ABOUT SIF
The Schools Interoperability Framework Association (SIFA)
SIFA® is a non-profit association of over 300 members active in the pK-12 market. With the involvement of these software vendors, school districts, government agencies and individuals concerned with educational technology, SIFA has been working since 1999 to develop the SIF standard and the SIF Specification.
- The SIF Specification is based on the World Wide Web Consortium endorsed Extensible Markup Language (XML) which is operating system and platform independent. XML defines a common data format and establishes rules of interaction and architecture. The SIF Specification allows disparate applications within a school or district to share data in a secure and accurate way.
- The SIF Zone is a logical grouping of applications serving a common group of students or staff members. Data is shared between the applications using XML messaging as defined by the SIF Specification.
- SIF Agents are extensions of each represented application, working to translate data from the applications native form to the standardized data model established by SIF.
- SIF Data Objects are the sets of information shared by applications. There are currently over 90 SIF Data Objects defined with more under development. Each Data Object contains multiple elements or fields.
Resources
- How SIF Works - This four page pdf provides an excellent overview of how each SIF component works together to bring interoperability to to pK12 applications.
- The SIFWorks Flash Movie from Edustructures provides a review of SIF concepts and the advantages available to pK12 schools and districts.
- Download The SIF Specification from the official SIF Organization web site.
- Certified SIF Agent listing - Over 80 products are now certified as SIF Compliant. Get the complete list to see how your applications measure up.