Interfaces 

The development of a mechanism to transfer data between institutional student records systems and the Sponsor Management System (SMS) has been the focus of the work of the IT Working Group of the JET (Joint Education Taskforce). The specification for the main interface to allow bulk uploading of information to the SMS to allow certificates to be issued was finalised in April.

Time has not allowed a dynamic interface to be developed – what is proposed is that data extracted from an institution’s student records system to a file is then uploaded from a process within the SMS. It is expected that there will be some form of validation prior to upload, possibly using a validation kit. The format of the upload file will be XML. The final revision of the requirements of the fields for the upload file was released on 9 April following the UKBA review of comments received on the earlier draft. This version was baselined but a revision has since been issued following feedback from the sector. The changes affect three fields:

In each case the size of the field has been increased to a maximum of 250 characters from 35.

It was recognised that there would need to be a feed back into student records systems so that the certificate number could be uploaded into the system. It was also considered necessary at a later stage to identify whether the certificate had been used or not – applicants could be in possession of multiple offers and hence multiple certificates. The certificate would only be used when the migrant applied for a visa. The proposed extract will contain the applicant’s reference number (as allocated by the institution), the CAS number, the status of the CAS (active, used, obsolete, withdrawn), the date of change and the course code and description. A number of options were proposed – to extract the data where the CAS has changed between given dates, to extract data for a given uploaded batch and to extract the data since the last extract. The final proposal (released 9 April) includes reference fields listed to allow matching and upload.

The most recent discussion on the guidance and policy issues highlighted a need for a related interface to update records already in the SMS. This is particularly relevant for updating financial information given the ongoing discussions on what constitutes acceptable evidence on pre-payment of fees. Although this was outside the original specification, it will now been included in the next release of the SMS scheduled for the first quarter of 2010. Although the format of the file was initially the same as the upload file, the final specification (9 April) excludes all but the required fields.

The final interface identified at this stage was a bulk upload of records where the migrants had used their certificate of sponsorship but had failed to enrol on the course they had been accepted on at the institution. It was felt that this was the one time where there would be a significant number of records that needed to be passed back to the SMS to record non-arrival. The third and final draft specification (released 9 April) of the data to be transferred to the SMS has now been released.

UKBA have produced a Bulk Data Transfer Toolkit which contains:

• Introduction to bulk data transfer
• Revised XML specifications
• Details of the additional validation applied to the upload file
• Sample files and supporting documentation
• Frequently asked questions

Summary of interfaces

Bulk data upload
Extract from a student records system to be uploaded into the Sponsor Management System (SMS)
Purpose: To upload initial pre-CAS records by a bulk file from the sponsor's own system without rekeying that data onto the SMS

Bulk data update
Extract from a student records system to be uploaded into the Sponsor Management System (SMS)
Purpose: To update the amount in course/accomodation/boarding fees paid by the migrant to allow an accurate assessment by an Entry Clearance Officer.

Bulk data export
Extract from the SMS to be uploaded into an institutional student records system
Purpose: To provide a bulk file of CAS numbers/statuses of CAS. This information is constructed against search criteria in the SMS.

Bulk data report
Extract from a student records system to be uploaded int the SMS
Purpose: To inform UKBA by transfer of a bulk file of migrants failing to report for study as expected, allowing Sponsors to comply with their responsibilities under PBS.

General validation conditions