Jan 2002 CSG Meteor Project Real-time access to financial aid information

From Meteor Project software Meteor software is a Web service to obtain a student borrower’s own financial aid information from a number of different data sources and present it to the borrower. The Meteor access provider software can be installed on any Website--a college, university, lender, guaranty agency, secondary market, servicer, or collection agency. The software is Open Source.

From The Meteor Project... Makes information from remote sources available in real-time via the Web to students financial aid professionals. Permits colleges and universities to support a “locally branded” channel on their Web site. Leads a shift in financial aid delivery technology to Web services

From Meteor design principles Comply with information technology standards SFA CIO standards NCHELP CommonLine College and university collaboration (Internet 2/Shibboleth, JA-SIG) Financial services industry (IFX) Information technology industry When standards conflict, attempt to obtain convergence

Jan 2002 CSG The Title IV FinAid system Students can have many loans – and those can be held by more than one lender. The providers include lenders, guarantors, servicers, Dept of Ed SFA Cooperating to exchange data even while competing -- coopetition

Jan 2002 CSG Meteor dramatis personae Index Provider Data Providers Access Provider Borrower or Financial Aid Provider

Jan 2002 CSG Authentication Borrower authenticates to access provider Access provider authenticates to index and data providers as trusted speaker including information about the “level of authentication” This requires a Club Meteor: a set of agreements and registration process. Meteor members register with the Meteor Oversight Board.

Jan 2002 CSG The query message: SAML assertions for queries. Who is the Access Provider The Role of the User (Borrower or Finanacial Aid Provider (FAP) A user identifier If the Role is FAP, then this is the OPE ID and a unique local id associated with the user If the Role is borrower, then this is the borrower's SSN The Authentication/ Assurance Level

Jan 2002 CSG The response message Index Provider returns list of data providers holding loans Each data provider returns a CommonLine XML record with loan info or some failure status.

Jan 2002 CSG Shibboleth model applies? No Meteor has B2B messaging: not one of the Shibboleth scenarios. Release of information does not follow quite the same pattern. Level of authentication is new to Shibboleth. Yes Similar definition of club (multilateral arrangement). Meteor members already have strong “club” affiliation (CommonLine, Dept of Ed., NCHELP, ELM has already brought a lot of coordination. Possible use of some of the Shib components

Jan 2002 CSG Shibboleth & Meteor A win-win for both groups Shibboleth team can address applications outside the standard inter-campus fare. Gets more exposure to B2B Meteor gets to evaluate trust model used for Shib. Has resulted in streamlined process for authenticating “speaker” Meteor can possibly benefit from using existing components.

Jan 2002 CSG An evolving picture Meteor need for “levels of authentication” has provided Shibboleth with another design point Ongoing work in the Meteor Authentication Team to nail down design Collaboration with Stephen and the Shibboleth team

Jan 2002 CSG Meteor Shib end