Ed-Fi Student Information Systems API for Data Standard v5 Certification
Certification Name: Ed-Fi Student Information Systems API for Data Standard v5
Standards Referenced:
Ed-Fi Core Student Data API (RFC 16)
Ed-Fi API Design & Implementation Guidelines v7.1
Technical Suite: Suite 3
Obsoletes: –
Obsoleted By: –
Status: Active
Certifying Organization: Ed-Fi Alliance
Contact: certification@ed-fi.org
Publication Date: July 20 2023
Certification Version: 1.0
Last Revision Date: –
Overview and Purpose
The Ed-Fi Student Information Systems API for Data Standard v5 verifies that a Student Information System (the source system, or "provider") can manage a core set of data on a target system (the "consumer") using a set of RESTful APIs defined by ED-FI RFC 16 - CORE STUDENT DATA API.
In this data exchange architecture, the provider — the Student Information System (SIS) — implements an API client which uses HTTPS requests and RESTful patterns to manage API resources on the consumer system, which implements the API definition itself (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Conceptual data exchange architecture
Please note that this certification DOES NOT validate the API implementation, but rather validates the API client (it is a provider certification).
Note that this certification covers exchange of current year data only from a SIS system to the indicated Ed-Fi API. It does not cover the synchronization or transfer of historical records beyond the current school year.
The test scenarios making up the certification are defined and prioritized by the community and described within the SIS API Use Case document. The use case document describes the scope of the API and what is required for API integration.
To receive this certification, a product must be able to use the described APIs (aligned with Data Standard v5.0) to create and manage a defined set of API resources. A table below shows the Ed-Fi API resources that the product is expected to exercise and the operations expected on each resource.
Certification tests only cover the domains and elements that are domain specific expectations of the vendor to fulfill. Certification tests do not reflect the entire surface of Ed-Fi's data standard. Full visibility to the data standard can be found using the following resources:
Certification Requirements
The certification requirements originate out of needs from actual field implementation work in the Ed-Fi community. As such, they contain requirements beyond the ability to successfully exercise the API definitions, but go into areas like error handling, modes of operation (transactional and batch), and additional configuration options. The certification requirements capture demonstrated needs of the Ed-Fi community.
See Student Information Systems API for Data Standard v5 Certification - Steps for a list of all requirements.
Re-certification Requirements
See Student Information Systems API v5 Recertification for details.