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Ed-Fi Integration

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Overview

The DPI has selected the Ed-Fi interoperability framework to streamline the collection of Local Education Agency (LEA) information and enhance the gathering of required state and federal data. This framework must be implemented (if it hasn’t been already) by the LEA’s student information system (SIS), financial data system, and other technology providers. The vendor’s system will transmit data to DPI through an application programming interface (API) defined by the Ed-Fi framework and is certified annually.

Are you working with an LEA and not on the existing vendor list? Integrating your system with the WI DPI Ed-Fi REST API is straightforward. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction aims to certify vendors -- enabling school districts, charter schools, and private schools participating in a parental Choice program to submit data to DPI. Our goal is to make this process as easy as possible to minimize development costs and reduce time to market.

How to Become a Certified Vendor

At DPI, we value our vendor relationships and strive to make onboarding as straightforward as possible. To get started, please complete the New Vendor Application  and review the vendor onboarding process steps.

Vendor Onboarding Process

If you are a looking to become a newly certified vendor referred by a LEA, please review our onboarding process:

  1.  Vendors must complete the New Vendor Application between July 1st and October 31st to be considered for the next school year.
  2. Vendor follow up and interview meetings must be completed by December 1st.
  3. Vendor selections are made by January 10th.
  4. Vendor integration testing planning and requirement training meetings are conducted by February 28th.
  5. Vendor integration testing is performed between April - July.
  6. Certified vendors are announced and available in the Ed-Fi Credential application by July 31st.

Additionally, the following prerequisites should be met prior to contacting Wisconsin's DPI:

  • Review Ed-Fi technical documentation to understand the foundation of this project.
  • Obtain an Ed-Fi license. This is not required, but it is highly recommended.
  • Ensure programmers are familiar with RESTful services and basic HTTP authentication.

Once prerequisites are met, the following steps should be taken:

  1. Contact Wisconsin's DPI to onboard.
  2. Obtain a UAT 'Sandbox' WAMS ID and provide the user ID to the individual at WI DPI responsible for your onboard process. This will be used to provide access to the Ed-Fi credential application. This application is required to obtain credentials to connect to the API UAT 'Sandbox' and use Swagger.
  3. Download and review the 'Development Resources' and other documentation available below.
  4. Develop your application code using the use cases provided in the 'Development Resources', execute unit testing and system testing, and resolve errors that are easier to detect before proceeding with integration testing.
  5. Schedule a certification session with Wisconsin's DPI.
    For more information about certification and integration testing, see the Vendor Resources and the WI Tech Docs listed below.
  6. Once vendors are Wisconsin's DPI certified, they will be eligible to receive production credentials after an LEA adds them as an authorized vendor.

Please visit the Vendor Resources page for further helpful information.

Got questions? Vendors can reach out to us using the Vendor Access and Inquiry form.