Transcript What is it? Why is it important?

Meteor and Financial Aid Delivery
Justin Tilton
instructional media + magic, inc.
As presented at
HEWI/AACRAO 2001 Student Aid Modernization Conference
September 26, 2001
Arlington, Virginia
The Meteor Project
Overview
• Status report on the OSFA and some of the
key initiatives that will impact the future of
Financial Aid
• Emerging technologies: portals, uPortal,
channels – and how this relates to Meteor
• The Meteor Project: description, status, and
delivery timeline
The Meteor Project
Financial aid services
• In the past, regulations drove practices and
limited services
• Now, information technology drives practices
and has the potential to increase service
________________
Using information technology, the U.S.
Department of Education is improving its
services, setting higher expectations
Some key initiatives
The Meteor Project
• Department of Education OSFA
• Web enabled applications
• Common Origination and Disbursements
• Student loan industry
• ELM Resources
• The Meteor Project
• College and university collaboratives
• JA-SIG (Java in Administration Special Interest Group)
• Internet 2 and Shibboleth
• MIT’s Open Knowledge Initiative
• Florida State University, University of Hawaii
• “30 minute application to funds”
The Meteor Project
SFA Web-enabled applications
• FAFSA on the web
• Schools portal
release 2.0 with single sign-on
• Financial partners portals – FY 2002
• Student on-line access to
direct loan servicing
• API to SFA systems
Web Application
The Meteor Project
FAFSA on the Web - 2001
FAFSA e-Filers
4.5
4.0
Millions of students
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FAFSA On The Web
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
97-98
98-99
99-00
00-01
The Meteor Project
Schools Portal Prototype
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Federal Experience
• Customers using electronic services are
more satisfied than those that don’t.
• Agencies that measure customer satisfaction
• Have better customer satisfaction that the
federal government as a whole
• In general, are improving customer
satisfaction
Expect...
The Meteor Project
• SFA Common Origination and Disbursements
• 2002-2003
Batch Processing Pilot
• 2004-2005
Schools required to communicate with
COD using XML
• 2003-2004
Schools have the option to send real
time messaging
As reported by Kay Jacks at the
2001 NASFAA Annual Conference
• Electronic Signatures
• Limited use of SFA PIN
• Replaced by Internet 2/SAML December 2002 (no
official commitment)
As mentioned by Steve Hawald at the
2001 Summer JASIG Conference
The Meteor Project
Expect that...
• Alternative loans will be the largest source
of financial aid by 2005
Estimated from a forthcoming report by the
Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance
• The focal point of financial aid information
and transactions will be the college or
university
• “Web services” will be the basis for new
information technology infrastructure
• New college and university administrative
systems will be based on Web services;
component architecture will become
available 2003, and widely implemented
between 2004 and 2005
The Meteor Project
Impact on colleges and universities
Changes:
• From Batch to Real-time Transactions,
• From Proprietary File Transfers to Internet
XML Messaging Standards
• From SFA-defined to Industry Standard
Message Content
• An integrated Student Experience
• Use of SFA-provided Java (J2EE)
shared-components
NCHELP-sponsored “convergence”
The Meteor Project
• Business messages
OSFA Common Record, IFX Forum,
CommonLine, PESC, industry XML
• Data transport
OSFA, CommonLine, PESC, industry SOAP
and ebXML
• Authentication (in progress)
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OSFA Internet 2/Shibboleth, JA-SIG,
industry SAML, SOAP_DSIG
• Directory Services (soon)
• OSFA, Meteor, industry UDDI
The Meteor Project
The Meteor Project
• An initiative of the student loan industry
• Collaborative effort of 37 guaranty agencies,
lenders, secondary markets, and servicers
• On-line, real-time information services
• Separate channels for students and financial
aid professionals
• Aligned with industry, SFA standards
______________________
“Building the IT infrastructure for the next
decade”
The Meteor Project
A Glimpse: Florida State University
In “30 minutes” on-line:
• Apply for admission and be accepted
• Apply for financial aid, including the FAFSA,
receive an award, issue credits and initiate
funds transfer
• Apply for housing and receive a housing
assignment
• Enroll in classes
__________________
FSU reports general agreement with OSFA for their design
Richard Tombaugh Aug 2001
The Meteor Project
Students expectations shaped by...
