Panel Discussion Electronic Exchange of Student Transcripts (Session T 4.8)

1. Panel DiscussionElectronic Exchange of Student Transcripts (Session T 4.8) SACRAO 66th Annual Meeting Tuesday, February 5, 2013 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

2. Presenters Richard D. Skeel, Kuali Student, Honorary SACRAO Member. rskeel@ou.edu David H. Stones, Retired University Registrar, Honorary SACRAO Member, stonesd@southwestern.edu Slides prepared by J. Tom Stewart, Retired Miami-Dade Registrar, Honorary SACRAO Member, stewartj@aol.com

3. Agenda • A brief history and considerations of various methods of electronic transcript exchange to include: • EDI Transcripts • XML Transcripts • PDF Transcripts • Q & Q

4. EDI History • The AACRAO Standardization of Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchange (SPEEDE) Committee began developing the national standard for a College Transcript in 1989 • US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) began developing a national standard for a High School Transcript during same timeframe • Both groups worked with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X12 to develop standard formats • ANSI ASC X12 Transaction Set 130 for the Student Educational Record (Transcript) approved in early ’90’s • Goal to transmit data with the least amount of characters necessary

5. Sample SES (Session), SUM (Sem Summary), 2 CRS (Course) segments SES|201008|||2|Fall 2010|D8|20100830|D8|20101217|21|73|249999|Concurrent/Not Designated|B27~ SUM|S|U|N|6.0000|6.0000|6.0000|0.00|4.00|3.50|N|||||||21.000000~ CRS|R|S|3.0000|3.0000|025|A||U||||012.000||ENG|131|Rhetoric & Composition~ RAP|9TX|TXCORECURR|010Communication I|A|Y~ CRS|R|S|3.0000|3.0000|025|B||U||||009.000||HIS|134|U.S. History, 1877-Present~ RAP|9TX|TXCORECURR|060History|A|Y~

6. Standards are consistent Resources are available Processes can be batched and automated Large volume of current institutions using standard State and district initiatives Sender and receiver are identified Automated acknowledgments of both delivery and receipt possible Transmission through SPEEDE Server benefits trading partners Costs decrease SPEEDE delivery EDI Process Benefits

7. EDI Institutional Considerations • Capabilities of the organization • IT resources available • Interest level of senior management • Compatibility with SIS • Cost/benefit analysis • In house vs. vendor sponsored solution • Efficiency gains • Strategic goals • Preferred trading partner methodologies

8. EDI Process Considerations • Technical complexity limits some institutions • Need for translation software or SIS compatibility to recognize full benefits • Data mapping can be cumbersome • Perception of complexity or lack of IT resources • ANSI ASC X12A Education sub-committee inactive since 2005 • Devil is in the details, but it’s only done once

9. EDI Numbers • UT Server, December 2012. 459164 transactions • (minus 2416 XML). 104,145 transcripts • UT Server, January, 2013. 541,293 transactions • 137,108 transcripts, 148,171 acknowledgments, • 9121 test score reports, 33835 transcr. Requests, • 175622 adm apps, • SACRAO States Send Jan ‘13: AL(5),AR(lots),FL(lots), • NC (acks), SC(800+), TN, TX(lots), VA (2300, 3 sch) • Since 1984: 9,800,000 transcripts, 35,000,000 • transactions – delivered at no cost to senders, recips

10. More Research • EDI Primer – Published by AACRAO SPEEDE • RIPS Document – Recommended Impl.Practices for SPEEDE. On AACRAO SPEEDE page. • Implementation Guides – PESC and AACRAO/SPEEDE • AACRAO Technology Conf, July 2013 • TX SPEEDE UG June 17, 2013.

11. What is XML ? XML stands for Extensible Markup Language XML is a markup language much like HTML XML was designed to carry data, not to display data XML is designed to be self-descriptive

12. XML High School Transcript Schema

13. XML Example </TransmissionData> - <Student> - <Person> <SchoolAssignedPersonID>309032191</SchoolAssignedPersonID> <AgencyAssignedID>582425187</AgencyAssignedID> <RecipientAssignedID>123456789</RecipientAssignedID> <Birth> <BirthDate>1989-06-12</BirthDate> </Birth> - <Name> <FirstName>Kristen</FirstName> <MiddleName /> <LastName>Young</LastName> </Name> - <Gender> <GenderCode>Female</GenderCode> </Gender> </Person>

14. Key Benefits of XML Content identification Enforced structure International standard Industry standardization

15. Additional XML Benefits It supports Unicode, allowing almost any information in any written human language to be communicated Format uses English and less abbreviations making it less technical to read than EDI format It can be updated incrementally It is platform-independent, thus relatively immune to changes in technology Forward and backward compatibility are relatively easy to maintain despite changes in Schema Compatible with SEVIS, IPEDS and NCATE (for teachers) XML preferred by IT because it is a format they are familiar with

16. XML Considerations • XML syntax is large relative to EDI (binary) representations of similar data • This results in higher storage, transmission and processing costs • Example 2K EDI = 30K XML (compression available in MS Office) • XML syntax is verbose, especially for human readers, relative to other alternative 'text-based' data • Number of tags = more to sift through to determine what you need for your SIS as a receiver

17. XML Numbers UT Server, December 2012. 1387 transcripts. AZ: Pima CC  UA 464 NM: Central NM CC > UNM 622 TN: 12 senders 301 UT Server, January 2013, 2416 transcripts. AZ: Pima  UA 1406 IA: UIowa National Transcript Center 47 MO: Missouri Western State  Metrop CC 22 NM: CNM > UNM 792 TN: 10 senders, 149 TX: National Transcript Center  UIowa 25

18. PDF History • Portable Document Format (PDF) Created by Adobe Systems 15+ years ago • Electronic image vs. electronic data • Secure PDF signed and certified as authentic • Extract a dataset from sending institution and spool to PDF document • Encryption/Decryption sender and receiver keys • Sign/Verify relies on digital certificates of authenticity

19. Benefits Can be sent to any computer anywhere; not just to another school Far more secure than mail Less opportunity for fraud Faster delivery and easy for human to print or view Low cost Fast implementation Easier batching abilities Considerations Upload of data to SIS more difficult Out of Network delivery possible – no prior commucation required. Really just a picture – not data. Longevity Different philosophies on appropriateness of expiration Multiple transmission methodologies Vendor differences Varying cost models for senders/receivers Closed networks PDF Transcripts

20. AACRAO White Paper • Committee Report on Electronic Transcripts, Past Present and Future. • College & University, Vol. 87, No. 2, Fall 2011 • Available at www.aacrao.org • EDI/XML and pdf have different niches • Some combination may be best. • EDI/XML for high volume with one or more schools • Pdf for delivery of small n to broad range of recipients, or to student.

21. PDF Vendors at SACRAO • Credentials • Scrip-Safe • National Student Clearinghouse • Parchment (formerly Avow + Docufide + ?) • Others? CollegeNet?

22. Questions Additional Resources http://www.aacrao.org/About-AACRAO/committees/speede.aspx# http://registrar.utexas.edu/speede listserv@listserv.vt.edu pesc.org