Since the same school shares these applications, it makes sense to group them together into a logical entity. A ZIS is required for each zone that is part of the system topography. There are no predefined sizes for zones so a zone can be as large or small as required in order to meet the needs of the customer. There are also no limits to the number of zones in an installation. In more complex architectures, there can be multiple zones where each zone can communicate with each other.
Applications rely on their agent to exchange data using a predefined data model.
Agents then communicate with other agents using the ZIS as a routing resource. The ZIS also provides access control so the customer can control what applications have access to what SIF data. The data that can be exchanged in SIF is defined using a series of data objects. These objects are expressed using XML and comprise the schemas that define the semantics of information that can be managed by the applications. StudentSchoolEnrollment , StudentPersonal , and TeacherPersonal are three of the many predefined data objects.