• Their experience applying
for federal financial aid
• Their use of financial services portals
• Their use of the Internet
• Their life in a “real-time,
information rich” environment
The Meteor Project
Students now expect...
• Customer service
24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Complete information from
a single source
• Delivery by Web, e-mail, telephone,
facsimile, and wireless devices
• response time of 15 seconds for
telephone, 10 seconds for Web,
and 2 hours for e-mail and facsimile
• access to a complete customer history
The Meteor Project
College students choose a Web site...
Ranked by importance
• College or university’s portal
if adequate
• Suggestions of other students
• Print advertisements
• Web search
The Meteor Project
Is technology important?
• Technology choices determine the quality of
electronic services offered to Web-savvy
prospective students, current students,
alumni, faculty, staff and the public.
• Technology choices will determine with
whom you do e-business and how it is done.
The Meteor Project
SFA technology choices
• XML - B2B Standard
• Business Messages
• XML Schema (data validation)
• Java - Transportable Programs
• Shared Java Components
• Web Implementations – FAFSA
• UML - Unified Modeling Language
eBusiness Web services architecture
The Meteor Project
• XML “tagged” data content
eXtensible Markup Language
• SOAP data transport
Simple Object Access Protocol
• XSL transformations for presentation
eXtensible stylesheet language
• XML Digital Signature
for Server Authentication
• UDDI/WSDL directory services
Universal Description, Discovery, and
Integration,and Web Services Description
Language
The Meteor Project
Technology standards
Industry
Java Programming Language
XML Markup Language
SOAP Data Transport
UDDI Directory
WSDL Service Description
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M - from Meteor installation
O - optional
The Meteor Project
Announced support of Web services
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Feb 2000
OSFA U.S. DOE
Sep 2000
NCHELP CommonLine ESC
Oct 2000
NCHELP’s Meteor Project
Dec 2000
IBM Corporation
Feb 2001
Sun Microsystems
Mar 2001
Microsoft Corporation
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Portals, uPortal (JA-SIG),
and Channels
The Meteor Project
Portal defined
• generally synonymous with a gateway, for a
World Wide Web site that is or proposes to
be a major starting site for users when they
get connected to the Web
www.whatis.com, May 19, 2001
• “A portal’s main reason for existence is to
integrate disparate systems and data into a
unified, centrally accessible interface.”
Jim Paroza, “Enterprise value of portals is clear,”
eWeek, Sep 13, 2002
The Meteor Project
Yahoo, the portal “standard”
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The Meteor Project
MyYahoo, a personal portal
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The Meteor Project
The Academic Web World
Research
Library
Administrative
Instruction
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Why a campus portal?
• Improves productivity and satisfaction
• Integrates divergent systems
• Creates a set of templates and standards for
developing and delivering Web materials
• Becomes a platform to quickly and efficiently
introduce new technologies (channels)
The Meteor Project
Why are portals important?
• Helps knowledge workers
to be more productive
• Preferred by users
• Market share
• Brand identity
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• A viable architecture for
information services
• Time to market
• Improved services
• Lower costs
The Meteor Project
Features of uPortal
• Framework for presenting aggregated
content (channels)
• Personalization
• Role-based access control
• Single signon to multiple systems
The Meteor Project
A student’s view of the Web
The Meteor Project
A student’s view of the Web
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The Meteor Project
A Customized Portal
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The Meteor Project
uPortal for the Pilot Implementation
• Open Source Software
• Features used by Meteor
• Readily available
The Meteor Project
JA-SIG
• Java in Administration Special interest Group
• A development collaborative and a
clearinghouse for JAVA based software
developed specifically by and for colleges
and universities.
