Status of Student Information Systems and SPEEDE

Student Systems

Campus-America POISE October 1998

We are appproximately 70% complete with our work to interface the EDI

system with our software applications to produce a transcript request

system that will fill request automatically. The system has also been

designed to support other aspects of the EDI standard. Work will

continue on the project with expectation to complete the project this

Spring. per David Hamlin of Campus America-Tulsa April 1999: EDI

development put hold on for Y2K work. Restarting in June/July. Testing

in Summer 1999. Phase 1 - Send TS130, use Q&E to print received.

Phase 2 - Receive to student system

Datatel Colleague

Not in most current R.16. Intend to support import of SPEEDE supported

via ELF (data interface utility). Use STX as EDI translation software

PeopleSoft October 1998:

Rel. 7.0 - Now - TS130 inbound, receive & upload

Rel. 7.5 - 1Qtr1999 - TS189

Rel. 8.0 - 1Qtr2000 - TS130 outbound, TS131 inbound &

outbound, TS188, TS38, TS190

SCT Banner & Plus

Both Banner & Plus use EDI.Smart as the EDI Translation Software.

Note: Plus - "Career Table" settings control Ugrad & Grad

transcript/transcripts output, whether combined U+G transcript or

separate U & G transcripts

EDI Translation Products

Harbinger STX

Standalone EDI translator - could be a choice for home-grown systems,

et.al.

NCS Entrata Extract & Mapper.

32-Bit - Win95. "Integrated" part of SASSI xp for K-12

SCT EDI.Smart

Bundled with Banner & Plus, or Available standalone for coupling with

home-grown systems, et.al. Supports "all transaction sets through

version 4010", and EDIFACT

Courtesy of Jerry McGauhey, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

5/7/99 sisinfo.txt

Core Curriculum Conventions (8/31/1999), TASP Conventions (10/1/1998), TSI Conventions (5/5/2005)

Student Systems & EDI

Vendor Product Information

Student Systems

Campus-America POISE October 1998

We are appproximately 70% complete with our work to interface the EDI

system with our software applications to produce a transcript request

system that will fill request automatically. The system has also been

designed to support other aspects of the EDI standard. Work will

continue on the project with expectation to complete the project this

Spring. per David Hamlin of Campus America-Tulsa April 1999: EDI

development put hold on for Y2K work. Restarting in June/July. Testing

in Summer 1999. Phase 1 - Send TS130, use Q&E to print received.

Phase 2 - Receive to student system

Datatel Colleague

Not in most current R.16. Intend to support import of SPEEDE supported

via ELF (data interface utility). Use STX as EDI translation software

PeopleSoft October 1998:

Rel. 7.0 - Now - TS130 inbound, receive & upload

Rel. 7.5 - 1Qtr1999 - TS189

Rel. 8.0 - 1Qtr2000 - TS130 outbound, TS131 inbound &

outbound, TS188, TS38, TS190

SCT Banner & Plus

Both Banner & Plus use EDI.Smart as the EDI Translation Software.

Note: Plus - "Career Table" settings control Ugrad & Grad

transcript/transcripts output, whether combined U+G transcript or

separate U & G transcripts

EDI Translation Products

Harbinger STX

Standalone EDI translator - could be a choice for home-grown systems,

et.al.

NCS Entrata Extract & Mapper.

32-Bit - Win95. "Integrated" part of SASSI xp for K-12

SCT EDI.Smart

Bundled with Banner & Plus, or Available standalone for coupling with

home-grown systems, et.al. Supports "all transaction sets through

version 4010", and EDIFACT

Courtesy of Jerry McGauhey, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston

5/7/99 sisinfo.txt

Oct. 1, 1998 tasp98b.wp

to : Texas SPEEDE Users' Group

from : Dave Stones

re : Recommended Formats for TASP Info on Electronic

Transcripts

This document has been inserted into section II.D.2 of the TSIP

Document (Texas Speede Implementation Practices) which has the

name spconv04.wp at www.utexas.edu/student/giac/speede/.

This piece by itself, tasp98b.wp, is also stored on the web at

http://www.utexas.edu/student/giac/speede/tact/

After the 11/2/97 Users' Group decided to pursue inclusion of both

TASP scores and status on electronic transcripts, a subgroup

volunteered to meet at 7 AM on 11/4/97 to work on it. Members

were Scott Andrews, Nancy Brown, Linda Ramirez, Don Cotton, Fred

Hample, Teresa Phillips, Jean Stuart, and Dave Stones.

Modified 10/1/98 to accommodate new TASP requirements. See

TASP98m1.wp for change list.

