The SIF Association release 2.7M (North America) Specification and accompanying Test Harness

April 3, 2014 - PRLog -- This specification release is a major step in transitioning the data model forward towards compatibility with both 2.x and 3.x infrastructures.  This is represented by the ‘M’, which stands for migration, in the title.

Some of the changes presented in the SIF Data Model Implementation Specification (North America) 2.7M release include the introduction of SIF Object Identifiers (RefIds), which have been universally added to every support object type.  These have been included in response to Community feedback and provide the opportunity to utilize SIF 3’s strong REST underpinnings.  The new release also offers an updated version of the SIF 3 Assessment objects and the groundbreaking set of Identity Management objects.

In support of this latest release, the Association is delighted to make available the SIF 2.7M Certification Test Suite.  This validation program, along with the existing Massachusetts Profile Certification, was originally developed to articulate what Student information System (SIS) providers must publish in order to participate in the MA state-wide SIF data collection in Massachusetts, and the Association is excited to now offer the 2.7M Certification Test Suite to the entire educational marketplace.  This SIF 2.7M Certification will be the last in the 2.x Certification series, and serves as a ‘migration’ mechanism for SIF 3.0 direction.

“The ‘migration’ release is another step forward to realizing the potential that open, community developed data standards can have on the education marketplace” states Larry Fruth Ph.D, Executive Director/CEO, SIF Association.  “With the publication of the 2.7M Test Harness to accompany the Specification release, the SIF Association is providing all the necessary tools for education policy leaders to ensure that the right data, is in the right place, at the right time, whilst also guaranteeing obligatory security and privacy measures are implemented to keep student privacy at the forefront of our minds”.

The SIF Data Model Implementation Specification (North America) 2.7M is available from the SIF website here: https://www.sifassociation.org/Specification/Pages/NA_2-7M

Further information on the SIF Certification Program can be found here: http://cert.sifassociation.org/

The SIF 2.7M Test Suite is available to SIF Association Members here:  http://compliance.sifinfo.org/sifcompliance

About the SIF Association

The SIF Association is a unique, non-profit collaboration composed of over 3,200 schools, districts, local authorities, states, US and International Ministries of Education, software vendors and consultants who collectively define the rules and regulations for educational software data interoperability. The SIF Implementation Specification enables diverse applications to interact and share data efficiently, reliably, and securely regardless of the platform hosting those applications. The SIF Association has united these education technology end users and providers in an unprecedented effort to give teachers more time to do what they do best: teach.  For further information, visit http://www.sifassociation.org.