Resource Dependency Order

Resources must be loaded into an Ed-Fi ODS / API instance according to a set dependency order.

Dependency Order Overview

The dependency order is enforced through entity relationships in the ODS database or by authorization.

• Dependency order enforced by the entity relationships. Like in any relationship-based database, many entities in the ODS have foreign key relationships with other entities. The ODS / API will return validation errors if constraints for these relationships are not met. While loading or updating data it is important to consider these dependencies to avoid validation errors from the database.
• Dependency order enforced by authorization. Many resources in the ODS / API are authorized by their relationship to education organization and/or people. For example, access to Student and student-related data is restricted by the StudentSchoolAssociation. The same is true for staff members and their relationships provided by the StaffEducationOrganizationEmploymentAssociation and the StaffEducationOrganizationAssignmentAssociation. Access to Parent information is restricted by the accessible Students and their StudentParentAssociations. For example, if "Student A" is accessible, then any Parents to which Student A has a StudentParentAssociation will be accessible as well.

Loading Sequence

The diagram is organized into two sections:

Core Loading Sequence (top) — flows top-to-bottom following dependency order. Each tier must be fully loaded before proceeding to the next. Nodes at the same tier can be loaded in parallel. The (xx) notation indicates loading dependency order number. The dashed Additional Student Domain node is an abstraction placeholder — it expands into the full detail shown in the lower section.

Additional Student Domain (bottom) — shows the entities loaded after student enrollment is established. These nodes are largely independent of each other and can be loaded in parallel. Only Teaching & Learning #2 has a dependency within this group, flowing into Student Grade Domain.

Color	Domain Category
Green	Core structure (descriptors, ed org, calendar, teaching & learning, graduation, cohort)
Blue	Student-related entities
Gold	Staff-related entities
Dashed border	Abstraction placeholder (expands into Additional Student Domain)

Core Loading Sequence

The (xx) notation indicates loading dependency order number.

Additional Student Domain

note

All dependencies must be satisfied above before running any of the logic here.

Download the diagram: [ PDF Version | Vizio format ]

Domain Reference

Core Loading Sequence

Education Organization Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Descriptors	1	Foundation for all coded values
Local Education Agency	4	Required before School
School	5	Required before calendar/schedule entities

School Calendar Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Grading Period	6	Parallel with Calendar
Calendar	6	Parallel with Grading Period
Calendar Date	7	Requires Calendar
Session	7	Requires Grading Period

Teaching & Learning Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Location	6	Parallel with Class Period
Class Period	6	Parallel with Location
Bell Schedule	7	Requires Class Period
Course	8	Requires Ed Org
Course Offering	9	Requires Course + Session
Section	10	Requires Course Offering + Location + Class Period

Graduation Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Graduation Plans	12	Requires Section

Student & Contact

Entity	Order	Notes
Student	3	Insert only at this stage
Contact	3	Insert only at this stage
Student School Assoc.	13	Requires Student + School

Student Cohort Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Cohort	9	Requires Ed Org

Staff Ed Org Assoc. Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Staff	16	Insert only at this stage
Staff Ed Org Employment Assoc.	17	OR use Assignment Assoc.
Staff Ed Org Assignment Assoc.	18	OR use Employment Assoc.
Staff (Update)	19	Full staff detail update
Staff School Assoc.	19	Requires Staff + School
Staff Section Assoc.	19	Requires Staff + Section
Staff Cohort	19	Requires Staff + Cohort

Additional Student Domain

Student ID & Demographics

Entity	Order	Notes
Student (Update)	14	Full demographic update
Student Ed Org Assoc.	14	Requires Student + Ed Org
Student Contact Assoc.	14	Requires Student + Contact
Contact (Update)	15	Full contact detail update

Student Attendance Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
School Attendance Event	14	Requires Student School Assoc.
Section Attendance Event	14	Requires Student Section Assoc.

