Pearson VUE Integration
- Seth Petry-Johnson
- Mallory Bucell
- Documentation
Summary
Exam eligibility information, sometimes called "Authorization to Test", can be automatically sent to Pearson VUE by a Workflow Behavior. This integration:
- Establishes a candidate record in the Pearson system
- Establishes an eligibility record in the Pearson system
- Allows the practitioner to schedule their own exam date using a seamless "single-sign-on" redirect to Pearson's website
- Retrieves exam results using SFTP nightly
- Allows for the mapping / storing of high-level and section/domain-level exam result data (see version requirements).
- Updates the exam Activity's Workflow, depending on the results
This integration does NOT currently support the transfer of scheduling-related data from Pearson to LearningBuilder.- The integration does NOT currently support the transfer of no-show exam result data (this is a separate file with an additional column outside of the pass/fail result file).
- This integration does NOT currently candidate merge, updating eligibilities, or cancelling eligibilities through the UI. These tasks require an engineering support ticket.
Overview
LearningBuilder can integrate seamlessly with Pearson VUE to:
- Establish eligibility for a candidate to sit for an exam
- Allow the candidate to schedule their exam using Pearson's self-service website
- Obtain exam results from Pearson VUE
- Dynamically update the candidate's application based on those results
The integration is enabled via a Workflow Behavior. It supports these Workflow types:
- Create Activity
- Complete Activity
- Complete Learning Plan
- Grant/Edit Member Role
Data Flow
- Workflow Action triggers the Behavior, which:
- Makes an API call to Pearson's "Candidate Demographic Data" service to establish a Candidate Id
- Makes an API call to Pearson's "Exam Authorization Data" service and sends an exam authorization for the Candidate ID (using an Exam Code and eligibility period pulled from the Behavior configuration)
- Workflow refreshes, Candidate sees a "Schedule Exam" button.
- Clicking this button navigates the user to the Pearson VUE self-service exam scheduling website where they can schedule their exam
- Clicking this button navigates the user to the Pearson VUE self-service exam scheduling website where they can schedule their exam
- Candidate is redirected to LearningBuilder and either continues with their Workflow or exits, depending on configuration.
- At some point in the future, after the candidate has actually taken the exam, a file containing the exam results is placed by Pearson VUE on an SFTP site that is monitored by LearningBuilder.
- Exam file is retrieved, parsed, and processed.
- Workflow Attributes are updated with relevant pieces of the result data, per the Behavior configuration
- The appropriate Workflow Action is executed depending on the exam grade. (This typically moves the Workflow forward into the next step)
Configuration
- Enable the integration via App Config
- Obtain client certificate from Pearson VUE
- Configure the Pearson VUE web service
- Create the Attributes used by the integration
- Create the Actions used by the integration
- Add the Behavior to a Workflow
Enable the integration via App Config
The Behavior cannot be added to a Workflow unless the "PearsonVueMode" App Config setting is "Test" or "Prod". If set to "Off" the integration is disabled.
Obtain client certificate from Pearson VUE
Each client will need to obtain, from Pearson, a client certificate. This will be a PKS #12 file with a .p12 extension.
Upload the certificate to Sys Admin → App Configuration → Client Certificates. The name that you assign the certificate is not significant, but make note of it because you'll need it for the app config settings.
- NOTE: You may need to submit a ticket with DevOps if the instance infrastructure is not configured as listed on /wiki/spaces/DOCS/pages/3115679895
- You will need to Enable Encryption and generate an encryption key before uploading the cerificate.
- Enabling encryption is an app config setting linked on the Sys Admin → App Configuration → Client Certificates page (EncryptionEnabled).
- You can generate an Encryption Key by Sys Admin → App Configuration → Encryption
Configure the Pearson VUE web service
The Behavior can be configured once the feature toggle is enabled, but it will not function properly until the Pearson VUE web service is properly configured.
Note that some settings have separate values for TEST and PROD modes.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| PearsonVueMode | Can be "Off", "Test", or "Prod". Setting this to "Off" disables the entire feature and prevents the Behavior from being added to a Workflow. |
PearsonVueCertificateNameProd PearsonVueCertificateNameTest | The names of the Client Certificates (from Sys Admin → App Configuration → Client Certificates) to use for the web service. calls |
PearsonVueClientId PearsonVueUserName(Test|Prod) PearsonVuePassword(Test|Prod) PearsonVuePassphrase(Test|Prod) | Credentials used when calling the EAD and CDD services. These are client-specific and should be obtained from Pearson. |
PearsonVueClientCode PearsonVueSsoPassphrase(Test|Prod) | Credentials used during the "SSO" handshake when redirecting users to Pearson's self-service exam scheduling website. These are client-specific and should be obtained from Pearson. |
PearsonVueSFTPUsername PearsonVueSFTPPassword(Test|Prod) | Credentials used when polling Pearson's SFTP server. These are client-specific and should be obtained from Pearson. |
Create the Attributes used by the integration
Before configuring the Behavior you must first configure some Workflow Attributes that will be referenced by the Behavior configuration:
- Exam Code - Tells Pearson VUE which exam the eligibility record is for. Can be a text-based attribute or a Template. Common configurations are a Picklist that gets the value from the candidate, a Template that calculates the exam code based on custom business logic, or a value that is specified on one of the Workflow's "reference entities" as part of the back-end configuration.
