The Australian Government is funding work on adopting the Systems Interoperability Framework (SIF) for Australian schools. Previously called the Schools Interoperability Framework, this is a set of XML specifications for defining educational data and a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) interface for kindergarten to grade 12 schools (k12). A SIF Implementation Specification (Australia) (Version 1.0, November 20, 2009) has been produced.The Australian Government is also funding activity on e-Portfolios for vocational (VET E-portfolio Roadmap) and higher education (Australian ePortfolio Project). I realise it is hard enough to get universities and TAFEs to agree on standards, but is there any work on getting the schools and higher education to use the same standards for reporting?
SIF appears to be a standard for real time exchange of data between applications. This appears to be about administrative management of schools and students (that is recording, monitoring and reporting student progress). As an example, one of the SIF certified software products is Blackboard Connect 1.0
SIF appears to be separate from the actual delivery of education, for which there are separate technical standards for content. An example is the IMS Global Learning Consortium's Common Cartridge (CC) standard and Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM). There is also the IEEE 1484.12.1 – 2002 Standard for Learning Object Metadata (which I managed to get my name in, just by voting for ;-)
While SIF will be useful, particularly if already implemented in software products purchased by Australian schools, it will not in itself significantly improve education. SIF is mostly about better administration, not education. Investment in the use of IT for education and training teachers in its use is likely to have much more effect in producing the Federal Government's desired "Education Revolution".
