Progress report Web service Product description Version 1.0
Progress report Web service Product description
The Progress report Web service allows a light integration with EF’s customer’s LMS. The main advantage of using a Web service is to allow EF and its customers to communicate data without intimate knowledge of each other's IT systems behind the firewall. Through this specific Web service, training managers can collect information on what progress the students have made in the Online school.
Last updated on May 30, 2011 1
Progress report Web service Product description Version 1.0
Table of contents 1.
EF Progress report Web service overview ................................................... 3
2.
EF Progress report Web service description ................................................ 3
2.1. 2.2.
EF Progress report flow .................................................................................................... 3 EF Progress report security .............................................................................................. 4
Last updated on May 30, 2011 2
Progress report Web service Product description Version 1.0
1. EF Progress report Web service overview The EF Online school Web services platform uses open protocols: XML defines the message structure, SOAP acts as the message envelope and HTTP/HTTPS is used for the transport layer. XML provides a language which is platform and programming language agnostic and can still express complex messages and operations. HTTP is the protocol for normal web surfing and as such few firewalls or routers blocks it, ensuring maximum Internet penetration. HTTPS provides security by ensuring that the traffic is encrypted.
Figure 1. Illustration of a Web service
2. EF Progress report Web service description 2.1. EF Progress report flow The customer’s LMS is enhanced with a client that can call the EF Progress report Web service. The client that performs the Web service call should be developed by the customer’s technical team. When called, the Web service returns a list of students with information on each student’s progress in the Online school. The set of students to be included in the report is determined using an EF division code. In EF terms, a division represents a customer defined group of students. The information that is included in the report is listed in Table 1. Values returned with each student First name Last name Employee ID
Email address Registration date Subscription expiration date
Description The student’s first name. The student’s last name. The student’s employee id. This value is usually defined by the customer organization and corresponds to a unique identifier on its side. The student’s email address. The date on which the student registered with the Online School. The date on which the student no longer has a valid subscription with the Online school. Last updated on May 30, 2011 3
Progress report Web service Product description Version 1.0 Starting level The level on which the student begun studying, for example 1.0 Achieved level The level the student currently has reached, for example 5.4 Table 1. The information returned for each student. The customer may take further actions with the obtained data, such as storing it in the LMS or exporting it to Excel spread-sheets.
2.2. EF Progress report security The EF Single Sign-On Web service supports both HTTP and HTTPS. The Customer credentials (username and password) are the security key to accessing EF Online School Web services. The credentials can be set to expire periodically as required by the customer.
Last updated on May 30, 2011 4