TASS (The Alpha School System) is one of the most widely-used K-12 SIS systems in Australia. PortalHQ’s TASS integration pulls people, classes and timetables from TASS and writes co-curricular activity enrolments back so they appear on student transcripts and reports.
What PortalHQ reads from TASS
- Students — name, year level, gender, date of birth, enrolment status, photo.
- Parents and emergency contacts — name, email, phone, relationship.
- Staff — name, email, role, position.
- Classes and courses — class lists, teachers, subjects, semester.
- Timetables — period structure, room allocations, day-by-day timetable.
- Terms and calendar — term start and end dates.
- Medical alerts and conditions — chronic conditions, allergies, medications.
- Year groups and homerooms — grouping data.
What PortalHQ writes back to TASS
- Co-curricular activity enrolments — when a student is added to an activity group in PortalHQ, the enrolment is queued for write-back. Appears on the student’s TASS record so academic reports show co-curricular participation.
Other write-back options (attendance, pastoral notes) may be available depending on your TASS configuration — talk to your PortalHQ representative.
How the sync runs
| Sync | Frequency | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Full sync | Overnight (daily) | Full refresh of all people, classes, timetables. |
| Delta sync | Hourly | Picks up changes since the last run. |
| Co-curricular write-back | Continuous queue | Each activity enrolment is queued and pushed to TASS as soon as the API is available. |
Sync times and frequencies are configurable — talk to your PortalHQ rep if you need different timing.
Setting up the integration
The setup is done in collaboration between TASS support, your school’s IT team, and the PortalHQ team. Steps:
- Enable the TASS API on your TASS instance. TASS support can help.
- Generate API credentials — App ID and Token.
- Share the credentials with PortalHQ securely — through your normal support channel.
- PortalHQ configures the connector and runs a test sync.
- Review the test sync data to confirm the field mapping is right.
- Enable the full schedule.
Most schools are set up within a week or two of receiving credentials.
Field mapping
PortalHQ maps TASS fields to its own internal model. The mapping is mostly standard but can be customised for schools with non-default TASS configurations. Common mapping points:
- TASS Student ID → PortalHQ Student external_id.
- TASS Class code → PortalHQ Course code.
- TASS Year group label → PortalHQ Year group.
If your TASS has custom fields you want PortalHQ to read (e.g. House, Boarding status), ask your rep about adding them to the mapping.
Common issues
| Issue | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Sync fails immediately | Credentials expired or revoked | Regenerate API credentials and update in PortalHQ. |
| Some students missing | Status field excluded by filter | Check the enrolment status filter — PortalHQ usually only imports active students. |
| Timetable shows wrong rooms | TASS room codes don’t match PortalHQ venue names | Map venue codes in the integration settings. |
| Co-curricular write-back stalled | TASS API rate limiting | Talk to PortalHQ support — there are throttling settings to adjust. |
| Photos missing | Photo upload disabled in TASS API permissions | Update TASS API permissions to include photos. |
Monitoring
Check the integrations dashboard for:
- Last successful sync time.
- Record counts (students, parents, staff, classes).
- Error log entries.
A healthy TASS integration syncs daily without errors. Repeated errors should prompt a support ticket.
Migration from other SIS
If you’re switching to TASS from another SIS, PortalHQ can usually migrate cleanly — the student records get new external IDs but the PortalHQ-internal IDs stay the same, so historical co-curricular data, slips, signups, notices and forms remain linked. Plan the cutover with your PortalHQ rep and your TASS support team.