Our intent was to draft a document of recommended policies,

procedures, and formats for sending TASP scores and/or status on

electronic transcripts. If possible, it will allow both Texas ETN

and SPEEDE formats to carry the same information in ways which

allow the use of the UTFS SPEEDE <--> ETN modules.

I. Whether to send TASP Information.

The 11/2/97 Texas SPEEDE Users' Group agreed that, if possible,

TASP scores and TASP status should be carried on electronic

transcripts send to other Texas colleges.

Rationale: changes in state law which require TASP testing prior

to the first registration and which allow students to reach TASP

compliance by a number of different means make it imperative that

schools have fast access to maximum information - and not all of

the information is readily available from other sources.

Since then, the Coordinating Board has ruled that all transcripts

issued in September '98 or later will carry both TASP scores and

TASP status - either exemption or the status on individual

sections, plus the reason, date, and, where known, actual data

(test scores, for instance). An ad hoc TACRAO group (4/98)

chaired by Suzanne Carter drafted content and format

recommendations.

II. What to Send.

A. An institution should send either (1) all known TASP test dates

and subtest scores or (2) the highest subtest scores in each

category, along with their respective dates.

Rationale: different institutions store varying amounts of TASP

score data on their student systems.

B. An institution must also send the latest TASP status and the

basis for assignment of that status. If the status was earned

without use of test scores at another institution, the institution

should be identified.

Rationale: new rules, such as use of additional "other"

standardized tests and the "B Grade Rule". Also, the THECB

requirement.

III. How to code the information.

A. TASP Test scores - SPEEDE format.

The relevant segment structure already in place within the

TS130 (SPEEDE transcript) format is a (possibly repeated)

TST loop, with a (also possibly repeating) sequence of SBT

(subtest), SRE (score report) and NTE (free form note - not

necessarily recommended here).

The date (for which we'll use CM format, or ccyymm) must be

carried on the TST segment, so multiple test dates implies

the need to send multiple TST segments and loops.

The expected format will be:

TST/9TX/test/CM/ccyymm|

SBT/99999/subtest name|

SRE/1/nnn| where:

1. the "/" is our field delimiter and "|" the segment

terminator (not good choices, except for visible

examples)

2. 9TX indicates that this is a Texas-specific test

3. test is the 4 character abbreviation in TST02 (see

below #5) for the test sent. It will usually be

"TASP". (changed 10/98)

4. 99999 indicates that a coded subtest name will appear

in the next field

5. 4-character subtest name is (modified 10/98) in SBT02:

test subtest for

TASP READ

MATH

WRIT

WSAM

ASSE READ

ALGE

WRIT (skills)

WSAM (essay)

COMP READ

ALGE

WRIT

WSAM

MAPS READ

ALGE

ENGL (Conventions of written

English)

WSAM (essay)

ACCU READ

ALGE

ENGL (sentence skills)

WSAM (essay)

5. 1 indicates a scaled score

6. nnn is the actual score earned on the subtest or

section.

Example for sending all of two tests:

TST/9TX/TASP/CM/199709|

SBT/99999/READ|

SRE/1/250|

SBT/99999/MATH|

SRE/1/230|

SBT/99999/WRIT|

SRE/1/210|

TST/9TX/TASP/CM/199711|

SBT/99999/READ|

SRE/1/300|

SBT/99999/MATH|

SRE/1/220|

SBT/99999/WRIT|

SRE/1/260|

Same example with just highest scores:

TST/9TX/TASP/CM/199709|

SBT/99999/MATH|

SRE/1/230|

TST/9TX/TASP/CM/199711|

SBT/99999/READ|

SRE/1/300|

SBT/99999/WRIT|

SRE/1/260|

B. TASP Test scores - TXETN format (No change here).

The TXETN test score structure consists of items #43 and

#64-69.

43. number of test score occurrences n(2)

64. Test name a(8)

65. test date - yymm n(4)

66. test type = subtest name a(4)

67. test score n(4)

68. attribute 1 n(4)

69. attribute 2 a(4)

For TASP, the conventions are that the test name be TASP and

the test type be READ, MATH, WRT1, or WRT2. The yymm test

date and score are the other items needed (with attributes

1 and 2 generally not used, and will not be converted to

SPEEDE via UTFS).

C. TASP status - SPEEDE format.

The RAP (requirements, attributes, and proficiencies)

segment can appear in TS130 either in the header section or

associated with individual courses. Here, we'll use the

multiple occurrences in the header section, just before the

PCL segment.

