Import Content Packages

You can import individual courses on an ad hoc basis, or bulk import multiple courses at once. When you import courses into the LMS you can record and track enrollments, learner progress, assessment scores and other administrative data according to each course’s data model and communications standards.

Courses are usually collected into content aggregation packages. These are ZIP files containing all of the files that make up a course. When you import a course package it is validated according to its data model and communications standard, and then stored on your learning content server.

To facilitate communication between the LMS and other administration and analytics platforms, the LMS supports the following data model and communications standards:

  • SCORM
  • xAPI (also known as Experience API or Tin Can API)
  • CMI5 (only available when importing to Rustici Engine)
  • AICC

You will need to know which standard your courses use.

Before you import and configure courseware it is good practice to set up and configure the catalogs that you want to assign courses to when you import them.

Import a Single Content Package

To import a single content package

  1. Go to Manage Center > Learning > Import > Import content package. 
  2. Click Choose File to select the content package to import, and then click Next.
  3. Enter a new Module IDModule ID if required.

    For SCORM compliant packages, the Module ID that the LMS will use to identify the course defaults to the <manifest> element’s identifier attribute in the manifest file (used to identify SCORM packages). You can change the Module ID to fit your organization’s naming conventions. Module IDs cannot contain spaces.

  4. To assign the imported course to one or more catalogs, select the Update catalog setting check box, and then click the Assign catalog link to select the catalog(s). 
  5. To show the course to learners when they search or browse catalogs, select the Show in catalog check box.
  6. To track learner activity for the course with Rustici Engine, select the Use Rustici Engine check box, if available. Otherwise the native LMS SCORM engine is used.
  7. Click Import as New Bundle. 
  8. Select the course language from the drop-down list.
  9. Enter a Module Title to override the default.
  10. Click Next. The Module Created page summarizes the course information you entered on the previous pages.
  11. To configure the course as a learning module in the Catalog Editor, click Open Catalog Editor. To import another content package, click Import New Content Package.

Import Multiple Content Packages

As each courseware package is itself a ZIP file containing the files comprising the course, you are packaging multiple ZIP files into a single ZIP file. You cannot upload new versions of existing courses by combining them into a single ZIP file. The batch upload process will fail.

To import multiple content packages at once

  1. Create a single ZIP file containing your courseware packages.
  2. Go to Manage Center > Learning > Import > Import content package. The Import Content Package page opens.
  3. Click Choose File to select the content package to import, and then click Next. The course packages present in the ZIP file are summarized in the Batch Update Options page. The courses' Title values are copied from the <manifest> element’s identifier attribute in each package’s manifest file.
  4. To import the course packages, leave the Import courses option selected.
  5. Select an option to specify how the LMS selects IDs for the courses in the package:
  • Select Use IDs specified in the course descriptions to set the learning module IDs to the Title (manifest identifier) of the corresponding course content package.
  • Select Use the base file names of the source files to set the imported courses learning module IDs to the file names of the content packages in the ZIP file. The course content package file names cannot contain spaces.
  1. Select an option to specify how the LMS selects IDs for the courses in the package:
  2. Optionally, enter a prefix for the learning module IDs created from the imported content packages.
  3. Click Next. 
  4. Select the language for the course modules from the drop-down list. If you are importing a package containing more than one course, you select the primary language from the drop-down list.  
  5. To assign the imported courses to one or more catalogs, select the Update catalog setting check box, and then click the Assign catalog link to select the catalog(s). 
  6. To show the courses to learners when they search or browse catalogs, select the Show in catalog check box.
  7. Click Read Access and Write Access to set the access permissions on the imported learning modules.
  8. Click Import. When the import process has completed, the Batch Import Summary page lists the courses and their import status.
When importing multiple SCORM, AICC or xAPI courses into Rustici Engine via the Import Content Package feature, a course may be successfully imported even if there are minor issues parsing the imsmanifest file. For example, if files are listed in the manifest but do not exist in the package, the course will import and launch but will also generate a warning. The warnings will be displayed for each applicable course on the import results page.

