Schools Interoperability Framework
Encyclopedia
The Schools Interoperability Framework, Systems Interoperability Framework (UK), or SIF, is a data sharing open
specification for academic institutions from kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12
). Until recently, it has been used primarily in the United States alone; however, it is increasingly being implemented in Australia, the UK, India and elsewhere.
The specification is composed of two parts: an XML
specification for modeling
educational data, and a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
specification for sharing that data between institutions.
SIF is not a product, but an industry initiative that enables diverse applications to interact and share data. As of March 2007, SIF is estimated to have been used in more than 48 states and 6 countries, supporting five million students.
The specification is actively maintained by its specification body
, the Schools Interoperability Framework Association
.
problems, and inefficient or incomplete reporting. In such cases, a student's information can appear in multiple places but may not be identical, for example, or decision makers may be working with incomplete or inaccurate information. Many district and site technology coordinators also experience an increase in technical support problems from maintaining numerous proprietary systems. SIF was created to solve these issues.
The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) began as an initiative chiefly championed initially by Microsoft to create "a blueprint for educational software interoperability and data access." It was designed to be an initiative drawing upon the strengths of the leading vendors in the K-12 market to enable schools IT professionals to build, manage and upgrade their systems. It was endorsed by close to 20 leading K-12 vendors of student information, library, transportation, food service applications and more. The first pilot sites began in the summer of 1999, and the first SIF-based products began to show up in 2000.
In the beginning it was not clear which approach would become the national standard in the United States
. Both SIF and EDI
were vying for the position in 2000 but SIF began taking the lead in 2002 or so. In 2000, the National School Boards Association held a panel discussion during its annual meeting on the topic of SIF.
In 2007 in the United Kingdom Becta
has championed the adoption of SIF as a national standard for schools data interchange.
In 2008 it was announced that in the UK the standard will become known as the "Systems Interoperability Framework". This reflects the intention in the UK to develop SIF to be used in other organizations beyond just schools.
specification and data model. When building specifications via consensus not everyone is always happy and sometimes the end product isn't perfect. Also given all the moving parts in modeling the entire K12's enterprise the specification has many points of possible failure. This is not particular to SIF but to any record-level, automated system moving standardized data from one source to another in a heterogeneous environment. Out-of-the-box interoperability and ease of use and implementation are part of a 12-18 month focus from 2007 and through 2009.
Data travels between applications as a series of standardized messages, queries, and events written in XML and sent using Internet protocols. The SIF specification defines such events and the "choreography" that allows data to move back and forth between the applications.
SIF Agents are pieces of software that exist either internal to an application or installed next to it. The SIF Agents function as extensions of each application and serve as the intermediary between the software application and the SIF Zone. The ZIS keeps track of the Agents registered in the Zone and manages transactions between Agents, enabling them to provide data and respond to requests. The ZIS controls all access, routing, and security within the system. Standardization of the behavior of the Agents and ZIS means that SIF can add standard functionality to a Zone by simply adding SIF-enabled applications over time.
Current certified SIF-enabled applications can be found here: http://certification.sifinfo.org/cert_prodlist.tpl .
, namespaces
, and web service
standards were as mature as they are today. As a result it has a robust SOA that is more vetted than the current SOAP specifications but does not use the SOAP or WS standards. The 2.0 SIF Web Services specification begins the process of joining these two worlds.
The 2.0 Web Services specification allows for more generalized XML messaging structures typically found in enterprise messaging system
s that use the concept of an enterprise service bus
. Web service standards are also designed to support secure public interfaces and XML appliance
s can make the setup and configuration easier. The SIF 2.0 Web Services specification allows for the use of Web Services to communicate in and out of the Zone.
SIFA is also working closely with the Post-Secondary Education Standards Council (PESC), SCORM
, and other standards organizations.
