# Presentation: 249791

## Slide 1

## Session # 50Presented by:Russell Judd		Chief Industry and Government Relations OfficerGreat Lakes Educational Loan ServicesMichael SessaExecutive DirectorPostsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC)

***Standards & ******Open Systems***

## Agenda

- “*Standard*” Defined
- Benefits of Standards
- Open Standards
- Players & Stakeholders
- Hierarchy
- History in Financial Aid
- Relevance – Today and Tomorrow
- Getting Involved

## “Standard” Defined

- Specific guidelines for data exchange that can include:
- Transport/transmission of data
- Data itself (format, element names, definitions, transactions, etc)
- Security (protocols to protect data)
- Authentication (identity recognition and verification)

## “Standard” Defined

- Agreed upon guidelines set:
- By government regulation or legislation
- Formally through cooperation, study, and approval by designated accredited standards-setting bodies:
- National and/or international
- Industry agreement and collaboration

## Data standards must be supported by business standards, agreement on common policy and process
Common policy (Common Manual)
Common terminology and definitions
Common business purpose and transactions (CommonLine)

- Common policy (Common Manual)
- Common terminology and definitions
- Common business purpose and transactions (CommonLine)

***“******Standard” Defined***

## “Standard” Defined

- Proprietary methods:
- Are often misrepresented as standards
- Become a duplicate of existing or new standard
- Are often created intentionally to “capture” or “lock-in” customers or partners
- Are often controlled by small but influential groups *without open or public participation*
- Raise costs for everyone
- Become impediments for industry progression road blocking ability to move forward with new features and technologies

## Benefits of Standards

- Streamline processes – eliminate unnecessary complexities
- Improve service to customers by expanding functionality and reducing costs
- Decreases delivery time of new services to customers
- Future services can be added to a standard framework

## Benefits of Standards

- Reduces or eliminates the cost of maintaining multiple methods
- “Level the playing field” and promote competition based on service, not on process or technology
- Ability to plug-n-play and interoperate
- Partners can integrate, communicate, and exchange information easier which enables value-added services
- Simpler interconnectivity between partners allows new business alliances

## Open Standards

- Ensure input from all interested parties
- Are developed by an objective body who is NOT itself a stakeholder (the standards body doesn’t benefit directly from the services which use the standard)
- Are available and accessible for public comment

## Allows interoperability between implementers
Precludes a participation cost or fee to use 
Do not require participants to use proprietary software/hardware

- Precludes a participation cost or fee to use
- Do not require participants to use proprietary software/hardware

***Open Standards***

## Players & Stakeholders

- Technical, industry-independent groups
- OASIS, W3C, X12
- Government groups - FSA
- Higher Education
- Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC)
- AACRAO’s Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchange (SPEEDE) Committee for EDI Academic Transcripts and Test Scores
- NCHELP’s Electronic Standards Committee (ESC) for CommonLine

## Hierarchy

- Financial Aid Industry Technical and Business Standards

- Stakeholder Implementations (CommonLine, COD, Meteor, NSLDS II)

*Standards are built ****upon**** ****standards***

- Data definitions, XML Standards

***Hierarchy***

## Hierarchy

- NCHELP and FSA

- Stakeholder Implementations (Lenders, Guarantors, Schools, Originators, Secondary Markets, Servicers, ED, SIS vendors, etc.)

*Standards are built ****upon**** ****standards***

- PESC

***Hierarchy***

## History in Financial Aid

- CommonLine
- Common Account Maintenance (CAM)
- NSLDS
- E-Sign
- Common Record
- CommonLine/Common Record Convergence
- PESC Core Data Dictionary and Web Services

## Relevance – Today and Tomorrow

- Real-time services – another evolutionary step
- Standards are the necessary linchpin to make new technology happen
- FSA is committed and active in standards-setting and development (PESC, CommonLine/Common Record convergence, Web Services)

## Relevance – Today and Tomorrow

- Meteor – developing communication, authentication, and data definitions built on work of public and industry standards-setting bodies (PESC, OASIS, JA-SIG, Internet 2)
- CommonLine/Common Record convergence
- XML-based data transmission
- Web Services
- Decreasing and limited role for proprietary processes and layouts

## Getting Involved

*Participate in the standards process* – your participation provides a voice and influence for you institution and service providers
*Practice and promote the standards* – this will maximize time and monetary investment
*Pre-empt efforts* to develop proprietary methods

## Getting Involved!

- PESC
- Join PESC and the XML Forum
- membership info available at www.StandardsCouncil.org
- NCHELP
- Visit www.NCHELP.org
- Join the ESC
- Join the School Advisory Group

## Contact Information

- Russell Judd
- 608-246-1500
- rjudd@glhec.org
- Michael Sessa
- 202-293-7383
- sessa@standardscouncil.org