Integrating Your SIS, LMS, and Website with Clean Catalog

Many colleges, universities, and K-12 districts already manage important course information in a student information system (SIS), learning management system (LMS), campus website, or another internal platform. Clean Catalog's goal is not to make staff enter that same information in one more place. Instead, our software can connect to the systems you already use so course, catalog, curriculum, syllabus, and program of studies content stays consistent.

In practice, that can mean pulling course data from Banner, Jenzabar, Canvas, Blackboard, or another system into Clean Catalog. It can also mean pushing approved Clean Catalog content back to an SIS, LMS, website, or custom campus system. The right setup depends on which platform should be the source of truth, how often information changes, and how much control your staff wants before updates go live.

Not Ready Yet? Integration Can Be Done Later

We can do your initial buildout for you using your content in whatever form it's in, and then add SIS, LMS, website, or API integrations down the line. This can get your catalog or program of studies online quickly while still leaving room for a deeper integration later.

What Clean Catalog Can Integrate With

Student Information Systems

Many of the colleges and universities we work with use an SIS like Banner or Jenzabar to store course information. In most cases, the SIS is the source of truth for items like course numbers, credits, prerequisites, descriptions, schedule data, and other values that should match what students see in the catalog.

When the SIS is the source of truth, we can pull the selected data into your course catalog, curriculum management software, syllabus software, or program of studies site. For example, an SIS integration can keep course listings consistent across the catalog and can also power a dynamic course schedule display when schedule data is available.

Learning Management Systems

Clean Catalog can also integrate with LMS platforms such as Canvas, Blackboard, or a homegrown LMS. This is especially useful for institutions managing syllabi, curriculum guides, or course-specific information that already lives inside the LMS.

For syllabus projects, LMS integrations can reduce duplicate work by syncing content such as meeting times, assignment information, modules, required readings, exam dates, or other structured course details into the appropriate syllabus fields. We can also support syllabus and course catalog integration so students can move between course listings and syllabi without jumping between disconnected systems.

For Canvas specifically, Clean Catalog is an Instructure partner and can support deeper Canvas LMS integration, including embedded syllabus editing for instructors and embedded syllabus viewing for students.

Campus Websites and Other Systems

Clean Catalog sites often live at a dedicated URL, but they do not have to exist in isolation. Your main website can link directly to catalog pages, or developers can use the Clean Catalog API to pull catalog content into website pages, program pages, directories, or other campus systems.

This is helpful when your website needs to display current degree requirements, course descriptions, program outcomes, or other catalog content without copying and pasting it into a second CMS. We cover this approach in more detail in our article on integrating catalog software with your website.

Planning an API Integration

Choose Your Source of Truth

The first decision is which system should own each type of content. A college might use the SIS as the source of truth for course numbers and credits, Clean Catalog as the source of truth for public-facing degree requirements, and Canvas as the source of truth for certain syllabus details.

Different content types can have different sources of truth. The important thing is to define that clearly before data starts moving.

Choose What Data Should Sync

Choosing the data you want to import or export usually means mapping fields between systems. Often an SIS or LMS contains data you do not want in the public catalog, such as internal course codes, last-offered dates, instructor-only notes, or values that are only meaningful to staff.

During setup, your team can decide which fields should sync, what they should be called in Clean Catalog, and whether any fields need formatting changes before they are displayed. This can be documented in a spreadsheet, text file, or whatever format makes sense for your staff.

Choose the Sync Cadence

Some institutions only import course information once a year while preparing the next academic catalog. In that case, an on-demand import often works well: an admin tells Clean Catalog when to pull or upload new data, reviews the results, and publishes when ready.

Other institutions want information to sync more frequently. If you want rolling updates, an automated API connection can pull or push data on a regular cadence, such as hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. Automated integrations can still include manual controls, so your staff can run an import on demand or decide when synced content should be published.

Choose Whether Synced Data Can Be Edited

In most cases, data pulled from a source system should not be overwritten casually in Clean Catalog. If the SIS owns credit hours, for example, the credit field can be disabled or hidden from catalog editors so the public catalog remains consistent with the SIS.

Example of a disabled credits field where values are pulled from SIS.

There are exceptions. Some SIS platforms have character limits that force course titles to be shortened, while the catalog needs a clearer public-facing title. In those cases, we can allow approved users to override specific fields while keeping the rest of the imported data locked down.

Ways Data Can Move

Manual Export and Import

A manual export/import typically looks like this:

1. Export a CSV or another data format from the SIS, LMS, or other source system.
2. Review the data, if your team wants a checkpoint before anything changes.
3. Upload the file to Clean Catalog, where the system processes the update.

This can be a fast, low-lift way to connect systems, especially for annual catalog updates or teams that want to review data before it is imported. It also keeps the setup simple for IT and SIS management teams while still reducing duplicate entry.

Automated API Connection

If you want a more frequent sync cadence, an automated API connection is usually the better option. In this setup, our technical team works with your SIS, LMS, website, or IT team to pull or push data at the cadence you choose.

This usually requires more setup at the beginning, but once it is configured, your staff does not need to manually export and upload files. The integration can still include settings for how often imports should run and controls for triggering updates on demand.

Sample config form for automated SIS connection.

Clean Catalog API and Custom Endpoints

Clean Catalog also makes it possible to send data out to other systems. A campus website might pull degree requirements from Clean Catalog so program pages always show current requirements. A curriculum office might use approval workflows in Clean Catalog and then push approved course changes back to an SIS. A K-12 district might use API integration to keep a Program of Studies consistent with other district systems.

In some cases, your campus IT team can use the Clean Catalog API directly. In others, we can build custom endpoints that return exactly the data your website, SIS, LMS, or internal system needs.

The Result: Less Double Entry, Better Consistency

The main benefit of integration is simple: staff should not have to update the same course, program, curriculum, or syllabus information in multiple places. When each system has a clear role and data syncs at the right cadence, students, advisors, faculty, and administrators can all rely on the same information.

Whether you need an annual SIS import, an automated LMS sync, a Canvas syllabus integration, a website API connection, or a custom push/pull workflow, Clean Catalog can help you design an integration that fits how your institution already works.