A similar standard LISS supports vendor integration 'within' a school site. This overcomes limitations with the requirement to connect to a Zone integration server, such as if either the web, or the ZIS is inaccessible. SIF is more orientated at integration between admin systems of several schools, or between schools and educational authorities. LISS (www.liss.org.au) Lightweight Interoperability Standard for Schools connects primarily smaller, 'local' modules, such as a timetabling, roll call, reporting or others, to the main admin system on a given school site. Unlike SIF, LISS works either across the web, or via a local network, and has a simpler format.
A future major version of SIF is being worked on right now, code-named "Columbus". Its emphasis will be on ease of use and implementation.
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and may also have various properties of how it was designed . There is no single definition and interpretations vary with usage....
specification for academic institutions from kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12
K-12
K–12 is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand where P–12 is also commonly used...
). Until recently, it has been used primarily in the United States alone; however, it is increasingly being implemented in Australia, the UK, India and elsewhere.
The specification is composed of two parts: an XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
specification for modeling
Data modeling
Data modeling in software engineering is the process of creating a data model for an information system by applying formal data modeling techniques.- Overview :...
educational data, and a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
Service-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
specification for sharing that data between institutions.
SIF is not a product, but an industry initiative that enables diverse applications to interact and share data. As of March 2007, SIF is estimated to have been used in more than 48 states and 6 countries, supporting five million students.
The specification is actively maintained by its specification body
Standards organization
A standards organization, standards body, standards developing organization , or standards setting organization is any organization whose primary activities are developing, coordinating, promulgating, revising, amending, reissuing, interpreting, or otherwise producing technical standards that are...
, the Schools Interoperability Framework Association
Schools Interoperability Framework Association
The Schools Interoperability Framework Association, or SIFA, is a not-for-profit corporation.SIFA members collaborate on a variety of technical standards sometimes collectively known as the Schools Interoperability Framework....
.
History and Background
Traditionally, the standalone applications used by public school districts have the limitation of data isolation; that is, it is difficult to access and share their data. This often results in redundant data entry, data integrityData integrity
Data Integrity in its broadest meaning refers to the trustworthiness of system resources over their entire life cycle. In more analytic terms, it is "the representational faithfulness of information to the true state of the object that the information represents, where representational faithfulness...
problems, and inefficient or incomplete reporting. In such cases, a student's information can appear in multiple places but may not be identical, for example, or decision makers may be working with incomplete or inaccurate information. Many district and site technology coordinators also experience an increase in technical support problems from maintaining numerous proprietary systems. SIF was created to solve these issues.
The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) began as an initiative chiefly championed initially by Microsoft to create "a blueprint for educational software interoperability and data access." It was designed to be an initiative drawing upon the strengths of the leading vendors in the K-12 market to enable schools IT professionals to build, manage and upgrade their systems. It was endorsed by close to 20 leading K-12 vendors of student information, library, transportation, food service applications and more. The first pilot sites began in the summer of 1999, and the first SIF-based products began to show up in 2000.
In the beginning it was not clear which approach would become the national standard in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Both SIF and EDI
Electronic Data Interchange
Electronic data interchange is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e...
were vying for the position in 2000 but SIF began taking the lead in 2002 or so. In 2000, the National School Boards Association held a panel discussion during its annual meeting on the topic of SIF.
In 2007 in the United Kingdom Becta
Becta
Becta was a non-departmental public body ] funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, in the UK It was a charity and a company limited by guarantee. In the post-election spending review in May 2010, it was announced that Becta was to be abolished...
has championed the adoption of SIF as a national standard for schools data interchange.
In 2008 it was announced that in the UK the standard will become known as the "Systems Interoperability Framework". This reflects the intention in the UK to develop SIF to be used in other organizations beyond just schools.
