Rick opened his discussion with an introduction to EDI, stating it is designed to meet legal requirements. If your school requires a signature for a transcript, then that is considered a legal requirement. He pointed out the benefits of using a regional consortium. You are able to sign with one entity, but are able to send electronic transmissions to all who signed with the consortium. The server handles the public and private keys and encryption preferences of the participants.
Encryption is a huge effort for little risk.
The perception is if it s encrypted, it s secure. Rick recommends the Transaction Set TS131. It acknowledges if an institution receives your transcript. If you didn t send one, it indicates forgery. It also gives a report of how many courses, the GPA and how many degrees are on the transcript.