# Systems Interoperability Framework™
SIF Infrastructure Specification 3.7

## January 21, 2025

This version:
  http://specification.sifassociation.org/Implementation/Infrastructure/3.7/
Previous version:
  http://specification.sifassociation.org/Implementation/Infrastructure/3.6/
Latest version:
  http://specification.sifassociation.org/Implementation/Infrastructure/
API Documentation
  Infrastructure Services
XSD Schemas
  Schema_NoIncludes_Strict (single file, non-annotated) (ZIP archive)
  Schema_NoIncludes_Annotated_Strict (single file, annotated) (ZIP archive)
  Schema_Strict (includes, non-annotated) (ZIP archive)
  Schema_Annotated_Strict (includes, annotated) (ZIP archive)
JSON Support
  Conversion Scripts
  OpenAPI & JSON Schemas Files Archive
  PESC Compliant JSON

This document is also available in these non-normative formats: ZIP archive, PDF (for printing as a single file), Excel spreadsheet.

Summaries of the changes in this release and errata since its release can be found with the Background Supplementary Documentation

  Errata Updated 2025-05-22

Copyright ©2025 Systems Interoperability Framework (SIF™) Association. All Rights Reserved.

# 1 Preamble

## 1.1 Abstract

### 1.1.1 What is SIF?

SIF is not a product, but a technical blueprint for enabling diverse applications to interact and share data related to entities in the pK-12 instructional and administrative environment. SIF is designed to:

- Facilitate data sharing and reporting between applications without incurring expensive customer development costs;
- Enhance product functionality efficiently; and
- Provide best-of-breed solutions to customers easily and seamlessly.

The SIF Implementation Specification defines common data formats and rules of interaction and architecture, and is made up of two parts:

- 1. The SIF Infrastructure Implementation Specification which defines the rules of interaction and messages framework, and;
- 2. The SIF Data Model Implementation Specification which is an XML-based data model, (with support for JSON translation), that models entities in the learning environment as SIF Data Objects to be shared between applications.

SIF Infrastructure defines;

- a secure REST-based transport protocol for defining both direct and brokered connections between software applications (which can act as REST servers or clients)
- a set of services to enable interactions between REST servers and clients, including creating environments, other administrative task, synchronous exchanges of data, and asynchronous message queues
- an abstract, platform-independent definition of the API between one software application and another or a broker.

- A SIF Environment is a distributed system that consists of one or more software applications with a SIF Adapter (a SIF-enabled application) sharing/reporting one or more SIF data objects over a network; it may also involve middleware (a message broker). A SIF Implementation consists of one or more SIF Environments deployed and configured to meet customer data sharing and reporting needs.
- The SIF Implementation Specification defines architecture requirements and communication protocols for software components and the interfaces between them; it makes no assumption of specific hardware or software products needed to develop SIF-enabled applications and/or middleware implementations, other than their ability to support technologies leveraged as the foundation for SIF, most prominently XML and HTTP(S) and including JSON and REST.

### 1.1.2 SIF Association

The Schools Interoperability Framework Association (SIF Association); also known as; the Systems Interoperability Framework Association outside North America, doing business as Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community, is an industry initiative to enable interoperability and data sharing between software applications in the pK-12 instructional and administrative environment, and the forum for companies and educators to participate in the development of SIF specifications in the SIF Association's working groups and task forces. The SIF Association is designed to:

- Join industry leaders in creating the next-generation framework for education technology; and
- Leverage co-marketing opportunities with partners and distributors.

This specification is released with the following provisos to developers and educators.

## 1.2 License

© Copyright Access 4 Learning Community. Some Rights Reserved.

The SIF Implementation Specifications are available under an Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Entities must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Modifications of this license and derivatives need to be licensed under the same terms, but not other works in the compilation or collection. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original. Entities may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

The machine-readable files associated with the Specification, including Excel presentations, XSD schemas, JSON schemas, and OpenAPI specifications, are all licensed under the Apache 2.0 license. Developers can look here for guidance on using the license: Using the Apache license. The Apache 2.0 License is permissive. It allows you to use, modify, and distribute the licensed software, including creating derivative works, without requiring those derivative works to be licensed under the same terms. You can release the modified parts of the code under any license you prefer.

