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The Knowledgebase

Study Abroad: Confidentiality Indicator and Privacy Practices - FERPA

Note: Policies and practices concerning privacy of user information can vary. Terra Dotta is designed to provide the greatest flexibility possible.

 

The Confidentiality Indicator is a flag that can be set on an individual (applicant) record in the SIS database to alert administrative users handling the information that there are some special privacy policies to follow for the person in question. This is a generic flag that can be passed through the SIS integration for any type of flagging that’s present in the system of record. For one institution it may be basic, meaning don’t discuss or share any info about the student. For another, it could be a flag that needs further cross-referencing, meaning check to see what privacy codes are active for this student.  
 
The Confidentiality Indicator is a one-character field. When the field is set to any value other than 'N' or null, the record is considered "flagged," meaning that the administrative interfaces where data is displayed about these users will provide a clear indication that a flag has been set.
 
The Confidentiality Indicator can be set manually using the Classic Administrative view>Maintenance>Edit User utility: 
However, for many implementations the most effective approach is to use SIS integration.
 
SIS integration allows you to extend the capabilities of the Confidentiality Indicator to provide more elaborate information about the specific policies in effect for individuals in your system. For an explanation of SIS integration, refer to the Terra Dotta Study Abroad Implementation Knowledgebase article. 
 

Steps for conveying policy through SIS integration:

  1. Ensure that a flag is provided in the SIS feed/view that can be used as a single indicator that one or more privacy conditions exists.
  2. Create a core data mapping for the Confidentiality Indicator from Step 1. Recall that any 1-character value other than 'N' or null is a true condition.
  3. Add one or more fields to the custom mappings of the SIS integration to present the policy settings. Example: create a field called Privacy and pass to it a string of codes that administrative users can look up to determine the specific privacy policies to follow.
  4. Be sure to enable the proper Refresh settings for the new Applicant Parameter created by the mapping by editing it in Settings > Applicant Params so that the mappings will continue to be refreshed as long as is necessary.

In practice, your administrative users will see the Confidentiality Indicator icon in the admin console view of applications:
This icon will be their cue to go and see further details on the Profile tab of the application admin screen.

Note: This icon appears as a red circle with a white exclamation mark in the classic administrative view of applications: