eTranscript
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, in conjunction with the University of Minnesota, began working on a project to enable our institutions to send and receive student academic transcripts in an electronic format early in 1992. Because of merger and lack of legislative interest the project was abandoned in 1993. The project was revived in 1998 and while progress was achieved sporadically until about 2002, none of the planned production phases were ever accomplished. The accepted transmission standard at that time was EDI and the project was called SPEEDE (Standardization of Postsecondary Education Electronic Data Exchange). The secondary school component was called ExPRESS (Exchange of Permanent Records Electronically for Students and Schools).
In approximately 2004, the advance of XML technology caused the Minnesota SPEEDE group to abandon the idea of using EDI technology for electronic data exchange. In late 2005, funding for a statewide implementation of eTranscript using XML technology was granted by the Learning Innovations Council. This funding allowed establishment of a contract on January 3, 2006 with Interface Management Solutions (IMS) to:
a. Work with MnSCU business staff to map the PESC (Post Secondary Electronic Standards Council) standards to the data elements in ISRS.
b. Create, develop and provide software and deliver all source code for the eTranscript application. This application will process transcript exchange requests and send an encrypted xml document using the PESC standards to the target institution.
c. Provide technical staff to work with assigned MnSCU ITS staff to install and facilitate full implementation of the software. IMS will complete any programming necessary to allow MnSCU (and the U of M) to exchange transcripts utilizing the clearinghouse services from the University of Texas at Austin, commonly called the AACRAO server.
d. Included with the license fee is a perpetual license for MnSCU to use, modify and distribute the software to any public institution within Minnesota.
The software and services provided by IMS were reviewed and approved by MnSCU ITS software development staff prior to when funding was applied for and approved by the Learning Innovations Council.
More and more colleges and universities are able to transmit and receive transcripts in electronic format. There are 1250 colleges and universities currently registered with the AACRAO server from states and provinces such as Alabama, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