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• Current focus: uPortal – an full feature
enterprise web application portal
The Meteor Project
uPortal Interfaces
• Authentication
• Proving your identity
• Authorization
• Deciding what you can access
• User preferences
• Profiles, structure, themes, skins
• Channel information
• Availability and configuration
The Meteor Project
Content Transformation
XML
XHTML: Web Browser
XSLT
Processor
HTML: PDA
Stylesheet
WML: Cell Phone
The Meteor Project
Tab / Column Layout
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The Meteor Project
Tree / Column Layout
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The Meteor Project
Theme: uosm
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The Meteor Project
Theme: java
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The Meteor Project
Theme: imm
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The Meteor Project
Theme: matrix
The Meteor Project
Multiple Target Devices
The Meteor Project
What is a Channel?
• Displays content
• XML feeds (events, news items, etc.)
• Legacy systems (registration, library)
• Interactive applications
• Meteor
• Bookmarks
• Email, chat, threaded discussions
The Meteor Project
XML “feed” Channel
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Where does The Meteor Project fit
into all of this?
The Meteor Project
Relationship of Meteor and JA-SIG
JA-SIG
The Meteor
Project
uPortal
Meteor Channel
The Meteor Project
The Meteor Project
Meteor is the software and service to obtain
a student’s own financial aid information
from a number of different sources.
• The software can be installed on any
Website--a school, lender, guaranty
agency, secondary market, servicer, or
collection agency.
• The software is Open Source--a “gift”
from the Meteor sponsors to the financial
aid community.
The Meteor Project
Data from multiple sources, locations
The Pilot Implementation
The Meteor Project
Reference implementation
The reference implementation includes:
• Authentication of the user
• A list of loans
• Details on any specific loan
• Error, warning, and information messages
for the user
The Meteor Project
Meteor authentication
The Meteor Project
Meteor list of loans
The Meteor Project
Sample Meteor loan detail
The Meteor Project
User message, no Meteor service
The Meteor Project
User message, please call
How does Meteor work?
The Meteor Project
Meteor in a nutshell…
UDDI
Lender
XML
The Meteor Project
The first step…
The student chooses a
portal to their Financial
Aid information
The Meteor Project
Next, a secure connection
The Meteor Project
Requests sent...
XML
Guaranty
Agencies
NSC
SFA
<LoanHistoryRq>
<CustPermId>448377707</CustPermId>
<DateOfBirth>1980-09-03</DateOfBirth>
</LoanHistoryRq>
The Meteor Project
Responses returned
XML
NSC
XML
XML
GA
SFA
<LoanInformation>
<LenderIdType>OPEID</LenderIdType>
<LenderId>809063</LenderId>
<LenderName>Bank of Oklahoma</LenderName>
<SchoolIdType>OPEID</SchoolIdType>
<SchoolId>003152</SchoolId>
<SchoolBranch>00</SchoolBranch>
<SchoolName>University of Central Oklahoma</SchoolName>
<InformationSourceIdType>OPEID</InformationSourceIdType>
<InformationSourceId>809063</InformationSourceId>
<InformationSourceName>Bank of
Oklahoma</InformationSourceName>
<InformationSourceDate>2000-11-12</InformationSourceDate>
</LoanInformation>
The Meteor Project
Aggregated data in portal
The Meteor Project
Student wants details
The Meteor Project
Request for detail sent to Lender
Lender
XML
The Meteor Project
Detail screen displayed
Lender
XML
The Meteor Project
Diagram of Meteor Concept
Web Services
HTML
Student
Meteor
XML
Access Provider
Data Provider
The Meteor Project
As implemented ...
