Common Terms and Definitions

API Configurations

CAS API Account (Liaison)

https://help.liaisonedu.com/Integration/CAS_API/Getting_Started_with_the_CAS_API/02_Getting_Access_to_the_CAS_API

To configure subscriptions and gain access to the CAS API data Liaison requires a “CAS API Account.” Access to a specific CAS environment (production or prelaunch) is granted to this account.

An Institution Manager (IM) for each CAS must reqest either a new account or that access be given to an existing account for their CAS. However, the CAS API Account itself can have a different “owner” than the IM. If the owner will be different than the IM, the owner will need to already have access to the environment(s) in their existing Liaison/WebAdMIT account. It may be necessary for the IM to request access for the owner from the CAS association (i.e., PTCAS staff) before submitting the API account request.

Each CAS will have an organization code to identify it. So for example, PTCAS 23-24 for PHX has one organization ID, and PTCAS 23-24 for SEA has a different organization ID.

A separate account is required for production vs. prelaunch (which is a test environment available before the cycle opens), but it is possible to have multiple CAS and cycles under a single account.

Once access for a CAS/organization is added to the account, it will “roll over” each year when the new cycle is added, so this process only needs to happen once per CAS/organization.

Access to each cycle’s prelaunch environment and production environment will depend on when it is “opened” as part of the cycle (see Cycle Turnover Process).

CAS API Accounts Managed by TTS Slate Team

CAS/Liaision Service Account Configurations (Slate)

To enable automated delivery of CAS application data through the API, Slate requires each instance to have a “CAS/Liaison Service Account” (functionally a “user”) which is assigned a role that allows SFTP access. This “user” is what holds the permissions, allowed networks, and other security settings to allow the data to be transferred from the CAS environment into the Slate environment via SFTP.

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Allowed Networks (Deprecated January 2024)

Below are the IP addresses that are included in the “allowed networks” of existing CAS/Liaison Service accounts for future reference. It is unclear which exactly are used by the Liaison systems, the following list is provided for reference/troubleshooting.

CLEAN SLATE

12.130.14.3, *
35.196.40.74, *
35.237.218.144, *
35.237.169.192, 
34.74.5.60, 
35.185.121.56, 
34.74.128.171, 
104.196.102.47


TUSMGP

12.130.14.3, *
35.196.40.74, *
35.237.218.144, *
35.237.169.192, * 
108.26.138.40, x
130.64.2.186, x
130.64.35.32, x
3.224.174.183, x
52.0.120.196, x
52.2.196.251, x
52.71.217.11, x
54.161.89.200, x
54.205.199.53, x
130.64.3.197 x

Cycle Turnover Process

Each CAS has an annual cycle which is based off of the application deadlines/timeline for the programs using it. Each cycle includes:

1. Configuration Portal/Prelaunch environment launch/open - institutions/programs are given access to set up the application configurations they can customize (questions, deadlines, documents, etc.). Level of customization is dependent on the CAS association rules/choices.

2. Configuration Portal “closes” - institutions/programs have finalized their custom configurations and submitted to the CAS association for “approval.”

3. Application Portal launch/open - the application becomes live/available to prospective students to access. Typically a few weeks/months after configuration portal has closed; during this time the CAS association reviews configurations and approves the configurations, and those final configurations are pushed from prelaunch to production.

4. Applicant data available in WebAdMIT - the last step is for the CAS to generate a new WebAdMIT “environment” for the cycle and then to push application data to it. Typically, the WebAdMIT “environment” will become available the same day the application portal launches, and application data will be sent the next day.

Automated Notifications from Liaison

When Liaison “promotes or rolls over” (i.e., opens) the new cycle for either the production or the prelaunch environment, access to that environment will be added for any CAS API account which had access during the previous cycle (it will “roll over”) and there is nothing the institution needs to do.

Automatic notifications will go to the user associated with the CAS API user account:

1. Notification of a user update(s), which is updating the CAS API user account to include access to the new cycle (includes a new Application Form ID).

2. Notification of subscription update(s), which is indicating that a subscription which existed in the previous cycle has been created/copied over to the new cycle (includes a new Subscription ID).

Troubleshooting Connection Issues

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