3 rd Annual Conference on Technology and Standards Standards Make the World Go ‘Round Michael Sessa Executive Director PESC

3rd Annual Conference on Technology and Standards

Standards Make the World Go

‘Round

Michael SessaExecutive Director

PESC


AGENDA

• Origin of Standards • Standards in Our Daily Lives• Standards in Higher Education• PESC• Standards Forum for Education• Evolution of Standardization• “One” Standard for pK20


Origin of Standards

• Standards allow communities to progress, to build and grow

• Hieroglyphics allowed Egyptians the ability to communicate and to record events and history

• Weights and measures allowed Egyptians and Romans to build structures which still exist today

• Timing and scoring allowed Greeks to recognize excellence in sportsmanship in the Olympics

• The telephone and Morse code allow communications between two entities not within physical hearing range


Standards in Our Daily Lives

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• HTML, email and the WWW revolutionized how the world interacts

• Credit cards, ATMs, debit/check cards and bar codes revolutionized how we buy and how we pay

• Cell phones, PDAs, iPods and laptops revolutionized how we communicate and learn

• All required communities to work together.• All are commodities…we now expect them.


Standards in Higher Education

• Established in 1997, the Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) is a non-profit, community-based, umbrella association of colleges and universities; professional and commercial organizations; data, software and service providers; and state and federal government agencies• PESC’s mission is to lead the establishment and adoption of

data exchange standards in education.• The goals of the mission are to enable the improvement of

institutional performance and foster collaboration across educational communities in order to lower costs, improve service, and attain system interoperability.


PESC Board of DirectorsPete Nalli, Chair, Director of Architecture and Software Development,

DatatelCraig Cornell, Vice Chair, Director of Student Financial Aid, Bowling

Green State University, Represents NASFAASteve Biklen, Treasurer, President (retired), Citibank Student Loan Corp,

Represents NASLA Jack Kramer, Secretary, Senior Vice President of Solutions Architecture

and Enterprise Applications, SunGard Higher EducationDoug Falk, Chief Information Officer, National Student ClearinghouseJudith Flink, Executive Director of Student Financial Services, University

of Illinois SystemDavid Moldoff, President, Strategic ExplorersKeith Riccitelli, Chief Procurement Officer, Sallie MaeMichael Sessa, Executive Director, PESCRick Skeel, Director of Academic Records, University of Oklahoma,

Represents AACRAO


PESC

PESC supports:• Key factors in higher

education:• Access• Affordability

• Lifecycle of a student• Secondary to Postsecondary• Postsecondary to

Postsecondary• Elimination of redundancy

• Reusability• Recycling


PESC – New Paradigms

• “Coopetition” – Cooperation among competitors for the greater common good

• Agreement to not compete on data exchange, that the education network/super highway is a necessary commodity

• Ability to rely on consistent, accurate data exchange frees you up to focus on the needs of students


PESC – New Paradigms

• Agreement to compete on price and service• Collaboration through PESC, a neutral objective third

party, levels the playing field and allows a trusting environment

• PESC does not benefit from the national standards agreed upon by the community


Modernizing Data Exchange

The Evolution:• Paper Forms• Wet Signature• Common Forms and Common Applications• Online Applications and E-Sign• Proprietary Formats• EDI• eXtensible Markup Language - XML


PESC Standards Forum for Education• Founded August 4, 2000• Serves as the operational and development arm of

PESC• “Candidates” for national standards are proposed,

developed, and processed by the Standards Forum• Governed by a Steering Committee• Formal Policies and Procedures include:

• Process• PESC Guidelines for XML Architecture and Data Modeling• Users Guide for XML Registry and Repository for the

Education Community


XML Registry and Repository for the Education Community

• Developed and owned by Federal Student Aid• Administered by PESC• Stores PESC approved national standards• Standards are free and available w/o barriers


Steering Committee

Holly Hyland, Chair, Management Analyst, Office of Federal Student Aid, US Department of Education

Adele Marsh, Vice Chair, Vice President of Industry Initiatives, AES

Adriana Farella, Director of Product Strategy, Xap Corporation

Ed Hauser, Executive Director, Student and Enrollment Services Solutions, SunGard Higher Education

Robert King, Director of Industry Initiatives, Citibank – Student Loan Corp.

Bruce Marton, Associate Director, Student Information Systems, University of Texas at Austin

John Van Weeren, Product Manager, Reporting and Technology, Datatel


Core Components

• Standardizing simple data elements• Populating “Core Main” data dictionary with all simple

core components/elements• “Sector” libraries allow migration from where an

organization or sector is today to national standards• A simple core component in a sector library, which still must be

in Core Main, may have a slightly different definition

• “Complex” core components/elements, the grouping of several simple core components/elements, follow the same methodology


“Mega” Standards and Transactions

• Focus is on grouping of simple and complex elements into business message or transactions:• Postsecondary Transcript – PESC approved national standard• Common Record: CommonLine (CRC) – PESC approved national

standard• National standards in development:

• Admission Application

• Online Loan Counseling

• High School Transcript

• Request and Response (Degree Audit and Transcript)

• Test Score Reporting

• Student Aid Inquiry

• Transcript Acknowledgement

• National Test Score Reporting

• Data Transport *


PESC Standards Forum for Education

Technical Advisory Board

Submission Advisory Board

Change Control Board

Steering Committee

High School Transcript

Data Transport

Transcript Request/Response

Online Loan Counseling

Workgroups

Hierarchy

Board of Directors

Degree Audit Request/Response

National Test Score Reporting

Admission Application

Student Aid Inquiry

Randy Mertens, Nelnet

Chair

Graham Tracey, Datatel

Chair

Steve Margenau, Great Lakes

Chair

Transcript Acknowledgement


Evolution of Standardization

• Focus has been on external data exchange in higher education

• Methodology has followed the lifecycle of a student• Strategic direction looks to move beyond student

administrative standards to standardizing internal data exchange from one system/module to another

• Long term goal is to standardize student authentication• Ability to re-use data provides costs savings


Open Source

The “Movement”• Free Code (Standards or Modules)• Allows Greater Control• Requires Resources and Maintenance• Alternative to Packaged Modules• Cost Differential is TBD


“One” Standard for pK20

• Higher education (PESC), pK12 (SIFA), and US Department of Education (FSA, NCES, CFO, CIO, EDEN) have formed a Data/XML Steering Committee (DXSC)

• Purpose is to explore the possibility of setting one set of core components across the entire student lifecycle

• Migration away from silos and/or stovepipes• DXSC is looking to adopt the PESC Policies and

Procedures as its own• Realization and implementation will take years


What We Need To Do

• Demand interoperability• Support best practices• Treat your vendors/clients as partners• Clearly identify business problems and solutions• Allow room for experimentation and error• Simplify and streamline at every opportunity• Conduct cost/benefits analyses• Embrace change!


The Cost of Non-Standardization


The Cost of Non-Standardization

What is the cost if higher education (or your institution) is unable to

focus on its students?


Michael SessaExecutive Director

[email protected]

202-293-7383www.PESC.orgThe Standard

Questions?

Documents

3 rd Annual Conference on Technology and Standards Standards Make the World Go ‘Round Michael Sessa Executive Director PESC