the Element451 team member will work on edits and then move to the testing phase.
4. For the testing phase, Element451 runs a small sample of records through the import by hand. These records will be imported into a segment and shared with your team to review.
5. After confirmation that the records are populated correctly, the Element451 team member will turn on the scheduler and your CBCA integration will be live!