## 1.3 Disclaimer

The information, software, products, and services included in the SIF Implementation Specification may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added to the information herein. The SIF Association may make improvements and/or changes in this document at any time without notification. Information contained in this document should not be relied upon for personal, medical, legal, or financial decisions. Appropriate professionals should be consulted for advice tailored to specific situations.

THE SIF ASSOCIATION, ITS PARTICIPANT(S), AND THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS, AND ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND RELATED GRAPHICS CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT FOR ANY PURPOSE. ALL SUCH INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND RELATED GRAPHICS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE SIF ASSOCIATION AND/OR ITS PARTICIPANT(S) HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS WITH REGARD TO THIS INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND RELATED GRAPHICS, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE SIF ASSOCIATION, ITS PARTICIPANT(S), OR THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS DOCUMENT, WITH THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO USE THE DOCUMENT, THE PROVISION OF OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE SERVICES, OR FOR ANY INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND RELATED GRAPHICS OBTAINED THROUGH THIS DOCUMENT OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS DOCUMENT, WHETHER BASED ON CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF THE SIF ASSOCIATION, ITS PARTICIPANT(S), OR THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES/JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IF YOU ARE DISSATISFIED WITH ANY PORTION OF THIS DOCUMENT OR WITH ANY OF THESE TERMS OF USE, YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY IS TO DISCONTINUE USING THIS DOCUMENT.

Current legal information for the Access 4 Learning (A4L) Community can be found here.

## 1.4 Certification and Compliance Claims

Though a product may be demonstrated to comply with this specification, no product may be designated as SIF Certified™ by an organization or individual until the product has been tested against and passed established compliance criteria, published separately [SIFCertification]. Organizations and individuals that are currently paying annual membership dues to the SIF Association and dedicating resources to the initiative may also use the designation SIF Participant to describe their involvement with the SIF Association and SIF in marketing, public relations and other materials.

