CCCTran Programming Quick Start for IT CCCApply / CCCTran Northern California Workshop April 9, 2009 Chabot College, Hayward, CA Kris Backus IT Analyst Los Rios Community College District

CCCTran at Los Rios CCD Pilot for Sacramento City College – programming began in November 2005 LIVE for requests – July, 2007 Additional colleges that are live: Folsom Lake College American River College Cosumnes River College Total transcripts released: 28,698 (4/8/09) Interfacing SIS: PeopleSoft CS 9.0

Agenda Where to start? Design and development – what are your institution’s requirements? Request processing and transcript generation Testing (the Beta site)

Where to start? Get the CCCTran Implementation Guide (see below) Build your team: IT staff, A&R staff (functional expertise, testing) Data Dictionary, View Specs, examples: ccc-tran.org > File Repository Help from others: CCCTran List Servs, IT staff at Live colleges

Where to start? (cont.) Implementation Guide at www.ccc-tran.org: File Repository > Support Files > Implementation Guides > CCCTran Implementation Guide rev 1A

Where to start? (cont.) Get the XAP Communicator: Not required for initial testing, but you will want to plan for automating your uploads and downloads Login to beta.control.xap.com Application Processing > Download Manager Click “Automate Download” tab Download and install the XAP Communicator executable (can be installed on local machine for testing)

Design and Development Questions to answer: Will you generate transcripts, requests or both? What file format(s) will you use? Will you automate? how often? Will you support request hold options? (wait until grade posting, degree/certif. award, etc.) Do you have any student holds that prevent release of transcript? What fields are required to match students in your SIS? How will you handle offline records searches?

Design and Development (cont.) How Los Rios answered: Will you generate transcripts, requests or both? Transcripts only for Phase I Requests for Phase II (student self-service requests) What file format(s) will you use? ASCII Will you automate? how often? Yes. Download requests every 15 minutes. Upload transcripts on same schedule.

Design and Development (cont.) How Los Rios answered: Will you support request hold options? (wait until grade posting, degree/certif. award, etc.) Yes. Grades, degrees/certs., specific date Do you have any student holds that prevent release of transcript? Yes – Balance Due hold, Athletic Equip., Library fines

Design and Development (cont.) How Los Rios answered: What fields are required to match students in your SIS? SSN and birthdate or Student ID and birthdate How will you handle offline records searches? “OR” response back to CCCTran – A&R staff to monitor

Request Processing CCCTran – Parties involved: Requesting Institution Recipient Institution Transcript Institution CCCTran – Files involved: Request File Response File Transcript File

Request Processing

Request Processing

Request Processing

Request Processing

Request Processing

Request Processing

Request Processing

Request Processing

Request Processing (cont.) What does a request file look like? ASCII example: RCL|O001371268038713Adams|20090325|1515|OR|T|||||||| REQ|038713|004462|34673713451259|Folsom Lake College|Christine Wurzer||wurzerc@flc.losrios.edu|9166086500||10 College Parkway|Folsom|CA|US|95630 TRN|038713|004462|34673713451259|Folsom Lake College REC||038713|004462|34673713451259|Folsom Lake College|Christine Wurzer||wurzerc@flc.losrios.edu|9166086500||10 College Parkway|Folsom|CA|US|95630 STU|Adams|John||||||||||||||||||||999999999|||19860624|||||||||||||||| 99A|O001371268038713Adams What do all these fields mean? That’s what you need the Data Dictionary for!

Request Processing (cont.)

Sample Request Processing Flowchart

Sample Request Processing Flowchart

Request File Accept requests from which institutions? Control Center setup or control locally? Format – ASCII or XML? Set in Control Center How will you access the data? Store locally for later access?

Search for Student Record Fields? ID, SSN, DOB, Name, other? Should be same as setup in Control Center. Also consider Fields for Offline Records search.

No Match  Response Response format – ASCII or XML? Offline Records (OR) or No Record (NR)? Search list for A&R – from Control Center or locally generated list?

Multiple Matches  Response At Los Rios this situation does occur – we sometimes have duplicate IDs on our SIS.

Deceased Student  Response Unlikely, but can be included in your programming if the information is available.

Request Conditions? Wait to send transcript until after: Grades posted, degree/certificate awarded, grade change, current term enrollment, specific date, “other”. Will you support some or all? Control Center setup (available terms)

Condition not met  Response If possible, indicate a Planned Release Date. Will be used for Request Recycling

Check for local holds

Local Hold (not recycled)  Response Transmission Type (RCL08) = OR (Original) means the initial Request Transmission Type (RCL08) = RP (Replacement) means a Recycled Request Response – include Hold Reason

Recycled Request – Holds Changed? What holds existed at time of most recent Response? Best to avoid repeated responses for the same condition.

Recycled Request – Repeated Response

Recycled Request – Respond or Ignore If same hold(s), then do nothing. If different holds, send a new Response. Optional: If Request is “too old”, then reject the request. Response Status = CN (Cancelled).

Generate Transcript Format – ASCII or XML? If partial transcript, set 01A13 = P

Programming - Transcript What fields to include? Optional? Include everything on your official transcript District-wide transcript? See the District-Wide Transcripts Guide on XAP SIS free text to CCCTran coded field If variable may be difficult or impossible to translate

Programming - Transcript 7.4.3 Structure and Construction of Transcript Files The CCCASCII Transcript file includes the following segments: • Transaction Controls Segment (01A) – General Transcript information: Transcript ID; Request tracking ID; date and time; flags for official/unofficial, original/replacement, production/test, partial/complete, district-wide. • Student Identity Segment (02A) – Identity and contact information about the student whose Transcript is to be provided. • District Identity Segment (03A) – Optional: Identity and contact information about the college requested to provide the Transcript. • College Identity Segment (03B) – Identity and contact information about the college(s) providing Transcript data. There can be just one 03B segment unless the district-wide flag is set in the 01A segment. • Various transcript data segments (04x to 09x) – Consult the CCCTran Data Dictionary for more information. • Recipient Institution Identity Segment (10A) – Identity and contact information about the college to receive the Transcript. • End of Request Segment (99A) – Repetition of the Transcript ID. When the Transcript is constructed, the following will be copied from the Request: • Transaction Controls Segment– Request tracking ID; flags for official/unofficial, original/replacement, production/test. • Recipient Institution Identity Segment– All.

Programming - Transcript Views Specification – map your data fields to the CCCTran transcript view (File Repository > Support Files > Data Specifications > CCCTranViewsSpec v2.8)

Testing – the Beta Site https://beta.control.xap.com Beta Control Center/beta server allows complete testing Upload validation on Control Center very helpful to programmer Admissions and Records should test all info that appears on your transcript To/from your own college (transcript views) With trading partners Follow Best Practices for guarding SSNs

Helpful Resources SSN Best Practices: http://www.oispp.ca.gov/consumer_privacy/pdf/ssnrecommendations.pdf File Repository on www.ccc-tran.org Implementation guides, sample code Data dictionary, view specifications This presentation!

Questions?

Kris Backus Technical CCCTran listserv: IT Analyst Information Technology Department Los Rios Community College District backusk@losrios.edu Steering Committee listserv: ccctransteering@listserv.cccnext.net Technical CCCTran listserv: ccctran-technical@listserv.cccnext.net