Previous attempts at fully integrated IT systems for education ha
1 Preamble
1.1 Abstract
1.1.1 What is SIF?
1.1.1.1 What is SIF (AU)?
1.1.2 Schools Interoperability Framework Association
1.2 Disclaimer
1.3 Certification and Compliance Claims
2 Introduction
2.1 Specification Organization
2.2 Document Conventions
2.2.1 Definitions
2.2.2 Structure and Values
2.2.3 Examples
2.2.4 References
2.2.5 Terminology
2.2.6 XML Diagrams
2.3 Version Numbers
2.4 Highlighted Additions/Changes Since Version 2.x
2.4.1 Data Model
3 Architecture
3.1 Assumptions
3.1.1 Notes on Related Technologies
3.2 Concepts
3.2.1 Data Model
3.2.2 Zone Architecture
3.2.2.1 Contexts
3.2.3 Infrastructure and Messaging
3.2.4 Data Provision: A Request/Response Model
3.2.5 Event Reporting: A Publish/Subscribe Model
3.2.6 Communication: An Asynchronous Model
3.2.7 Security Model
3.2.7.1 Encryption
3.2.7.2 Authentication and Validation
3.2.7.3 Access Control
3.3 SIF Architecture
3.3.1 Architectural Components
3.3.2 Naming Conventions for Agents and Zone Integration Servers
3.3.3 Object Identifiers
3.3.3.1 Persistence
3.3.4 Agent/Application Requirements
3.3.4.1 Communicate with the ZIS
3.3.4.2 Transmit Application Changes to the ZIS
3.3.4.3 Respond to Requests
3.3.4.4 Changes Required to the Vendor's Application
3.3.4.5 Support Authentication and Digital Signatures
3.3.4.6 Agent Local Queue
3.3.4.7 Wildcard Version Support
3.3.5 Zone Integration Server Requirements
3.3.5.1 Access Control List
3.3.5.2 Zone Status
3.3.5.3 Zone Context Registry
3.3.5.4 Administration
3.3.5.5 Support Selective Message Blocking (SMB) to Resolve Deadlocks
3.3.5.5.1 Description
3.3.5.5.2 Requirements
3.3.5.5.3 Example
3.3.6 Message Processing
3.3.6.1 Message Validation
3.3.6.2 Message Identification
3.3.6.3 Message Security ...
3.3.6.4 Message Robustness
3.3.6.5 Message Cycle
3.3.6.6 Message Delivery ...
3.3.6.6.1 The "Push" Model
3.3.6.6.2 The "Pull" Model
3.3.6.6.3 "Multiple Version" Zones
3.3.7 Infrastructure Transport Layer
3.3.7.1 SIF HTTPS Transport
3.3.7.1.1 HTTPS Request/Response Model
3.3.7.1.2 HTTP Request Headers
3.3.7.1.3 HTTP Response Headers
3.3.7.1.4 100 (Continue)
3.3.7.1.5 3XX, 4XX, 5XX Notices
3.3.7.2 SIF HTTP Transport
3.3.7.3 SIF HTTP(S) Transport Compression
3.3.7.4 SIF_Protocol/SIF_Property Accept-Encoding
3.3.7.5 HTTP Client Requirements
3.3.7.6 HTTP Server Requirements
3.3.7.7 Push-Mode Agent Requirements
3.3.7.8 Zone Integration Server Requirements
4 Messaging
4.1 Agent Protocols
4.1.1 Agent Messaging Protocols
4.1.1.1 SIF_Register
4.1.1.2 SIF_Unregister
4.1.1.3 SIF_Provide
4.1.1.4 SIF_Unprovide
4.1.1.5 SIF_Subscribe
4.1.1.6 SIF_Unsubscribe
4.1.1.7 SIF_Provision
4.1.1.8 SIF_Event
4.1.1.9 SIF_Request
4.1.1.10 SIF_Ping
4.1.1.11 SIF_Sleep
4.1.1.12 SIF_Wakeup
4.1.1.13 SIF_GetZoneStatus
4.1.1.14 SIF_GetAgentACL
4.1.1.15 SIF_CancelRequests
4.1.1.16 SIF_GetMessage (Pull-Mode only)
4.1.1.17 SIF_Ack (Push-Mode)
4.1.1.18 SIF_Ack (Pull-Mode)
4.1.2 Agent Message Handling Protocols
4.1.2.1 SIF_Message
4.1.2.2 SIF_Event
4.1.2.3 SIF_Request
4.1.2.4 SIF_Response
4.1.2.5 SIF_Ping (Push-Mode only)
4.1.2.6 SIF_Sleep (Push-Mode only)
4.1.2.7 SIF_Wakeup (Push-Mode only)
4.1.2.8 SIF_CancelRequests (Push-Mode only) (optional)
4.2 ZIS Protocols
4.2.1 ZIS Messaging Protocols
4.2.1.1 SIF_Message Delivery (SIF_Event, SIF_Request, SIF_Response to a Push-mode Agent)
4.2.1.2 SIF_Ping (to a Push-mode Agent)
4.2.1.3 SIF_Sleep (to a Push-mode Agent)
