Schools Interoperability Framework SIF

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Leveraging Interoperability with SIF ROI for
End-Users and Vendors Success Stories
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Collective Drivers I ..
On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into
law the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001.
The Act outlined four basic education reform
principles stronger accountability for results,
increased flexibility and local control, expanded
options for parents, and an emphasis on teaching
methods that have been proven to work. Today
the driver is accountability demanded by end
users and consumers not just reporting!
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What is Data Driven Decision Making?
To Students How am I doing? Educators How
are they doing? Administrators How are we
doing? State/Federal Where are we? Policy
Makers What needs addressed? Parents How is
he/she doing? Stakeholders What is the impact?
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Expectations With Technology
To Students Increased Engagement Educators In
creased Tools/Info Administrators Increased
Accountability State/Federal Increased
Capabilities Policy Makers Increased
Efficiencies Parents Increased
Information Stakeholders Increased Output
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Challenge Schools Traditional Setup
Cafeteria
SIS
?
?
?
Network Accounts
?
?
Library
Transportation
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Horizontal Questions
Food Service
Grade Book
HR / Finance
Library
SIS
Transportation
Instructional Services
Voice Telephony
Accountability, Reporting, Planning, etc
Data Warehousing
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Collective Drivers II..
USED National Educational Technology Plan -
Toward A New Golden Age In American
Education Action Step 7 Integrated Data Systems
Integrated, interoperable data systems are the
key to better allocation of resources, greater
management efficiency, and online and
technology-based assessments of student
performance that empower educators to transform
teaching and personalize instruction Recommendatio
n Ensure interoperability. For example
consider Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF)
Compliance Certification as a requirement in all
RFPs and purchasing decisions.
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Why Standards? An ExampleSchools
Interoperability Framework

• Non-profit membership organization comprised of
• Regional Service Agencies
• Schools Districts
• U.S. and State Departments of Education
• PK-12 Educational Technology Companies
• Other educational organizations
• Jointly building the XML Specifications to
  enableK-12 software applications to share data
  quickly, dynamically and securely.
• The SIF Implementation Specification is publicly
  available on the SIFA website.
• Platform Independent / Vendor Neutral

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SIF Specification A Quick Definition

• Not a product, but a technical blueprint for
  K-12 software that will enable diverse
  applications to interact and share data
  seamlessly
• Designed for pK-12 technology providers and
  educators
• Manages data within the pK-12 environment
• Enables diverse applications to interact/share
  data
• Works cross-platform, over a Web-based interface
• Allows automated reporting

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Collective Drivers III..

• Change in education demanding that schools and
  states do more with less
• Annual Yearly Progress and parental choice
  options
• Increasing reporting demands by all stakeholders
• Higher dependence on local tax dollars
• Local Choice and Control Issues
• Leveraging previous software application
  investments
• Increase in the demand for technology to provide
  accurate, real-time information

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Components Working TogetherHorizontal
Interoperability
Student Information Services

• Zone Integration Server (ZIS)
• SIF Agents
• Applications
• SIF Data Objects

Network Account
Library Automation
H.R. Finance
Food Services
Data Analysis Reporting
Grade Book
Instructional Services
SIF Zone
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Example District Implementation Schema
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District Results

• New Student Registering for Enrollment into
• Student Information System Directory Service
  Application
• ID Card System Library Automation System
• Cafeteria Management System
• Typical School SIF School
• - 49 minute task - 4 minute task
• - 10 times data entered - 1 time data entry
• 45 minutes/student X 18,000 students
• 6 FTEs!
• 1/10th the Time 1/10th the Risk

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District Investments

• Every installation can be unique
• Hardware
• Zone Integration Server and Software - Data
  Router / Access Control
• Software pricing based on district size or on
  enrollment counts
• Estimated Costs 5,000. to purchase new
  hardware or you maybe able to repurpose an
  existing server
• Software pricing varies by vendor
• SIF Agent Software
• Pricing
• May come included with a software upgrade
• Purchased as an add on to existing applications
• Purchased from a third party vendor
• Est. Purchase Price between 1,500. to 3,500
  per application
• Staff Time
• Installation
• Varies by staffs technical capabilities and
  applications involved
• Maybe Outsourced to SIF Integration Specialists
• Estimated Costs varied by installation
  configurations

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Duvall County SchoolsCost Avoidance per Year
Just in Accounts Management

• IT Cost Avoidance
• 113,464 in account creation costs
• 379,340 in account change costs
• 14,300 in account deletion costs
• 509,286 total yearly cost avoidance
• Equivalent to 8 FTE!
• Indirect Cost Avoidance (estimate)
• 200,000 lost productivity time for employees,
  teachers and students.
• 130,000 students with 65 free and reduced
  lunch