OVERALL:

For overall TASP status reporting, we'd use:

RAP/9TX/TASPALL/s=text/A//CM/ccyymm|

where:

1. Data Element RAP01=9TX indicates a Texas-specific

requirement.

2. RAP02=TASPALL refers to overall TASP status.

(Source designation moved to NTE 10/98)

3. In RAP03, which has maximum length 35 characters, s is

the overall status code, as follows

M=MetRequirements (via other methods)

Q=TestScoreExempt (use 5, 6, or 7 if

possible)

P=Passed=xxxx (all sections passed)

where xxxx is the 4-character name of the

test used to pass. (expanded 10/98)

S=some (some sections ok, but not all)

T=tested (not exempt, but has taken test)

U=Unknown (or not tested)

W=Waived=reason (waived or not applicable, perhaps

because student not in a degree

program - this status is considered

temporary, and must be reassessed by

the receiving institution) (reason

added 10/98)

X=Exempt (exempted by circumstance, perhaps based

on college work prior to '89)

5=ACT Exempt=Comp,English,Math

(exempt based on ACT test. need to

include composite score and English

and Math subscores)

6=SAT Exempt=Tot,Quant,Verb

(exempt based on SAT test) need to

include SAT Total, Quant, and

Verbal)

7=TAAS=writingscore,mathscore,readscore TAAS Exempt.

where the scores are 4 digits, 2 digits

and 2 digits, respectively. (Expanded

from just 7=TAAS Exempt on 10/1/98)

8=THECB Petition Exempt (Added 10/98)

Note1: we studied the codes used in items #7 and #8-

11-14 in the CBM002 report, and found them overlapping

and not applicable to this status, so we took a chance

and made up what seemed to be sufficient codes.

Note2: since the Internet does not charge for extra

bytes, and since ANSI ASC X12 allows us 35 characters,

we can simplify interpretation of the information by

sending the code in the first position, followed by =

and the text for the reason.

4. A stands for attribute.

5. // indicates the Yes/No field is skipped.

6. CM indicates that the following date, if included,

will be in ccyymm format, else skipped. Date and date

qualifier must either both be included or both

skipped.

7. ccyynn is the year and month that status was

assigned - that is the exemption date, and not the

date a test was taken.

8. the "/" and "|" and element and segment delimiters

used just for this example.

(example at end of section)

AREAS

For individual TASP sections, we'd use:

RAP/9TX/tasparea/r=text/R/w/CM/ccyymm|

where:

1. 9TX indicates a Texas-specific requirement.

2. tasparea = TASPREAD, TASPMATH, TASPWRIT. identifying

section (all caps).

(Source of status moved to NTE 10/98)

(TASPWRITE shortened to TASPWRIT on 10/98)

3. r is reason for the status (max 35 char), as follows

B=BGrade,cnum,gr,sem (requirement met by B Grade)

C=CurrentB (enrolled in B Grade Course)

D=Developmental (remediation required)

M=MetRequirement (not via test scores)

N=Met Req Other School (somehow) (added 10/98)

P=Passed=test (met requirement by TASP Exam)

(10/98 mod. Add the =test to qualify the

"P=PASSED" area status with a 4 character test

name abbreviation, namely TASP, ASSE (for

Asset), ACCU (for ACCUPLACER), COMP (for

COMPASS), MAPS and others as they are approved.

Note that the actual scores are not carried here

in the RAP for the Area Status (unlike the

exemptions for overall status), but rather in

the TST-SBT-SRE loop (see III.A.).

T=Tested (not exempt, has taken test)

U=Unknown (not tested)

W=Waived=reason (requirement not applicable)

X=Exempt (Exempt)

Z=BGrade Other School (added 10/98)

Same note as above on including code & text.

4. R stands for requirement.

5. w = "Y" or "N", depending on whether that section has

been satisfied.

6. CM indicates that the following date, if included,

will be in ccyymm format, else skipped. Date and date

qualifier must either both be included or both

skipped.

7. ccyynn is the year and month that status was assigned.

8. the "/" and "|" and element and segment delimiters

used just for this example.

For example, a student exempted by SAT might have:

RAP/9TX/TASPALL/6=SAT Exempt=1500,750,750/A//CM/199703|

or one exempted by ACT

RAP/9TX/TASPALL/5=ACT Exempt=28,26,25/A//CM/199805|

Exemption by TAAS

RAP/9TX/TASPALL/7=TAAS=1850,89,93/A//CM/19980901|

A student with different results or reasons might have:

RAP/9TX/TASPMATH/P=Passed=TASP/R/Y/CM/199703|

RAP/9TX/TASPREAD/D=Developmental/R/N/CM/199609|

RAP/9TX/TASPWRIT/B=BGrade ENGL1024 Fall 96/R/Y/CM/199706|

SOURCE:

If the status was earned at another institution and not

otherwise substantiated by the school issuing the

transcript, one may specify the FICE code of the school as

indicated above, in C.OVERALL.2 (with the subject area

specification in the RAP segment).

