SIF Program 2014
Executive Office Of Education
William A. Holscher – State SIF Program Manager
SIF Solution
 Problem: Need to put actionable information in the
hands of those who can make a difference and the data
we have is periodic not reflective of what is happening
in our schools today
 Solution: Collect near-real time data from school
districts that can be turned around and used in tools as
actionable information
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What is SIF?
Schools Interoperability Framework™ (SIF) - the
first, largest, and most implemented open global
standard for seamless, real time data transfer and
usage.
The SIF Association is an international open source
consortium that developed the standard for the
education industry.
Copyright ©2007 Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF™) Association. All Rights Reserved.
Interoperability Framework
Copyright ©2007 Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF™) Association. All Rights Reserved.
SIF Program
 The MA SIF Program went operational on November
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30, 2013.
108 districts certified thru SIF for the SIMS 2014 EOY
Collection
90% of our 234 Race To The Top (RTTT) districts online with SIF.
All 403 MA Districts to be connected to the State using
the real-time event driven SIF Framework by July 2015
The standards, policies and procedures established
from this initiative were designed to be rolled forward
for all future annual SIF Program infrastructure, data
element, and subscribing application enhancements
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SIF Program 2013 Process
SIF Program Repeatable Process
 Agent Vendor Certification
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Web Site
Requirements
Test Scripts and Sites established
Documentation
 District Process
• Real-time event driven verses scheduled batch file uploads
• Real-time local data validations implemented
• Error Reports available 24/7 -365 days a year
• Real-time State EDWIN Data Warehouse reports updates
• Dedicated District SIF support and on-boarding teams
 District On-Boarding
 Vendor Specific District User Guides
 District Best Practices Established
 District Pre-Validation Tools
 SIF District Dashboard
District Focused SIF Documentation
 Enhanced SIF Reporting Guide designed in
conjunction with District Vendor and specifically
targeted to seamlessly integrate with current SIS
application documentation.
 Includes
Best Practices
 Data Quality Validation Checklist designed to assist
Districts and Schools verify data for SIF compliance
prior to on-boarding with State.
SIF Program 2013 Tools
SIF Production Support
 Help Desk
 Operational Support Guide
SIF Program Documentation
 Reusable System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Documentation
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Architectural Designs
Technical Designs
Application Work Flows
Requirements
Functional Specifications
Use Cases
Test Plans
Test Cases
 SharePoint Repository
 Standardized MA SIF Profile and Associated Guide
SIF Program 2013 Deliverables
SIF Applications
 Student Information Management System (SIMS)
 Student Course Schedule (SCS)
 Education Personnel Information Management System
(EPIMS)
 Student Claiming and Un-claiming
SIF Integrations
 EDWIN Teaching and Learning (IIS via Thinkgate)
 EDWIN Analytics (Longitudinal Data System - LDS)
 MA Data Collections Applications
SIF Program 2013 Technology
SIF Infrastructure Established and Tested
 Visual Software Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) Software
 DEV, QA, Staging Prod Environments
 Load balanced, Multi-Server, Zone Integration Server (ZIS)
 Veracity rules engine established (over 230+ business rules)
 Preliminary Performance Benchmarks completed
SIF Architecture and POC
 Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) Validations (1000+ rules)
 Real-time Event Driven Push Mode
 Level 3 Authentication & Level 4 Encryption
Production State: District Perspective
EDWIN
District Level
SIS
Publishing
Agent (push)
Teaching and Learning
ESE ZIS
Stage
Subscribing Agent
Horizontal ZIS
Team Resources
ESE Data
Collections
New State Test
Environments
ESE Data
Quality
Agent Vendors
Dev
Team
Resources are
incremental,
scalable, and
available as
needed.
IT Support and
outside services
QA
Staging
Districts
SIF Firsts:
 MA is first State to require a real-time district initiated push model
 MA is first State to require level 3 authentication and level 4
encryption
 MA is the first State to wrap the SIF certification requirement with its
own vendor certification program.
o Assists vendors to get their agents and SIS working properly,
so that data is pre-validated in real-time reducing everyone’s
operational support costs.
o Vendors are rated and listed on State website
 MA is first State to implement a two-way, push mode, load balanced
ZIS implementation
 MA is first State to implement a near real time, cross-object data
quality checking and feedback loop
 MA is first State to provide district focused SIF /SIS documentation
and provide a support team dedicated to assist them in cleaning up their
data and on-boarding.