Web Services
Meteor
Secure HTML
Standard
Browser
Secure XML
uPortal
Meteor
SOAP
Meteor
SOAP
Database
The Meteor Project
The development configuration
Linux
Apache
Tomcat
Standard
Browser
Linux
Apache
Tomcat
uPortal
uPortal
Meteor SOAP
JAVA Components
Meteor SOAP
JAVA Components
Database
JDBC Connection
The Meteor Project
Some history
• White paper
• Sponsors believe in the concept
• A convergence effort
• Development of Pilot
• Community awareness
• Enterprise software development
The Meteor Project
Convergence: Data Transport
SOAP [SFA]
“Simple SOAP” [Meteor]
ebXML [PESC]
SOAP [NCHELP ESC]
September 2000
March
April
The Meteor Project
Convergence: Business Messages
CommonLine R5 [ESC]
LoanML [IFX]
CommonLine XML [ESC]
Common Record [SFA]
June 2000
December
May
The Meteor Project
Convergence: Authentication
SFA [NCS Proprietary]
XTASS [VeriSign]
AuthML [Securant]
S2ML [Netegrity]
SAML [Oasis]
Internet 2 [Shibboleth]
December 2000
March
June
The Meteor Project
The pilot demonstration
• To show the operation of Meteor, the demonstration
presentation included the uPortal with a Meteor
Channel on the top half of the screen and a secure
telnet session showing the flow of traffic--specifically
the SOAP messages that included in the XML content-to and from the Meteor server, on the bottom half.
(A sample screen follows)
• The demonstration was a dial-in connection, to the
Internet, accessing servers in the Washington, DC
office. The dial-in connection was operating at 28.8
Kilobits per second (roughly 2,900 characters per
second) . The message turnaround was less than one
second.
January 13 and 17, 2001, Bal Harbour, Florida
The Meteor Project
Split screen demonstration
The Meteor Project
Meteor student authentication
Meteor XML Request message
The Meteor Project
>>(Tue Jan 09 11:50:58 EST 2001) Processing SOAP request...
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope
xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema-instance">
<SOAP-ENV:Body> <ns1:getLoanHistory
SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://xml.apache.org/xml-soap/literalxml"
xmlns:ns1="urn:ifx-loan-server"> <IFXRequestEl> <IFX>
<SaisSvcRq>
<RqUID/>
<SPName>gov.studentclearinghouse</SPName>
<LoanHistoryRq>
<CustId>
<SPName>gov.ssa</SPName>
<CustPermId>448377707</CustPermId>
</CustId>
<DateOfBirth>1980-09-03</DateOfBirth>
</LoanHistoryRq>
</SaisSvcRq>
</IFX> </IFXRequestEl> </ns1:getLoanHistory>
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
Meteor XML Response message [1]
The Meteor Project
Launching query ...
>>(Tue Jan 09 11:50:59 EST 2001) Sending SOAP response...
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope
xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/1999/XMLSchema-instance">
<SOAP-ENV:Body> <ns1:getLoanHistoryResponse
SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://xml.apache.org/xml-soap/literalxml"
xmlns:ns1="urn:ifx-loan-server"> <return> <IFX>
<SaisSvcRs>
<Status>
<StatusCode>0</StatusCode>
<Severity>Info</Severity>
<StatusDesc>Successfull Retrieval</StatusDesc>
</Status>
<RqUID/>
<SPName>gov.studentclearinghouse</SPName>
<LoanHistoryRs>
<CustId>
<SPName>gov.ssa</SPName>
<CustPermId>448377707</CustPermId>
</CustId>
<CustName>
<FirstName>Sue</FirstName>
<MiddleName>B</MiddleName>
<LastName>Smith</LastName>
</CustName>
continued
The Meteor Project
Meteor XML Response message [2]
<CustInformation>
<DateOfBirth>1980-09-03</DateOfBirth>
<PreviousPermId>
</PreviousPermId>
<FormerLastName/>
</CustInformation>
<StudentStatus>
<CurrentlyEnrolled>Y</CurrentlyEnrolled>
</StudentStatus>
<LoanInformation>
<LenderIdType>OPEID</LenderIdType>
<LenderId>824607</LenderId>
<LenderName>Oklahoma Student Loan Authority</LenderName>
<SchoolIdType>OPEID</SchoolIdType>
<SchoolId>003152</SchoolId>
<SchoolBranch>00</SchoolBranch>
<SchoolName>University of Central Oklahoma</SchoolName>
<InformationSourceIdType>OPEID</InformationSourceIdType>
<InformationSourceId>824607</InformationSourceId>
<InformationSourceName>Oklahoma Student
