Importing or Exporting an Extract Set

Extract sets are a core concept of LYNX data processing. Nothing imports to 25Live or exports to the SIS unless it's part of an extract set. Use the instructions on this page to ensure that data flows correctly.

Who is the "owner" of an imported event?

When a section is imported into 25Live as an event, you can view its audit trail to see when it was created or updated. The audit trail indicates which user was responsible.

For manual updates, this is the user who initiated the import in LYNX.

For automated updates, this is the "default user" configured during LYNX installation.

Special Cases With Workday

Workday institutions should be aware of the following differences to the standard import/export process:

  • The Workday version of LYNX doesn't support the import of registered headcount, only of expected headcount, nor does it support the import of contact details for academic affiliates, only for instructors. 
  • Some data must be initialized before importing. See Initializing Data in LYNX for instructions specific to Workday.
  • Co-location section relationships (represented as bindings in 25Live) are lost in Workday after an export.  To maintain continuity for cross-listed sections, you should create and manage bound relationships using LYNX functionality. See Bound Groups in LYNX.

These are temporary situations until Workday's API to supports such data imports.

Manual Updates

You can import or export any extract set, active or inactive, by manually triggering an update in LYNX. This is a simple process:

  1. Select your extract set from the appropriate list.
  2. Click the Review and ... button below the list. (Depending on the extract set type, it may read "Review and Import", "Review and Export", or "Review and Process".)
  3. Examine the results displayed below the buttons. You'll see a list of all the sections (or exams) matching the extract set criteria. The final column will tell you whether something is expected to import or export successfully. Each type of extract set is a little different, so see the specific help pages for more details.
  4. Click the Import or Export button.
  5. Click Yes to confirm and be automatically taken to the Import/Export Details page.
    Image: The confirmation window shows how many sections will be imported. 

Automatic Updates

The easiest way to import or export data is to have it done automatically. Making changes in the originating system (SIS or 25Live) will trigger updates in the target system. LYNX looks for changes every 60 seconds between 6:00 am and 9:00 pm in your local time zone, seven days per week. If you're working late you may have to wait until tomorrow morning for the other system to catch up!

LYNX only makes automatic updates for things belonging to active extract sets. You can identify an active extract set by the green checkmark next to its name. Inactive extract sets have a crossed-out gray circle.

Note: if a section belongs to multiple extract sets, then it will update as long as at least one of them is active.

Screenshot indicating the icons for extract sets: active (green checkmark) and inactive (gray crossed-out circle)Image: Active and inactive extract sets. 

What is Exported Back to the SIS?

When exported as described above, the following sections would be excluded from export despite meeting the extract set criteria:

  • Sections that aren’t currently present in 25Live (either because they weren’t previously imported or because they were imported and later deleted)
  • Sections that were previously imported into 25Live and later changed to an event state other than Tentative or Confirmed
  • Sections where the latest historical record of location change (if any) originates in LYNX, not in 25Live (e.g., if the location assignment in the SIS was not imported because it doesn’t exist in 25Live)

All three of these scenarios will result in the sections being omitted during the review stage. In the screenshots below, the first section (BLAW 301) has been deleted, the third section (ACCT 210) has an event state of Sealed, and the second section (ARTH 110) had a location removed during import. The first screenshot is from the Review phase, and the second is from the export messages.
LYNX export status: No event, No location, No event


LYNX import messages