The NAU systems behind your clinical year
Northern Arizona University runs your records through LOUIE, your courses through Canvas, and your email through NAU Gmail until the move to Microsoft 365 wraps up by Fall 2027. Two of these reach into clinical planning more than students expect: the location check at the start of every term, which feeds NAU's state-by-state rules, and the practicum course content where the Green Form lives.
Hand the preceptor search to us
Tell us your program, where you live and your next practicum term.
The systems at a glance
Most of these are ordinary university tools. The right-hand column shows where each one meets your practicum.
| System | What NAU uses it for | Where it meets your clinicals |
|---|---|---|
| LOUIE (PeopleSoft) | Grades, schedules, unofficial transcripts, financial aid, your account, refund deposit, your physical location | Your location drives licensure notices and state rules |
| CAS sign-in, SARA message | Asks every term that you confirm or update your physical location | Keeps NAU's state records current |
| Canvas | NAU's learning management system for coursework and trainings | Practicum course content, one of the places the 2022-23 guidelines put the Green Form |
| NAU Gmail, then Outlook | Student email, calendar and files; moving to Outlook and OneDrive by Fall 2027 | Where placement messages and preceptor paperwork arrive |
| NAUgo | NAU's official mobile app | No clinical role published |
| Cline Library | Research guides, a nursing guide, Ask Us, subject librarians, document delivery, the Primo account | Literature for assignments and projects |
| appointments.nau.edu | The online scheduler for nursing advising | Booking a graduate advisor |
| Typhon or Exxat | Clinical tracking | Documents, logs and evaluations |
LOUIE and the location check each term
LOUIE is NAU's PeopleSoft self-service system, the place for grades, schedules, aid and account details. It also holds something online nursing students cannot ignore: your physical location. Each new term, winter and summer included, a SARA critical message pops up for continuing students as they sign in through CAS, asking them to confirm or update where they live. It keeps reappearing until you answer.
That answer matters. PeopleSoft sends NAU's licensure disclosures on its own, keyed to the location on record, and NAU's licensure table flags a handful of states where its NP programs fall short of local education rules for licensure. If you move, update your address in LOUIE or on NAU's Change of Location form, and contact your program about the effect on practicums; the state authorization page explains why.
Canvas and your practicum course
Canvas is NAU's learning management system, used for coursework and for trainings; the college's academic integrity and bloodborne pathogen modules run there for BSN admits. For NP students, the practicum courses are the ones to watch. NAU's 2022-23 FNP Clinical Guidelines list three places to get the Green Form: inside each FNP practicum course (NUR 661, NUR 663, NUR 665), from the Clinical Placement Coordinator, or from the FNP Program Coordinator.
Open each practicum course as soon as it appears and look for the current form and any updated instructions, since the graduate clinical handbooks have vanished from NAU's public site. The Green Form guide covers what the form asks and its cutoffs.
HIPAA training sits outside Canvas. NAU's version, reached through nau.edu/mytraining, is seven units plus a security and confidentiality agreement, and the 2022-23 guidelines require it before clinical rotations begin.
Email and files: Gmail now, Outlook by Fall 2027
Students have used NAU Gmail and Google Drive for email, calendars and files. Over 2026 and 2027, NAU is retiring Google Workspace and moving student email to Outlook and files to OneDrive, with the switch due by Fall 2027. Employees already use Outlook.
For a clinical student, the inbox and the drive hold things that are hard to replace: your Green Form correspondence, messages about an affiliation agreement, your preceptor's CV and license. Keep your own copies of placement paperwork until your migration is finished, and watch NAU's IT announcements for your cutover date. A migration week is a poor time to discover a missing attachment two months before a rotation.
Cline Library, NAUgo and the right device
Cline Library offers research guides, including one for nursing, an Ask Us service, subject librarians, document delivery and a Primo library account. Subject librarians and Ask Us are the quickest routes when a search for evidence stalls on a clinical write-up. In-person IT help, the Student Technology Center, sits on Cline's first floor. NAUgo is NAU's official mobile app.
Check your hardware before the term starts. NAU's graduate nursing application page cautions that the college's required software is incompatible with Chromebooks, iPads and devices like them, so a nurse who plans to study on a tablet between shifts needs a laptop as well. For PMHNP students, the library's guides are a natural starting point for the rural community project in NUR 689.
Advising, and who answers which question
The college's advising page has separate undergraduate and graduate rows, and current students book through the online scheduler at appointments.nau.edu. Advisors help with admissions, coursework and finding support resources, which makes them the first stop when a change in your practicum term reshuffles the courses around it.
Placement questions go elsewhere. In the 2022-23 guidelines, the Green Form and site requests go through the Clinical Placement Coordinator, preceptor approval and the final call on placement rest with the FNP Program Coordinator, and course faculty act as the liaison between NAU and the clinical agency. Taking a preceptor question to the right role the first time saves days. Our coordinator guide lays out who does what, and the Typhon and Exxat page covers the tracking side.
Where we fit alongside NAU's systems
NAU's systems hold your records and your coursework. Finding the preceptor who fits them is where we come in. We search close to the location you report to NAU, weigh each candidate against the Arizona preceptor rule reprinted in NAU's guidelines, and have their credentials ready for the Green Form.
Site approval comes first, so the form goes in with that box already checked, and a site that needs a new NAU agreement is named as one right away. We map all three FNP practicums at the outset and remain on call through each term in case a preceptor leaves. Our how it works page has the full sequence, and the form below starts it.
Questions NAU students ask
Can I use a Chromebook or iPad for NAU's nursing programs?
Not as your only device. The graduate nursing application page lists Chromebooks, iPads and comparable devices as incompatible with the college's required software. Plan on a laptop that runs standard desktop software, and ask NAU's IT help if you are unsure whether a machine qualifies.
What is the SARA message I see when I sign in to NAU?
It is NAU's check on where you physically live, shown to continuing students at the start of each term when they sign in through CAS. It keeps appearing until you confirm or update your location. NAU uses that location for its state authorization records and its licensure notices, so answer it accurately.
When does NAU student email move to Outlook?
NAU says it will retire Google Workspace over 2026 and 2027, moving student email to Outlook and files from Google Drive to OneDrive by Fall 2027. Watch NAU's IT announcements for your own cutover, and keep copies of placement paperwork until the move is complete.
How do I book an appointment with a graduate nursing advisor?
Use the scheduler at appointments.nau.edu, linked from the college's advising page, which lists graduate advising separately from undergraduate. Advisors cover admissions, coursework and support resources; preceptor approval and placement decisions sit with the program's coordinators instead. Book early in the term, before practicum paperwork peaks.
Where do I complete NAU's HIPAA training?
Through nau.edu/mytraining. NAU's version has seven units and a HIPAA security and confidentiality agreement, and BSN students upload the completion transcript to the clinical tracking system. The 2022-23 FNP guidelines require HIPAA training before clinical rotations begin, so finish it well ahead of your first practicum.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Northern Arizona University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your program coordinator and course faculty have the final word.
NAU welcomes a preceptor you arrange. We arrange one close to home.
Tell us your NAU track, your town and your next practicum. We line up preceptors who fit the course and Arizona's preceptor rule, confirm the site's approval, and gather the CV, license and certification the Green Form needs, well before NAU's cutoff.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages family primary care for FNP, psychiatric settings for PMHNP
- License, experience and certification checked against the rule NAU applies, before the Green Form goes in
- All three FNP practicums planned together, near home instead of a long drive away
Start your placement plan
Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.