OneRoster Overview

The Triand OneRoster API implements 1EdTech's OneRoster API specification. The OneRoster API allows third-party vendors secure access to roster information via a REST API. The OneRoster API Service is certified for both OneRoster v1.1 and OneRoster v1.2. The very detailed OneRoster specification can be found at 1EdTech OneRoster Documentation which describes the full API specification, data models, and security requirements.

Each day, right after school ends, the system performs a series of automated tasks to capture the roster data from the district's Student Information System (SIS). The roster information is then processed and made available through the OneRoster API. This process is completed by 11pm local time.

Simplified, the OneRoster specification organizes the roster data into the following categories (OneRoster Models):

  • Org - Information about the district and schools
  • Users - Information about students, parents, and teachers
  • Demographics - Information about student demographics
  • Academic Sessions - Information about the district calendar (semesters, quarters, etc.)
  • Course - Information about a specific courses (course name, course code, etc.)
  • Class - Information about a specific classes (course code, class name, class code, class location, etc.)
  • Enrollments - Information about which users (students, teachers) are in which class

In summary, by 11pm each night the district's roster data is captured, processed, and made available through the OneRoster API.

LEAs (Local Education Agencies) grant access to the OneRoster API to authorized vendors and the vendors decide when to access the online data.

OneRoster recommends that vendors access the API using one of two strategies.

  • Batch: Access the API nightly to retrieve all roster data.
  • Realtime: Access the API when needed for a specific event or action.

Note that OneRoster is a pull-based API, meaning vendors must initiate requests to retrieve data. Triand does not push data to vendors (ie Triand does not send records, or files, to vendors).

The 1EdTech OneRoster Documentation specification is very detailed about data dictionary, data structures and data relationships.

Missing from the specification are Triand-specific implementation details: