Skip to main content

Integration with Finalsite CMS

Jessica Lara
  • Updated

Overview 

Finalsite's CMS and EMS can be connected to share data from Finalsite Enrollment into your Finalsite CMS database to facilitate communications from the Messages and Workflows modules.

The goal of this integration is to use both systems for what they are best at. Finalsite Enrollment is your central hub for admissions and enrollment management (EMS), while Finalsite’s robust communication tools can be used to push inquiries through the admissions process (CMS).

There is no charge for this integration!

In this Article

Terms used in this article

To streamline this article, you will see two terms used to refer to our two systems

CMS (Content Management System) - This refers to Finalsite’s website, marketing, and communication tools (known as Finalsite Composer, Messages, and Workflows).

EMS (Enrollment Management System) - This refers to Finalsite’s admissions, enrollment, and tuition management platform.

How it works

When the integration is enabled, parent and student data will flow one way from EMS into CMS. Data  includes:

  • Demographic and contact information
  • 10 custom fields selected by the school, outside of the fields that are already sent

The sync will run hourly to update the information in Finalsite, with a full refresh nightly.

Locate the School Admin Admissions role in Constituent Manager

When the parent/student data first comes over from CMS, they all land in Constituent Manager within the School Admin Admissions role. It's not likely that you'll need to use this in your day-to-day work but you may need to come here if you notice anything off in a student's data that you'd like to adjust.

GIF of locating the list of EMS contacts in Constituent Manager

Use the School Admin Admissions group to enhance your communications

Did you know that students and parents are automatically added to a group called School Admin Admissions? The School Admin Admissions group is not visible or editable in Groups Manager. You can expect to see it when setting up communications in the Messages and Workflows modules.

Data Notes

  • Users from the Finalsite Enrollment integration will not automatically merge users already in Finalsite. If a user from Finalsite Enrollment already exists in Constituent Manager, a duplicate user will be created. You can clean up CMS duplicates on your end, or you can reach out to CMS support if you need a hand!
  • If you adjust the statuses configured in Finalsite Enrollment, please reach out to Finalsite Support to re-align the mapping, so the sync will continue to work as expected.
  • We treat the student/parent data going from EMS to CMS cyclically. The intended purpose is to populate and update the data throughout your admissions season, then purge and start fresh at the beginning of the next season.

Best practices during the journey from Prospect to Enrolled

EMS to CMS illustration.png

  • Create a Leadflow form on your Finalsite website to collect prospect information and send it to Finalsite Enrollment. Use Workflows to nurture prospects to inquiries.

  • Drive traffic to your inquiry form by embedding it on your website; inquiries will be automatically synced via the integration.

  • Nurture inquiries with Workflows or Messages to encourage application submission.

  • Follow up with applicants using automated communications to keep them engaged, and assist them through the application and enrollment processes.

  • Use targeted segments to personalize outreach based on available data.

Setup and deployment

If you are interested in this integration, please reach out to the CMS Finalsite Support team or your client success manager to work with a deployment specialist who will walk you through the necessary steps, including:

  • Granting access to the Finalsite Enrollment API
  • Configuring the data mapping
  • Verifying the data (on a clone site or live site)
  • Enabling and automating the integration on your live site 

We have a wide range of datapoints available that can be mapped into Finalsite, according to your needs. The best practice is to only import data that is required — like ImportID values, first and last names, email addresses, relationships — as well as data that is useful for your communication efforts and allows you to filter for segments you want to target (such as grade applying for, financial aid requested, or custom fields).

Also during the deployment process, you may want to work with our team on configuring your workflows or mailing lists to ensure they are behaving as expected.

Important notes

  • Groups created by the integration are hidden by design to prevent manual edits or unintended portal access. You cannot manually edit these groups, as this would disrupt the integration behavior.
    • You may use these groups created by the integration for mailing list targets or dynamic filters as needed.
  • To update active parents and students using Finalsite Enrollment data, a separate automated integration is available. Contact your Client Success Manager to explore this option.
  • If at all possible, we do not recommend that you utilize an SIS integration for this purpose, but we understand that, sometimes, Finalsite Enrollment will have the best data.
  • As admissions seasons can vary from school to school, we urge you to coordinate with our Finalsite CMS Support team at the end of your admissions season to clean up the data in CMS and prepare for the next admissions season.
  • Users who are removed from Finalsite Enrollment can be removed from Finalsite using our Off Feed Utility and the automation option.

Additional Resources

Related articles

Comments

0 comments

Article is closed for comments.