Phil Nicholls August 2014

Introduction to LIS and CPS

Introduction: Phil Nicholls• Software Developer since ’95 (mostly

standards)• “LIS Guy” / Tech Facilitator for IMS Global• Psydev: consultants specialising in

interoperability standards; has products to aid LIS adoption

• www.linkedin.com/in/philnicholls• @psydevuk

What is LIS for?• Different systems take different views of

the same data.• LIS is a specification that allows systems

to exchange information about people, courses, groups, memberships and outcomes in a standard way

• Commonly it is used to integrate Student Information Systems (SISs) with LMSs…

LIS Scenarios

Where did LIS come from• The specification has been built over

several years by IMS Global, a not for profit member organisation.

• LIS contributors include Oracle, Ellucian, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Psydev

• www.imsglobal.org/developers/lisalliance

Why use a standard like LIS? • Built by a wider community• Removes need for people to code to many

individual APIs across lots of systems.• Conformance Test support• Avoids lots of “pairwise” integrations• Easier migration path• Opens opportunities with partners

What is CPS?• Course Planning and Scheduling• Timetabling is hard, so specialised

planning systems do it:– Avoid rooms being too far away– Common classes between different courses– People change courses– Timetabling also for rooms and equipment

What is CPS?

• CPS provides a standard for scheduling systems to send and receive data about people and the courses that they wish to do.

• Scheduling system works out the timetable…

• … informing the SIS of which classes to create

How

• CPS uses LIS, with some extensions.• Bulk Data Exchange for the big data loads• Updates via the “live” services.• Approach allows SIS and Scheduling

System to make changes and inform the other.

Technical Stuff

• LIS defines services in WSDL, and implementations use SOAP for the message transport

• Data Model is therefore bound in XML• Good tool support for WSDL->Language• Controlled, extensible vocabularies used

where possible to aid interoperability• Application space is typically SIS->LMS-

>SIS, in reality much wider.

Conformance

• IMS has software to check conformance for:– Sending LIS Live Data (typically SIS)– Receiving LIS Live Data (typically LMS)– Sending / Receiving LIS Live Grades (SIS and

LMS)– Sending / Receiving Bulk Data (SIS and LMS)– Sending / Receiving CPS Data (SIS and

Timetabling System)

APMG

• Membership of LIS APMG open to IMS associates and CMs.– Oversee spec development– CMs get to vote– Currently looking at Privacy (via the taskforce)– Also considering a RESTful binding

Links, Q&A

SAIP Moodle Video: youtu.be/Mtr5OE4llBcPsydev’s white paper on LIS: bit.ly/15092xaMoodle Integration Factsheet:

bit.ly/14seGs3Spec: www.imsglobal.org/lisIMS Global: www.imsglobal.org

Contact Details:www.psydev.compjn@psydev.comwww.linkedin.com/in/philnicholls@psydevuk