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SIF School Benefits

• Students Parents
• Personalized Student Content
• Improved timeliness of service
• Accurate School Data
• Increased Efficiency

• IT Departments
• Reduced support costs
• Reduced time needed to manage multiple data
  sources
• Save money using existing systems and
  infrastructure

Efficiency, Accuracy, Cost Savings

• Teachers
• Real-time access to critical information
• Better data analysis
• Teachers time better spent

• Administrators
• Increased Efficiency
• Reduced redundancy and errors
• Reduced compatibility issues

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SIF School Success Story Anoka-Hennepin School
District

• When a new student is enrolled
• Data is inputted in the SASIxp Student
  Information System
• The Edustructures SIF Agent for SASIxp sends SIF
  Add events to the SIFWorks ZIS
• The SIFWorks ZIS then distributes these events,
  containing the enrollment date, name, phone
  number and other data, to the Follett Circulation
  Plus SIF Agent (library) and Parlant ParentLink
  SIF Agent (attendance office).
• Each agent then updates its application database.
• Today, data is exchanged in real time between
  the district office and each schools main
  office, media center and attendance offices.
  SIF allows us to start the school year focused on
  students rather than data. SIF helps save staff
  time time were using to focus on education,
  says Patrick Plant, Director of Technology for
  Anoka-Hennepin School District.

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Components Working TogetherVertical
Interoperability
State
District
District
District
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WY State Implementation Schema
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Wyoming Results on State Reporting

• Reallocation from State Reporting
• Eliminate 23 Aggregate Reports
• Reduce 8 hours per school per report
• Reduce hours per district per report
• 70,000 hours school staff time
• 18,000 hours district staff time
• 1,760,000 est. state report savings

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State Investments
Every installation can be unique

• Hardware
• Zone Integration Server and Software - Data
  Router / Access Control
• Software pricing based on state requirements or
  on enrollment counts
• Estimated Costs 5,000 per unit to purchase
  new hardware Software pricing varies by vendor
  for state purchases
• SIF Agent Software
• Pricing
• Development of SIF Agent for existing
  applications by State IT Dept
• Development of SIF Agent Outsourced to a third
  party vendor
• Estimated Purchase Price varies by application
  complexity and State requirements
• Staff Time
• Installation
• Varies by staffs technical capabilities and
  applications involved
• Maybe Outsourced to SIF Integration Specialists
• Estimated Costs varied by installation
  configurations

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SIF State Benefits

• Students Parents
• Personalized Student Content
• Improved timeliness of service
• Accurate School Data
• Increased Efficiency

• IT Departments
• Reduced support costs
• Reduced time needed to manage multiple data
  sources
• Save money using existing systems and
  infrastructure

Efficiency, Accuracy, Cost Savings

• Policy Makers
• Real-time access to information
• Better data analysis
• Allow best of breed choices
• State dollar savings

• State Administrators
• Increased Efficiency
• Reduced reporting burdens
• Reduced redundancy and errors
• Reduced compatibility issues

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SIF State Success Story Wyoming Department of
Education

• When a new student is enrolled
• Data is inputted locally in the various 10
  Student Information Systems
• Data is then collected at the 10 regional data
  acquisition sites across the state to the state
  Zone to the ZIS Server
• State then either
• Sends a unique student identifier to the district
  (Phase I)
• Utilizes data to populate aggregate reporting
  database at the state level (Phase II Student
  Information/Finance/Special Ed/Food Service
  Systems)
• Allows for tools to be used at the state level
  for schools to utilize their own local data
  (Phase III including Transportation/Human
  Resource Systems)
• The Wyoming Legislature, responding to
  complaints about data burden from school
  districts, was contemplating requiring a single
  state solution to impose on districts.  State
  data needs are small compared to the needs of
  local schools and districts.  It is the local
  users, therefore, that should be determining the
  features and functionality of their software, not
  the state. SIFs modular design allows for future
  maintenance and updates without impacting or
  upsetting other components. SIF is a flexible
  solution that promotes competition among vendors
  -- keeping applications feature rich and prices
  down. The modular nature also means districts are
  not locked into a particular vendor.  This keeps
  vendors on their toes and customers satisfied.
  Steve King Wyoming Dept of Ed.

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SIF State Activity Updates

• Numerous States Members and statewide activities
• Delaware state data collection project
• Wyoming statewide implementation state data
  collection
• Oklahoma districts required to have SIF
  Certified software by 05-06 state data
  collection
• Idaho 4 core applications statewide linked by
  SIF, plus link local applications via SIF
• Utah state SIS to have SIF Compliant agent
• Nevada allow SIF to feed local data
  repositories
• South Dakota using SIF to move data locally and
  vertically
• South Carolina All districts have a horizontal
  SIF implementation to assign unique statewide
  student IDs
• Pennsylvania first to pilot state data
  collection purchased IU memberships
• Virginia successful pilots roll out of
  statewide SIF implementations in progress.