Strengths
Some features of SIF that make it well-suited for data interoperability are:- It is an XML standard that exists built entirely and specifically for the exchange of K-12 education-related information;
- Case studies show significant dollar savings for schools and districts;
- Many school districts require that K-12 data vendors use SIF, and some states like Oklahoma are even legislating its use;
- Many vendors in the K-12 space already have SIF agents that have met SIF certification criteria and several Zone Integration Server products "ZIS" are available in the market. With many SIF agents available & capable of interacting with the ZIS, barriers for school district use have been significantly reduced;
Criticism
SIF has all the pains and challenges that come with any SOAService-oriented architecture
In software engineering, a Service-Oriented Architecture is a set of principles and methodologies for designing and developing software in the form of interoperable services. These services are well-defined business functionalities that are built as software components that can be reused for...
specification and data model. When building specifications via consensus not everyone is always happy and sometimes the end product isn't perfect. Also given all the moving parts in modeling the entire K12's enterprise the specification has many points of possible failure. This is not particular to SIF but to any record-level, automated system moving standardized data from one source to another in a heterogeneous environment. Out-of-the-box interoperability and ease of use and implementation are part of a 12-18 month focus from 2007 and through 2009.
How SIF Works
Rather than have each application vendor try to set up a separate connection to every other application, SIF has defined the set of rules and definitions to share data within a "SIF Zone"—a logical grouping of applications in which software application agents communicate with each other through a central communication point. Zones are managed by a piece of software called a Zone Integration Server (ZIS). A single ZIS can manage multiple Zones.Data travels between applications as a series of standardized messages, queries, and events written in XML and sent using Internet protocols. The SIF specification defines such events and the "choreography" that allows data to move back and forth between the applications.
SIF Agents are pieces of software that exist either internal to an application or installed next to it. The SIF Agents function as extensions of each application and serve as the intermediary between the software application and the SIF Zone. The ZIS keeps track of the Agents registered in the Zone and manages transactions between Agents, enabling them to provide data and respond to requests. The ZIS controls all access, routing, and security within the system. Standardization of the behavior of the Agents and ZIS means that SIF can add standard functionality to a Zone by simply adding SIF-enabled applications over time.
Current certified SIF-enabled applications can be found here: http://certification.sifinfo.org/cert_prodlist.tpl .
Vertical interoperability
"Vertical interoperability" is a situation in which SIF agents at different levels of an organization communicate using a SIF Zone. Vertical interoperability involves data collection from multiple agents (upward) or publishing of information to multiple agents (downward). For example, a state-level data warehouse may listen for changes in district-level data warehouses and update its database accordingly. Or a state entity may wish to publish teacher certification data to districts. The three pieces of the SIF specification that deal directly with vertical interoperability are the Student Locator object, the Vertical Reporting object, and the Data Warehouse object.SIF in relation to other standards
SIF was designed before SOAPSOAP
SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks...
, namespaces
Namespace (computer science)
A namespace is an abstract container or environment created to hold a logical grouping of unique identifiers or symbols . An identifier defined in a namespace is associated only with that namespace. The same identifier can be independently defined in multiple namespaces...
, and web service
Web service
A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
standards were as mature as they are today. As a result it has a robust SOA that is more vetted than the current SOAP specifications but does not use the SOAP or WS standards. The 2.0 SIF Web Services specification begins the process of joining these two worlds.
The 2.0 Web Services specification allows for more generalized XML messaging structures typically found in enterprise messaging system
Enterprise messaging system
An enterprise messaging system is a set of published Enterprise-wide standards that allows organizations to send semantically precise messages between computer systems. EMS systems promote loosely coupled architectures that allow changes in the formats of messages to have minimum impact on...
s that use the concept of an enterprise service bus
Enterprise service bus
An enterprise service bus is a software architecture model used for designing and implementing the interaction and communication between mutually interacting software applications in Service Oriented Architecture...
. Web service standards are also designed to support secure public interfaces and XML appliance
XML appliance
An XML appliance is a special purpose network device used to secure, manage and mediate XML traffic. They are most popularly implemented in Service Oriented Architectures to control XML based Web Services traffic, and increasingly in cloud oriented computing to help enterprises integrate on premise...
s can make the setup and configuration easier. The SIF 2.0 Web Services specification allows for the use of Web Services to communicate in and out of the Zone.