Our recommendation would be to use a free form note (NTE

segment) in the header area if this information must be

carried. It might be of the form:

NTE/TASP Writing requirement passed at Univ. of Houston|,

but the note has a 60 character limit.

D. TASP status - TXETN format.

(significant change on 10/98 to accommodate UTFS conversion

to/from SPEEDE)

The TXETN free form note is just that, and consists of

independent a(80) records, item #70. Item #43 is nbr of

occurrences of free form notes.

We recommend the following structure for a formatted TASP

status note:

pos field form values

1-9 title A(9) "NTE RAP:"

10-17 taspname A(8) TASPALL, TASPREAD, TASPWRIT,

TASPMATH (all caps)

18 type A(1) A = overall status

R = individual (subtest)

category.

19 satis A(1) Y=subarea or overall requirements

satisfied

N=subarea requirement not satisfied

20-25 date n(6) ccyymm date of status

26-60 reasons A(35) list of codes, as above, in

RAP codes, with explanations (for

easy printing)

Note: the UTFS PC-based software will convert back & forth between

SPEEDE & TXETN test scores & RAP <--> Notes, provided these

precise formats are followed.

For example:

TASPALL..AY1997036=SAT Exempt=1500,650,750

and TASPMATH.RY199703P=Passed

TASPREAD.RN199609D=Developmental

TASPWRIT.RY199706B=BGrade ENGL1024 Fall 96

** (the "." after TASPALL, TASPREAD & TASPMATH in the above

example is to show position. they are really spaces)

Good luck! tasp98b.wp 10/1/98

→

May 5, 2005 tsi05b.rtf

TO : Texas SPEEDE Users' Group

FROM : Tim Tashjian

RE : Recommended Formats for TSI Info on Electronic Transcripts

Revisions:

- tasp98b.wp – 10/1/98, Dave Stones

- tasp99c.doc – 4/30/99, Dave Stones

- tsi04b.rtf – 4/1/04, Tim Tashjian

o Changes from TASP to TSI

- tsi05a.rtf – 1/28/05, Tim Tashjian

o Additions for TAKS exemption and partial SAT/ACT exemptions

- tsi05b.rtf – 5/5/05, Tim Tashjian

o Slight modifications from users group meeting.

This is a document is a revision of document tasp98b.wp, dated 10/1/98, which was inserted into section II.D.2 of the TSIP Document (Texas Speede Implementation Practices). The latest version of the TSIP Document, with these TSI conventions in section II.D.2, has the name spconv06.rtf at www.utexas.edu/student/giac/speede/txetn/. Tasp98b.txt is stored on the web at http://www.utexas.edu/student/giac/speede/tact/, and includes some TXETN structures as well. Tasp99c.doc and its revisions, including this document, may also be found at that same location.

I. Whether to send TSI Information.

The Coordinating Board previously ruled that all transcripts issued in September '98 or later would carry both TASP scores and TASP status - either exemption or the status on individual sections, plus the reason, date, and, where known, actual data (test scores, for instance). An ad hoc TACRAO group (4/98) chaired by Suzanne Carter drafted content and format recommendations.

As concerns TSI, the current Coordinating Board rules state that, effective December ’03, “An institution shall, as soon as practicable and feasible, indicate a student's readiness in reading, mathematics, and writing on the transcript of each student.” TACRAO has produced a document detailing transcript content and format recommendations, which may be found at http://www.tacrao.org/docs/TACRAO_recommendations_for_transcripting_TSI_Final_Version_12-15-03.doc.

II. What to Send.

A. An institution should send the initial and highest subtest scores in each category, along with their respective dates.

B. An institution must also send the latest TSI status for each subarea and the basis for assignment of that status. If the status was earned w/o use of test scores at another institution, the institution should be identified. If the status for each subarea is identical due to a complete exemption or waiver, the institution will send a single overall status and the basis for the assignment of that status.

III. How to code the information.

A. TSI Test scores - SPEEDE format.

The relevant segment structure already in place within the TS130 (SPEEDE transcript) format is a (possibly repeated) TST loop, with a (also possibly repeating) sequence of SBT (subtest), SRE (score report) & NTE (free form note - not necessarily recommended here).