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Vendor ROI

• XYZ Company, Inc - Student Information Software
  Provider
• Pre-SIFA approx 10 million in revenue 2003
• Membership to SIFA 6,000
• Application Agent Development 20,000
• Agent Development Kit
• 15 days Development Time
• SIFA Certification 12,500
• SIFA Certification Fee (3500)
• 5 days Development Time
• Total Expense 38,500
• State Contracts 1 million
• School Sales 500,000
• Development Time Savings 150,000
• Marketing Value 150,000
• Support (RFP / Technical / Leveraging) Unknown
• Total Revenue 1.8 million

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SIF Vendor Benefits

• Sales
• RFP Requirements/Responses
• Marketing Opportunities
• Networking Opportunities
• End User Contacts

• Development
• Decrease Development Time
• Best Practice Sharing
• Less Tailored Development
• Specification Development

Development Efficiency, Sales, Cost Savings

• Strategic Positioning
• Partnerships
• Long Term Client Relations
• Identifying Gap Opportunities

• Expanded Marketplace
• Larger End-User Audience Base
• International Opportunities
• Government Contacts

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Vendor Success Story Computer Power Solutions of
Illinois

• Based in Columbia, IL, CPSI is considered one of
  the leading vendor resources on SIF, AD
  deployment, data exchange, and application/data
  integration.
• In late 2001, SIF-Connect Suite was released. The
  SIF-Connect Suite follows Schools
  Interoperability Framework (SIF) standards and
  allows all of your data to seamlessly integrate
  with data to avoid redundant data entry. CPSI
  also has released a SIF-Connect Universal Agent,
  the SIF-Connect Agent Development Kit, and
  customized agents to assist education software
  developers in creation of SIF-compliant agents.
  The latest product offering is a web-based
  filtered e-mail product.
• Approximate 45 new clients in the past 6 months
  focused on SIF implementation
• Have added 12 employees in the past 18 months

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Vendor Quotes
"Given the diversity of our market and the
constraints our clients have in managing and
supporting integration, it falls to our industry
to co-develop and adhere to standards that
get our clients closer to true interoperability
faster and cheaper.  Only through true
interoperability can we, as an industry and as
individual companies, impact the entire
instructional cycle in a meaningful way in across
the broadest array of contexts. We support SIFA
because we believe it offers the most expedient
and field tested path toward achieving that
benefit for our customers. BlackBoard SIFA
is where data standards get put into action.
  eScholar "Participating in SIFA is the right
thing to do. Establishing an open standard that
enables interoperability ensures a level playing
field for all vendors while delivering tremendous
value to our collective customers. Next to SIIA,
SIFA is one of the few organizations where
competing vendors adopt a collaborative approach
to solving problems that in the end increases the
total market potential for all competitors.
Sun Microsystem
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SIF Certification

• Officially launched on April 25, 2003
• The program is administered on behalf of the SIFA
  by its designated Certification Authority, The
  Open Group
• The program is a voluntary program of the SIF
  Association, open to any product meeting the
  conformance requirements.
• SIF Certification is a formal process built
  around the SIF Certification Policy document.
  Suppliers of certified products warrant and
  represent that the product meets all the
  applicable conformance requirements.
• Provides 3rd party validation of application
  conformance
• Provides confidence for purchasers and validation
  for vendors
• Tests application functionality and verifies data
  delivery
• There are currently 58 applications certified

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SIF Associations current status.

• Over 330 members new added each week
• Utilized to serve over 5 million students in 40
  states
• Legislatively mandated in 1 state 4 others
  coming
• Required/suggested by USED, USDA, NCES, states
  and schools in dozens current/planned
  RFPs
• Currently 58 certified applications
• Expanding from student/administrative data into
  curriculum, content and other industry
  verticals
• 18 month focus on out of the box
  interoperability, implementation support and
  member value adds

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Maturity of SIF Interoperability
SIF has passed the Early Adopters Stage - Those
who have the vision to adopt an emerging
technology to an opportunity that is important to
them and we are quickly moving into Pragmatists
Early Majority - Early majority pragmatists are
the solid citizens who do not like to take the
risks of pioneering, but are ready to see the
advantages of tested technologies. Terms
defined by G.A. Moore in Crossing the Chasm and
referred to by Fred Beshears, Berkeley
University, in The Technology Adoption
Life-cycle.
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For More Information

• SIF websitewww.sifinfo.org
• Laurie Collins Larry Fruth, Ph.D.
• Project Strategist Executive Director
• lcollins_at_sifinfo.org lfruth_at_sifinfo.org
• Mark Reichert
• Chief Technical Officer
• mreichert_at_sifinfo.org