tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.comments2011-07-27T08:33:17.718-07:00Jason Wrage's SIF BlogJason Wragehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03866957100256389000noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-25095082367937591642008-11-02T05:24:00.000-08:002008-11-02T05:24:00.000-08:00Ok. Now it makes good sense. :)I never thought abo...Ok. Now it makes good sense. :)<BR/>I never thought about the ERDs from SIF aspect. I was looking w.r.t relational model only.<BR/>Thank you!mudithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05754810757485879745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-46463531845490811252008-10-08T21:23:00.000-07:002008-10-08T21:23:00.000-07:00You are welcome! This is a very observant comment....You are welcome! <BR/><BR/>This is a very observant comment. The generic answer is that in a relational, application-centric data model a separate SchoolYear object/table makes sense. You then have to think about how the use cases for an interoperability data model, like SIF, may differ from a highly normalized, relational data model. I'll try to explain this further by providing some background, and then an example.<BR/><BR/>Historically, the composite key for an object instance, which is generally comprised of the root element's attributes, has had a special role with respect to SIF’s request/response mechanism. In SIF 1.x, Agents were required to support queries on these root attributes. This provided a clear, albeit limited, means to scope data requests. The inclusion of SchoolYear as a root attribute in many of the SIS objects makes it relatively simple for a requesting agent to query for “temporally sensitive” objects. If SchoolYear were to be normalized into a separate entity, subscribers would first have to synchronize this data before making time-scoped requests. Requesting data by SchoolYear is a very common thing to do, and thus why SchoolYear is present in the root element of many objects.<BR/><BR/>Take as an example a request for the SchoolCourseInfo object. The presence of @SchoolYear in the root element allows a requesting Agent to “ask” for all course information applicable to a specific school year by simply passing the value of the target school year, as opposed to a foreign key reference to the data. Another way to say this is that the design of SIF objects sometimes breaks the mold of data modeling best practices in order to support functionality needed by Agents. This is where the SIF data model and its API characteristics cross paths.<BR/> <BR/>[Footnote] In SIF 2, responding Agents are required to support queries by all mandatory elements and attributes. This provides much richer support for scoping requests. However, many of the conventions of the SIF 1.x data model have carried over into the SIF 2 data model. Providing a better mechanism to clearly identify “key material” within data objects, perhaps for multiple purposes, has been identified as a need.Jason Wragehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866957100256389000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-19515891569026784112008-10-01T07:29:00.000-07:002008-10-01T07:29:00.000-07:00Hi Jason,I would like to thank you for post. These...Hi Jason,<BR/><BR/>I would like to thank you for post. These ERDs are very good. Thanks for putting such wonderful resource on internet.<BR/><BR/>I have a question for you as well. In your SIF Data Model "workgroup/taskforce -- SIS", I did not get the implications of having SchoolYear in all tables as part of composite Pk. Couldn't it more flexible if there was a table for SchoolYear Which acts as FK to tables where SchoolYear is needed?<BR/><BR/>Thanks,<BR/>Muditmudithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05754810757485879745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-12580212820135261822008-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:002008-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00Thank you for your comment. I completely understan...Thank you for your comment. I completely understand about being new to the Association. It can be overwhelming. Although I've worked with SIF quite awhile (since 2001) I only became an active SIFA participant about 3 years ago. The best way that I found to make inroads and build relationships is to spend time in the work groups/task forces outside of the quarterly meetings. Please let me know if/when you will be attending an upcoming meeting and I'd be happy to spend some time with you, make introductions, etc.Jason Wragehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866957100256389000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-47488569412471349802008-07-19T00:48:00.000-07:002008-07-19T00:48:00.000-07:00Jason, as the co-founder of Uva Software, the only...Jason, as the co-founder of Uva Software, the only company pushing a true open source SIF stack, I have to say that to an external entity the Association is quite overwhelming in both complexity and the overall tight knit of its members. However, we would be more than glad to revisit joining the Association and try to figure out how such membership can assist us in getting more developers interested in SIF. Feel free to email me if you would like to discuss this further.Rafael Ferreirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08713911268671547180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-71361350965624888562008-06-26T09:22:00.000-07:002008-06-26T09:22:00.000-07:00Nice one, Mr. Wrage!Nice one, Mr. Wrage!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04263869703386010776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-63706478475210243912008-04-30T18:09:00.000-07:002008-04-30T18:09:00.000-07:00Cool man, thanks for this! This is what I'm talki...Cool man, thanks for this! This is what I'm talking about!mpstatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08028409435057313556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-44311589814889171222008-02-15T13:40:00.000-08:002008-02-15T13:40:00.000-08:00Thanks for the post, and I'm glad you like the dia...Thanks for the post, and I'm glad you like the diagrams! I know many of us in SIFA hope that PA continues down the SIF track with their initiatives.Jason Wragehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866957100256389000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-30008987437704002632008-02-15T13:35:00.000-08:002008-02-15T13:35:00.000-08:00Lovely diagrams in the slides, Mr. Wrage. I liked ...Lovely diagrams in the slides, Mr. Wrage. I liked them very much. It will be interesting to see how much farther PA go with SIF in the future.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04263869703386010776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-29679668906146847622008-02-08T21:16:00.000-08:002008-02-08T21:16:00.000-08:00Thanks! I hope the information is useful. I'd be i...Thanks! I hope the information is useful. I'd be interested in chatting further about Edumorphology and SIF!Jason Wragehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866957100256389000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1870653209561875530.post-89928179648888228922008-02-08T17:25:00.000-08:002008-02-08T17:25:00.000-08:00You have a very interesting blog!You have a very interesting blog!mpstatonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08028409435057313556noreply@blogger.com