UCAS is an independent charity that exists to fulfil a charitable purpose, which is acting as the national shared admissions service for students, universities and colleges. As a charity, their work must be for the “public benefit” and is non-profit.
UCAS Integration
Overview
The UCAS integration automatically synchronizes applications and applicant journey states between UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) and Full Fabric. This eliminates manual data entry, reduces administrative overhead, and ensures your admissions team works with current applicant data across both systems.
When enabled, the integration runs on a schedule (twice daily by default) to pull new applications submitted via UCAS into Full Fabric, along with their current journey state and supporting documents. You can also configure it to push decision changes from Full Fabric back to UCAS, creating a single source of truth for your admissions workflow.
How it works
Enabling the integration (for admins only):
Navigate to Settings > Integrations > UCAS.
Enter your UCAS credentials: institution code, user ID, and password.
Click Validate Credentials — Full Fabric confirms connectivity and password expiry.
Enable the integration. Full Fabric generates a template with all required application documents (Personal Details, Education, Qualifications, Personal Statement, Reference, Employment, Choices, Additional Information).
Map your UCAS courses to Full Fabric programmes and classes. Use the Course Matching dashboard to identify unmapped courses and create mappings manually if automatic matching fails.
Review and save. The integration is now active and will run on its configured schedule.
During each sync run:
Full Fabric connects to UCAS and pulls all applications submitted since the last sync.
For each application, it retrieves supporting data: qualifications, education history, personal statement, referee information, and journey state.
Full Fabric matches each UCAS course to your internal programmes and classes using automatic matching (external ID or course code + campus code) or manual course mappings.
The applicant's personal details, contact information, and demographics are imported as a new profile in Full Fabric.
The application and its current journey state are recorded. Full Fabric tracks the original UCAS ID and sync timestamp for audit purposes.
Any errors (missing required fields, unmapped courses, invalid journey states) are logged and visible in the sync status dashboard.
Writing decisions back to UCAS (optional):
When an admissions decision is made in Full Fabric (moving the applicant to Accepted or Rejected), the change is automatically sent back to UCAS if the integration is configured for decision write-back. The applicant's journey state in UCAS is updated to reflect the decision.
Use cases
Bulk application intake during peak periods: Hundreds of applications arrive in UCAS during application deadlines. The integration automatically imports them into Full Fabric on a schedule, ensuring your admissions team can review and manage applications without manual data entry.
Real-time journey state tracking: Monitor the status of each applicant's journey—from submission through decision—across both UCAS and Full Fabric without manual synchronization. Staff see the current state in both systems automatically.
Course mapping and onboarding: When setting up Full Fabric for the first time, use the Course Matching dashboard to quickly map your UCAS courses to internal programmes and classes, then trigger an initial sync to populate all pending applications.
Decision management: Make admissions decisions in Full Fabric and have them automatically reflected in UCAS so applicants see the decision through the UCAS portal.
Error visibility and resolution: When sync issues occur (invalid credentials, unmapped fields, network errors), the sync status dashboard shows what failed, why, and in some cases, how to resolve it.
Configuration
Integration settings:
Setting | Description | Default |
Enabled | Toggle the integration on or off. When disabled, no syncs run and no data is pushed. Existing data is preserved. | Off |
Institution Code | Your UCAS-assigned institution code. Required for credential validation. | — |
User ID | UCAS user ID. Must be updated every 90 days as per UCAS policy. | — |
Password | UCAS password. Encrypted in Full Fabric. Password expiry is checked daily; admins are notified when renewal is due. | — |
Sync Schedule | Frequency of automatic syncs. Recommended: twice daily (morning and evening to catch updates). | Twice daily |
Decision Write-back | If enabled, moving an applicant to Accepted or Rejected in Full Fabric automatically updates UCAS. | Off |
Course matching:
Access the Course Matching dashboard under UCAS settings. Full Fabric attempts to match UCAS courses to your programmes automatically using:
External ID (exact match)
Course code + campus code (exact match via manual mapping)
For courses that don't match automatically, use the Map Course button to manually assign a UCAS course to a Full Fabric programme, class, and campus. Once created, the mapping applies to all future syncs.
Manual sync:
Click Sync Now on the UCAS settings page to trigger an immediate sync without waiting for the schedule. Rate limit: once per tenant per 15 minutes. Useful after creating course mappings or investigating sync delays.
Permissions
Role | Can Enable/Disable | Can Map Courses | Can View Sync Status | Can Trigger Manual Sync |
Institution Admin | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Admissions Officer | — | — | ✓ | — |
Data Administrator | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Staff (other) | — | — | — | — |
Reference
Sync status fields:
Last Sync: Timestamp of the most recent completed sync.
Status: Success, In Progress, or Failed.
Applications Imported: Count of new applications pulled in this sync.
Journey State Updates: Count of existing applications whose state changed.
Errors: Count of records that failed to import (see error log for details).
Sync Duration: Time taken to complete the sync (varies with data volume).
Error categories:
Code | Meaning | Resolution |
Auth Error | Credentials expired, invalid, or UCAS account locked (3 failed login attempts). | Verify credentials; unlock account via UCAS support if locked. |
Missing Required Field | Application is missing a required field (e.g., surname). | Confirm the data is complete in UCAS; rerun sync after correction. |
Unmapped Journey State | UCAS returned a journey state Full Fabric doesn't recognize. | Check mapping configuration; contact support if state is new. |
Unmapped Course | No course mapping exists for this UCAS course + campus combination. | Use the Course Matching dashboard to create a mapping. |
Validation Error | Application data failed Full Fabric validation (e.g., invalid email). | Review error details in sync log; correct data in UCAS. |
Network Error | Temporary connection failure to UCAS. | Retries are automatic; if persistent, check connectivity and try manual sync. |
Application sync SLA:
Applications submitted in UCAS should appear in Full Fabric within 2 hours of submission during normal sync operation.
During high-volume periods (application deadlines), syncs may take longer but aim to stay within the 2-hour window.
Manual syncs are immediate (within minutes).
FAQ
Q: What happens if a course mapping doesn't exist when an application is synced?The application is still imported, but the course field is marked as unmatched. You'll see it in the Course Matching dashboard. Create a mapping, and the course will be updated on the next sync (or immediately via manual sync).
Q: Can I edit an application after it's been imported from UCAS?
Yes. You can edit imported applications in Full Fabric. However, if the UCAS data changes and syncs again, UCAS takes priority for fields it manages (personal details, journey state, qualifications). Edits you make to UCAS-managed fields may be overwritten. Staff edits to UCAS-generated templates are blocked to prevent schema mismatches.
Q: What if UCAS credentials expire?
Full Fabric checks password expiry daily. You'll receive an email notification when fewer than 14 days remain. Update your password in the UCAS settings immediately. If you don't update in time, syncs will fail with an auth error and the integration will be disabled automatically to prevent account lockout.
Q: How do I troubleshoot sync errors?Navigate to Settings > UCAS > Sync Status. The dashboard shows the last sync result, error count, and error log. Click into specific errors to see details (missing field, unmapped course, validation failure, etc.). Many errors self-resolve after you correct the source data in UCAS.