Import AICC Course Structures

A single AICC-conformant course can be imported uploading its four constituent files. You can also import one or more AICC courses by uploading them in a ZIP file.

For each AICC course you want to import, ensure you have the following files:

  • An assignable unit (.AU) file
  • A course (.CRS) file
  • A course structure (.CST) file
  • A descriptor (.DES) file

The process for importing multiple AICC courses at once is the same as for SCORM courses. However, when you ZIP an AICC course for inclusion in a batch import, the four AICC files must have the same filename. Some tools and vendors provide extra files, but the LMS does not need them.

After importing an AICC course you can configure it in the Catalog Editor as you would any other learning module.

If the learning module supports AICC data exchange and requires enrollment, you can select AICC Assignable Unit from the Launch interface drop-down list to enter AICC-specific options for data exchange with the learning module.

To import an AICC course

  1. Go to Manage Center > Learning > Import > Import AICC course structure. 
  2. Choose each AICC file and then select the appropriate character encoding from the Encoding drop-down list.

    The AICC file character encoding depends on the tool used to author the courseware. If you do not know which character encoding to use, select the most likely based on the course language and geographic region. The next page shows the course title, which may include unexpected characters if the encoding is incorrect. 

  3. Click Next.
  4. To assign the imported course to one or more catalogs, select the Update catalog setting check box, and then click the Assign catalog link to select the catalog(s). 
  5. To show the course to learners when they search or browse catalogs, select the Show in catalog check box.
  6. Click Import as New Bundle. 
  7. Select the course language from the drop-down list.
  8. Enter a Module Title to override the default.
  9. Click Next to complete the import process.

Batch Import Summary 

The Batch Import Summary page lists the results of importing multiple content packages. 

  • In the Course column, each entry displays the module title for every course, extracted from the <title> element of the first <organization> element within the manifest file, along with its distinct manifest identifier.
  • In the Status column, you'll find the indication of whether each course was successfully imported or not, along with the module ID. This ID is determined either by the manifest identifier or the content package file name, depending on the chosen option for module ID generation during import (utilizing IDs specified in course descriptions or basing them on the source file names).

To edit a learning module in the Catalog Editor, click the module ID link in the Status column.

If any content packages fail to import, go to Manage Center > System > Status and Logs > System Log. The system log provides information that may help you, or PeopleFluent Customer Services, to resolve the issue. To locate errors related to batch imports, search the log for the module ID or com.netdimen.appl.course.update.BatchUpdater.

Delete Learning Modules Matching Content Packages

You can use the "Import content package" feature to remove LMS learning modules with Module IDs corresponding to the Title (i.e., manifest identifier) within the selected course content packages. You have the option to delete a single learning module by selecting a content package containing a singular course, or delete multiple learning modules by choosing a ZIP file containing multiple content packages.

Deleting previously imported learning modules also deletes any associated training records and may affect payment reporting.

To delete learning modules using the Import content package feature

  1. Create a single ZIP file containing the content packages you want to delete from the LMS as learning modules.
  2. Go to Manage Center > Learning > Import > Import content package. 
  3. Click Choose File to select the content package, and then click Next. The course packages present in the ZIP file are summarized in the Batch Update Options page. The courses' Title values are copied from the <manifest> element’s identifier attribute in each package’s manifest file.
  4. Select the Delete existing modules option.
  5. Select Use IDs specified in the course descriptions.
  6. If you the courses you want to delete were previously imported with a prefix, you will need to enter the prefix to identify them for deletion.
  7. Click Next. 
  8. Click Delete. The Batch Delete Summary page lists the courses in the imported content package and the deletion status of any corresponding learning modules in the LMS.

Content Packages with Non-English File Names

File names that contain non-English letters or digits in a content package must be encoded using the UTF-8 character encoding, otherwise the LMS cannot import them.