Managing Course Tags

Managing Course Tags

Info
This article will be most useful for Concourse admins.

Overview

Course Tags are system-level identifiers that can be used to categorize courses beyond organizational markers such as department or subject. Each institution determines the full list of available Tags to be used in its Concourse environment, and Concourse System Administrators manage Tags for the entire system. Concourse System Admins are able to manage the list of Tags for their unique Concourse environment by creating, deleting  and updating Tag labels, external IDs, and descriptions as needed. Course Tags can be managed manually in the Concourse interface or via feeds.

To learn how to manage Course Tags in Concourse, continue reading or watch the video below.

Before you Begin

Course Tags must exist in your system before they can be set for courses. Consult with academic and IT stakeholders about your institution’s timeline for creating and editing courses to ensure that Course Tags are created and available well in advance of any deadlines. 

Note that only Concourse System Admins can create Course Tags manually. Whether you create and update Course Tags manually or via feed, we strongly recommend that you test the process in your sandbox environment first. To request that your Concourse sandbox be refreshed to match production environment data, email support@campusconcourse.com.

With this guidance in mind, you’re ready to start managing Course Tags.

Manually Managing Course Tags

System Admins can add, update, and delete Course Tags at the system level by following the steps below in the Concourse interface:
  1. In the main navigation menu, select Admin > System.
  2. On the Configure System page, select Course Tags (see image below).

    The Configure System page in the Concourse interface; the Tags tool is highlighted with a yellow box.

  3. Create a new Tag by entering a Label and External ID and selecting Create (Tag Definitions are optional.).
  4. Update an existing Tag by editing the Label, External ID, and/or Definition and selecting Update immediately following the Tag’s Definition field.
  5. Delete an existing Tag by selecting Delete following the selected Tag’s Definition field (see image below for steps 3, 4, 5).
The Manage Tags page of the Concourse interface. The Create button is highlighted as 3; the Update button is highlighted as step 4; the Delete button is highlighted as step 5.

Note that manual creation, updating, and deletion of Course Tags is performed one Tag at a time. Make sure to select Create, Update, or Delete as appropriate after making changes to each Tag individually.

Managing Course Tags via Feed

Course Tags may be created and updated at the system level via feed. System Admins can process feed files manually, or a member of your IT team can assist with automating this feed. Follow the steps below to create and process a Manage Tag feed manually.
  1. Create a .txt feed file with the header row TAG_IDENTIFIER|LABEL|DEFINITION.
  2. Create a separate row in the file for each tag to be created or updated.
  3. Enter each Course Tag’s External ID (abbreviation or code that matches external system) for the TAG_IDENTIFIER data field.
  4. Enter each Course Tag’s Label (user-facing Tag name) for the LABEL data field.
  5. Enter each Course Tag’s Definition (explanation) for the DEFINITION data field (optional).
  6. To process the feed manually, navigate to Admin > Tools > Feed Processing.
  7. For Type, select Manage Tag (see image below).

    The Process a Feed page in Concourse contains a dropdown menu; Manage Tags is highlighted in this menu.

  8. Select File and choose the .txt feed file to upload from your device.
  9. Select Process to run the feed.
If you leave the optional Definition data field blank in the feed file, don’t forget to include a pipe ( | ) after the Label data field. An example Manage Tag feed can be found at the bottom of this article for reference.

Deleting Tags

Occasionally, you may find that a Tag was created erroneously or is no longer needed in your Concourse system. In the event that you wish to purge Course Tags from your system, note that Course Tags cannot be deleted via Feed. Tag deletion is a manual process and must be done in the Manage Tags page of the Concourse interface. Tags must be deleted one at a time by selecting the Delete option following the selected Tag’s Definition field.

Course Tags cannot be deleted from your system if they are applied to any courses. Before deleting any Course Tags, you must remove the selected Tag from all courses; this process can be done quickly by setting Tags en masse or processing an Apply Tag feed.

See the Setting Course Tags help article for instructions on removing Course Tags from courses.

Best Practices and Recommendations

Like all data management processes in your Concourse system, there are many factors to consider when implementing Course Tags. We encourage you to consult with academic and IT stakeholders when determining how Course Tags are used in your system, how they are managed, and what Tags will be used. In addition, keep the following best practices in mind:
  1. Tag Labels are visible to instructors, students, other end users, and individuals using public search. As a result, Tag labels should be intuitive to end users without explanation (e.g., First-Year Experience is more readily apparent than FYE.).
  2. Tag External IDs should match identifiers as they appear in other systems to streamline the Tag creation and setting process via feed. In other words, if your SIS identifies OER courses as 123, then the External ID for the OER Tag should be 123. External IDs are not visible to end users, so there is little need to worry about misunderstanding this data field.
  3. Tag Labels and Definitions can be updated via feed, but Tag External IDs cannot be updated via feed. If changes are required to Tag External IDs, those must be made manually in the Concourse interface.
  4. While there isn’t a limit to the number of Tags that can exist in your Concourse system, we recommend curating Tags intentionally so that setting and reporting upon Tags is more efficient for Domain Users. In other words, create only Tags that are meaningful for your users or that will expedite current processes.
For more information, see the Course Tags, Reporting on Course Tags, and Setting Course Tags help articles. Need help managing Course Tags? Email support@campusconcourse.com to request assistance.

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