SIFA is also working closely with the Post-Secondary Education Standards Council (PESC), SCORM
SCORM
Sharable Content Object Reference Model is a collection of standards and specifications for web-based e-learning. It defines communications between client side content and a host system called the run-time environment, which is commonly supported by a learning management system...
, and other standards organizations.
A similar standard LISS supports vendor integration 'within' a school site. This overcomes limitations with the requirement to connect to a Zone integration server, such as if either the web, or the ZIS is inaccessible. SIF is more orientated at integration between admin systems of several schools, or between schools and educational authorities. LISS (www.liss.org.au) Lightweight Interoperability Standard for Schools connects primarily smaller, 'local' modules, such as a timetabling, roll call, reporting or others, to the main admin system on a given school site. Unlike SIF, LISS works either across the web, or via a local network, and has a simpler format.
Versions
The version 2.4 specification is the latest version of SIF. It is expected that 2.x application environments will arise in the near future as vendors start designing, developing, and implementing 2.x agents, and states, districts, and schools start adopting them. Most of the SIF Zone Integration Server vendors are currently or will be putting 1.5r1 to 2.x migration functionality in place for their clients.A future major version of SIF is being worked on right now, code-named "Columbus". Its emphasis will be on ease of use and implementation.
See also
- Enterprise Application IntegrationEnterprise application integrationEnterprise Application Integration is defined as the use of software and computer systems architectural principles to integrate a set of enterprise computer applications.- Overview :...
- Open Knowledge InitiativeOpen Knowledge InitiativeThe Open Knowledge Initiative is an organization responsible for the specification of software interfaces comprising a Service Oriented Architecture based on high level service definitions.-Description:...
- SCORMSCORMSharable Content Object Reference Model is a collection of standards and specifications for web-based e-learning. It defines communications between client side content and a host system called the run-time environment, which is commonly supported by a learning management system...
- Shibboleth (Internet2)Shibboleth (Internet2)Shibboleth is an Internet2 project that has created an architecture and open-source implementation for federated identity-based authentication and authorization infrastructure based on Security Assertion Markup Language . Federated identity allows for information about users in one security domain...
- PESC
- Web services
External links
- Official website of SIFA
- Becta SIF Page
- Wyoming SIF Implementation Homepage
- Integrity Schools - Zone Integration Server provider and 3rd Party SIF Integration Experts
- Edustructures - ZIS, Agent, and Implementation vendor
- ESP Solutions Group - SIF experts and implementation vendor
- SharpSchoolSharpSchoolSharpSchool is an education service provider providing solutions at the K-12, regional, and state levels. Located in New York and Toronto, SharpSchool is recognized as a national innovation leader by the National Research Council....
- SIF expert and professional services vendor - Mizuni, Inc. - ZIS, Agent, and Implementation vendor
- Visual Software - ZIS (US, UK, AU), Configurable Agent (US, UK, AU), AD Agent, Agent Wizard, SIF Experts, Implementation vendor
- Bostech ChainBuilder for SIF - "any application to any ZIS" Universal Agent, ZIS Provider, and Implementation vendor
- OpenZIS Development Team - Small team of developers focusing on Open Solutions related to educational issues.
- Open Source:
- - OpenZIS - an Open SourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
Zone Integration Server (up to specification Version 2.4 - http://www.openzis.org - - OFSZIS Zone Integration Server (Push and Pull)
- - OpenAgent - SIF toolkit for agent development - Ruby
- - SIFMaker - SIF toolkit for creating SIF Data Model Objects - Ruby
- - TinyZIS - Open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
ZIS (Pull only) - Not maintained. - - wye - an Open SourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
ZIS that is the successor to tinyzis (Pull only) - Not maintained.