- Eligibility Start / End Date - Specifies the date range within which the candidate is allowed to sit for their exam. Can be a date-based attribute or a Template.
- Special Accommodations - (optional) Specifies a semicolon-delimited list of accommodation codes recognized by Pearson. Can be a text-based attribute, Picklist, Multi-select, or Template. Accommodation must be in form of AccommodationDescription (ShortCode). EX: Extra Time - 30 Minutes (ET30MN)
- Authorization Id - A Short Text attribute into which the Authorization Id, which is established by Pearson VUE, is stored following a successful connection to their eligibility API.
- API Result - A Long Text attribute into which the full API response is stored. This is not generally displayed to the candidate and is stored primarily for troubleshooting purposes.
- Exam Date - A DateTime attribute into which the actual exam date is stored during the processing of the exam results file.
- Exam Score - A Numeric attribute into which the candidate's exam score is stored during the processing of the exam results file.
- Exam Grade - A Short Text attribute into which the "grade", which is either "Pass" or "Fail", is stored during the processing of the exam results file.
- Exam Attempts - A Numeric attribute into which the current attempt # is stored during the processing of the exam results files.
- Form Code - A text attribute into which the Form Code is stored
It is the responsibility of the person performing to the configuration to ensure that data is being mapped to appropriate fields. The system may send back log error messages for inappropriately mapped items, such as attempting to store an invalid date into a date-type attribute. However, there are other aspects of the configuration that the system will not safeguard against, such as storing data into a picklist field where said data is not associated with a custom list or selectable through the UI.
Create the Actions used by the integration
In addition, you must also configure the Workflow Actions that will be executed after processing the exam results file. LearningBuilder can execute different Actions based on the grade:
- "On Pass" Action - the Action to execute if the candidate passed the exam.
- "On Fail" Action - the Action to execute if the candidate failed the exam.
IMPORTANT: The Workflow must be on the step that owns the specified Action at the time that the results file is processed or else the result processing will fail. (The Workflow doesn't have to transition to that step immediately upon sending the eligibility, it just has to be on that step by the time the exam results are processed)
Add the Behavior to a Workflow
Once the supporting fields and actions are created, add the Behavior to a Workflow Action, Workflow Step, or Workflow Completion State configuration.
Saving Section Scores
As of 11.2.0, LearningBuilder can capture section scores in addition to overall exam score data. These scores can be mapped into extrinsic Attributes.
If multiple exam forms are being used, the individual section names will be different depending on the form that was used.
For instance, the screenshot above is for an exam using form B, and the section names all end in a _B suffix.
In the section mappings, you can use an asterisk at the end of a section name as a wildcard. For instance, instead of configuring a mapping for "T001_B", you can configure the mapping for "T001_*"
Different exams will also have different sections, so if you are collecting domain-level data, you will need to configure a separate behavior for each exam (exam code) sent so that the correct section mappings can be set.
Ensure all user profiles have required data
Pearson VUE requires all users to have a full set of address data, including mail code, or the eligibility send will fail. The information MUST be stored on the user profile. Phone numbers must also be provided.
SFTP details
The SFTP website is managed by Pearson VUE. Credentials are stored in App Config. The site is checked for new files on a nightly basis.
Requirements
- LearningBuilder 9.2 or later (11.2.0 or later to capture section scores)
- Client Certificate from Pearson VUE (client-specific)
- Web service and SFTP credentials from Pearson VUE (client-specific)
- Access to Pearson VUE's "standard" (non-OIDC) SSO API.
- Access to Pearson VUE's RTI (SOAP) CDD and EAD webservice APIs
- Access to Pearson VUE's CDE (file-based data exchange) system for file-based Exam Results delivery
- All credentials from Pearson VUE in the
Configure the Pearson VUE web service section.
Capabilities
- Calls Pearson VUE's "Candidate Demographic Data" web service to establish a Candidate Id
- Calls Pearson VUE's "Exam Authorization Data" web service to create an eligibility record for a specified Exam Code and within a specified eligibility period. All values are pulled from Workflow Attributes and support Templates
- Special Accommodations can be collected and passed to Pearson
- Exam results can be stored in additional Attributes:
- Exam Date
- Exam Score
- Exam Grade
- Exam Attempts
- Form Code (11.2.0+)
- Section scores can be stored in additional Attributes (11.2.0+)
- Can execute a specific Workflow Action upon receiving a "pass" result.
- Can execute a specific Workflow Action upon receiving a "fail" result.
- Candidates schedule their own exams via "SSO" to Pearson's self-service scheduling website (button is displayed on the Workflow popup once the eligibility has been established)