The date (for which we'll use CM format, or ccyymm) must be carried on the TST segment, so multiple test dates implies the need to send multiple TST segments and loops.

The expected format will be:

TST/9TX/test/CM/ccyymm|

SBT/99999/subtest name|

SRE/1/nnn| where:

1. the "/" is our field delimiter and "|" the segment terminator (not good choices, except for visible examples)

2. 9TX indicates that this is a Texas-specific test

3. test is the 4 character abbreviation in TST02 (see below #5) for the test sent. It will usually be "THEA".

4. 99999 indicates that a coded subtest name will appear in the next field

5. 4-character subtest name is in SBT02:

test subtest for

THEA READ

(or TASP) MATH

WRIT

WSAM

(might be indicated as THEA or TASP, depending on test date)

ASSE READ

ALGE

WRIT (skills)

WSAM (essay)

COMP READ

ALGE

WRIT

WSAM

MAPS READ

ALGE

ENGL (Conventions of written English)

WSAM (essay)

ACCU READ

ALGE

ENGL (sentence skills)

WSAM (essay)

5. 1 indicates a scaled score

6. nnn is the actual score earned on the subtest or section.

Example of test results for a student:

June 2003 - TASP: Reading 250, Math 230, Writing 210

December 2003 - THEA: Reading 300, Math 220, Writing 250

February 2004 - THEA: Reading 300, Math 220, Writing 260

Example for sending initial and highest for each (above) subtest:

TST/9TX/TASP/CM/200306|

SBT/99999/READ| < --------------- Initial reading

SRE/1/250|

SBT/99999/MATH| < --------------- Initial and highest math

SRE/1/230|

SBT/99999/WRIT| < --------------- Initial writing

SRE/1/210|

TST/9TX/THEA/CM/200312|

SBT/99999/READ| < --------------- Highest reading (first 300 score)

SRE/1/300|

TST/9TX/THEA/CM/200402|

SBT/99999/WRIT| < --------------- Highest writing

SRE/1/260|

B. TSI status - SPEEDE format.

The RAP (requirements, attributes, and proficiencies) segment can appear in TS130 either in the header section or associated with individual courses. Here, we'll use the multiple occurrences in the header section, just before the PCL segment.

OVERALL:

With TSI, we will report an overall status *only* in the cases where the subarea statuses are identical due to a complete exemption or waiver. All others cases will use the subarea conventions listed in the next section.

For such an overall TSI status due to complete exemption or waiver, we'd use:

RAP/9TX/TSIALL/s=text/A//CM/ccyymm| where:

1. Data Element RAP01=9TX indicates a Texas-specific requirement.

2. RAP02=TSIALL refers to status that applies to all subareas.

3. In RAP03, which has maximum length 35 characters, s is the overall status code, as follows

M=Military (exempted for military service)

O=ExemptTransfer (exempted for transfer – out of state/private/indep.)

Q=TestScoreExempt (use 5, 6, or 7 if possible)

R=ExemptOtherInst=fice (exemption granted at another institution)

where fice is the fice code of the granting institution, if available.

Additionally, the name of the granting institution should be put into NTE as indicated in SOURCE section below.

U=Unknown (or not tested)

W=Waived=reason (waived or not applicable, perhaps because student not in a degree program - this status is considered temporary, and must be reassessed by the receiving institution)

X=ExemptDegree (exempted as a degree holder)

Y=PriorTASPexempt (exempted for certain TASP statuses prior to 9-1-03)

4=TAKS Exempt=Math,English,Writing,Essay

(overall exempt based on TAKS test. Need to include Math, English and Writing scores and Essay subscore if available)

5=ACT Exempt=Comp,English,Math

(overall exempt based on ACT test. Need to include composite score and English and Math subscores)

6=SAT Exempt=Tot,Quant,Verb

(overall exempt based on SAT test. Need to include SAT Total, Quant, and Verbal)

7=TAAS=writingscore,mathscore,readscore

(overall exempt based on TAAS test, where the scores are

4 digits, 2 digits and 2 digits, respectively)

Note: Since the Internet does not charge for extra bytes, and since ANSI ASC X12 allows us 35 characters, we can simplify interpretation of the information by sending the code in the first position, followed by = and the text for the reason.

4. A stands for attribute.

5. // indicates the Yes/No field is skipped.

6. CM indicates that the following date, if included, will be in ccyymm format, else skipped. Date and date qualifier must either both be included or both skipped.

7. ccyymm is the year and month that status was assigned - that is the exemption date, and not the date a test was taken.

8. the "/" and "|" and element and segment delimiters used just for these examples.

