The Pennsylvania State University - Administrative Information Services, a unit of Information Technology Services

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the retention policy for the GI calls log?

A record of all GI calls will be retained for a minimum of six months. After six months, the records in the logs may be aggregated in such a manner that long term application and service trend information will be preserved, but individual call data will be lost.

What data type should be used for my input parameters?

All input parameters must be sent in as the string data type. Using any other data type, even for numbers, will result in lost data and erratic behavior.

How long will it take for an application to go live after the request to move it into production?

There are many factors that affect the amount of time it will take for an application to move from the Development Environment to being available in Production. Generally, the process will take between three to 10 business days.

When may I send out notices that my application is live?

The availability of an application should NOT be announced until it has been verified/tested in the Production Environment. There could be several days between the time a request is made to move an application into production and the application is actually ready for use in the Production Environment. Please consider this potential delay in your planning.

What is the difference between an application and a service?

An application is a user-software system that will call various services. A service is a function that resides and is executed in the Generalized Interface.

What are the hours of availability of the Generalized Interface?

The Production Generalized Interface will typically be available 24 hours per day, 7 day per week, with the exception of a server re-start that occurs every day at 6:00 a.m. In addition, ITS maintenance activity may result in occasional service disruptions between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. Even though the GI itself will typically be available, many of the databases accessed by the Generalized interface have specific availability. In general, please refer to General Information on the GI landing page for hours of availability.

Are the userID and password, which are passed as the first and second parameter of the XML-RPC call, case sensitive?

Yes.

How long does it take from the time I register my application in the Development Environment until I can use it to call services?

As soon as your application is registered in the Development Environment, it may be used.

What is the address of the server listening for test XML-RPC calls?

https://vwtest.oas.psu.edu/isapi/gi.dll/rpc2

What is the address of the acceptance GI server?

https://GiAcceptance.ais.psu.edu/cgi-bin/gi.exe/rpc2

Content Questions: Generalized Interface | Support Questions: AIS Support