Data Exchange Pre Beta Delivery Aims

During January - March 2018 the Data Exchange (DEx) project will be working with a small number of school MIS suppliers to progress work on the prototypes developed during the Alpha phase. This will enable DEx to move forward at pace during the private Beta phase.

The project requires a technical architect who will work with the project team to formally shape what each Data Exchange service (API Platform, Developer and Data Provider Hubs) must deliver as the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in preparation for the private Beta phase in April.

Additional information: Data Exchange aims to provide modern, flexible ways of moving data that deliver workable solutions for both DfE and system suppliers, whilst also helping to reduce the human effort associated with validating and moving data.

Development is based on an Agile delivery methodology. This allows the project to build, test and iterate the solution based on user needs.

During the Alpha phase the project built prototypes:

• developer hub - where MIS suppliers can register their applications to work with our APIs • data provider hub - where schools can authenticate those applications to provide authoritative data on their behalf and see what data has been provided to the department • mock APIs - to validate and send school census data to the department

In preparation for moving to private Beta in April 2018, the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for Beta will need to be agreed.

To maximise the benefits of this work, the supplier will need to be familiar with data collections, API technology and the work the project has completed during the Alpha phase. Given the short timeframe (Jan 2018 to Mar 2018) to deliver, the project has chosen to use a single sourcing route through an established compliant procurement framework for this work.