Canadian PESC User
Group Update:
Standards ‘R’ Us
Presenter: Leisa Wellsman, OUAC
OURA Conference 2015
February 11, 2015
Today’s Session
 Background
 PESC and PESC XML
 Canadian PESC User Group
 Our Vision
 Canadian Transcript Exchange Network
 New Realities
 Successful data exchange projects by three Canadian
admission application centres
 On the Horizon
 OCAS and APAS collaboration
 New Brunswick
 How YOU can be involved
P20W Education Standards Council
 A North American standards group that
promotes the implementation and usage of data
exchange standards for education
 Non-profit, community-based
 Members and affiliates include AACRAO and
major software vendors
 Standards are driven by member working
groups
www.pesc.org
PESC XML, Very Briefly
PESC XML standards have evolved from
existing X.12 EDI standards
Think of PESC XML standards in three
parts:
1) A transport based on XML
2) Standard attributes for each data element
(length, characteristics)
3) Standard definition of content
Benefits of PESC XML Standards
Enhanced data quality
Flexibility
Enhanced data exchange capability
Facilitates expansion
CanPESC – Who we are
 Membership from all 10 provinces, including
centralized application centres, universities,
colleges, Ministries of Education, software
vendors and government agencies
 Primary contact between PESC and ARUCC
 PESC and ARUCC signed a MOU in April 2013
The CanPESC Vision
 Develop a Canadian Transcript Exchange Network
 Student-centric, HS & PS, using PESC XML
standards
 Facilitate adding new trading partners
 Facilitate student mobility
 Improve data quality and security
 The San Diego Decision: The four application services
are best placed to lead the way
 Start small, share what we’ve learned with those
who will follow later
The BC2ON Project:
A BCcampus, OUAC, and
Douglas College Success Story
About BCcampus
 Publicly funded organization, providing online
student data services, open education,
collaborative services
 Supports 25 public PS institutions
 Key services
 ApplyBC - provincial application service
 TranscriptsBC – e-transcript exchange service, using
PESC XML College Transcript Schema
 B.C. has a robust, well-defined transfer system
TranscriptsBC:
Participating Institutions
 Douglas College
 Kwantlen Polytechnic University
 Simon Fraser University
 Langara College
 University of British Columbia
 University of the Fraser Valley
TranscriptsBC Standards
Reference Group (TSRG)
 Started September 2013; meets every 2
months
 Facilitated by BCcampus, with reps from the six
trading partner institutions
 Collaborates to identify key strategic and
operational processes
 Develop transcript data exchange solutions
 Ensure alignment of print and electronic transcripts
 Develop consistent PESC XML tag use
 Develop common testing scenarios to facilitate
implementation and PESC adoption sector-wide
The OUAC: Electronic Transcript Exchange
 Has supported an EDI transcript hub for Ontario’s
universities since 1996
 Uses PESC XML High School Transcript and
Acknowledgement since September 2013 with OCAS
 Uses PESC XML College Transcript & Acknowledgement
with EDI  XML crosswalks since January 2014 with
BCcampus
 Uses full PESC XML transcript suite & transcript batch
with EDI  XML crosswalks since July 2014 with
Algoma University
 Currently working with two Ontario universities to
convert from EDI ->XML
OUAC transcripts by the numbers
First production year
 23,514 transcripts
 815 (3.5%) of those fully electronically!
2014 application cycle
 169,753 transcripts
 145,189 (85.5%) of those fully electronically!
Since 1997 application cycle
 2.09 million transcripts
 1.45 million fully electronically
BCcampus + OUAC + Douglas College
= 1st interprovincial achievement in
the Canadian Transcript Exchange
Network!
Phase 1 - Pilot (2 senders)
Phase 2 - Additional senders
Phase 3 – Bi-directional
XML
XML via
WS
EDI
How did we get there?
