The EDX Chronicles Case Studies on Electronic Data

The EDX Chronicles: Case Studies on Electronic Data Exchange 2019 PACRAO Annual Conference Matt Bemis, University of Southern California Sue Reyes, San Diego State University

Presentation Overview USC Case Study – EDI transcripts exchange successes at USC Automating the processing of student Test Score data Creating electronic exchange partnerships with vendors SDSU e. Transcripts Case Study Building Trading Partners Automating Processes Adjusting to Exception Processing/Error Handling

EDI transcripts exchange successes at USC EDI development timeline at USC Began mapping inbound EDI transactions in late 2009 as part of the Etranscript. CA efforts Took three weeks to go live in production – found the inbound effort very easy to configure with existing degree audit software application system. Thought we were hot stuff with the ease of implementation.

EDI transcripts exchange successes at USC What we learned as we broadened our base of EDI trading partners (i. e. SPEEDE Server deliverables): EDI acknowledgement transactions are necessary for most senders Handling EDI data from district schools Imaging EDI transactions to existing systems (in real time) Handling prior degree information in EDI transactions Mapping FICE, ACT, and CEEB data reliably Data rendering interface for Advisor use

EDI transcripts exchange successes at USC Other lessons learned with EDI transcripts: Handling ‘Unknown’ student transcript transactions Handling unexpected transactions (unknown CEEBs) How to handle EDI data for students not yet admitted Reporting ‘change of data’ instances for administrative review The importance of weekly reporting of EDI receipt activity Development and production of outbound USC EDI transcript transactions – a humbling experience.

EDI transcripts exchange successes at USC Where we were, and how far we have come: 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 -- 1, 474 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 2, 212 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 4, 287 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 5, 828 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 9, 850 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 11, 085 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 13, 396 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 14, 010 inbound TS 130 transactions received -- 14, 709 inbound TS 130 transactions received What really has changed? Hassle free, hands free transfer credit evaluations for every EDI transcript received (almost).

Electronic data workflow at USC

Electronic data workflow at USC

Transcript Viewer Utility

Rendered TS 130 Data, with additional data populated from SIS:

Weekly activity report – Very important!

AP Exam data processing ETS service provider makes available encrypted file for download Easy to register and use key pairs for decryption of data Records matching/mapping and data management will be your challenge

AP Exam data processing at USC Lessons learned in handling this data well: Records USC uses last name, first name, and date of birth Intentionally, SSN matching is not engaged How to manage unmatched records Process to ‘re-index’ records Necessary on records where data is transposed or ill formatted Handling records where multiple student IDs are matched Process to archive data that has been re-indexed or deleted from process file queue Creating ‘inquiry’ records for unmatched record IDs Handling matching criteria: AP error codes No AP exam file left unprocessed. Period.

Successful vendor partnerships USC sought help with a major processing bottleneck: International degree verification. Facts: USC is the largest provider of postsecondary education to international students Every graduate student must have a prior degree verification on file, as a condition of admission

Successful vendor partnerships The Problem: The registrar’s office assumed responsibility for this service but was not provided any staff with subject matter expertise The learning curve associated with the evaluation and authentication of transcript and diploma documents The incident of fraudulent transcripts and credentials for international documents USC is the largest provider of postsecondary education to international students

Successful vendor partnerships The Solution: Changed business practices to outsource evaluation services Made the decision to single source third party service provider Began early in the vendor selection the discussion of codevelopment of services to deliver evaluation results through established EDI and/or XML standards Represented this co-development as a win-win for all parties involved – USC, the vendor, and students

Successful vendor partnerships Where we are today We LOVE our third party vendor, IERF! § § § Open to co-development of any area that would improve services Always accessible and responsive Very helpful in other areas of processing Since going live in November 2013, more than 2750 verifications are processed annually Has removed a full FTE+ assignment from this service area Has greatly improved quality and consistency of the evaluation process Protects USC from fraudulent documents and other areas of exposure Rollout of EDI transmissions could have not gone more smoothly

San Diego State University Benefits of e. Transcripts

EDI transcripts at SDSU EDI Timeline at SDSU Late 1990’s EDI on floppy disk driven from local feeder schools to SDSU campus Early 2000’s direct FTP between SDSU and local feeder schools & registered on SPEEDE server 2010’s push to increase EDI and soared from 3 mani feeder districts to over 130 trading partners Now – 87% incoming college transcripts are EDI

EDI transcripts at SDSU What we learned as we broadened our base of EDI trading partners: EDI is not difficult, but you need technical resources Handling EDI data from district schools can be a challenge Mapping FICE, ACT, and CEEB data reliably Staff still needs an Image of the transcripts that “looks like a transcript” Shift from touching every transcript coming in to exception processing is both a cultural and procedural change

EDI transcripts at SDSU Other lessons learned with EDI transcripts: Handling ‘Unknown’ trading partners Handling multiple transcripts for the same student – do you overwrite the last transcript or load only new courses and changes? How to handle EDI data for students not yet admitted The importance of reporting of EDI receipt activity Utilizing the SIS and Imaging system to evaluate transcripts/student data to kick off workflows & help staff prioritize workloads

EDI transcripts at SDSU Where we were, and how far we have come with EDI College Transcripts: 2010 – 3 main trading partners mainly paper transcripts 2013 – 26 k+ College Transcripts processed – 70% EDI 2014 – 28 k+ College Transcripts processed – 72% EDI 2015 – 28 k+ College Transcripts processed – 78% EDI 2016 – 28 k+ College Transcripts processed – 79% EDI 2017 – 30 k+ College Transcripts processed – 83% EDI 2018 – 36 k+ College Transcripts processed – 84% EDI 2019(so far) – 30 k+ College Transcripts processed – 87%EDI What really has changed? Hassle free, hands free transfer credit evaluations for most EDI transcripts received

Transcript Processing at SDSU

SDSU EDI Transcript Image

SDSU Transcript Workflows

Questions? Email: wbemis@usc. edu slreyes@sdsu. edu speede@aacrao. edu

Resources Available to You: http: //speedeserver. org