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Change SIS_ID stuck in hidden login for duplicate/merged user

JoelCoehoorn

We have an instructor where someone accidentally created a duplicate record for him. This record has been around a while (canvas IDs are 2683 and 2691, so only a few new users apart. The records were then merged, and the instructor has been with us for several years now without issue.

Until now. We're syncing Fall courses into Canvas from our SIS. Some of this instructor's enrollments synced, and some did not. When I check the logs, I see this message:

… Attempted enrolling with deleted sis login …

I try setting the correct SIS_ID on the user manually, but it says the SIS_ID is already in use. I go to search for correct SIS_ID, but there are no results… unless I included deleted users, in which case I see the same undeleted instructor in the results.

I tried correcting the problem with a "change_sis_id.csv" import, but it fails with this message:

new_id … referenced an existing user and the user with sis_user_id … was not updated

I tried splitting the user and re-merge. When I do this, during the remerge, I see an extra login with a guid value for the login id. This login does not otherwise show at all in the user interface.

I strongly suspect this extra login is holding the SIS_ID I need to use, and so I can't remove it and I can't use it anywhere else.

How can I fix this?

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melodyc_lam

@JoelCoehoorn From what I'm reading, the extra login with the SIS ID that you're trying to change to seems to have been deleted. Can you restore the login ID and then clear it out of any remaining SIS or integration data and then delete the ID? You can either use a SIS import to do this restore (using the logins.csv format) or potentially use the API to restore and edit the login.

That being said, you may need to run either a SIS export CSV with deleted items or potentially the Provisioning report with deleted items to see what's really going on with the SIS ID that's being used. (The Provisioning report gives you everything from Canvas even if it doesn't have an ID; there's an option to also pull deleted items.)

From there, you can do a restore and/or change_sis_id CSV file and that should get everything squared away. Hope this helps!

Robert

What @melodyc_lam suggests is great. The error indicates the duplicate is in the import from provisioning. I would double check the following: a legacy id showing up for that same user again, the id hasn't been assigned to a new user, or that you're not merging id's from two separate systems (ie. staff and students might be different, but collide on id).

JoelCoehoorn

I can see the correct ID in both the Provision and SIS export reports. Neither report shows the incorrect ID that I see the user interface, nor are there any results at all for the incorrect ID when doing a Ctrl-F search on the file.

But I've tried many variations for both the change_sis_id.csv and logins.csv imports with no luck to correct this.

Robert

Does it show up in the API?
https://developerdocs.instructure.com/services/canvas/resources/logins#get-api-v1-users-user_id-logins

Or on the users profile page?

Another option is if the original unused sis_id user truly had no activity, to split the merged user, and change the bad sis_id (give it a suffix like -CANCELED to make it extra unique, without trashing the record) from that user (don't delete the user) just in case. I would test that out on beta first. And then test the enrollment file again.

melodyc_lam

@JoelCoehoorn Is the SIS ID potentially being used in a different type (instead of a User, it's actually being used in a Course somewhere?)

If not, you're going to have to use the API like @Robert says and see if you can find the login there, then edit that login to try to get rid of the 'stuck' SIS ID.

JoelCoehoorn

No overlap between user IDs (6 digits) and course IDs (5).

JoelCoehoorn

The hidden login does NOT show in the API. When I send to the /users/{userid}/logins endpoint, I only get back the login with the incorrect SIS ID.

It does NOT show on the user's profile page. If I split the user, it does not show on EITHER user profile page.

I only see an extra login when I go to re-merge. When I did this the first time, at this the point I saw the login with the bad SIS ID, a temp login I created on the split ID to try to reclaim the correct value (it didn't work), and a third login named only via a guid that never showed on the account page for either user. I've tried using this guid via various uploads, but it never identifies it.

I suspect, but have no actual proof, it's this guid login that's blocking me.

melodyc_lam

By ID, you're meaning the SIS ID and not the ID after the /accounts/1/user/XXXXX, correct?

Robert

Check the bad user id here, but if it's deleted it may not show up
/api/v1/users/sis_user_id:<sis_user_id>

Another option would be to check canvas data pseudonyms table.

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