# Quick Table of Contents

## 1 Preamble

## 2 Introduction

## 3 Infrastructure

## A Common Types

## B Code Sets

## C External Code Sets

## D Background/Supplementary Documentation (non-normative)

## E Index of Tables

## F Index of Examples

## G Index of Figures

## H Index of Objects

## I Index of Common Types

## J Index of Elements

## K Index of Attributes

## L References

# Full Table of Contents

## 1 Preamble

### 1.1 Abstract

#### 1.1.1 What is SIF?

#### 1.1.2 SIF Association

### 1.2 License

### 1.3 Disclaimer

### 1.4 Certification and Compliance Claims

## 2 Introduction

### 2.1 Specification Organization

### 2.2 Document Conventions

#### 2.2.1 Definitions

#### 2.2.2 Structure and Values

#### 2.2.3 Examples

#### 2.2.4 References

#### 2.2.5 Terminology

#### 2.2.6 XML Diagrams

### 2.3 Version Numbers

### 2.4 Highlighted Additions/Changes

## 3 Infrastructure

### 3.1 Introduction

#### 3.1.1 Format

#### 3.1.2 Conventions

##### 3.1.2.1 Object Attributes/Primary Keys

##### 3.1.2.2 Externally-Defined XML

##### 3.1.2.3 Payload Validation

###### 3.1.2.3.1 Create

###### 3.1.2.3.2 Update

### 3.2 Privacy Services

#### 3.2.1 pod

### 3.3 Request

#### 3.3.1 deleteRequest

### 3.4 Response

#### 3.4.1 adminDirective

#### 3.4.2 createResponse

#### 3.4.3 deleteResponse

#### 3.4.4 error

#### 3.4.5 updateResponse

### 3.5 SIF Infrastructure Services

#### 3.5.1 environment

#### 3.5.2 job

#### 3.5.3 provisionRequest

#### 3.5.4 queue

#### 3.5.5 state

#### 3.5.6 subscription

### 3.6 Utility Services

#### 3.6.1 alert

#### 3.6.2 codeSet

#### 3.6.3 namespace

#### 3.6.4 provider

#### 3.6.5 xquery

#### 3.6.6 zone

## A Common Types

### A.1 adapterFingerprintListType

### A.2 aliasesType

### A.3 aliasType

### A.4 alternatePurposeListType

### A.5 appIDListType

### A.6 applicationInfoType

### A.7 benchmarkListType

### A.8 benchmarkType

### A.9 clauseListType

### A.10 clauseType

### A.11 codeItemsType

### A.12 codeItemType

### A.13 codeType

### A.14 conditionListType

### A.15 conditionType

### A.16 contractType

### A.17 countryImpactedListType

### A.18 countryImpactedType

### A.19 createsType

### A.20 createType

### A.21 dataAccessType

### A.22 dataControllerType

### A.23 dataDeletionType

### A.24 dataProcessorType

### A.25 dataSubjectType

### A.26 dataSubProcessorListType

### A.27 dataSubProcessorType

### A.28 defaultZoneType

### A.29 DefinedProtocolsType

### A.30 deidentifiedPurposeListType

### A.31 deleteIdCollectionType

### A.32 deleteIdType

### A.33 deleteStatusCollectionType

### A.34 deleteStatusType

### A.35 employeeTrainingListType

### A.36 employeeTrainingType

### A.37 endpointListType

### A.38 endpointType

### A.39 enumerationsType

### A.40 enumerationType

### A.41 environmentTypeType

### A.42 errorCommonType

### A.43 errorDetailsType

### A.44 errorDetailType

### A.45 errorTypeType

### A.46 ExtendedContentType

### A.47 fieldListType

### A.48 fieldType

### A.49 gCoreAddressListType

### A.50 gCoreAddressType

### A.51 gCoreContactInfoType

### A.52 gCoreContactListType

### A.53 gCoreCountryType

### A.54 gCoreEmailListType

### A.55 gCoreEmailType

### A.56 gCoreGenderType

### A.57 gCoreLocalIdType

### A.58 gCoreNameType

### A.59 gCorePhoneNumberListType

### A.60 gCorePhoneNumberType

### A.61 gCoreStateProvinceIdType

### A.62 gCoreStateProvinceType

### A.63 infrastructureServiceNamesType

### A.64 infrastructureServicesType

### A.65 infrastructureServiceType

### A.66 initializationType

### A.67 jobStateType

### A.68 lawListType

### A.69 lawType

### A.70 legalRequirementsType

### A.71 mediaTypesType

### A.72 messageTypeType

### A.73 methodParametersType

### A.74 methodParameterType

### A.75 obligationListType

### A.76 obligationType

### A.77 operationsType

### A.78 operationType

### A.79 parametersType

### A.80 parameterType

### A.81 partyToDeleteDataType

### A.82 passwordEmployeeAccessStandardType

### A.83 phaseCollectionType

### A.84 phaseStateType

### A.85 phaseType

### A.86 privacyListType

### A.87 privacyObligationsDocumentType

### A.88 privacyType

### A.89 productIdentityType

### A.90 propertiesType

### A.91 propertyNVListType

### A.92 propertyNVType

### A.93 propertyType

### A.94 protocolType

### A.95 provisionedZonesType

### A.96 provisionedZoneType

### A.97 purposeListType

### A.98 querySupportType

### A.99 rangeType

### A.100 requestTypeValueType

### A.101 rightsType

### A.102 rightType

### A.103 rightTypeType

### A.104 rightValueType

### A.105 securityTechnologyListType

### A.106 securityTechnologyType

### A.107 securityTestRequiredListType

### A.108 securityTestRequiredType

### A.109 SelectedContentType

### A.110 servicesType

### A.111 serviceSubTypeType

### A.112 serviceType

### A.113 serviceTypeType

### A.114 stateCommonType

### A.115 stateListType

### A.116 supportedRequestsType

### A.117 supportedRequestType

### A.118 technicalRequirementsType

### A.119 updatesType

### A.120 updateType

### A.121 uriType

### A.122 uuidType

### A.123 versionType

### A.124 zoneContextListType

### A.125 zoneContextType

## B Code Sets

### IN Code Sets

## C External Code Sets

### International Standards Organization (ISO)

## D Background/Supplementary Documentation (non-normative)

## E Index of Tables

## F Index of Examples

## G Index of Figures

## H Index of Objects

## I Index of Common Types

## J Index of Elements

## K Index of Attributes

## L References