 Discussions followed the May 2013 PESC Summit
 Project Charter signed in October
 Deliverables:
A transcript/acknowledgement exchange
process between BCcampus and the OUAC
A Master Agreement to govern this and future
collaboration
A Statement of Work, including a steady-state
SLA
For OUAC, a process to re-route transcripts to
Ontario receivers
How did we get there? (cont’d)
 5 Project Team meetings,
 8 Tech Team meetings,
 Many, many emails (no face-to-face meetings)
 And lots of testing…
 Go-Live: January 23, 2014
Project Outcomes
 Established value of using PESC XML
 Established use of web services between BC and
Ontario
 An overarching Master Agreement to govern the
BCcampus-OUAC relationship and future
collaborations
 A template for bringing on new B.C.-Ontario
partners: Kwantlen Polytechnic launched
November 25, 2014!
Extending eTMS to the OUAC:
An OCAS and OUAC Endeavour
About Ontario College Application
Service (OCAS)
 Created by Ontario's 24 public Colleges of
Applied Arts & Technology and Institutes of
Technology & Advanced Learning in 1992
 Primary services: applications, data
warehousing, marketing
 200,000 applicants apply to over 500,000
college programs annually
 Since 2003, has operated an EDI transcript
hub for Ontario’s colleges, linked to the
OUAC hub
OCAS transcripts by the numbers
Source
Destination
Transcripts
Ontario Colleges
Ontario Colleges
43,000
Ontario Colleges
Ontario Universities
26,000
Ontario Universities
Ontario Colleges
32,000
Ontario High Schools
Ontario Colleges
41,000
Yearly TOTAL
142,000
 Currently seven colleges send PESC XML transcripts
OCAS Electronic Transcript
Management System (eTMS)
 Single system for college students to request HS
and PS transcripts online
 Allows authorized individuals at institutions to
securely manage transcript requests and to
monitor, distribute and receive transcripts
 Accommodates EDI, XML, PDF and DAT files
 Provides batch and real time delivery / processing
 Involves 53 school boards / 1,200 high schools
 Recognized with 2012 PESC Best Practices Award
Extending eTMS to the OUAC
 OUAC partnered with OCAS to leverage eTMS
capabilities for its non-direct-entry (105) applicants
 Branded as My Student Record
High-level schedule
 Project kick-off: March 13, 2013
 Requirements completed: May 7
 Launch: September 16 – just 7 months after kickoff!
Project Approach
 Agile / Iterative approach to gathering
requirements and delivery
 Intensive all-day requirements gathering
workshops
 Four main use cases: Request, Pay, Fulfill, Send
 Weekly status meetings and reports
 SharePoint to store and share project-related
materials
 OUAC-OCAS collaborative effort
XML
Phase 1 - PDF
Phase 2 - XML
PESC
XML
Project Outcomes
 First use of eTMS for non-college applicants
 Foundation for further use of the system beyond OCAS
applicants
 Demonstrates power of collaborative effort
between organizations
 Foundation for working with other partners
 In Year 1, almost 4,500 applicants to Ontario
universities used the service
 Speedy, secure and convenient for applicants and
senders/receivers
Alberta and Ontario:
Collaboration on a Canadian
PESC Implementation Guide
About ApplyAlberta
21 postsecondary institutions collaborated with
Alberta Advanced Education and Technology to
create a common application system
Went live October 2009 with 26 participants (21
+ the five independent academic institutions in
Alberta)
 ApplyAlberta uses the PESC standards for:
Application for Admission
High School transcripts
Postsecondary transcripts
Data transport
Transcript request and response
About ApplyAlberta (cont’d)
 Common application system for universities,
colleges, and polytechnics in Alberta
 Transcript transfers between PS institutions
in Alberta; HS transcript delivery from
Ministry of Education
 More than 780,000 applications submitted
 Over 932,000 transcripts transferred
 Currently updating provincial HS transcripts
and investigating requirements for HS
transcript exchanges with other provinces
Alberta Transcript Exchanges
PESC XML High School
& College Transcripts
PESC XML High
School Transcripts
What ApplyAlberta and OCAS
have achieved together
 First draft of a PESC Canadian High School
Implementation Guide
 When finalized, will:
 Complement the existing PESC Implementation Guide
 Make recommendations for the Canadian sector
 Be a resource for future exchange partners
 Be a living document
 What’s ahead: ApplyAlberta and OCAS plan to
pilot exchange of HS transcripts in near future
Electronic Transfer of
High School Transcripts to
PSE Institutions
The New Brunswick Experiment
Background
 New Brunswick has seven PSE institutions
 A previous attempt at establishing a transfer
framework did not work
 Why?
