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The Ed-Fi Sample Data Generator is a free utility provided by the Ed-Fi Alliance that generates holistic, realistic student data records aligned to the Ed-Fi Data Standard. A few core concepts are covered below.

Use Cases

The data output from the Sample Data Generator is useful for many scenarios where a technically valid, logically complete, and completely fictitious dataset is useful, including:

• Testing bulk loading and transformation logic.
• Testing performance at scale.
• Training.
• Software or solution demonstrations.

Configuration

Many of the key aspects of sample data generation can be configured, including the dataset size, the demographics of the student population, and so forth. In addition, many outputs rely on simple seed data files for input. By modifying seed data files, you can specify things such as the pool of names that are randomly assigned to student entities, the length of the school year, the current date (from the standpoint of the dataset), and other fundamental properties.

The /wiki/spaces/SDG/pages/21561580 Configuring the SDG section of this documentation has details.

Generators

The Sample Data Generator output is conceptually organized by generators — which are themselves aligned with the bulk XML interchange expression of the Ed-Fi Data Standard. Generally speaking, this means that data is organized into logical domains such as student data, attendance data, behavior and discipline data, teacher and staff data, and so forth.

See, for example, the /wiki/spaces/EFDS/pages/17727544 documentation for details about bulk XML interchanges. The /wiki/spaces/SDG/pages/21561518 Generator Reference section of this documentation has details about each generator, plus the specific rules that govern the entities and elements generated by the system.