Loan Authority</InformationSourceName>
<InformationSourceDate>2000-09-30</InformationSourceDate>
</LoanInformation>
continued
The Meteor Project
Meteor XML Response message [3]
<LoanInformation>
<LenderIdType>OPEID</LenderIdType>
<LenderId>809063</LenderId>
<LenderName>Bank of Oklahoma</LenderName>
<SchoolIdType>OPEID</SchoolIdType>
<SchoolId>003152</SchoolId>
<SchoolBranch>00</SchoolBranch>
<SchoolName>University of Central Oklahoma</SchoolName>
<InformationSourceIdType>OPEID</InformationSourceIdType>
<InformationSourceId>809063</InformationSourceId>
<InformationSourceName>Bank of Oklahoma</InformationSourceName>
<InformationSourceDate>2000-11-12</InformationSourceDate>
</LoanInformation>
<LoanInformation>
<LenderIdType>OPEID</LenderIdType>
<LenderId>831163</LenderId>
<LenderName>First Oklahoma bank &amp; Trust</LenderName>
<SchoolIdType>OPEID</SchoolIdType>
<SchoolId>003152</SchoolId>
<SchoolBranch>00</SchoolBranch>
<SchoolName>University of Central Oklahoma</SchoolName>
<InformationSourceIdType>OPEID</InformationSourceIdType>
<InformationSourceId>831163</InformationSourceId>
<InformationSourceName>First Oklahoma
Bank &amp; Trust</InformationSourceName>
<InformationSourceDate>2000-10-16</InformationSourceDate>
</LoanInformation>
</LoanHistoryRs>
</SaisSvcRs>
</IFX> </return> </ns1:getLoanHistoryResponse>
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
The Meteor Project
uPortal Meteor Channel - loan list
The Meteor Project
Pilot detail inquiry implementation
Home Page
Sallie Mae
Access Provider Website
Student Authentication
National Student
Clearinghouse
Loan Locator List
•Loan 1
•Loan 2
•Loan 3
National Student
Clearinghouse
Great Lakes
PHEAA
The Meteor Project
What we learned...
• The XML/SOAP business message
turnaround is less than 1 second; the
industry’s best sites are 3 to 5 seconds
• Because of the scope of authorization for
access and different uses, Meteor needed
two separate channels
• Student and parental access to the
student’s information
• Financial aid professionals access to
information about students
The Meteor Project
Professional - Authorization
The Meteor Project
Selection
The Meteor Project
Display
Why is Meteor important?
The Meteor Project
The Meteor software
• Provides an information service
for students and alumni
• Provides an information resource for
financial aid professionals
• Becomes a first step toward implementation
of the Department of Education’s real-time
“Common Origination and Disbursement” due in 2003
The Meteor Project
Meteor software will be available as:
• A channel in JA-SIG’s uPortal 2.0 or later
• A Java servlet that can in incorporated into
any Website that supports servlets
• Possibly a channel in Apache Foundation’s
JetSpeed portal (also IBM’s general portal)
The school experience
Authentication, a barrier to
implementation
The Meteor Project
Authentication and authorization
• “Level of identification”
• Incomplete standard protocols for
authentication or authorization
• Web Single Signon
• Internet2/Shibboleth (now Dec 2001)
• SAML Security Assertion Markup
Language
• Indeterminate policies and procedures
• Legal - new law and lack of precedents
• Lack of business experience
The Meteor Project
Boston College expectation
• Only ”regular” students and employees in
the financial aid office will access Meteor
through the College’s secure portal.
• The National Student Clearinghouse, and
subsequently others, will “trust” the Boston
College authentication.
The Meteor Project
The “trusted” college
Secure College
environment
Secure Internet
connection
User logon
and password
College logon
and password
Web presentation
Loan list message
Employee Boston College
User
Access Provider
Clearinghouse
Data Provider
The Meteor Project
As a proxy service
Secure college
environment
Secure Internet
connection
User logon
and password
User logon
and password
Web presentation
Loan list message
Student college
Clearinghouse
User
Access Provider
Data Provider
The Meteor Project
Meteor supports localization
• Why localize Meteor?