Several jurisdictions with a variety of
legislative and regulatory environments
Unclear needs and/or benefits
No common student identifier
How it’s different this time
 A single regulatory framework
 N.B. universities are subject to the RIPPA
 Thus fewer concerns related to protection of privacy
 One Education Act
 Only two provincial departments
 Clear political will and government support
 Project supported by Departments of Education and of PostSecondary Education, Training and Labour with some funding
 Funding is symbolic, but creates a link with the public service
and provides credibility
 Creation of collaborative structures to unite all parties
 NBCAT, Council of University and College Presidents, etc.
How it’s different this time (cont’d)
 The existence of a central hub
 The DoE is implementing a central repository of HS transcripts
 The existence of Student Information Systems in all
institutions, both secondary and postsecondary
 A common student ID: NBSN now implemented and captured
by PSIs for reporting to MPHEC
 A common, reliable, tested, secure transfer protocol
 Helps convince the Province of capacity to mitigate risk of
information leaks
 XML as a universal code allows compatibility of data across all
systems
 Biting off what they can chew…starting small, with big
aspirations!
What’s already been done
 Defined the project scope and concept
 Identified a reporting mechanism (CPC – NBCAT)
 Obtained government approval and funding
 Struck the Steering Committee
 Agreed on broad outline of project implementation
and timeline
 Created two working groups
 Policy matters (Protection of Privacy, Ownership
of Data, Agreements between government and
institutions, etc.)
 Technical matters (programming the transfer
interfaces, implementing protocols, etc.)
What they’re working on now
 Drafting an official project implementation
schedule
 Resolving all policy matters
 Resolving all technical matters
 Testing period
 Pilot project expected fall 2015
 Full deployment expected fall 2016
Other Provinces
Saskatchewan
 Since 1995, Min of Ed is provincial EDI hub
sending HS transcripts to U of S, U of R, SIAST
campuses, and U of A. Project underway to
implement PESC XML.
 User group assembled to discuss transcript hub
options for PS-to-PS exchange
Manitoba
 In early stages of exploring electronic transcript
exchange
 Campus Manitoba hopes to champion and work
with Manitoba institutions
Other Provinces
Nova Scotia
 Intends to implement PESC XML schemas for
request, batch, HS transcript, acknowledgements
 Current: In requirements definition phase of
project (functional specs to follow)
 Sept 2015 tentative goal: Have a pilot ready
 Long-term plans: Move to PS-to-PS transfers, then
out-of-province
Things we ponder
 Getting started can be more difficult for Canadian
provinces without application centres / transcript hubs
 Standards still require version control
 Multiple translations are equivalent, but not identical
to the original:
XML1  EDI  XML2
EDI1  XML  EDI2
 Canadian-izing the PESC Standards
 Standards are still open to interpretation by the user
 Identity matching – both sending and receiving
 Supporting transcript hubs financially
 French and the PESC Standards
Some steps forward
 Adding short presentations to our monthly
meetings to provide information on how
members are addressing PESC XML in their
context
 Keeping the sector informed
 Continuing to ensure Canadians have an active
voice in PESC work groups (beyond CanPESC)
 Staying connected to related initiatives, e.g.
Groningen Declaration, National Transcript Guide
 Consolidating “best practices” information for
organizations new to PESC XML
 Engaging institutions
How YOU can be involved
 Awareness
 Understand the benefits
 Connect with others
 Have your institution or organization join
the Canadian PESC User Group
Thank you.
Questions?
For more information, contact:
Leisa Wellsman, wellsman@ouac.on.ca, 519-823-1940, x6265
Slide content credits
Randy Bruce, Doug Holmes, Marc Provencher, Pascal Robichaud, Susan Stein, Cathy van Soest,
Leisa Wellsman, Paul Wemyss