What is the EDW?
The EDW is the data warehouse that houses most of the components of the TSDS initiative: TSDS Unique ID, the Operational Data Store (ODS), the PEIMS Data Mart (PDM), and the Core Collection. It is a district-facing repository for education data used for PEIMS reporting and it provides loading, approving, validating, submitting, and reporting features.
How is the ODS different from the EDW?
The EDW refers to the whole system in which the Texas Student Data System (TSDS) resides; the ODS is one component of that system. Data entering the system is stored in the ODS before being sent to the final destination subsystems. Having a single, centralized data source for the entire system is more efficient and will help make it possible to centralize TEA's data collections.
Where will the EDW be hosted, and is confidential data secure?
TEA plans to host the TSDS environment at the State of Texas data center (DCS). The Texas Data Centers are geographically dispersed, secure, protected data centers with fully redundant components. Access to each server is restricted by firewall and very strict authentication mechanisms. The Texas Data Centers have strict access control systems and all employees at the hosted facility must pass stringent background checks. Only computers, individuals and services that have been granted explicit access to the servers can gain access.
The Texas Data Centers are contractually required to comply with federal and state security regulations such as FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), CJIS (Criminal Justice Information Services) and TAC (Texas Administrative Code). For more information on TSDS security, visit our Security page or the Security FAQs.
The Texas Data Centers (DCS) currently host systems for 28 state agencies including many mission critical, confidential systems such as Unemployment Insurance program, Medicare program, Child Support systems, and Vehicle Title and Registration systems.