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Introduction

Analytics Middle Tier 2.0 is becoming a full citizen in the Ed-Fi platform, rather than just a proof-of-concept on the Ed-Fi Exchange. As it grows up, it needs to correct some architectural concerns that came up as feedback from the field. It also needs to be up to par with the latest release of the ODS/API, version 3.3. This document aims to inform about the challenges and elicit feedback on the utility of the proposed solutions.

Multi Data Standard Support

Requirement

Version 1.3.0 added support for Data Standard 3.1, which was used by ODS/API 3.1.1 and 3.2, through the use of the –dataStandard <Ds2 | Ds31>  argumnet. Analytics Middle Tier 2.0.0 will continue in this vein with flag Ds32 for Data Standard 3.2 (ODS/API 3.3).

Design

Forcing the user to remember which data standard is installed is sub-optimal. We should be able to detect this implicitly and install the correct version without user input.

  1. If table AddressType exists, then install Data Standard 2.
  2. Else if table VersionLevel  exists, then install Data Standard 3.1.
  3. Else if table DeployJournal  exists, then install Data Standard 3.2.
  4. Else throw an error: "Unable to determine the ODS database version".

Student, Parent, and Staff Keys

Requirement


Design


Descriptor and Type Mapping

Requirement

Decouple the views from hard-coded Descriptor and Type values. 

Context: many of the views need to lookup records by Descriptor value - for instance, looking up the Attendance records where a student has an "Excused Absence" or "Unexcused Absence." Because the original developer had access to only a limited dataset, it was not realized that the Descriptor values will vary widely from one implementation to the next. Thus the hard-coding needs to be decoupled, allowing the implementation to provide a mapping from their Descriptor value to the concept used by the Analytics Middle Tier.

In theory, the various "Types" values in Data Standard 2 should provide a more universal constant than the Descriptors. However, some community members report that these too are mutable. Therefore, (a) using Types is not a solution for Data Standard 2, and (b) even those views with hard-coding to Types instead of Descriptors must be modified for greater independence. Note: Type tables were removed in Data Standard 3 precisely because they were not being used in the originally-designed manner. 

Design

Summary

  1. Move hard-coded values to a "Constants" table.
  2. Create mapping tables that link Descriptors or Types to Constants.
  3. Modify all views as needed to join to the Constants and new mapping tables.

 List of Descriptor and Type Constants...
ConstantNamePurpose
AddressType.Home Looking up ContactPerson's Home address
AddressType.Mailing Looking up ContactPerson's Mailing address
AddressType.Physical Looking up ContactPerson's Physical address
AddressType.TemporaryLooking up ContactPerson's Temporary address
AddressType.Work Looking up ContactPerson's Work address
Descriptor.Absent

Looking up StudentAbsenceEvents that should be treated as "Absent" in an Early Warning System. Example descriptor values to map might be "Excused Absence" and "Unexcused Absence."

As another example, if a Field Trip absence event should be treated as an absence from school for the purpose of Early Warning, then one would also map the descriptor for "Field Trip" to the constant "Descriptor.Absent".

Descriptor.TardyLooks up StudentAbsenceEvents that should be treated as "Tardy".
Descriptor.InstructionalDay

Determines if a calendar date is an instructional day that should be used in calculating attendance rates.

The Ed-Fi default template mapping would use both the "Instructional Day" and "Make Up Day" descriptors.

  
EmailType.Home/Personal Looking up ContactPerson's home or personal e-mail address.
EmailType.WorkLooking up ContactPerson's work e-mail address.  
FoodServicesDescriptor.FullPriceDetermines if a student is eligible for school food service.
GradeType.Grading PeriodLooking up the Grade records by the most granular period, which by default is "Grading Period". Some implementations might instead use terms like "Quarter" or "Six Weeks".
TelephoneNumberType.HomeLooking up ContactPerson's Home phone number.
TelephoneNumberType.MobileLooking up ContactPerson's Mobile phone number.
TelephoneNumberType.WorkLooking up ContactPerson's Work phone number.

Example

In Version 1.x, the StudentEarlyWarningFact view reports on absences, looking for StudentSchoolAttendanceEvent  records with attendance descriptor values of either "Excused Absence" or "Unexcused Absence".

In version 2, the view would now search for all StudentSchoolAttendanceEvent records whose descriptor maps to constant "Absent". Thus there would be two relevant DescriptorMap  values, one each for "Excused Absence" and "Unexcused Absence." Any school who uses a different term than these two would create a DescriptorMap  record mapping that term to the DescriptorConstant  value of "Absent".

Implications

Those who install the Analytics Middle Tier will need to carefully assess their Descriptors and Types, and then manage the DescriptorMap table (and TypeMap , for Data Standard 2) accordingly. The release notes for 2.0 will provide a script that maps the default Ed-Fi Descriptors and Types as a starting point.


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