• The Meteor channel becomes consistent with the
access providers “look and feel”
• The user has a consistent experience
• Users can use local authentication to achieve
“single signon”
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_______________________
Personalization combined with localization and useful
local content (channels), increases user satisfaction
and their loyalty to a particular Website or portal.
The Meteor Project
Meteor Project standards
Implements SFA’s information technology
standards
• Business messaging using XML
• Software components using Java
Feb
2000
• Systems design using UML
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• Data transport using Internet,
SSL/TLS, and SOAP
• Directory of Participants using
UDDI
Mar
2001
SFA Software Developers Conference
March 2001
The Meteor Project
Why is that important to schools?
• Schools need to implement XML business
messaging to participate in Common
Origination and Disbursement (COD)
[Real-time in 2003]
• Schools need to use Java to implement SFA’s
Java based software components
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Need analysis EFC, entrance and exit
interviews, and Pell Grant computation
The Meteor Project
Can Meteor access school systems?
• We are briefing student information system
vendors about the Meteor software and
implementations
• The Meteor sponsors will determine a
schedule to release the software and
documentation to vendors
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• Software developers may test using the
Meteor development site--it is open to
anyone for demonstration and testing
The Meteor Project
Versions of the Meteor channel
• 0.7 - Current version support loan lists
National Student Clearinghouse pilot
• 0.9 - Access to lenders, guaranty agencies
NSC multiple guaranty agency, lender pilot
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1.0 - Shared authentication, distributed data
sources
The Meteor Project
Recommendations to the community
• Invest in the these technologies
• XML as used for e-commerce
• Java technologies
• Focus on customer behavior and preferences
• Students and parents (Student Channel)
• Faculty and Staff (Professional Channel)
• Keep an eye on the industry leaders
• NCHELP - standards, industry directories
• JA-SIG - Portal technology, Java and XML
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The Meteor Project
Meteor sponsors
American Education Services
American Student Assistance
Bank One
College Foundation, Inc. [NC]
The College Board/CollegeCredit Education Loan Program
Connecticut Student Loan Foundation
Education Assistance Corporation
Education Funding Association
Florida Department of Education, OSFA
Georgia Higher Education Assistance Corporation
Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation
GuaranTec, LLP
Higher Education Student Assistance Authority
Illinois Student Assistance Commission
Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation
Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority
Key Education Resources
LoanStar Systems, Inc.
The Meteor Project
Meteor sponsors
Michigan Higher Education Assistance Authority
Montana Guaranteed Student Loan Program
National Student Loan Program, Inc.
New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation
New York State Higher Education Services Corporation
North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority
Northwest Education Loan Association (NELA)
Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program
Oregon Student Assistance Commission
Panhandle-Plains Student Loan Center
Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority
Sallie Mae, Inc.
Southwest Student Services Corporation
Student Loan Finance Association
Student Loan Guarantee Foundation of Arkansas
Student Loans of North Dakota
Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation
United Student Aid Funds
Vermont Student Assistance Corporation
And we had help...
The Meteor Project
• The National Student Clearinghouse’s Roberta Hyland and
Joy Wang provided data access and programming assistance
to make their database available to Meteor users.
• Interactive Business Solutions Software Engineer (and
•
Harvard University graduate student) Peter Karchenko joined
the Meteor team working on the project.
Priority Technologies, Inc. extended the Meteor software and
contributed the UDDI/WDSL implementation.
• Credit Online’s Dennis Warnke and Glenn Leyba shared
•
LoanML drafts and their experience implementing IFX SOAP
messaging.
Great Lakes’ Steve Marganeau provided CommonLine XML as
it was being produced in December 2000.
• Sigma Systems Inc.’s Andy Sprague provided test data and
design guidance and Randy Timmons gave Meteor briefings
and demonstrations.
The end
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www.meteorproject.net:8080/portal/
and
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