Teaching & Learning #2

Entity	Order	Notes
Student Section Assoc.	14	Requires Student + Section
Grade	15	Requires Student Section Assoc. + Grading Period

Student Cohort Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Student Cohort	14	Requires Student + Cohort

Student Academic Record

Entity	Order	Notes
Academic Record	14	Requires Student School Assoc.
Course Transcript	19	Requires Academic Record + Section

Alt. Supplemental Services

Entity	Order	Notes
Program	8	Requires Ed Org
Student Program	14	Requires Student + Program
Student CTE	14	Requires Student Program
Student Homeless	14	Requires Student Program
Language Instruction	14	Requires Student Program
Student Migrant	14	Requires Student Program
Neglected / Delinquent	14	Requires Student Program
School Food Service	14	Requires Student Program
Title I Part A	14	Requires Student Program

Discipline Domain

Entity	Order	Notes
Discipline Incident	6	Requires Ed Org
Student Incident Behavior	14	Requires Student + Discipline Incident
Discipline Action	19	Requires Student Incident Behavior

Dependency Order Endpoint

As an API client developer, it is useful to know the dependency order of resources to load the data and minimize authorization and validation errors in API responses.

The ODS / API provides a dependency metadata endpoint at /metadata/data/v3/dependencies to show this dependency order based on each HTTP operation. The default GET generates a JSON response with an order group of resource endpoints that can be loaded at the same time. The response also includes the "Create" and "Update" operations that can be performed in that order group. "Delete" operations are to be performed at the reverse order of Create operations. API Client developers can use this as documentation or can use it programmatically for orchestration of API calls.

Partial listing of the Dependencies endpoint

{
  ...
  {
    "resource": "/ed-fi/studentTransportations",
    "order": 14,
    "operations": [
      "Create",
      "Update"
    ]
  },
  {
    "resource": "/tpdm/financialAids",
    "order": 14,
    "operations": [
      "Create",
      "Update"
    ]
  },
  {
    "resource": "/ed-fi/contacts",
    "order": 15,
    "operations": [
      "Update"
    ]
  },
  {
    "resource": "/ed-fi/credentials",
    "order": 15,
    "operations": [
      "Create",
      "Update"
    ]
  },
  {
    "resource": "/ed-fi/grades",
    "order": 15,
    "operations": [
      "Create",
      "Update"
    ]
  }
  ...
}

Adding a header Accept with a value of application/graphml can be passed to obtain dependency output in the graphml XML format.

Partial listing of the Dependencies endpoint in GraphML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<graphml xmlns="http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns http://graphml.graphdrawing.org/xmlns/1.0/graphml.xsd">
<graph id="EdFi Dependencies" edgedefault="directed">
<node id="/ed-fi/absenceEventCategoryDescriptors"/>
<node id="/ed-fi/academicHonorCategoryDescriptors"/>
<node id="/ed-fi/academicSubjectDescriptors"/>
<node id="/ed-fi/academicWeeks"/>
<node id="/ed-fi/accommodationDescriptors"/>
<node id="/ed-fi/accountabilityRatings"/>
<node id="/ed-fi/accountTypeDescriptors"/>
<node id="/ed-fi/achievementCategoryDescriptors"/>
...

The example below shows the dependency order enforced by authorization on the Students resource. You can see that Student creation is at order 3, StudentSchoolAssociation creation is at order 13, and the Student update is at order 14. This shows that a client cannot edit a student record it has created until an enrollment record has been established.

{
  ...
  {
    "resource": "/ed-fi/students",
    "order": 3,
    "operations": [
      "Create"
    ]
  },
  ...
  {
    "resource": "/ed-fi/studentSchoolAssociations",
    "order": 13,
    "operations": [
      "Create",
      "Update"
    ]
  },
  ...
  {
    "resource": "/ed-fi/students",
    "order": 14,
    "operations": [
      "Update"
    ]
  },
  ...
}

note

You can explore the dependency endpoint at the Ed-Fi Alliance-hosted sandbox: Dependency Endpoint in Ed-Fi ODS / API Sandbox