Clayton State University

Revised Social Security Number Conversion Plan

January 2006
 

Print Version

Introduction

In November of 2005, Clayton State University (CSU) submitted a draft SSN Conversion Plan for review and approval by the BOR.  On December 7, 2005, CSU received conditional approval for implementation of the SSN Conversion Plan.  Conditional approval was based upon the addition of the following four contingencies to the plan:

1. Providing plans for storing SSN in SPBPERS and/or previous ID, and access to forms with that information,

2. Providing plans to print the last 4 digits of the SSN on CSU transcripts,

3. Providing specific dates for the conversion.  The plan proposed converting during the open SIRS window.  Conversion must occur after SIRS data are submitted and verified.  For Spring 2006, SIRS is scheduled to close March 8th, 2006, and

4. Provide a task to obtain scripts from OIIT in the implementation phase to update OIIT history data in the various collections.

CSU has revised its conversion plan to include the requested items.  This revised plan has each of the requested conditional items identified by Conditional Revision Numbers in the body of the document.

General

Although the Social Security Number (SSN) was not designed to serve as a universal identification mechanism, the SSN has been used as the primary identification number in many computer systems.  Use of the SSN grants access to private information and allows an easy way to link database information, but unprotected use of the SSN has led to the escalation of the crime of identity theft.  With the SSN accessible to so many people, it is possible for someone to fraudulently use an individual’s Social Security Number to assume another’s identify and gain access to financial and other personal information, placing at risk an individual’s personal credit and confidentiality. 

Clayton State University realizes the potential threat of identity theft through the abuse or misuse of Social Security Numbers and is ready to take the necessary steps to protect the identities of our Faculty, Staff, and Students. 

Compliance with Board of Regents Request

In December 2003, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia released a document, “Converting from Use of Social Security Numbers to a Unique Identifier”. This document encouraged institutions to develop a project plan that would set in place the necessary business practices and procedures to replace the use of the SSN as the primary identification number for faculty, staff, and students.  Since the release of this document, the Board of Regents has confirmed the validity of the conversion method and in September of 2004, the Chancellor asked institutions to move forward with conversions based upon this plan.

It is the intent of Clayton State University to proceed with the best practice plan for the conversion of SSN as a primary identifier.  Replacing the SSN with a Unique Identifier and securing the use of the SSN will allow Clayton State to be in full compliance with the Board of Regents request.

 

Objective

The purpose of this project is to identify all areas where Social Security Numbers are utilized in both electronic and paper formats, develop a plan for replacing these with another unique identifier wherever possible, and promote policies and procedures that will ensure the protection of vital constituent information. Unless required by law, SSN’s that are currently being used as primary keys in systems, applications, and databases will be replaced with alternate numbers that are not derived from an SSN.  Systems, applications, and databases used by Clayton State will not display SSN information visually, either on monitors, printed forms, or other system reports, unless required by law or business necessity.  When Social Security Numbers are required, databases will automatically cross-reference between the SSN and other information through the use of cross-reference tables with systems or other mechanical means.  New policies and procedures will also be put into place that will detail how this information and systems are to be secured and maintained.

Communication

A. On-Campus Communication

While a conversion may be successful from a technical perspective, its potential for failure is tremendous if the campus community is not prepared for the changes.  Therefore, effective communication with the campus community is critical for the success of this conversion.  Faculty, staff, and students will each be impacted differently based upon their role.  It is the intent of the Project Team to use every mode of communication appropriate to update the campus on project status, important dates, and the impact of the changes upon each role. 

A website has been developed that will provide a variety of information about the conversion project, initially including the Conversion Project Plan, conversion timeline, the Project Team, Frequently Asked Questions, and links related to Social Security Number information and identity protection and theft.  The website will soon be updated with project status notes; a “How does this change affect me?” page customized for faculty, staff, and students; and other conversion information as necessary.  Please visit our SSN Conversion website at:

http://adminservices.clayton.edu/SSNConversion/default.htm

In addition to the conversion website, we intend to communicate with the campus as appropriate through the University’s homepage (news alerts, updates), the Bent Tree (student newspaper), the Campus Review (Faculty/Staff newsletter), campus Email, U.S. Mail, the DUCK (student self-service website), and an electronic billboard located in the Baker University Center at Clayton State.

B. Off-campus Communication

In addition to communicating changes internally, it is crucial that we also work with external constituencies to coordinate our conversion.  There are many external systems and databases with which we share data, including but not limited to, Board of Regents Reporting (SIRS, etc.), Voyager, Galileo, and Academic DataMart.  Through the use of a campus survey, we are compiling a list of all uses of the SSN.  Any use that requires transfer of data with an external system or database will have a specific plan developed to coordinate changes with the administrator of each system or database.

