New Reports Show SIF Object Usage Across Certified Applications

The Certification Register at http://certification.sifinfo.org is the authoritative source of information about the capabilities of SIF Certified Applications and Agents. The site has recently been enhanced in two ways.
It is now possible to view a Data Model report that details and summarizes the use of SIF Data Objects by Certified Agents. This enables you to get a sense of which objects are most widely supported, and in what ways.
Located underneath this information (on the same page) is a matrix that represents the intersection of two applications. Hovering over a cell reveals the ways that the two systems may interoperate, at a Data Object level.
In combination, these reports provide end-users and developers with much information about how SIF is being used, and how it may be used. This is the direct link to the Data Model report.

SIF Message Objects

SIF's Infrastructure defines a set of Message Objects (synonyms in other vocabularies include stickers and envelopes) that underpin its asynchronous data exchange capabilities. SIF Agents wrap commands and Data Objects in appropriate Message Objects to accomplish interoperability functions. Zone Integration Servers lightly parse the Message Objects to control the routing of data from Agent to Agent. SIF Data Objects are the subject of the Entity Relationship Diagram previously discussed here. To reprise: Data Objects are the implementation of SIF's data model for interoperability (students, staff, enrollment, etc.). Data Objects also happen to be the essential unit of data exchange in SIF. The following diagram illustrates an overview of SIF Message Objects (click the image to view it standalone).

Gradebook Objects Added to SIF ERD

The SIF Data Model Entity Relationship Diagram has been updated to include the Grade Book Data Objects (thanks to Andy Elmhorst for the suggestion).

SIF ERD Updated with Assessments

The SIF Data Model Entity Relationship Diagram has been updated to include the Assessment Data Objects. Again, please feel free to nominate what you would like to prioritize for inclusion in the diagram as I continue to update it.

SIF Data Model ERD - Updated

The SIF Data Model Entity Relationship Diagram that I recently published as a Google Presentation has been updated to include two new areas: Special Programs and HR Finance. Assessments are likely to be next. Please feel free to nominate what you would like to prioritize. Enjoy!

SIF Data Model Entity Relationship Diagram

I've been developing a high level Entity Relationship Diagram for the SIF Data Model. The main goal is to help people more easily see and understand the relationships among SIF objects. Here is the link to a Google Presentation that contains the diagram for the Student Information Systems (SIS) objects. My long term goal is to make this more interactive, but hopefully it is useful to some people in its current state. Please note two things: 1) this is a small subset of the overall data model (I will be adding more areas soon) and 2) the level of detail in the ERD only reflects objects and their primary and foreign keys. Please see the SIF Implementation Specification for full details.

Using the SIF Data Model in Software for Schools

Introduction

The SIF Data Model, which consists of the XML data “objects” that make up the bulk of the specification, has grown and evolved from the expertise that application vendors contribute to the SIF Association. Traditionally, Working Groups within the SIF Association have aligned on particular "vertical" areas of focus within the K-12 software market. Examples of Working Groups within the SIF Association include Student Information Systems, Human Resources and Financials, Transportation, and Food Services. Using a community-based process, members of these working groups collaborate to build their respective areas of the SIF Data Model. In summary, the SIF Data Model has evolved from the bottom-up versus being specified from the top-down.

It is probably useful to first understand what the SIF Data Model is, and what it is not. Foremost, the SIF Data Model was developed around interoperability business and use cases. That is to say, it was never intended to be an optimized, normalized application-level schema. It is intended to facilitate the exchange of data between two or more applications connected to a common message bus. As a result of this, and the fact that a community-based process, rather than a single mind or focused team, produced the data model, you will notice varying consistency within the SIF Data Model. The purpose of this writing is to provide some thoughts on how best to use the SIF Data Model when building new, or enhancing existing, K-12 software products.

Logical Structure of the SIF Data Model

Reasons for Using the SIF Data Model in Your Application

If you are building or enhancing a software application for K-12 schools you may want to take a close look at the SIF Data Model for a few reasons, even if you do not immediately plan to build a SIF Agent.

1. Ensuring Completeness The first, and probably most obvious comparison point between your application's data model and SIF, should be for completeness. When considering the full SIF Data Model, including all of its objects, elements and attributes you will notice that it has become, over time, fairly rich. This is especially true for the core objects that are most often used in the field (e.g. StudentPersonal, StaffPersonal, SchoolInfo, StudentSchoolEnrollment, StudentContact).

2. Aligning to SIF for Interoperability Market demand from schools (SEA's and LEA's) is driving SIF adoption. However, even if your application implements a data model that is an exact copy of the SIF Data Model, you do not have an interoperable application. Interoperability requires the ability to interact with other applications over the SIF Infrastructure, according to the rules defined in the SIF Implementation Specification. Implementing an application data model that resembles the SIF Data Model, or that is easily mapped to the SIF Data Model, definitely puts you a step closer to interoperability via SIF.

3. Relating to Other Software Systems By using the information that is available in the SIF Certification Register, you can analyze the capabilities of other applications from which you wish to obtain data today, and to which you may wish to publish data. Depending on your target market, you may wish to analyze specific applications or broad categories of applications to determine how your system may interoperate with other systems. I also highly recommend talking to your customers, or potential customers, about their specific needs when it comes to interoperability. Most technically savvy people within schools have at least heard of SIF, and many will have excellent ideas to share about how they wish their systems to work together.

4. Decreasing the Level of Effort to Support Data Exchange The vision behind SIF is to make data exchange easier for both the end-users in schools and software vendors. While it is true there can be a relatively high learning curve in the beginning to implement SIF, over time the benefits of automated processes become evident. Depending on how you support your customers' data import/export needs, there is great potential for you as a software vendor to reduce the overall level of effort in managing data exchange processes.