(examples at end of section)

AREAS:

For individual TSI sections, we'd use:

RAP/9TX/tsiarea/r=text/R/w/CM/ccyymm|

where:

1. 9TX indicates a Texas-specific requirement.

2. tsiarea = TSIREAD, TSIMATH, TSIWRIT. identifying section (all caps).

3. r is reason for the status (max 35 char), as follows

B=CompleteCoursework (complete, by coursework)

C=Complete=test (complete, by THEA or alt exam)

where test is the 4 character test name abbreviation, namely THEA (or

TASP), ASSE (for Asset), ACCU (for ACCUPLACER), COMP (for

COMPASS), MAPS and others as they are approved. Note that the

actual scores are not carried here in the RAP for the Area Status (unlike

the exemptions for overall status), but rather in the TST-SBT-SRE loop

(see III.A.).

I=NotComplete (not complete, see test scores)

K=CompleteOtherInst=fice (completed at another institution)

where fice is the fice code of the granting institution, if available.

Additionally, the name of the granting institution should be put into NTE as indicated in SOURCE section below.

O=ExemptTransfer (exempted for transfer – out of state/private/indep.)

Q=CompleteInstCriteria (complete, other institutional criteria)

R=ExemptOtherInst=fice (exempted at another institution)

where fice is the fice code of the granting institution, if available.

Additionally, the name of the granting institution should be put into NTE as indicated in SOURCE section below.

U=Unknown (or not tested)

W=Waived=reason (requirement not applicable)

4=TAKS Exempt=Math,English,Writing,Essay

(area exempt based on TAKS test. Need to include Math, English and Writing scores and Essay subscore if available)

5=ACT Exempt=Comp,English,Math

(area exempt based on ACT test. Need to include composite score and English and Math subscores)

6=SAT Exempt=Tot,Quant,Verb

(area exempt based on SAT test. Need to include SAT Total, Quant, and Verbal)

4. R stands for requirement.

5. w = "Y" or "N", depending on whether that section has been satisfied.

6. CM indicates that the following date, if included, will be in ccyymm format, else skipped. Date and date qualifier must either both be included or both skipped.

7. ccyymm is the year and month that status was assigned.

8. the "/" and "|" and element and segment delimiters used just for the examples below.

SOURCE:

If the status was earned at another institution and not otherwise substantiated by the school issuing the transcript, one may specify the FICE code of the school as indicated above and in examples below (with the subject area specification in the RAP segment).

Our recommendation would be to use a free form note (NTE segment) in the header area to provide the name of the institution. It might be of the form:

NTE/TSIALL exempted at Univ. of Houston| or

NTE/TSIWRIT completed at Univ. of Houston| but the note has a 60 char. limit.

EXAMPLES:

A student exempted by SAT might have:

RAP/9TXTSIALL/6=SAT Exempt=1500,750,750/A//CM/199703|

or one exempted by ACT

RAP/9TX/TSIALL/5=ACT Exempt=28,26,25/A//CM/199805|

Exemption by TAAS

RAP/9TX/TSIALL/7=TAAS=1850,89,93/A//CM/19980901|

Complete exemption at another institution

RAP/9TX/TSIALL/R=ExemptOtherInst=3652/A//CM/19980901|

With

NTE/TSIALL exempted at Univ. of Houston|

A student with different results or reasons might have:

RAP/9TX/TSIMATH/C=Complete=TASP/R/Y/CM/199703|

RAP/9TX/TSIREAD/I=NotComplete/R/N/CM/199609|

RAP/9TX/TSIWRIT/B=CompleteCoursework/R/Y/CM/199706|

Or

RAP/9TX/TSIMATH/K=CompleteOtherInst=3652/R/Y/CM/199703|

RAP/9TX/TSIREAD/R=ExemptOtherInst=3652/R/Y/CM/199609|

RAP/9TX/TSIWRIT/Q=CompleteInstCriteria/R/Y/CM/199706|

With

NTE/TSIMATH completed at Univ. of Houston|

NTE/TSIREAD exempted at Univ. of Houston|

Good luck! tsi05b.rtf 5/5/2005

1

General Procedures for Electronic Transcripts

General Procedures for Sending and Receiving Electronic Transcripts

Prepared for SPEEDE Implementation Regional Workshop at UT-Dallas

Wednesday, August 7, 1996, by Don Cotton, Blinn College

The receipt and sending of electronic transcripts will follow the

same general procedures regardless of the software, platform, or

transmission media used to accomplish this task.

Sending

1. Identify which transcripts are to be sent and their destination.

This is local process which identifies the transcripts to

send, whether they are eligible to be sent, and where they are

to be sent.

