Access Global Features
Regardless of where you are in the platform, certain features appear globally.
Change a Test Administration, Role, or Institution
Depending on your user role permissions, you may be able to switch administrations, institutions, or even roles. However, all these options may not be available for every user.
Note: Most TIDE functions are available regardless of the administration selected when logging in, but some TIDE functions, such as material orders, require selecting a specific administration.
To change the test administration, user role, or institution:
On the header, select the User Account dropdown.
From the menu, select Change Role. The Administration Tasks pop-up appears.
Update the information as necessary.
Select Submit. A new dashboard appears that is associated with your selections.
Optional: You can check if you’ve successfully switched roles and/or administrations by selecting the User Account dropdown again.
New: The institution selections you make on the Administration Tasks page will automatically populate for you on search pages when you add or search for records.
On this Page
- 1 Change a Test Administration, Role, or Institution
- 2 Modify Your Contact Information
- 3 Access Secure Notifications
- 4 Switch Between Texas Assessment Program Systems
- 5 Find Students by ID or Users by Email Address
- 6 Download General Resources
- 7 Download Files from the Secure File Center
- 8 Share Files with the Secure File Center
Modify Your Contact Information
You can modify or view your name, phone number, and other account information in TIDE. Your access depends on your role.
Alert: To change your email address, contact Texas Testing Support.
To modify account information:
From the User Account dropdown menu in the header, select My Account. The My Contact Information page appears.
Enter updates as necessary.
Select Save.
TIDE saves your changes, and a confirmation message appears.
Access Secure Notifications
The Secure Notification Banner displays alerts, warnings, and informational messages from Cambium Assessment, Inc. (CAI). The banner displays at the top of pages in TIDE when active notifications are published (Figure 5). Often, the messages will contain time-sensitive information, such as dates for system downtime or reminders before the close of a test administration. These secure notifications can only be accessed after logging in to TIDE.
Note: All user roles can view all secure notifications.
Distinguishing Notification Types
Notification types are differentiated by an icon and the background color.
Informational notifications are marked with
and appear over blue backgrounds.
Warnings are marked with
and appear over yellow backgrounds.
Alerts are marked with
and appear over red backgrounds.
Interacting with Secure Notifications
Active notifications appear each time you log in to TIDE and can be dismissed once read. However, depending on how you dismiss the notification, the same notification may display the next time you log in if it is during the notification’s scheduled display period. Review information about Mark as Read and the Close icon to understand the difference.
Mark as Read removes the notification from the top of the page and closes the notification window if open. These notifications can be viewed again by clearing your browser cache during the scheduled display period for the individual notification.
View More displays a window with the full contents of the notification.
The Close icon 
The Arrows
Switch Between Texas Assessment Program Systems
When you log in to TIDE, you can switch to other Texas Assessment Program systems without having to log in to each system separately. Access to other systems and their features is dependent on your user role.
Note: While you can navigate to TDS for test administration if your role has access, the navigation menu does not appear in TDS. This is by design so that test sessions are not closed inadvertently.
To switch to another Texas Assessment Program system:
Select the Switch Applications menu button
in the top left of TIDE.
Select the system you want to use. You are directed to the selected system without having to log in again.
Find Students by ID or Users by Email Address
A search box 
To search for a student or user:
In the search box, enter a student's TSDS ID or a user's email address. The TSDS ID or email address must be an exact match; TIDE does not search by partial TSDS ID or email address.
Select
or use the Enter key. The Manage Students details page for that student or the Edit User details page for that user appears.
Download General Resources
TIDE provides access to resources you can use.
To download resources:
From the General Resources dropdown menu in the header, select General Resources. The General Resources page appears.
Select the download link for the required resource.
Download Files from the Secure File Center
When conducting searches across TIDE, you can choose to export the search results to the Secure File Center (SFC). The shared Secure File Center serves as a password protected repository that lists files containing the data you have exported in TIDE and other CAI systems. When you choose to export search results to the Secure File Center, TIDE sends you an email to your email address that is registered in TIDE when the export task is completed, and the file is available in the Secure File Center for download.
