Enrollments kept in step
Students, sections and teachers matched between Canvas and your student information system, with exceptions flagged for staff.
Canvas integration consulting
Connect Canvas to the rest of your school.
Canvas, from Instructure, runs courses, assignments and grades for many schools, colleges and training teams. We build the connections and tools around it, so enrollments stay in step, advisors hear about struggling students early, and reports stop being built by hand.
Keep it, then extend it
What Canvas does well, and where teams outgrow it.
Where Canvas shines
- Where teaching happens
- Built for many schools and campuses
- A controlled way in
Where teams hit the limits
- Rosters drift from the SISLate enrollments, section changes and withdrawals take days to reach Canvas, or get fixed by hand.
- Warning signs stay in the gradebookMissing work and falling grades are visible in Canvas, but advisors and families hear about them late.
- Reports built from exportsCourse completion, grade trends and engagement across schools usually means downloads and spreadsheets.
What changes
The same week, with the connection.
Today
- The registrar's office fixes Canvas rosters by hand after every schedule change in the SIS.
- Advisors learn a student is struggling only when midterm grades post.
- The registrar copies final grades from Canvas into the student information system.
With the connection
- Enrollments stay matched with the SIS. The registrar's staff resolve the flagged exceptions.
- Advisors get a weekly list of students with missing work or grade drops. They reach out.
- Final grades are checked and prepared for the records system. The registrar approves before they post.
What we build around it
Connecting Canvas to the rest of your work.
Early alerts for advisors
Students with missing work or a sharp grade drop listed for their advisor or counselor each week.
Grades back to the SIS
Final and term grades checked and prepared for your records system, with a person approving before they post.
Course shells set up for the term
New courses created from the schedule, with the right template and teachers attached.
Reports across schools
Completion, grades and activity combined across Canvas and other systems in one scheduled report.
Staff training tracked
Required training courses in Canvas tied to staff records, with reminders before deadlines.
How it starts
What happens after you reach out.
You work directly with a senior builder from the first call to launch, not a hand-off to a junior team. How we work
Before we start
What we need from you.
- Someone on your team with admin rights sets up our access. We walk them through it.
- You choose what the connection can see and change, and you can switch it off at any time.
- We build and test on sample data before touching live records.
- Your Canvas administrator sets it up for the school.
Technical details for your IT team
A Canvas admin opens Admin, Developer Keys, adds an API key for the connection, limits it to the areas it needs, and turns it on (see Instructure's guide). The connection then signs in as a dedicated Canvas account your team sets up, so its role decides what it can see. Keys created in a root account work for that account and its sub-accounts, and no approval from Instructure is needed for your own key. Turning the key off cuts the connection off. Student records stay under FERPA, and we work within your school's privacy rules with your privacy lead, keeping an audit trail of what the connection reads and changes. Using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for classes too? See our Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 pages.
FAQ
Common questions.
Do we have to replace Canvas?
No. Canvas stays where teaching happens. We build around it and connect what it doesn't reach.
Doesn't Canvas already connect to our SIS?
Canvas has standard roster syncs for many student information systems, and you should use one if it fits. Custom work makes sense when the sync leaves exceptions for staff, or when data needs to reach advisors, reports or other systems.
How do you handle student privacy?
We work within FERPA and your own privacy rules, alongside your privacy lead. The connection only reads what it needs, and every change is logged.
What access do you need from us?
A developer key your Canvas admin creates and limits, plus a dedicated account for the connection. You can turn either off at any time.
Are you a certified Canvas partner?
No. We're an independent integration consultant and development team. We build with Canvas's official developer tools and approved access, using the access your team grants, and we work alongside your Canvas admin or implementation partner rather than replacing them.
Sources
- Instructure developer docs: Developer Keys
- Instructure developer docs: OAuth2
- Instructure developer docs: Developer keys overview
- Instructure developer docs: SIS Imports
Facts checked against the vendor's own documentation, November 2026. Names are trademarks of their owners. Inkwell is independent and not affiliated with these companies.
Partner with Inkwell
Tell us how you use Canvas today.
A few sentences is plenty. We'll tell you what we'd connect first, and whether a ready-made app already does the job.