Synergetic is a widely-used K-12 SIS in Australia. PortalHQ’s Synergetic integration pulls people, classes and timetables from Synergetic and writes selected data back where supported.
What PortalHQ reads from Synergetic
- Students — name, year level, gender, date of birth, status, photo.
- Parents — name, email, phone, relationship to students.
- Staff — name, email, role.
- Classes and courses — class lists, teachers, subjects.
- Timetables — period structure, room allocations.
- Terms and calendar — term dates.
- Medical alerts — chronic conditions, allergies.
- Year groups and houses — grouping data.
What PortalHQ writes back to Synergetic
- Co-curricular activity enrolments — pushed to Synergetic so they appear on the student’s record.
- Pastoral notes (where configured) — selected events from PortalHQ can be written as Synergetic pastoral notes.
Write-back capabilities depend on your Synergetic configuration. Talk to your PortalHQ rep about what’s possible.
How the sync runs
| Sync | Frequency | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Full sync | Overnight (daily) | Refreshes all people, classes, timetables. |
| Delta sync | Hourly | Picks up changes during the day. |
| Activity write-back | Continuous queue | Pushes co-curricular enrolments. |
Setting up the integration
The setup involves your IT team, Synergetic support and the PortalHQ team:
- Confirm your Synergetic version supports the API integration. Recent versions do; older ones may need an upgrade.
- Configure API access in Synergetic — your Synergetic admin sets up an API user with the right permissions.
- Provide credentials to PortalHQ through your support channel.
- PortalHQ configures the connector and runs a test sync.
- Validate test data then enable the full sync.
Field mapping
PortalHQ maps Synergetic fields to its internal model. The mapping is mostly standard but can be customised:
- Synergetic Student ID → PortalHQ Student external_id.
- Synergetic Form code → PortalHQ Year group.
- Synergetic Class code → PortalHQ Course code.
Custom fields (e.g. House code, Boarding flag) can be added to the mapping on request.
Synergetic-specific notes
- Two student tables — Synergetic has both Current Students and Future Students tables. PortalHQ typically syncs both so new enrolments come across before they start.
- Photos — Synergetic photos sync via the same API. Make sure photo permission is set on your API user.
- Pastoral notes write-back — requires explicit configuration of which PortalHQ events generate notes and what category they get in Synergetic.
Common issues
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| API authentication fails | API user disabled or password changed | Re-enable user or update credentials in PortalHQ. |
| Slow sync | Large student/class counts hitting API rate limits | Talk to PortalHQ support about adjusting batch sizes. |
| Parents missing | Relationship type not included in sync | Update the relationship type filter in the integration settings. |
| Timetable lag | Synergetic timetable cache not refreshed | Run a manual full sync after timetable changes in Synergetic. |
Monitoring
The integrations dashboard shows sync status and record counts. Set up alerts (talk to PortalHQ support) so a failed nightly sync gets attention next morning, not days later.
Migration
Switching to Synergetic from another SIS is a planned project. PortalHQ can preserve historical data (co-curricular records, slips, signups) by mapping old external IDs to new Synergetic IDs. Work with your PortalHQ rep to plan the cutover.