Penn State Person Biographical Record

The following is a summary of the work done by the Person Bio Record Working Group as it relates to creating a uniform and consistent Penn State Person Biographical Record (Person Bio Record) at Penn State. The document includes an overview of the process, a glossary of shared terms, the recommended elements of a Person Bio Record, shared policies, and the data dictionary updating process.

Overview

In order to simplify compliance with policies and procedures related to the management of person identity information under Penn State Administrative Policy AD80: Identity and Access Management (IAM) ( Penn State Identity Services (IdS) and the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) have coordinated an initiative to establish the Person Biographical Record.

The Person Bio Record is a shared set of data elements containing information related to Person Identity, stored in data fields whose definitions are collectively understood and adhered to, created and maintained under shared policies and procedures, resulting in a high degree of consistency, confidence in fidelity of values, and data integrity for identity information managed across Penn State information systems.

The Person Bio Record Working Group was charged with the task of establishing a standard format for the Person Bio Record, as well as developing operational policy for creating, updating, and managing the Person Bio Record.

The Person Bio Record Working Group has also determined the set of core data elements for a Person Bio Record.

Participants

Initiator

Renee Shuey, senior director of Identity Services

Glossary

The following terms were defined during the process and are necessary to understand the recommendations of the group.

Central Person Registry (CPR): The Penn State Central Person Registry (CPR) is a unified data store that combines and consolidates identity information historically stored in separate and non-integrated legacy sources throughout the University. The CPR is the authoritative source for the capture and storage of identity information relating to persons referred to in Administrative Policy AD80.

Person Biographical Record (Person Bio Record): A shared set of data elements related to Person Identity whose definitions are collectively understood and adhered to, created and maintained under shared policies and procedures, resulting in identity information that can be managed across Penn State information systems with a high degree of consistency, confidence in fidelity of values, and data integrity.

Identity Authority: Penn State business units authorized by IAM Governance with the responsibility to create or update identities in the Central Person Registry.

Data Element: For the purposes of this document, the term Data Element is used to label a grouping of information represented in one or more related data fields. For example, the Name data element is comprised of data fields that store values for family name, first name, etc.

Minimum Data Fields: Person Bio Record Minimum required data fields are those fields that are required to create a minimally populated Person Bio Record. The minimum data fields required are Legal Name, Address, Date of Birth, and Gender.

Core Data Elements: Person Bio Record Core data elements are those for which values must be requested at the time of person record creation. The Core data elements for the Person Bio Record are Name, Date of Birth, Gender, SSN, Address, and Email.

Non-Core Data Elements: Non-Core Data elements will become part of a Person Bio Record when collected but will not be required (or not be required to be requested) for the creation of a Person Bio Record. In other words, Non-Core Data elements will compose the remainder of a Person Bio Record (in addition to the Core Data Elements).

Elements of a Person Bio Record at Penn State

The Bio Person Working Group recommends that the following data elements and fields be included in the Penn State Person Biographical Record.

There will be multiple types for certain data elements (such as Permanent Address and Local Address), and the CPR will store previously entered data elements as a form of history. For example, a new Local Address will not replace the previous Local Address; both will be stored in the CPR and be part of the Person Bio Record and its history.

To Establish a Person Bio Record

In order to establish a Person Bio Record, there will be certain data elements that will be considered Core Data Elements. Among these Core Data Elements, there will be specific data fields that will be required in order to establish a minimally populated Person Bio Record. These are called Minimum Data Fields.

(Figure 1: Relationship of Minimum Data Fields, Core Data Elements, and Person Bio Record)

The Core Data Elements, which includes the Minimum Data Fields, will combine with the Non-Core Data Elements to complete a Person Bio Record. The Non-Core Data Elements are those that will be stored if given but are not required at the time of record creation. Certain business process will require data elements beyond what is necessary to create a Person Bio Record.

Core Data Elements

The following Core Data Elements will become part of the Person Bio Record. They will be required (or required to be requested) at the time of record creation.

Collecting values for missing Minimum Data Fields in records that pre-date the establishment of Penn State Person Bio Record shall be treated as a completion of the record-creation process.