4.2.1.4 SIF_Wakeup (to a Push-mode Agent)
4.2.1.5 SIF_CancelRequests (to a Push-mode Agent)
4.2.2 ZIS Message Handling Protocols
4.2.2.1 SIF_Message
4.2.2.2 SIF_Register
4.2.2.3 SIF_Unregister
4.2.2.4 SIF_Provide
4.2.2.5 SIF_Unprovide
4.2.2.6 SIF_Subscribe
4.2.2.7 SIF_Unsubscribe
4.2.2.8 SIF_Provision
4.2.2.9 SIF_Event
4.2.2.10 SIF_Request
4.2.2.11 SIF_Response
4.2.2.11.1 Implementation Notes
4.2.2.12 SIF_Ping
4.2.2.13 SIF_Sleep
4.2.2.14 SIF_Wakeup
4.2.2.15 SIF_GetZoneStatus
4.2.2.16 SIF_GetAgentACL
4.2.2.17 SIF_CancelRequests
4.2.2.18 SIF_GetMessage
4.2.2.19 SIF_Ack (from a Push-Mode Agent)
4.2.2.20 SIF_Ack (from a Pull-Mode Agent)
5 Infrastructure
5.1 Common Elements
5.1.1 SIF_Message
5.1.2 SIF_Header
5.1.3 SIF_EncryptionLevel
5.1.4 SIF_AuthenticationLevel
5.1.5 SIF_Contexts
5.1.6 SIF_Context
5.1.7 SIF_Protocol
5.1.8 SIF_Status
5.1.9 SIF_Error
5.1.10 SIF_Query
5.1.10.1 SIF_ConditionGroup
5.1.10.2 SIF_Element Syntax
5.1.11 SIF_ExtendedQuery
5.1.11.1 Mapping SIF_Query to SIF_ExtendedQuery
5.1.12 SIF_ExtendedQueryResults
5.2 Messages
5.2.1 SIF_Ack
5.2.2 SIF_Event
5.2.3 SIF_Provide
5.2.4 SIF_Provision
5.2.5 SIF_Register
5.2.6 SIF_Request
5.2.7 SIF_Response
5.2.8 SIF_Subscribe
5.2.9 SIF_SystemControl
5.2.10 SIF_Ping
5.2.11 SIF_Sleep
5.2.12 SIF_Wakeup
5.2.12.1 SIF_Sleep/SIF_Wakeup versus SIF_Register/SIF_Unregister
5.2.13 SIF_GetMessage
5.2.14 SIF_GetZoneStatus
5.2.15 SIF_GetAgentACL
5.2.16 SIF_CancelRequests
5.2.17 SIF_Unprovide
5.2.18 SIF_Unregister
5.2.19 SIF_Unsubscribe
5.3 Objects
5.3.1 SIF_AgentACL
5.3.2 SIF_LogEntry
5.3.3 SIF_ZoneStatus
6 Data Model
6.1 Introduction
6.1.1 Format
6.1.2 Conventions
6.1.2.1 Object Attributes/Primary Keys
6.1.2.2 Object References
6.1.2.3 Lists/Repeatable Elements
6.1.2.3.1 ActionList
6.1.2.3.2 List
6.1.2.4 Supported Optional Elements Without Values
6.1.2.5 Externally-Defined XML
6.2 Common Elements
6.2.1 Address
6.2.2 AddressList
6.2.3 AttendanceCode
6.2.4 BirthDate
6.2.5 ContactInfo
6.2.6 Country
6.2.7 Demographics
6.2.8 EducationalLevel
6.2.9 ElectronicId
6.2.10 ElectronicIdList
6.2.11 Email
6.2.12 EmailList
6.2.13 EnglishProficiency
6.2.14 GraduationDate
6.2.15 GridLocation
6.2.16 HomeroomNumber
6.2.17 LanguageList
6.2.18 LifeCycle
6.2.19 LocalId
6.2.20 Location
6.2.21 Name
6.2.22 OnTimeGraduationYear
6.2.23 OperationalStatus
6.2.24 OtherCodeList
6.2.25 OtherNames
6.2.26 PersonInfo
6.2.27 PhoneNumber
6.2.28 PhoneNumberList
6.2.29 PrincipalInfo
6.2.30 ProjectedGraduationYear
6.2.31 PublishInDirectory
6.2.32 Relationship
6.2.33 SchoolContactList
6.2.34 SchoolURL
6.2.35 SchoolYear
6.2.36 SIF_ExtendedElements
6.2.37 SIF_Metadata
6.2.38 StateProvince
6.2.39 StateProvinceId
6.2.40 SubjectArea
6.2.41 SubjectAreaList
6.2.42 TimeElement
6.2.43 YearLevel
6.2.44 YearLevels
6.3 SIF AU
6.3.1 CalendarDate
6.3.2 CalendarSummary
6.3.3 Identity
6.3.4 LEAInfo
6.3.5 PersonPicture
6.3.6 ReportAuthorityInfo
6.3.7 ReportManifest
6.3.8 RoomInfo
6.3.9 SchoolCourseInfo
6.3.10 SchoolInfo
6.3.11 SchoolPrograms
6.3.12 SessionInfo
6.3.13 SIF_ReportObject
6.3.14 StaffAssignment
6.3.15 StaffPersonal
6.3.16 StudentActivityInfo
6.3.17 StudentActivityParticipation
6.3.18 StudentAttendanceSummary
6.3.19 StudentContactPersonal
6.3.20 StudentContactRelationship
6.3.21 StudentDailyAttendance
6.3.22 StudentParticipation
6.3.23 StudentPeriodAttendance
6.3.24 StudentPersonal
6.3.25 StudentSchoolEnrollment
6.3.26 StudentSDTN
6.3.27 StudentSnapshot
6.3.28 SummaryEnrollmentInfo
6.3.29 TeachingGroup
