This section provides an overview of what's new in the latest versions of the ODS / API Admin App for Technical Suite Two and Technical Suite Three.

Contents

Updates in Admin App for Suite 3 v2.0.1 (Latest Release)

Fix for Postgres installations with SSPI authentication

Admin App 2.0.1 was released as an addition was necessary in the installation process for Postgres installations using SSPI authentication.  SSPI allows Windows roles to be mapped to Postgres database users, similar to how is done with SQL Server installations.  This update was provided in this minor release and Admin App installations running with Postgres will have less configuration to modify.

Updates in Admin App for Suite 3 v2.0.0

New Features

Multi-instance Support for District-Specific and Year-Specific Modes

As highly requested by the Ed-Fi community, starting with Admin App v2.0.0, multiple Ed-Fi ODS / API instances can be administered using Admin App configured for district-specific and year-specific modes. Shared instance mode is still supported within Admin App. With multi-instance mode, users have the ability to register numerous instances within their environment, then administer individual functions within each ODS / API, such as manage API keys and secrets, view descriptors, perform bulk uploads and populate learning standards.

Bulk Registration of ODS / API Instances

Along with the new multi-instance administration feature, Admin App v2.0.0 supports the ability to bulk register existing ODS / API instances by uploading a simple CSV file. The file contains instance values and a short description of each instance. Once complete, this file can be uploaded via Admin App to register multiple instances within your environment.

Multiple Version Support for Ed-Fi ODS / API v3.4 and v5.0.0

Admin App v2.0.0 supports both ODS / API v3.4 and v5.0.0. 

ASP.NET Identity and Multiple Role Support

Admin App 2.0.0 replaces Active Directory support with built-in web form authentication using ASP.NET Identity. With ASP.NET Identity, Admin App supports two primary roles within the application: Super-Administrator and Administrator. The Super-Administrator role can register and view listings of all ODS / API instances as well administer application management functions, view descriptors, and perform bulk uploads. The Administrator role can only view the listings of the ODS / API instances they are assigned to and administer the individual functions within.

Updates in Admin App v1.8 for Ed-Fi ODS / API v3.4

New Features

Claim Set Editor

Based on Ed-Fi community feedback and building on the Admin App v1.7 Claim Set Editor preview, a graphical editor for claim sets is now available in Admin App. This feature minimizes the complex work of writing SQL scripts to establish claim sets. See the /wiki/spaces/ADMIN/pages/25238340 documentation for instructions on how to use the new feature.

ASP.NET Identity (Preview)

Based on Ed-Fi community feedback from those hosting instances on cloud configurations, authorization approaches other than Active Directory have been preferred by numerous implementers. ASP.NET Identity offers secure web-form authentication as an alternative to the Active Directory support built-in today. Currently, this feature is offered as a preview, and will become part of future releases based on field usage. See the ASP.NET Identity (Preview in v1.8) section for information and instructions on how to enable this feature.

Learning Standards 1.1 Update

The Learning Standards feature within Admin App v1.8 has been updated to version 1.1. Optimizations have been updated to help with sequencing of learning standard items as well as enhancements to learning standards updates from within Admin App. Please see the What's New - Learning Standards Sync Utility section for more information on this update.

Postgres Support

Admin App v1.8 is fully compatible with Postgres 11 Ed-Fi ODS / API configurations.

PowerShell Installation Process

Admin App now provides an enhanced and customizable PowerShell installation process based on Ed-Fi community feedback. Please see Admin App v1.8.1 for Ed-Fi ODS / API v3.4 for more information on how to use and take advantage of the PowerShell installer.

Updates in Admin App v1.7 for Ed-Fi ODS / API v3.3

New Feature

Claim Set Editor (Preview)

Starting with Admin App v3.3, a new graphical editor for Claim Sets is available as a preview feature. Please see this Technical Article for instructions on how to enable and preview the Claim Set Editor features.

The feature includes a list of all claim sets, shown in the screen capture below: 

The details for each claim set can be reviewed and edited, as shown in the following screen capture:

EDFI-195 - Getting issue details... STATUS

EDFI-191 - Getting issue details... STATUS

Updates in Admin App v1.6 for Ed-Fi ODS / API v3.2

New Feature

On-Premises Year-Specific Mode

Some Ed-Fi implementers choose "Year-Specific mode" configuration for their Ed-Fi ODS / API platform for data partitioning requirements or other needs. Admin App has been updated to support Year-Specific mode configurations, which can be set initially at installation time:

Improvement

On-Premises Cloud License Optimization

On-premises installations have accepted the Ed-Fi license as part of access to source code and other Ed-Fi community material. We have removed the "Cloud ODS" licensing step for on-premises installations to optimize the installation process.

Updates in Admin App v1.5.1 for Ed-Fi ODS / API v2.6

New Features

Student ID to Identification Code Translation

Multiple student identifiers are commonly used in the education data ecosystem. Several cases have emerged in the Ed-Fi Community where student IDs in API transactions (i.e., the studentUniqueId field) are not known to the client application. As a result, a related transaction fails. This issue has been raised in, for example, the ODS-1824, ODS-2664, and ODS-2791 tickets. 

The recommended long-term solution is to facilitate, push, and drive rostering products to support configuration of different IDs for different agencies, and to store all roster IDs. However, the Ed-Fi ODS / API v2.6 includes a student identification code translation feature as a stopgap measure.

Admin App v1.5.1 for Ed-Fi ODS / API v2.6 Student Identification System Descriptor selection drop-down

Updates in Admin App v1.5

This Admin App v1.5 was the first version of the ODS / API Admin App in its current form. However, many of its core features were part of previous products, including a version distributed with the Ed-Fi ODS / API Cloud Deployment for Azure and the Ed-Fi ODS / API Cloud Deployment for AWS, both published on the Ed-Fi Exchange.

New Features

Built-In Support for AB Connect

Admin App v1.5 comes with built-in integration to Certica's Academic Benchmark product, an online resource for academic benchmarks and learning standards. The integration includes a free license to several national and state-level learning standards. See the Ed-Fi Learning Standards Sync Utility documentation for details.

Support for On-Premises Deployments

Admin App v1.5 added an installer that provides support for existing enterprise deployments of the Ed-Fi ODS / API.