Full and Incremental Snapshot Integration

A snapshot enables you to move the full set of relevant academic data from your PeopleSoft Campus Solutions system to the target external system when needed. Snapshots are tolerant of lost messages or missed data objects. Any subsequent snapshot transmittal sets the target system back in synchronization with the source system.

Snapshots can be generated by the SAIP or requested by external systems according to the IMS Learner Information Services (LIS) specification. For consumer-requested snapshots, SAIP returns a response defined in the same specification.

With the snapshot method you decide when you want a group of data to be transmitted to the external system.

A full synchronization snapshot captures and transfers all of the data in your system that is defined as in scope for SAIP.

An incremental snapshot captures and transfers only data that has been newly created or changed since the time that you define, such as since the last snapshot was run. Consider setting incremental snapshot integration to run frequently, perhaps nightly, to keep your external system updated.

An incremental snapshot:

1. Captures any changes to groups (representing institutions, organizations, terms), persons, courses, and enrollment information that are in scope for SAIP.

2. Captures any future effective-dated changes as they become current.

3. Confirms and rectifies results of event-based triggers.

A full synchronization snapshot is one that overwrites all previous data.

A full synchronization snapshot uses processes to move data in a specific order to maintain data integrity. While the LIS specification and the SAIP do not require a run order for snapshots, due to data relationships and hierarchies, a best practice order is:

1. Groups: institutions, organizations, terms (ReadGroups service operation).

2. Persons (ReadPersons service operation).

3. Course templates (ReadCourseTemplates service operation).

4. Course offerings (ReadCourseOfferings service operation).

5. Course sections (ReadCourseSections service operation).

6. Section association (ReadSectionAssociations service operation).

7. Memberships (ReadMemberships service operation).

When you include or exclude items in scope, you set them to be included or ignored in snapshot data transfers. You can override the inclusion or exclusion at cascading levels down from the highest level of institution to the most granular element of class section.

When an incremental snapshot is generated, SAIP creates an XML document using the naming convention that concatenates the service operation name with the date (YYYY-MM-DD) and time (HH.MM.SS.mmmmmm, where m is milliseconds) of the snapshot creation, for example READCOURSEOFFERINGS2011-06-22T15.45.43.000000Z.xml

The IMS Learning Information Services service operation model allows automatic transfer of XML incremental snapshot documents between systems. You must point each system to the desired destination directory or server. For SAIP, you specify the destination on the SAIP Installation page.

See Setting Default SAIP Scoping and Association Values.

SAIP posts the XML snapshot documents to the specified destination, making it available for the external system to retrieve, and provides the URL for that location in the response that it returns to the consuming system. SAIP requires no user intervention to transfer the XML snapshot documents after they are posted, however you can manually access and edit the files if necessary.