February 2013 - PESC

FEB RUA RY 2 013
Th e STANDARD NEWS A ND C OM M ENTA RY ON T EC HNOL OGY & STA NDA RDS IN EDUCA T ION
WHAT’S PREVENTING INTEROPERABILITY
IN EDUCATION?
Michael Sessa
Bank stakeholders successfully collaborated
& established interoperable ATM networks.
All states succeeded in establishing
interoperable inter-state toll booth systems.
Mortgage & credit card stakeholders
succeeded in their respective industries.
? But what’s preventing interoperability in
Education?
I have a confession to make. When I first joined
the PESC Board of Directors back in 1999, I was
under the impression that the education industry
was functioning in a harmonious, interoperable
way with a solid, agreed upon and supported
infrastructure.
After all, I started my career in banking in 1990,
managing student loans as an underwriter and
overseeing branch compliance as compliance
officer. I remember when automated teller
machines (ATMs) first launched and all the
inconveniences of banking were suddenly and
miraculously alleviated.
Banking had not only succeeded in implementing a
very user-friendly and practical process, but in so
doing morphed banking into a real-time mobile
commodity while satisfying all legal and technical
issues from liability to two-factor authentication.
The need for interoperability really hit me at my
next job in 1995 while overseeing a company
transition from a mainframe to client/server
system. I was responsible for migrating 33 API’s as
well as managing the change process for all of the
customers and businesses that were
communicating electronically.
INTER-STATE TOLL BOOTHS
E-ZPass Interagency Group, a
community-based association of
states and agencies, helps govern
inter-state toll booths.
MORTGAGES
MISMO – Mortgage Industry Standards
Maintenance Organization, a not-forprofit,
community-based membership
association and subsidiary of the MBA.
CREDIT CARDS
Networks like MasterCard & VISA work
with the PCI Data Security Standards
Council, a not-for-profit communitybased
membership association.
ATM MACHINES
Inter-bank networks such as PLUS,
Cirrus, STAR, and LINK use and are
governed by international banking
standards.
What struck me first about the old system was the
number of redundant API’s. Multiple, disparate
API’s supporting the same business process was
extremely expensive as the situation prevented
standardized training, administration, customer
service and product development.
Do I dare say I was naïve when I joined PESC in
2002? I was hoping to finally find the missing link,
the answer to interoperability, as if it were just
waiting to be found and uncovered.
Well what have I learned since 2002?
Hindsight, as they say, is always 20/20. Meaning
when we look back we always minimize certain
details and certain topics get lost through history.
What we have to remember is that it took years
and years for the banking industry to come
together to agree upon ATM’s. We have to
remember that many mistakes were made along
the way and that many difficult situations were
9 PESC UNLOC K ING T HE P OW ER OF DATA