January 2004 — Features
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New IDEAS: Putting the School Interoperability Framework to the Test
Software Communication
Once the ZIS was up and running, the technicians concentrated on the SIF objects, which are comprised of various software elements. These objects originate from different systems ("How SIF Works" 2002); the SIS and the food service system are examples. They include objects such as SchoolInfo, StudentSchoolEnrollment, StudentPersonal, StaffPersonal, StudentSectionEnrollment, SectionInfo, SchoolCourseInfo, StudentMeals, TermInfo and others. It was the responsibility of the technicians to determine which objects needed to be published and which software packages were needed to support them. Subscriptions to the necessary software packages are handled much like magazine subscriptions: the publisher requests the necessary information from subscribers.
However, it is possible to act as both a publisher and a subscriber, which creates a scenario parallel to the following example: Student enrollment information is entered into the SIS, the change is published to the food service system, and the student is approved for the free- or reduced-lunch program. The food service system subsequently publishes the data back to the subscribers of the StudentMeals object. In this case, the SIS is a subscriber of the object; consequently, the approval status can also be placed into the SIS database.
Once the location of objects is determined, the technicians are able to work with the SIS to update the SIF agent, thereby allowing the ZIS to publish the required objects; in this case, there was a delay. The SIF agent was not completed, and more development was required by the SIS vendor. It was now day two of week two and time was running out. The SIS vendor was able to get the agent to the technicians, and the vendor assisted with the install over the phone. Within 20 minutes, the agent was registered with the ZIS. With the food service system, communication with the ZIS was relatively simple. Even though the vendor of the food service software was new to the SIF consortium, and working with Jurupa USD was their first attempt at implementation of the SIF agent, all went smoothly. However, answers to important questions were needed from the vendor such as: Why was an agent needed on all servers, and why was a single agent in the central office insufficient?
The decision was made by the technicians involved in this project to install the agent solely on the central office server; subsequently, distributing it to the sites with scheduled tasks that involved use of the food service software package. However, the technicians suddenly discovered that the SIS agent did not support agent-to-agent requests for data; therefore, the repository would be needed. With assistance from the ZIS software vendor, it was found that the changes to the SIF specifications had not been upgraded in the repository. Consequently, another delay was introduced and quickly rectified.
Lessons Learned
New IDEAS presented many lessons learned for all involved. The effort extended by the school district to build a functional SIF system was dependent upon a number of pre-established and operable technical and managerial strategies. Emphasis must be made here that the desired outcome has little to do with possessing the newest and best technology, or even the best means of accessing available data. The outcome is totally dependent upon the quality of data generated in the provision of meaningful information. Knowledge acquired in this manner will ultimately empower leadership to close the gap in student achievement through good, data-driven decision-making.
Upon completion of the New IDEAS project, Jurupa USD will reap the following benefits:
