WSLS Interface Specifications

Frequently Asked Questions - Technical Issues
Are there certain characters that should not be used in CSV or XML files?

Student Load File Transactions

There are two types of Wisconsin Student Number Locator System (WSLS) Student Load files: Initial Student Load and Subsequent Locate/Assign WSN. Student Load transactions add new student enrollment records to the Wisconsin Student Number Locator System (WSLS) data base.

Initial Student Load. This file transaction will be used at the time of WSLS implementation (May/June 2004) to initially assign all students a unique Wisconsin Student Number (WSN). A record must be submitted for each student enrolled during the 2003-04 school year. For information about students to be included in the Initial Student Load, see the Frequently Asked Questions. Records for students enrolling in a school after June 30, 2004 are included in Locate/Assign WSN transactions. Including these students in the Initial Student Load will cause file failure. What happens if districts don't have WSNs for students by June 30?
Locate/Assign WSN. After the Initial Student Load, student enrollment records will be added using the Locate/Assign WSN file transaction. This transaction will be used (1) to help ensure that the WSNs stay with students as they move from school to school and district to district and (2) to assign new WSNs to students entering Wisconsin Public Schools. For information about students to be included in Locate/Assign transactions, see the Frequently Asked Questions. Locate/Assign transactions should be sent on a regular basis to keep the WSLS data current.

If as a result of a Locate/Assign transaction a student is located in the WSLS, then two situations can occur:

A request is sent to the most recent school to confirm that the student has exited that school. After the exit is confirmed, then the WSN is returned to the requesting school.
If an exit date already exists for a student in the most recent previous school, then the WSN is returned to the requesting school.

If a student is not located in the system, then a new WSN is assigned to the student and returned to the requesting school.

CSV (MS Word), XML (MS Word)
Examples and File Validation.

Exit/Update File Transactions After Initial WSN Assignment

These file transactions change existing student enrollment records in the Wisconsin Student Number Locator System data base. They are necessary to add exit dates when students exit a school, when data need to be updated (e.g. legal name, local IDs), to correct errors (e.g. gender, race, birthdate, place of birth, spellings), and to add new directory information (e.g. guardians, student aliases, or any optional data not previously submitted). Note that correcting errors in school enrollment dates must be done on-line for each affected individual student so every effort should be made to insure that these dates are accurate at the time Locate/Assign WSN files are processed.

CSV (MS Word), XML (MS Word)
Examples and File Validation.