(April 30, 1999)                                    corecur3.wp
            Section 1 coded text modified 8/31/99.

to   : TACRAO and Technical Support
from : Dave Stones
re   : Core Curriculum Transcripts and Data Structures

Suzanne Carter asked for conventions for carrying core curriculum information
on electronic transcripts, as suggested by Senate Bill 148, and as discussed
by a TACRAO committee advising THECB.

The Good News:
Most of what we are required to send or may wish to send may be carried in
data segments already available, namely the RAP (requirements, proficiencies,
and attributes) and NTE (free form note) segments (the RAP is also the
mechanism for TASP status).

  1.  We must label individual courses which are from the core curriculum, and
      denote the area.

      Use the RAP in position 272 of the segment map for version 3052 of the
      TS130 (SPEEDE transcript), following the CRS segment.  The format is:
            RAP/9TX/TXCORECURR/nnntext/A!,
            where / is the data element delimiter,
                  ! the segment delimiter
                  9TX indicates that this is a Texas-specific
                       usage (I inadvertently left this off the earlier
                       document. Thanks to Meredith LaGrone of UH for
                       spotting the mistake).
                 nnntext may be  (shortened to 35 characters 8/31/99)

                       010Communication (I)
                       011Communication (II)
                       020Mathematics (I)
                       021Mathematics (II)
                       030Natural Sciences (I)
                       031Natural Sciences (II)
                       040Humanities (I)
                       041Humanities (II)
                       050Visual & Performing Arts (I)
                       051Visual & Performing Arts (II)
                       060History (I)
                       070Political Science (I)
                       080Social & Behavioral Science (I)
                       081Social & Behavioral Science (II)
                       090Institutional Option (II)
                  A means attribute.

  2.  We must indicate that a student has completed the core curriculum at our
      institution if this is the case.

      Use the RAP in the header section (location 067).  The format will be:
            RAP/9TX/TXCORECURR/FULLCURRIC/R/Y!
            where R means requirement and
            Y means Yes, met.

  3.  While this has been neither required nor recommended at this point, if
      an institution were to wish to indicate completion of a core area, the
      repeating RAP in the same location (067) could be used, as follows:
            RAP/9TX/TXCORECURR/nnntext/R/Y!
            where nnntext has the same values as in #1.

  4.  Similarly, if an institution wished to show progress toward completion
      of a core area, we would recommend use of the free-form note in the
      header, position 080, with the following recommended format:
        NTE/9TX/TXCORECURR:nnntext:completed n1 of n2!
            where n1 = hours completed, n2 = hours required.

This seems fairly simple and having to add this to the outgoing electronic
transcript should not lead to massive early retirement.  This is good. 
Clearly, the tasks below will become more complicated if institutions must
implement and react to options 3 and 4, above.

We have initiated ANSI ASC X12 data maintenance to increase the maximum number
of RAP segments in position 067 (from 10 to 99, as the legislature will
continue to meet).

The Bad News for This Summer:
This is going to be expensive in terms of your internal student information
system (SIS) and data base, with significant financial impact for systems and
staff, which must:
  1.  Determine which courses at your institution will satisfy which areas.
  2.  Add additional fields to the following data base files:
      a. Current Semester Classes for a Student
      b. Past Semester Classes for a Student
      c. Transfer Classes for a Student
      d. Semester Course Schedule.
      e. Course Inventory
      f. Automatic Transfer Equivalency
      g. Student master Record (to show completion of
            the core, either at your institution or another).
      h. Create a new file to store requirements by
            subarea at your institution.
  3.  For each, modify screens, printouts, data collection, data copy, and
      data update programs.
  4.  Modify registration load programs to pick up the core curriculum codes
      from the Course master record.
  5.  Sweep current and past classes for all students, updating the class
      records with the codes.
  6.  If possible, sweep transfer class records, using the equivalent course
      designation to flag courses received in transfer in the past.
  7.  Modify programs reading electronic transcript to capture the course
      flags (from RAP) and also record presentation of a completed core at
      another school, and update the appropriate fields.
  8.  Implement systems similar to a mini-degree audit to assess progress
      toward the requirement, and update them.
  9.  Modify transcript generation programs to call these routines and store
      the additional required information.
 10.  Modify degree audit procedures to take into account the effects of
      completion of core requirements elsewhere.

      Each of the above changes will complicate the ongoing systems
      maintenance of the SIS for all institutions, and these items are not
      independent of one another.  More systems analyst support will be
      required for these systems, and that will continue over time.

The Worst Part:
      We'll need to change our procedures, increasing handling and slowing
      processing or delivery, on both incoming and outgoing documents.  
      Transcripts will continue to become more complicated, and we will have
      different versions for the general public, out of state schools, and
      Texas colleges.

      The impact upon degree audit - already the most complicated system on
      campus - will be huge, and make that arena much more difficult to
      handle.  Speaking for myself, I would not want to have to make those
      changes.
Good luck!