The Secure File Center also lists any protected documents that have been externally uploaded to the Secure File Center and that you have privileges to view.
The files in the Secure File Center are listed in the order in which they were created but can be sorted in other ways. The file creation and file expiration dates appear, if applicable.
The number of days remaining until a file expires is also displayed next to a file. By default, exported files are available for 30 days.
You can access the Secure File Center from any page in TIDE. You can also download, archive, or delete files, as applicable.
To access files in the Secure File Center:
From the TIDE header, select Secure File Center. The Secure File Center page appears.
Optional: Select the File Storage view from the available tabs:
Temporary: This is the default view and displays all the files except for the ones that you have archived.
Archived: Displays the files that you have archived.
Warning: The Archived file storage does not keep your files long-term. The same expiration period applies for files moved to Archived as for files in the Temporary storage area.
Optional: To filter the files by keyword, enter a search term in the search field above the list of files. The list is filtered to display only those files containing the entered file name.
Optional: To hide or display system or custom labels, use the Show Labels switch.
Optional: To hide files with a system or custom label, clear the checkbox for that label under Custom Labels.
To identify shared files, refer to the Created column.
Files you've shared with other users display: Owned by: your email address
Files that have been shared with you by other users display: Shared by: owner's email address
Files that have been shared by Cambium Assessment staff display: Cambium Assessment Support Team
Tip: To learn more about sharing files through the SFC, review Share Files with the Secure File Center.
To download files, do one of the following:
To download one file, select the file name.
To download multiple files, select the checkboxes for the files and then select Download from Batch Actions across the top.
To add a new custom label or apply an existing custom label, select the file(s) and then select Label from Batch Actions across the top.
To apply a new custom label, select Create New Label, select Add.
To apply a label you just created or an existing custom label, select the checkbox(es), and select Apply Selected Labels.
To archive a file, select the file and then select Archive from Batch Actions across the top or use the button under the Actions column for the file. Hover over the button to display the name. Review warning above about how the Archive functions!
a. To return a file to Temporary storage from Archived, select.
Delete a file you've exported to the SFC or delete a file that has been shared.
To delete a file that you've exported or that has been shared with you, select the file and then select Delete from Batch Actions or use the button in the Actions column for the file. Hover over the button to display the name.
To delete a file that you've shared with other users, you have two choices:
To delete the file for you only, select the checkbox for the file, then select Delete from Batch Actions. This action keeps the file intact for all users with whom it was shared and only removes it from your SFC. Once you delete the file this way, there is no way for you to remove it from other users, although the other users can delete it.
To delete the file for you and all users with whom you shared it, use the button in the Actions column for the file. Hover over the button to display the name.
Share Files with the Secure File Center
You can share files from the Secure File Center window to individual recipients by email address or to groups of recipients by user role. The files appear in each recipient’s Secure File Center window.
To share a file from your Secure File Center, you must first save it to your computer
In the Secure File Center window, select the Share Files tab.
In the Select Recipients area, do one of the following:
To share files to a group of users by user role, select Role.
To share files to a single recipient, select Email. If you select this option, skip to step 6.
For Select Role(s), choose which role group you want to receive the files, then select the specific roles from the dropdown list that appears.
From the Location dropdown lists, select organizations that will have access to the file(s) you share.
If you selected Role in step 3, skip this step. If you selected Email in step 3, enter up to 25 email addresses of users who should have access to the files.
Note: Email addresses are used to send notifications that a file(s) is available in the Secure File Center. Files are not emailed to maintain document security.
To select a file to share, select Choose File(s) in the Select Files box. Select the files you wish to share from your computer. You can also drag and drop the files.
Tip: Only these file types can be uploaded: CSV, DOC/DOCX, LOG, OGG, PDF, PPT/PPTX, TXT, XLS/XLSX, ZIP
Review the files you've selected to share.
Select Share Files.
Files you've shared also show up in the View Files tab. If you've shared the wrong file, you can remove access from all users on the View Files tab. Be sure to use the button for delete under the Actions column instead of the Batch Actions, though. There's more information about this in Download Files from the Secure File Center.