Vendor registrations apply across all ODS / API environments. To register a new vendor, use the Add Vendor button to bring up a form used to add a vendor. To edit or remove a vendor, use the buttons beside the existing vendor record.

Applications are specific to each ODS / API environment. This allows you for example, to set up a vendor application so it initially can only access the Staging, then later register that application so it can access production resources.

Adding a new application can be accomplished by clicking the Add Application button on the Applications sub-tab, and filling out the form.

Existing applications can be removed or edited by clicking on the edit (pencil) or delete (trash) icons.

When adding an application, you will be asked to select a few options as to the scope of data in the ODS that the application can access. These are important settings for security reasons, as they determine what data the application can access.

• Education Organization Type. This value is not stored, but is only used to bring up a list of Local Education Agencies or Schools.
• Education Organization ID. This value is saved in the ODS Admin database and used to determine the organizational scope for the data accessible via the API.
• Claim Set Name. The Claim Set defines the operations (view, edit/delete) available to a client system and also the relationships that are traversed off the education organizations selected. For example, you can establish whether the claim set allows an application to view Sections associated with the education organization, or to view Parents associated with Students associated with the education organization, or other similar data access permissions. The ODS ships with a set of default claim sets that have been field tested, but claim sets are also configurable (not supported by the Admin App directly).
• Student Identification System Descriptor. This is an optional setting under advanced options. It configures API to translate StudentUniqueId to a student identification code in its transactions for this application. When this feature is being used application may be configured to access only one education organization.

It is strongly recommended to review the ODS / API Platform Dev. Guide - Security.

After clicking Add Application, the scree will show the application Key and Secret that are used by the API client to get an authorization token to exchange data. Copy these values into a secure location, as they need to be provided to the application provider. If you lose these values, you will need to regenerate them. Consult the instructions that follow regarding that feature.

For convenience, the API URI is also shown on the page with the key and secret. This URI can be looked up in the Admin App as well (consult the Admin App User Guide instructions).

Under the application registration, use the Regenerate button. Note that current applications using an existing key and secret will no longer be able to access the application.

This setting determines how long a API token will last before expiring (requiring the API client to re-authenticate and get a new token). The timeout can be changed by updating the value under Bearer Token Timeout In Minutes and clicking Save Changes.

The API URI is specific to each ODS environment, and is displayed on the Applications page for that environment. Note that the Staging Applications page shows the Swagger URI as well, so be careful to choose the correct URI.

This value is required by vendor systems that use the API, as it tells them the endpoint for the ODS APIs their systems connect to.

The Swagger application and user interface is only installed on the Staging environment, and not on the Production environment. The Swagger application allows you to browse and manually the API surface by sending and receiving data.

The Swagger application link can be found on the Staging Applications page.

The Ed-Fi data model (also called the Ed-Fi Unifying Data Model or UDM) contains a set of standard values for all enumerations in the UDM. Those values can be looked up in the Admin App under the Descriptors sub-tab. Vendors frequently need to know what these values are to send data to the Ed-Fi APIs.

In some data exchange scenarios, an organization may wish to customize these values. The Admin App does not support this customization directly, but changing values (most commonly by adding new values) can be done via the ODS APIs in the descriptor section. However, it is not recommended that this is done unless an organization is fully aware of the responsibilities behind publishing its own values.

In some cases, the ODS records for schools and school districts may be provided by a system connected to the ODS (usually by a Student Information System). If this is not the case, this data can be added manually using the Education Organization sub-tab.

The system accommodates multiple school districts as well, for use cases in which the ODS is a collaboration between school districts.

If the Staging ODS data needs to be reset, there is a function to reset the data. This will delete all data currently in the Staging and reset the Staging to the initial set of sample data that was present on the first install. This function should be involved only upon careful consideration, and the system will ask for a second confirmation of the change.

On the Reset sub-tab, select Revert to Sample Data and click the Reset Staging button.

Note that there is not a reset function for the production data. For safety reasons, that ODS database can only be reset using external tooling (for example, by using SQL Server Management Studio or other platform specific tools).

In some cases, you may wish to remove all data from the Staging. The remove function removes all ODS data except the default Ed-Fi enumerations data (for users of the enterprise ODS, this function installs the "minimal" database template).

On the Reset sub-tab, select Setup for my organization and click the Reset Staging button.

Note that there is not a reset function for the production data. For safety reasons, that ODS database can only be reset using external tooling (for example, by using SQL Server Management Studio or other platform specific tools).

The Admin App supports bulk uploads. This feature is only recommended for smaller bulk uploads, so be default the file size is constrained to 20MB.

On the Bulk Load sub-tab Select File Type, select the Ed-Fi Bulk Interchange type and then select the file on your computer. Click Upload to begin the process.

Note that the process may take a few minutes and does not display process precisely.

Users needing to upload larger files or needing a more interactive experience should consider using the Client-Side Bulk Upload Utility. Consult the Client-Side Bulk Load Utility documentation.

There are two options for setting up production usage of the system.

The Interactive Setup option will ask you to configure all settings, including Schools and School Districts. It essentially begins with a blank copy of the database.

The option Initialize using data from the Staging copies over Schools and School Districts data from the Staging, as well as any customizations made to Ed-Fi Descriptors (Descriptor editing may have been accomplished via the ODS / API, and is not recommended for those not familiar with the responsibilities and impacts of changing enumeration sets).