Course Exchange 2.5 - EPPN lookups and Updating CCC IDs in the SIS - Colleague

Owned by Amanda Mason (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Apr 03, 2018 by Zeke Rogers (Unlicensed)
2 min read

With the release of Course Exchange 2.5, enhanced functionality has been deployed to allow the Course Exchange to identify a student by EPPN and to update their CCC ID if its missing.

Overview

This update to the College Adaptor / Colleague API has two components:

  1. Students may now be identified in the SIS by EPPN and not just CCC ID
  2. Students who are identified by EPPN will have their CCC ID updated in the SIS

This allows the Course Exchange to serve students who have not used CCC Apply or who for one reason or another have not had their CCC ID recorded in the SIS.

What is EPPN?

  • EPPN stands for eduPersonPrincipalName
  • EPPNs are scoped, like an email address, for example john.smith@college.edu
  • When a student logins in to the Course Exchange, they typically log in using their EPPN or the first part of their eppn (before "@"), depending on the college setup
  • Although a student may not have a CCC ID, they will always have an EPPN or they would not be able to log in.
  • Therefore we can use the EPPN to identify a student when they have not yet been assigned a CCC ID, or the college is unaware of the student's CCC ID.

The Gory Details

Students who already have a CCC ID in Colleague are unaffected by this update.

Students who do NOT have a CCC ID in Colleague will go through the following workflow:

  • Student logs in to the Course Exchange via the proxy
  • The proxy redirects the student to either log in to Open CCC or to create an Open CCC account. This is the same account the student uses for CCC Apply. Creating an Open CCC account assigns you a unique CCC ID.
  • The proxy redirects the student to the Course Exchange, passing the EPPN and CCC ID of the student.
  • The Course Exchange attempts to locate the student by CCC ID. This will fail if the student does not have their CCC ID assigned in the SIS (which is what we expect in this scenario).
    • Note that if there's a disconnect between the SIS and the identity provider at the college, it's possible that the proxy would not be passed the CCC ID but the SIS would have it for the student, in which case the workflow would proceed as normal from here. This would indicate a sync problem between the SIS and the identity provider (typically active directory).
  • Assuming that the student was not located by CCC ID, the Course Exchange locates the student in Colleague by EPPN.
  • Once the student is identified by EPPN, the Course Exchange updates the CCC ID of the student in Colleague.
  • The Course Exchange will now proceed as usual


How CCC ID and EPPN lookups are performed in Colleague

  • A student is located by CCC ID by looking for it in their "Alternate IDs", which can be found on the DADD form in Colleague UI
  • A student is located by EPPN by looking for the first part of the EPPN (before the "@") in the "Person Login ID" on the DRUS form in Colleague UI
    • In the database this is the OEE.USERNAME field in ORG.ENTITY.ENV