6.3.30 TermInfo
6.3.31 TimeTable
6.3.32 TimeTableCell
6.3.33 TimeTableSubject
A Common Types
A.1 AbstractContentPackageType
A.2 BaseNameType
A.3 DefinedProtocolsType
A.4 ExtendedContentType
A.5 GUIDType
A.6 IdRefType
A.7 MonetaryAmountType
A.8 MsgIdType
A.9 NameOfRecordType
A.10 ObjectNameType
A.11 OtherNameType
A.12 PartialDateType
A.13 RefIdType
A.14 ReportDataObjectType
A.15 ReportPackageType
A.16 SelectedContentType
A.17 SIF_EventObjectType
A.18 SIF_ExampleObjectType
A.19 SIF_LogEntryExtendedContentType
A.20 SIF_ProvideObjectNamesType
A.21 SIF_RequestObjectNamesType
A.22 SIF_ResponseObjectsType
A.23 SIF_ResponseObjectType
A.24 SIF_SubscribeObjectNamesType
A.25 URIOrBinaryType
A.26 VersionType
A.27 VersionWithWildcardsType
B Code Sets
AU Code Sets
Activity Involvement Code
Activity Type
Address Role
Address Type
Attendance Code
Attendance Status
Australian Citizenship Status
Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG)
Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL)
Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG)
Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC)
Birthdate Verification
Calendar Event
Day Value Code
Dwelling Arrangement
Education Agency Type
Electronic Id Type
Email Type
Employment Type
English Proficiency
Enrollment Time Frame
Entry Type
Exit/Withdrawal Status
Exit/Withdrawal Type
Federal Electorate
FTPT Status Code
Immunisation Certificate Status
Indigenous Status
Language Type
Name Usage Type
Non-School Education
Operational Status
Permanent Resident Status
Picture Source
Program Funding Source Code
Progress Level
Public School Catchment Status
Relationship To Student
School Co-Ed Status
School Education Level Type
School Enrollment Type
School Focus Code
School Level
School Location
School Sector Code
School System
Session Type
Sex Code
Source Code Type
Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC)
State Territory Code
Student/Family Program Type
Systemic Status
Telephone Number Type
Visa Statistical Code
Visa Sub Class
Year Level Code
Yes Or No Category
Infrastructure
Status Code
Error Category
XML Validation Error
Encryption Error
Authentication Error
Access and Permission Error
Registration Error
Provision Error
Subscription Error
Request and Response Error
Event Reporting and Processing Error
Transport Error
System Error
Generic Message Handling Error
SMB Error
SIF_LogEntry
Agent Error Condition
Data Issues with Failure Result
Data Issues with Success Result
Success Category
ZIS Error Condition
C External Code Sets
International Standards Organization (ISO)
4217 Currency names and code elements
D Notes on Related Technologies
D.1 SIF and HTTP(S)
D.2 SIF and URLs
D.3 SIF and XML
D.4 SIF and Unicode
D.5 SIF and XPath
D.6 SIF and XML Schema
D.6.1 xs:boolean
D.6.2 xs:time
D.6.3 xs:date
D.6.4 xs:dateTime
D.7 SIF and XML Namespaces
D.8 SIF and UUIDs/GUIDs
D.9 SIF and Web Services
E Wildcard Version Support Implementation Notes
E.1 XML Parsing
E.2 XML Validation
E.3 SIF_Message Handling
F Selective Message Blocking (SMB) Example
F.1 Example
G Background/Supplementary Documentation (non-normative)
H Index of Tables
I Index of Examples
J Index of Figures
K Index of Objects
L Index of Common Elements
M Index of Common Types
N Index of Elements
O Index of Attributes
P References
From: SIF Implementation Specification (Australia), Version 1.0, November 20, 2009
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