1. CANHEIT 2012 Introducing PESC – Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council Building the Digital University Brian Patton – Manager, Application Systems - Ontario Universities’ Application Centre Kelly McMullen – Business Analyst – ApplyAlberta

2. PESC - Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council www.pesc.org www.pesc.org

3. OUAC Overview The Ontario Universities' Application Centre (OUAC), located in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, is a central bureau whose key function is the processing of applications for admission to the province's universities. About the OUAC The OUAC manages the flow of student applications to Ontario’s 20 universities so that the universities can make offers of admission for Undergraduate, Law, Medical, Rehabilitation Sciences and Education programs. The OUAC is a non-profit organization, classified as a charity. Proceeds, in excess of operating costs, support the admission services at the universities. The OUAC provides contracted development for university-specific, applicant-related systems (graduate applications and undergraduate part-time). The OUAC processes more than 600,000 applications annually, for 175,000 applicants. The OUAC has over 1000 data exchange partners based on a number of standards

4. ApplyAlberta Overview ApplyAlberta is… ApplyAlberta is a made-in-Alberta post-secondary application system. ApplyAlberta makes it simple to apply to one or more post- secondary institutions. ApplyAlberta takes the guesswork out of requesting Alberta high school and post-secondary transcripts. ApplyAlberta is secure.

5. ApplyAlberta Overview ApplyAlberta history… In 2005, the Access to the Future Act was passed by the Alberta government. Among other thing, this legislation called for the development of a common application system for Alberta’s publicly funded post-secondary institutions. Twenty-one universities, colleges, and technical institutes collaborated with Alberta Advanced Education and Technology to develop ApplyAlberta. In July 2008, the Alberta Post-Secondary Application System was incorporated as a non-profit society under the Societies Act of Alberta. Membership was subsequently expanded to include the five Independent Academic Institutions in the province, bringing the number of participating institutions to 26. ApplyAlberta went live in October 2009. Since that time, over 281,000 applications have been submitted and more than 340,000 electronic transcripts have been transferred through the system.

6. How important are standards?!

7. Why Standards It is estimated more than 500,000 consensus standards exist in the world today. Donald E. Purcell, Chairman, The Center for Global Standards Analysis (2008)

8. Why Standards Mankind has always struggled to agree on the best way to do certain key tasks. This is the origin of society itself - every culture that has ever existed has at its heart a shared set of standards by which it lives and through which it interacts with the world around it. These standards define what is and what isn't acceptable, and they give the members of that society a shared frame of reference by which they can understand each other. Language, commerce and even religion have all been expressions of that shared set of standards. Stephen Lindsay, Business Manager, Standards, SWIFT.

9. Have you been there??? Picture this…. You have travelled to Argentina for a vacation Fresh out of Argentinean Pesos All you have is Canadian dollars Canadian dollars not accepted What do you do? Visa or Mastercard of course… they are standards accepted almost everywhere

10. PESC Not for Profit; established in 1997 2 employees Over 70 members and affiliates including AACRAO and the major software vendors Standards are driven by member working groups Establishing data exchange standards for colleges, universities and their data exchange partners PESC XML standards have evolved from existing X.12 EDI standards

11. PESC: Their Mandate The Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) has become the North American postsecondary education community’s XML business standards-setting body. In its simplest terms, PESC is a North American standards group that is driving XML in standard formats for post-secondary education. www.pesc.org

12. What is PESC XML? Think of the PESC XML standards in 3 parts A transport based on XML Standard attributes for each data element (length, characteristics) Standard definition of content More flexible than traditional X.12 Better data integrity Standard definitions of data elements and attributes

13. PESC XML Standards include… Transcripts (Secondary and Postsecondary) Admissions application Education test score reporting Functional acknowledgement IPEDS (Integrated Post Secondary Education Data System)… 12 month enrollment and completions PDF attachment Student Aid Data Transport Specification

14. PESC XML in Canada PESC XML is gaining support on a broad basis…. PESC Canadian User Group 4 Application Centres in Canada have already made commitments to PESC XML standards Major Vendors–Oracle, Ellucian (Datatel+SGHE) Statistics Canada Some have already implemented, others in progress

15. PESC XML in Action!

16. ApplyAlberta PESC Success Story ApplyAlberta uses the PESC standards for: Application for Admission High School Transcripts Post-Secondary Transcripts Data transport Transcript request and response University of Lethbridge was heavily involved in the creation of the Application for Admission standard and helped to ensure it reflected what Canadian institutions needed

17. BCcampus PESC Success Story BCcampus is an organization used connect the expertise, programs and resources of all BC post-secondary institutions under a service delivery framework. It provides an infrastructure for student data exchange, shared services, online learning and distant education. The PESC data types are used as the underlying types for Online admission portal to post-secondary BC institutions Province-wide directory of confine and distance courses in BC Course record retrieval (unofficial) The PESC standard is used for the transcript exchange service for 3 institutions now and is expanding.

18. OCAS PESC Success Story Using SPEEDE EDI standards since 2001 Active member of PESC since 2008 Significant contributor in PESC Cdn User Group PESC XML standards available for Ontario High School transcripts and College transcripts OCAS eTMS (Electronic Transcript Management System) allows High Schools to upload “105” (non-direct) transcripts in PESC XML compatible format

19. electronic transcripts Portal automated version Web Services Send the most up to date academic record to colleges for past and current students! (pilot 2013/2014) OCAS eTMS Portal

20. Traditional eTMS OCAS Comparison...days waiting for transcripts Auto eTMS

21. OUAC PESC Success &Development Extensive adoption of existing x.12 standards PESC XML; long term objective & core strategy 2 key initiatives over the next 12-18 months PESC XML beta with Historical Statistical File PESC XML Transcript exchange with Algoma Potential to work with OCAS for 105 (non-direct) transcripts in PESC XML format using eTMS Defining longer term strategy for PESC XML compliance

22. PESC Across Canada Are there other PESC initiatives in Canada that we don’t know about? Who else is interested in the PESC Canadian User Group?

23. What is in the Future? Gaining momentum and acceptance within all provinces More extensive incorporation of PESC standards by vendors Can we move towards Canada-wide transcript transfers using XML transcripts? If all provincial/regional systems adopt PESC, information would be readily transferable without having to combine or translate information in various different formats.