Your sandbox environment is a practice version of Housing.Cloud where you can test workflows, train staff, and validate your data before going live. Setting up your sandbox requires preparing CSV files that contain snapshots of your student data, housing inventory, and billing information.
This guide explains what data you need to gather, how the files work together, and what happens after you submit them.
What Is the Sandbox For
The sandbox creates an isolated testing environment based on one representative housing term (typically your busiest cycle). You can use it to:
Practice the complete student journey from application through room selection
Test roommate matching rules and auto-assignment configurations
Train housing staff on the system before launch
Verify your data imports correctly
Data in your sandbox stays completely separate from production. Nothing you do in the sandbox affects your live system once you go into production.
The Five CSV Files You Need
Your sandbox requires up to five CSV files. Four are required for a functional environment. One is optional depending on whether you offer meal plans.
Profiles (Required)
Your student roster for the selected term. This includes all students eligible for housing, not just those who currently have assignments. The file contains student IDs from your SIS, names, email addresses, dates of birth, and any preference tags you want to test (like sleep schedules or study habits for roommate matching).
You typically export this data from your Student Information System like Banner or Colleague.
Inventory (Required)
Your physical housing stock for the term. This defines your buildings, floors, rooms, and beds using a hierarchical structure. Each bed links to a charge code that sets its billing rate.
You can build this from a facilities database, legacy housing system export, or create it manually in Excel if you have a smaller operation.
Charge Codes (Required)
Your billing rates for housing and meal plans. Each charge code has an accounting code (used in your billing system), a default amount, and a description. These codes connect to inventory beds and meal plan assignments to set pricing.
Pull this information from your current rate sheets or billing system.
Occupancy (Required)
Current housing assignments for the selected term. This shows which students are assigned to which beds, along with assignment dates and statuses. Occupancy records link students (from Profiles) to specific beds (from Inventory).
Export this from your current housing management system or build it manually if you are starting fresh.
Meal Plans (Optional)
If you manage dining through Housing.Cloud, you need two sub-files: one defining available meal plans (names, codes, pricing) and one showing which students have which meal plan assignments. If you manage dining separately, you can skip this file.
How the Files Connect
These CSV files reference each other through shared identifiers:
Profiles establishes student IDs (sisId) and emails
Inventory establishes building/room/bed names and links beds to charge codes
Charge Codes establishes accounting codes for billing
Occupancy uses sisId or email to match students from Profiles, uses building/room/bed names to match beds from Inventory
Meal Plans uses sisId or email to match students, uses cost codes to link to Charge Codes
Because of these connections, mismatched IDs or names will cause import errors. For example, if Occupancy lists a bed name that does not exist in Inventory, that assignment will fail to import.
Recommended Preparation Order
While you can prepare the files in any sequence, this order helps you catch errors early:
Profiles — Establishes the base student IDs you will reference elsewhere
Inventory and Charge Codes — Can be built in parallel since they do not depend on each other
Occupancy — Build this last since it references both Profiles and Inventory
Meal Plans — Add if applicable, after Profiles and Charge Codes are ready
What You Need Before Starting
Gather access to these data sources:
Student Information System (Banner, Colleague, Workday, etc.) — For Profiles export
Housing facilities database or legacy system — For Inventory and Occupancy data
Billing or finance rate sheets — For Charge Codes and Meal Plan pricing
Excel or Google Sheets — To create and edit CSV files
If you are migrating from a legacy system like StarRez, most of this data already exists in structured form. You may only need to export and reformat it to match Housing.Cloud schemas.
File Naming and Format Requirements
Name your files clearly to avoid confusion. Use descriptive names that include the term, like:
Fall2024_Profiles.csv
Fall2024_Inventory.csv
Fall2024_ChargeCodes.csv
Fall2024_Occupancy.csv
Fall2024_MealPlans.csv
All files must be saved in CSV format (comma-separated values). Each file must include exact column headers that match the Housing.Cloud schema. Column names are case-sensitive.
Excel sometimes auto-formats dates or adds extra quotes around text. Always open your saved CSV file in a text editor to verify formatting before submitting.
What Happens After Submission
Once you submit your CSV files to the Housing.Cloud implementation team:
The team reviews your files for formatting errors and data quality issues
Your sandbox environment is provisioned with the data imported
You receive a sandbox URL (like yourschool-sandbox.housing.cloud) and admin login credentials
You can start exploring the system, creating test housing cycles, and training staff
Your sandbox comes pre-configured with super admin access so you can explore all features and settings.
Where to Submit Your Files
Send your completed CSV files to your Housing.Cloud implementation contact. They will guide you through the submission process and confirm when your sandbox is ready.
Next Steps
Ready to start building your CSV files? Begin with these detailed guides:
Working with CSV Files: A Beginner's Guide — Learn CSV basics if you are new to this file format
Creating Your Student Profiles CSV — Step-by-step guide for building your student roster
Creating Your Housing Inventory CSV — How to document your buildings, rooms, and beds
Creating Your Charge Codes CSV — Setting up billing rates
For technical specifications and exact field requirements, reference the CSV Integration Schema articles for each file type.