Introduction to Terra Dotta Applications Integration with Campus Data Systems for institutions beginning their software implementation

 Collaboration: ITS and “The Office”  Terra Dotta Support  Terra Dotta Professional Services  Hosted vs. Installed  Optional: all, some, or no integrations  Timing of integration not critical  Integration after initial launch is possible  Custom interfaces (not covered here)  Legacy data import (not covered here) Introduction

 Enrollee data seamlessly and reliably available  Facilitate access to important data  No duplicate data entry  Central management of official records  User identity verification  Use established authentication system  No additional identity management  Ensure security Purpose of Data Systems Integration

 Interfaces  Secure Campus Login (SCL) User authentication/identification  Student Information System (SIS) Applicant data profile  Human Resources (HR) Employee identity information Data Systems Integration Overview

 The UUUID  Unique: no two users share a common ID  Universal: common identifier system for all users  Unchanging: IDs are permanent and never recycled  SCL (secure campus login)  Required for SIS or HR integration to function  Must be able to return the UUUID  Optional non-SCL login for external users User Identification and Authentication

 Virtually any authentication system supported  Login interface options  Integrated login: direct post from TD login page  Split login: redirect to authN system  LDAP: popular option  Ready resource  Integrated login  Standard interface SCL – Approaches

 Instructions and example code available for major systems, including:  LDAP  Active Directory  CAS  Shibboleth  Cosign  Also: Home-grown and vendor-proprietary systems  Single sign-on with web portals More About SCL

 LDAP and web services are a simple, integrated approach  When required, authN is handled on the campus system; user is redirected with a secure authN token  Authorizations are managed by privileged users in the Terra Dotta software SCL Review

 Generally not against live transactional SIS; rather: data warehouse or extracts  No direct programming to API of the SIS  No limitation to or preference for SIS vendor systems  Select data are copied into the Terra Dotta database, not displayed as real-time image  Nightly task refreshes and archives data values SIS Integration – Preliminaries

1.Office identifies set of desired data fields 2.SIS admin reviews the list 3.ITS determines mechanism for SIS interface 4.ITS programs/schedules any feeds/load jobs 5.Office/ITS creates data mappings in Terra Dotta software 6.Office tests the interface SIS Integration – Process Overview

 Source options  Live transactional database  Data warehouse/datamart  Mechanism options  View  Materialized view  Extract file/table  Stored procedures *  Web services * *custom interfaces SIS Integration - Provisioning

 Requirements  High availability  Flattened records  One record per student  Data requirements must be observed Presence of UUUID and required fields Universal population where required Data type and length  Source must contain all eligible students * * Deferred Fetch approach allows population of records for just those students who have indicated interest (by logging in to the system). See subsequent slide on this topic. SIS Integration – Provisioning, cont’d

 Only provides data for students applying or expressing interest  Mechanism/resource (e.g., LDAP) needed for initial, limited data fetch: ID, name,  Terra Dotta system provides an interface that lists IDs of all current applicants  SIS interface is provisioned based on the current applicants list  Built-in nightly task in TD system fetches full data profile for current applicants SIS Provisioning: Deferred Fetch Method

 Extract tables have best performance  Web services generally weakest performance  If creating views  Join and subselect as few tables as possible  Index as needed  Consider materialized view  Benchmark the queries to the SIS, ideally through the Terra Dotta system  Tune and/or scale back as needed SIS Integration – Performance

 Purpose  Lookup and fetch basic identity information for adding administrative users to the system.  Recommender lookup and request system.  Allow SCL user authentication for ease of access and better security.  Mechanism  Most commonly LDAP: ready resource; limited field requirements; coding instructions provided in documentation.  Standard interface: queriable table or view HR Directory Integration

For Further Reading The topics covered in this presentation are elaborated in more detail in the documentation listed at the following URL See in particular the section titled System Integration.