History

In 1988, through a collaborative effort with The National Forum on Education Statistics, The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) began examining the need for electronic exchange of postsecondary student records. The first standard format was accepted by the Accredited Standards Committee X12 (ASC X12) of the American National Standards Institute in 1992. In 1996, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) commissioned the Statistical Networking Applications Project (SNAP) to develop, maintain, promote and support the national adoption of appropriate American National Standards Institute's Accredited Standards Committee X12 Electronic Data Interchange standards throughout the educational community of the United States.

In 2006, the Student Access Advisory Committee of the Midwest Higher Education Compact (MHEC) reviewed a highly successful statewide eTranscript initiative in Indiana and recommended MHEC launch its own initiative. After a formal selection process, MHEC signed a master agreement with a vendor, Docufide, for this purpose. The master agreement paved the way for other states to join the initiative at a reduced pricing structure. The Kansas Department of Education is already implementing for secondary schools.

Consequent to the MHEC initiative, the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents (COFSP) made a formal request to the Board of Regents to facilitate a postsecondary initiative in Kansas. Upon input from educational leaders in the state, the Kansas Board of Regents, through a joint venture with the Kansas Department of Education, applied for grant funding through the Statewide Longitudinal Database System Recovery Act. The funding for this initiative was approved, and the official project kickoff is April 1, 2011. The project has the full support of the Kansas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (KACRAO) and the Kansas Independent Colleges Association and Fund (KICA).