2. Extract the data which constitutes a 'transcript' from the database.

This is a local process which looks at the transcript requests and

extracts the information from your local data source. This

information must include the mandatory information in order to

identify the student, and optional information that you include on

your transcript that other institutions may or may not include.

3. Prepare the data for transmission.

The information must be packaged into a format that the other schools

can recognize. The two formats used in Texas are SPEEDE and ETN.

Your transcript data is translated into a format that has been

mutually agreed upon before it is transmitted.

4. Transmit the data.

The data is sent by private network, public network, Internet,

diskette, magnetic tape or whatever method you have chosen that is

agreeable with the school you are sending to.

5. Verify that the transmission was successful.

The receiving institution may respond with a message giving you

enough information for you to check that they received what you

thought you were sending. Many systems now use the method of 'if the

students have not yelled by now then the transcripts got there.'

Receive

1. Receive transcripts.

Get the transcript documents to your institution.

2. Verify reception.

Make sure that what you got is a valid transcript and has not been

altered either intentionally or accidentally.

3. Process the transcripts into a local database.

In order to use the data you must translate it from the transmission

format into a form that you can use locally. This could be a paper

printout or a file to feed into an automated evaluation system.

Receiving transcripts is much simpler than sending so we will look

at that first.

1. Receive transcripts.

Manual system

The transcripts arrive in envelopes from the post office.

Electronic system

The transcripts are picked up from an electronic post office. There are

three types of post offices you can work with. Most schools will only

deal with a single type of post office. The first type of electronic

post office could be an Internet file based post office in which case

you use ftp (File Transfer Protocol) software on your system to

retrieve transcripts from an Internet host. This host could be the

institution you are trading with directly or a secure server set up

specifically for this purpose. The second type of electronic post

office could be Internet email, the electronic transcripts are

received using smtp (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) software on your

system. The third type of electronic post office uses EDI (Electronic

Data Interchange) protocols, the electronic transcripts are received

using software provided by the EDI vendor. When you use ftp or EDI a

connection must be established between you and the post office(server).

Most ftp connections are originated by the receiver. The server at The

University of Texas at Austin will originate the ftp connection and

automatically forward your mail(files) to your local computer. With

smtp generally the mail is delivered to a local mailbox where it waits

for you to process it. The system you use locally could be a PC with

the appropriate software and communications capabilities or a

centralized system such as a mainframe where you have either been given

access to the software or the computing services personnel process your

requests.

2. Verify Receipt.

Manual System

Open envelope. Separate transcripts from other mail. Inspect

seal on transcript. Look at the signature. Look for any

obvious signs of tampering. Put on stack for processing.

Electronic system

The software used to receive the transcripts will typically

use a mechanism called CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) or some

variation of this process to insure that what the post office

thought it was sending is what your system thought it

received. Normally this process will detect and correct any

errors generated when passing the data over the telephone

circuits between you and your post office. After you have

received the file you may check the file to insure that the

file contains transcripts. With SPEEDE or ETN you can look at

the electronic envelope to verify where it came from, and

inspect the electronic envelope for obvious signs of

tampering. If you and your trading partners use encryption

to protect your transcripts during transmission you will need

to use your private key to decrypt the files so that they can

be processed. At this point you can put the file in the queue

for processing. The facilitation software will handle this

phase of the process for you provided you are using a PC and

the SPEEDE format. Your EDI software will validate that the

data conforms to the standards established for whatever format

you are using.

3. Process transcripts in local database.

Manual system

Log the receipt of the transcript. Update document tracking to show

you got a transcript for the student from a specific school. Put the

document into a file (document imaging, fiche, microfilm, etc). Send

a copy of the transcript on for transfer credit evaluation, or

processing by a specific college or program within your institution.

Electronic system

If you are using SPEEDE you must now create an acknowledgement file to

send back to the sender to let them know you got their transcripts.

This acknowledgement returns information about the file as a whole and

contains specific information about each transcript in the file. If

your acknowledgement does not match what they thought they were

sending then both parties need to share information to resolve whether

there was tampering, the information was simply garbled during the

transmission, or the software used to process the transcripts failed

on either end of the process. The facilitation software provided by

The University of Texas at Austin provides for the creation of an

acknowledgement. The ETN system has an optional acknowledgement which

would be processed at this time. The data can now be run through some

type of translation software which will recode the data elements into

a form that is compatible with your local database. The recoded data

may be printed for manual processing or queued for processing by an

automated system. Many existing systems were designed to process data

from a specific format either ETN or SPEEDE. If the format of the

data you receive is not compatible with your software you may be able

to convert from one format to the other using the facilitation

software prior to recoding the data to your local specifications. The

facilitation software only runs on PC based systems.

Sending

1. Identify which transcripts are to be sent and their destination.

Manual system

A file is kept of all outstanding transcript requests including the

student name or id number and the destination for the transcript.

Some type of checklist is usually included to guarantee that the

student is not blocked from sending transcripts, or that the

transcript is waiting for all the grades to be posted, etc.

Electronic system

Transcripts requests are entered into the system along with the

destination and any special processing requirements. The system will

hold the request until all processing requirements are met before

allowing the request to be processed. This software is specific to

each institution and a part of the student records management software

package.

2. Extract the data which constitutes a 'transcript' from the database.

Manual system

Pull a copy of the transcript from the file or print a copy of the

transcript from the database.

Electronic system

Software developed in house or by the student records software vendor

is used to extract the data items you defined to be on a transcript

from your database. This data may be printed or stored in machine

readable files for further processing. It is important that your

extraction program collect all of the data items which are considered

as mandatory items for the processing steps which follow. If you use

SPEEDE or ETN the data extraction must collect all of the required

fields for later processing. Some of these items may not be included

on your printed transcript.

3. Prepare the data for transmission.

Manual system

Sign and seal the transcripts. Put the transcripts into an envelope

and seal the envelope.

Electronic system

Using translation software that you have purchased from an EDI vendor

or developed in house, convert the transcript data from your local

specifications into a standard format. This format could be the

SPEEDE/ExPRESS format or the ETN format. If your translation software

does not support the format you wish to send to other schools, you may

use the facilitation software provided by The University of Texas at

Austin to convert from one format to the other. If you are using the

SPEEDE format you should insure the necessary files are created to

perform the acknowledgement checking as a part of the preparation for

data transmission. This step is also handled by the facilitation

software for SPEEDE users. The final step in this process will be to

encrypt the transcripts prior to transmission. The mechanism for

encryption and the keys to be used must be agreed upon in advance with

all parties involved in the transmission. For many institutions the

data extracted from the main computer system is downloaded to a PC,

using file transfer software, for this step and the subsequent

processing. (PC software is generally less expensive to acquire and

maintain)

4. Transmit the data.

Manual system

Put the envelope into the mail.

Electronic system

The actual method of transmitting the data will depend upon the

agreements you have made with the institutions you are trading

transcripts with. The general method is to transmit an electronic

package containing all of your transcripts to an electronic post

office which will look at your electronic envelopes and place the

files into the appropriate electronic mail box. This can be

accomplished through file transfer software, electronic mail software,

or electronic data interchange software. The two most actively used

systems are GEIS for ETN users, and the Internet server at The

University of Texas at Austin for SPEEDE users. Other schools use the

'sneaker net' and deliver tapes or diskettes by mail, courier, or

other secure manual methods. Some schools have set up secure ftp

accounts to allow trading partners to place transcripts directly on

their computer systems. The way you choose will depend upon your

resources and the resources of your trading partners. The GEIS

network will support the SPEEDE and ETN format. The server at The

University of Texas at Austin supports only the SPEEDE format. All of

your trading partners need to know and agree to support you in what

you are doing. The ETN format is proprietary and may only be used by

those institutions which have been granted the rights to do so.

Transmission media.

Diskette - ASCII text, compressed files (PKZIPed or compress)

Magnetic tape - 9 track, QIC-80 cartridges, TRAVAN, etc.

Internet - email(MIME attachment), ftp

public network - trading partners establish secure accounts for

delivery of transcripts over dial up lines

private network - dedicated phone lines are used to transfer the

transcript data.

value added network - Vendors such as GEIS are contracted to provide

electronic post officeservices to all of the trading partners.

5. Verify that the transmission was successful.

Manual system

Certified mail receipt. Wait for complaints.

Electronic system

Most communication packages currently in use will guarantee accurate

delivery across the existing telephone infrastructure. Your software

will tell you if there is a chance that your transmission was not

successful. Now you must check to see if the data that you sent makes

any sense to the institution you sent it to. If you are using a value

added network, reports are generally available showing when the

receiving institution picked up the transcripts. There is no

indication however to indicate that they got what you sent.

If you are using SPEEDE you will receive acknowledgements

from the receiving institution which you will want to compare

with what you thought you sent in order to insure proper

delivery. The facilitation software will accomplish this task

for you on the PC. If you are using direct delivery methods

such as magnetic tape you will want to work out some method of

acknowledging delivery such as using a courier, certified

mail, or other guaranteed, traceable delivery systems.