SIF Association releases SIF Implementation Specification (AU) 1.3

WASHINGTON - April 24, 2013 - PRLog -- The SIF Implementation Specification allows for the transfer of data – securely, seamlessly and in real-time – between applications, not only within an educational institution, but also vertically to jurisdictions and even further to the government level.  The specification is an open standard, which allows end-users the freedom to choose ‘best of breed’ applications, with no vendor lock-ins and proprietary based APIs.  Unlike other solutions, when you choose a SIF-enabled application you are taking the decision to future-proof your IT systems.  SIF doesn’t just do point-to-point data transfer, with read and write-back capabilities it can also populate any/all SIF-enabled applications, saving you time and money.

“SIF is (now) Simple”

The world of software is changing from installed systems to online systems. Education decision makers are finding that new effective e-learning tools are appearing online at an increasingly rapid rate. How these tools integrate is the future of interoperability. The SIF Implementation Specification 3.0 is the standard to address these changes.

The SIF 3.0 release reflects both the evolution of a data standard to extend support across educational sectors needs and an aggressive shift in emphasis to the use of commercial web standards to exchange data. Importantly, the standard can be used in different ways, providing a responsive set of options for implementers in both data model and infrastructure.

The SIF 3.0 infrastructure offers three ground-breaking design advances which satisfy long standing requests from both SIF developers and implementers:
• making the infrastructure independent of the SIF Data Model enabling greater flexibility
• offering additional alternatives to the Message Broker (ZIS) through light weight and simple SIF Solutions
• supporting industry standard transport platforms i.e. REST or SOAP

“SIF 3.0 marks the pivotal step forward by the Association that enables the construction of highly scalable real world educational solutions that can securely and robustly exchange data as well as providing the light weight REST option for the modern online world”, explained SIF Association AU Management Board Chair, Mr Adam Todhunter. “The most comprehensive and mature global educational data model in use is now available on industry standard transport platforms.”

The SIF Implementation Specification (US) 3.0 ‘Candidate Release’ documentation is now available, and can be found on the SIF Association website - https://www.sifassociation.org/Resources/Developer-Resources/SIF-3-0/.  Over the coming months the SIF Community will be receiving comments on this release version, plus adding additional documentation (including Utility Services, SIF 3.0 Migration Strategy Guide and the SIF SOAP Developer Kit).

Getting started with SIF using REST is now easily accessible through the publically available REST Sandbox - https://www.sifassociation.org/Resources/Developer-Resources/SIF-3-0/Pages/SIF-RS.aspx. Anyone with a basic understanding of SIF 3.0 can connect to the REST Sandbox today and go from initial authentication through creating, reading, updating and deleting student data.

The release of the Australian SIF Data Model (SIF Implementation Specification (Australia) 1.3) has been coordinated with the release of the SIF 3.0 Infrastructure (Release Candidate). This release will be the first AU data model to be used together with the new SIF 3.0 Infrastructure, providing the benefits of the major upgrade and infrastructure options for lightweight direct, brokered and classic transports. The AU 1.3 Data Model includes a number of important additions including an updated Assessment Objects that enable more accurate return of student’s progress information. Changes made to the Data Model for Schools, Students and Parents are to enable Implementations to improve their data collection.

The SIF Implementation Specification (AU) 1.3 is the first data model that is available for use with both the 2.6 and 3.0 infrastructures.  The specification is available from the SIF website:  https://www.sifassociation.org/Specification/Pages/Australia.aspx


About the SIF Association
The SIF Association is a unique, non-profit collaboration composed of over 3,200 schools, districts, 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 into a single community, resulting in an unprecedented effort to give teachers more time to do what they do best: teach.  For further information, visit http://www.sifassociation.org.