Name (required)
A Legal Name for that person shall be supplied and entered at the time of record creation; a Preferred Name shall be optional at the time of record creation (and at any time in the future).
Date of Birth (required)
A full date of birth shall be supplied and entered at the time of record creation.
Gender (required)
A Gender (Types Male and Female) shall be supplied and entered at the time of record creation; a Gender Identity (Types Male, Female, and Other) will be optional at the time of record creation (and at any time in the future).
Address (required)
An address shall be supplied and entered at the time of record creation. Address Types in the Person Bio Record will be Permanent, Local, Work, Work (Physical Location), and Vendor.
Taxpayer Identification Number (SSN)(must be requested)
A Social Security Number shall be requested and, if given, entered at the time of record creation. If an SSN is not given at the time of record creation, then it will be entered if provided in the future. Note: Certain business process, such as Payroll and Student Financial Aid, require the presence an SSN; however, it is not required at the moment of record creation.
Email Address (must be requested)
An Email Address (external to Penn State) shall be requested and, if given, entered at the time of record creation. If one is not given at the time of record creation, then it will be entered if provided in the future. Note: Certain business process, such as Electronic Account Activation, require an external email address; however, an Email Address is not required at the moment of record creation.

Non-Core Data Elements

The following Non-Core Data Elements will become part of the Person Bio Record if they are collected; however, they will not be required in order to establish a Person Bio Record.

Phone Number
Phone Numbers will be stored by type as provided with optional primary flags.
Citizenship
The individual’s Citizenship status will be stored if (and when) it is provided.
Visa Data
The individual’s Visa Data will be stored if (and when) it is provided.
Photo
The photo of a person from the individual’s Penn State id+ Card will be stored in the CPR. Any updates to the photo will replace the previous version (no history will be kept).

Common Elements Associated with the Bio Record

Status Indicators

These common elements indicate the status of a record.

Confidentiality Hold
Identifies confidentiality holds for the record; pertains only to information Penn State publishes about the individual, not to information individuals have published about themselves
Decedent Data
Indicates whether the person associated with the Person Bio Record is deceased

Administrative

The following are not among the Person Bio Record Core Data Elements; however, these common elements enable administrative capabilities associated with the record, including creating a history for various data elements.

Person ID
The unique identifier of the Person Bio Record within the CPR

Start Date
The start date of the Person Bio Record
End Date
The end date of the Person Bio Record (rarely used, such as when a Person Bio Record is merged with another)
Import From
The Identity Authority from which the record started
Import Date
The date on which the Person Bio Record was imported
Last Updated by
Indicates the person or system that updated the Person Bio Record
Last Updated on
Indicates the date of last update of the Person Bio Record
Created by
Indicates the person or system that initially created the Person Bio Record
Created on
Indicates the date when the Person Bio Record was created

Shared Policies to Create and Update Person Bio Record

The following language was developed by the Person Bio Record working group under the authority of IAM governance:

The policies and procedures that govern the establishment or updating of person identity information stored as values within the data elements comprising the Penn State Person Bio Record shall be standardized and uniform across Penn State systems, regardless of the person’s affiliations to the university or which Identity Authority is performing the transaction.

A university entity, in accordance with the rules of IdS access policy, may pull information stored as data values from the Person Bio Record for use in a local system; however, only an Identity Authority may write data values to the Person Bio Record. Any Identity Authority serving as the source for data values written to the Person Bio Record shall do so in conformance to the standards of format, policies, and procedures governing the establishment and updating of person identity information in the Person Bio Record.

Shared procedure shall fulfill the procedural requirements that have been identified by the Person Bio Working Group.

Process to Update the Person Bio Record Data Dictionary

The Person Bio Record Working Group understands that changes to the recommended Person Bio Record Data Dictionary may be necessary in the future, either as business needs change or as business systems evolve and modernize.

Changes to the data elements that comprise the Person Bio Record or changes to policies and procedures related to the Person Bio Record shall be made in accordance with Penn State Administrative Policy AD80 and IAM governance.