Certica Announces the “Integrate!” Program to Promote Interoperability and Connect School Districts and Application Providers via Ed-Fi

Certica Solutions, provider of the Certica Connect™ edtech platform-as-a-service (PaaS), announced a new program to engage school districts which desire a fully-managed, hosted and productized solution for application interoperability based on Ed-Fi®; as well as K-12 application providers that are certified or wish to be certified on the Ed-Fi Data Standard. Certica makes the announcement while sponsoring the Ed-Fi Alliance’s Ed-Fi Summit & Bootcamp 2017 in Austin, Texas.

Certica, which announced in August its Data Connect™ application interoperability platform for school districts, is launching the Integrate! program to accelerate adoption of the Ed-Fi Data Standard by districts and application providers. The program is available to mid-sized districts that want standards- based interoperability without the lengthy duration of implementation and the heavy costs of support and maintenance. The Integrate! program gives early adopters of Data Connect the opportunity to:

• Influence the Data Connect product roadmap;
• Provide feedback on the “Integration Console,” Data Connect’s unique district and application provider ecosystem;
• Help drive the momentum of vendors to certify on the Ed-Fi Data Standard; and
• Take advantage of early adopter financial incentives.

The Integrate! program coincides with the recent call by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation for districts to apply for funding to implement the Ed-Fi Technology and Data Standard.

Certica’s Integrate! program also serves application providers (such as those offering student information systems, learning management systems and student assessment applications) on their path to Ed-Fi certification, by providing Ed-Fi integration guidance and support, and connecting applications via the Integration Console to their clients’ Data Connect ODS. Certica’s community of more than 200 edtech vendors and application provider partners serves as a springboard for Integrate! outreach to providers who acknowledge the Ed-Fi market momentum and value the potential of offering true bi- directional application interoperability to their district clients.

At the Ed-Fi Summit, districts and application providers can interact with the Data Connect Integration Console, which provides an ecosystem and enables collaboration between districts and providers. The Integration Console allows districts to:

• Create, manage and optionally publish a comprehensive inventory of their district applications;
• Indicate which applications the district wants to integrate via the ODS; and
• Authorize integrations from applications which natively support the Ed-Fi API.
• The Integration Console allows application providers to:
• Verify and manage a description of their application(s);
• Analyze which districts are integrating their applications via Data Connect; and
• Assist districts with managing connection of their application(s) with the ODS via the Ed-Fi API.
• The collaborative elements of the Integration Console are available today and are free to all districts and application providers – including those providers who are not yet certified on Ed-Fi.

Data Connect, which will be available to school districts in the late fall 2017, includes:

• A Certica-hosted instance of the Ed-Fi ODS and API, running in Amazon Web Services;
• Integration of district applications which natively support the Ed-Fi API into the Ed-Fi ODS;
• Turnkey provisioning, management and ongoing upgrades and support;
• An outward non-transactional data interface to complement the Ed-Fi API, allowing districts to integrate and populate a range of reporting and analytic applications;
• The unique Integration Console;
• A product-based, all-inclusive annual subscription.

Certica CEO Mark Rankovic said, “Certica is in a unique position to bring districts and application providers together to achieve application interoperability in a way that is collaborative, cost- effective and sustainable. Our company has provided software solutions to district IT organizations since 2006 and has more than 250 districts using our K-12 data validation software, representing more than 5 million students; and has more than 200 edtech vendors and providers using one or more services from our Certica Connect platform within the software and digital content offerings they provide to districts. We are strongly attuned to the priorities of school districts and understand how to develop, manage and host data management software products, apply product updates and provide technical support to users. With Data Connect, we are able to make true bi-directional application interoperability achievable and sustainable for districts.”

The Ed-Fi® mark is a trademark of the Ed-Fi Alliance and is used under license. Data ConnectTM and Certica ConnectTM are trademarks of Certica Solutions, Inc.