 MA was first to implement a Statewide COTS SIF solution doing the
work mostly by itself (Training and Support from the COTS supplier)
SIF Program 2014 Description
SIF Version 2.7 Upgrade
Visual Software Enhancements
 Enhanced Performance Metrics
 Point in Time Transaction Recovery
 Automated State to District Code Table Updating
SIMS, SCS and EPIMS Element Expansion
Web Services
 Automatic SASID Assignment Via SIF - Pilot
 Student Claiming Enhancements for 2015 Deployment
SIF Program 2014 Description
Legacy Backend Re-Architecture
 ODI Validations (1000+ rules)
 SIMS, SCS and EPIMS Processing
 School Safety Discipline Report (SSDR) Re-Architecture
State SIS Software As A Service (SAAS)
 Springfield MA State Data Center Hosted
IBM Tivoli Service Management (COMiT) Integration
Rational Team Concert (RTC) Integration
Agent Vendor Re-Certification
 New Vendor Test Environments and Process Enhancements
 MA SIF Profile v2.7 Certification
 Self Certification enabled
District On-Boarding
 Significant reduction in District On-boarding schedule
SIF Program 2014 Process
Phase I – District Agent Vendor Certification
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Vendor successfully certifies in MA QA SIF Test Environment without
Agent Vendor Errors
Vendor successfully demonstrates 100% District load via Push mode
to State
Vendor successfully demonstrates automatic State to District Code
Table Update integration
Vendor Dress Rehearsal District successfully clears QA Testing
without Vendor Errors or manual District assistance
Vendor DR + n Districts successfully clear QA Testing without Vendor
Errors or manual District data entry assistance
SIF Program 2014 Process
Phase II – District Pre-Onboarding Process
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Documentation Walk-through
SIF Staging Connectivity Check
District clears Staging Data Quality Validation Checks without
Vendor Errors or manual District data entry assistance
Phase III - Onboarding Process
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Connecting district to the State SIF production environment
District data is exclusively loaded via push mode except SAS object
District clears production Data Quality Validation Checks without
Vendor Errors or manual District data entry assistance
The Future with SIF
 Standard Framework by which all MA data will flow
 SIF Version 3.1 Upgrade
 Statewide Daily Attendance Reporting
 Real-Time State Assigned Student Identifiers (SASID)
 Real-Time Mass Education Personal Identifiers (MEPID)
 Real-Time Student Claiming and Un-claiming
 Enhanced EDWIN State Reporting
 District to District data sharing
 Intra-State data sharing via national exchange
Contacts:
William A. Holscher
Robert Hutchison
MA SIF State Program Manager
Executive Office of Education
75 Pleasant Street
Malden, MA 02148
(781)338-6780 (Office)
(603) 717-2725 (Cell)
Wholscher@doe.mass.edu
President
Visual Software Inc.
1105 Taylorsville Rd, Suite 16
Washington Crossing, PA 18977
(215) 493 8210 x114 (Office)
(215) 272 5231 (Cell)
rchutch@visualsi.com
www.visualsi.com
Questions
Class SIF Data in ET&L
Instructional Improvement System (IIS)
• Student profiles
• An early warning
indicator system
• Dashboards &
reports
• Tools to assess student
understanding of
multiple standards
• Competency Tracking
System
• Aligned to standards
• Model
curriculum
units
• Curriculum
mapping and
Lesson
planning tools
• Aligned to
Standards
• High-quality
digital
resources to
support
instruction
• Aligned to
standards
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SharePoint Repository
SharePoint Repository
MA SIF User and Support documentation including the
MA SIF Operational Support guide.
District SIF Support and Onboarding Dashboard that
identifies all district information including vendors,
contacts, SIF Onboarding Status, ET&L integration, and
Technical product and connectivity information.
PMO and SDLC Documentation including Architectural
and System Designs
Massachusetts SIF Validations