ZIServer is Visual Software's Zone Integration Server, built for today's needs and tomorrow's growth.

Now with  PrivacyPlus
Dynamic Element-Level Filtering

ZIServer, Visual Software's Enterprise class Zone Integration Server is all new for 2008 and for SIF 2.x.  Built using Microsoft's .NET 3.5 Platform, LINQ and SQL Server, it is designed for flexibility, performance, scalability, auditability, manageability and security.

Features:

• Compatible with any SIF 1.1/1.5/2.x compliant agent

• Compatible with US and UK SIF specifications

  • US versions 1.1, 1.5r1, 2.0r1 and 2.1

  • UK version 1.1

• Supports multiple zones in one server - multiple zones would be useful for regional or hosted implementations or where the district's student information system is implemented at the school level

• Supports multiple contexts concurrently

• Provides web-based administration and management

  • Versions available for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and .NET (simple web site)

• Provides tracing and auditing capabilities

• Maintains object level privileges by agent

  • New simple tools help administer permissions by working group

• New: maintains element-level privileges by agent - see more

• Monitors activity in real time

• Persists messages across agent and system failures

  • Enterprise version supports backup database servers with automatic rollover in case of failure of primary

• Supports Push (asynchronous) and Pull (polled) agents

• Supports Certificates and Encryption

• Can be installed using any version of SQL Server, from SQL Server 2005 Express (available free of charge) to large scale, clustered Enterprise Editions for state or regional implementations

ZIServer is available in three editions:

• Compact:  for districts with up to 3,000 students

• Standard:  for districts with up to 10,000 students

  • available in 32 and 64-bit editions

• Enterprise: for districts with more than 10,000 students or organizations wanting support for multiple processors or redundant back-end databases

  • available in 32 and 64-bit editions

  • scales across multiple servers
    

PrivacyPlus is a feature unique to ZIServer that provides an optional layer of privacy on top of the privacy that is already mandated by the SIF specification.  ZIServer's default configuration (that required by the SIF specification) is to allow administrators to set up permissions restricting information being sent to applications at the object level.  This is good and this is needed.  But, what we've heard from customers is the desire to have finer control over how data is being distributed.

The issue...

For example, in the US, the StudentPersonal object has an element named "NeglectedDelinquent".  Since it is in the StudentPersonal object, all applications subscribing to that object would receive the StudentPersonal, complete with the NeglectedDelinquent status.  We would need to trust that all the receiving applications that did not need that information would be responsible enough to receive then properly discard this information. Many feel uncomfortable with it going there in the first place.

Other information in the StudentPersonal SIF object that people might feel uncomfortable having distributed to a wide audience might include:

• EconomicDisadvantage
• IDEA - Is the student IDEA-eligible ("special education")?
• MedicalAlertMessages
• Migrant - Is this a migrant student?
• Title1 - Is this student in Title 1 programs?
• EconomicDisadvantage
• ELL - Is this an English Language Learner?
• Homeless

How we addressed it... First, we define for each object a list of the elements that are questionable for each object (like the one mentioned above).  (We don't include elements like BirthDate or FirstName for two reasons:  we don't want to require the  administrator to look past all of the elements that will never be selected and we want ZIServer to be able to process these filters quickly.) Then, when you are assigning permissions to agents in ZIServer, if an agent is subscribing to an object that has restrictable elements, the object name shows up in the list as a hyperlink (as in this screen shot):

(Click on the thumbnail to see a full sized screen)

When you click on the object name, you are shown the list of restrictable elements.  Here you get to choose which elements' values will never make it to this agent. So, for a single message being sent to ZIServer,  there may be several different versions distributed to subscribing agents.  This is because the filters are set up for each subscriber independently. For example, information that may be appropriate to send to a nurse's office application may not be appropriate to send to a library application, so the two may be configured differently.

(Click on the thumbnail to see a full sized screen)

What about auditing?

Having several versions of the same message is unusual - excellent for security and privacy protection, but unusual.  For this reason, ZIServer audits what it does.  For each variation of a message it creates, it creates an audit copy and logs it.  Furthermore, for all versions of ZIServer that support full auditing (Standard and above), the audit database is maintained separately so that it can be kept on a separate secure server.  If you prefer, the data in the audit database can be kept encrypted as well for added security.

What about compatibility?

Visual Software has been able to make these changes without compromising compatibility with any existing agents.  It is compatible with US versions 1.1, 1.5r1, 2.*, and the UK version 1.1.  ZIServer's default configuration (without any filtering) is the same as the standard SIF definition.

What about Vertical Reporting?

If your ZIS is used to pass information for vertical reporting, you can use this feature to guarantee that only the information you want leaves your server - you now control who sees what information, down to the element level.