Major Phases of Project

1)     Phase 1:  Initiation

The Project Leads have been identified:  Project Manager (Norman Grizzell, Auxiliary Services), Technical Lead (Jon Fischer, Administrative Systems), and Project Consultant (Tom Marshall, Administrative Systems). 

The Project Team includes the following members:

Admissions – Donna Bynum

Associate Provost – Tom Eaves

Auxiliary Services – Robert Holmes

Bursar’s Office – Linda Stanford

External Relations – Leanne Scott

Financial Aid – Pat Barton

Library – Cathy Jeffrey

Registrar – Becky Gmeiner

Registrar’s Office – Carolyn Schaer

Office of Information Technology Services – Janice Hale

Student Government Association – Ben Hopkins

Student Life – Jeff Jacobs

Testing Center – Sharon Long

The Project has obtained on-campus approval from President Tom Harden and Dr. John Bryan, Vice President for Information Technology & Services, to proceed.

The SPRIDEN_ID in SCT Banner will be used to store the new unique non-SSN identifier.  The SPBPERS_SSN field will be used to maintain the student’s SSN.

The Project Team has developed a survey for all departments to determine SSN usage and impact of conversion.  The survey is available for viewing at:

http://adminservices.clayton.edu/SSNConversion/SSNSurvey.aspx

Conditional Revision #3:  Clayton State will have its SIRS transmittal completed and verified by March 3, 2006, prior to the CSU target conversion date.  After verification that CSU’s SIRS data have successfully transmitted, the CSU SSN Conversion will be performed on March 6, 2006.  This is the beginning of Spring Break.  During this time, campus activity is minimal and Summer and Fall Registration have yet to begin.  Alternate dates would be later in the week of Spring Break or one of the subsequent weekends in March 2006, in an effort to complete the conversion prior to Summer and Fall registration, which begins in April.  An effort will also begin to clean up errant student records in Banner.  These include SPRIDEN_ID/SPBPERS_SSN mismatches, duplicate PIDM records, and SPRIDEN_ID records that contain invalid data.  This will be an ongoing effort.

2)     Phase 2:  Development

Next, the Project Team needs to develop a model of assigning the new unique identifier, including routines to assign ID numbers automatically.  All current students, faculty, and staff will be migrated into one system, with cross-reference tables built to interact with various systems to match constituent records.  SQL scripts will be created to build cross-reference tables, create new triggers, and perform conversion of SPRIDEN_ID to new unique identifier. 

Conditional Revision #1:  Going forward, the SSN will be stored and maintained in the SPBPERS_SSN field, and the new Unique ID number will be stored and maintained in SPAIDEN in the SPRIDEN_ID field.  Also, the SSN will be preserved temporarily in SPRIDEN as a “previous ID” so that both ID’s will allow Banner access until adequate time has been given for students to learn their new Unique ID number.  Since SPBPERS_SSN will be used to store and maintain the student’s SSN, access to the SPAPERS Banner form will have to be re-evaluated and given only to those personnel who have a business need for access to SSN.

A full conversion and proof-of-concept run will be done in a test environment to assure accuracy of results.  Any necessary code changes will be implemented in a test environment, including changes to the university ID card system.

Conditional Revision #2:  The SSN Masking Process (ZHRSMSK) will be used to mask the SSN displayed on student transcripts in the format XXX-XX-####.

Policies and procedures will be developed during this stage to support the new processes. Regular communications will continue, providing details to the Clayton State community about the planned conversion and associated timelines.

 

3)     Phase 3:  Prototype

This phase involves a full beta test using the new ID number in a clean test environment.  All impacted scripts and processes will be implemented and tested.  New ID numbers will be assigned to all users in the test environment.  Other day-to-day functions will be tested to ensure no unforeseen system impacts.

Policies and procedures will be finalized. Training and awareness initiatives will be developed to facilitate the change process.

 

4)     Phase 4:  Implementation

All implementation tasks will be scheduled and finalized.

Documentation of policies and procedures will be finalized.

Perform training and awareness initiatives.

All impacted scripts and processes will be implemented and tested within the production environment.  Users will be assigned their new ID number.  Other day-to-day functions will be tested to ensure no unforeseen system impacts.

New ID cards will be produced (process and timeline to be determined at a later date).

Conditional Revision #4:  Scripts will be obtained from OIIT in order to update OIIT history tables with the new Unique ID number.

 

5)     Phase 5:  Maintenance

Both new Unique ID numbers and Social Security Numbers will be collected, secured, and effectively maintained.  The SSN will be stored and maintained on SPAPERS in the SPBPERS_SSN field.  The new Unique ID number will be stored and maintained on SPAIDEN in the SPRIDEN_ID field.  On a temporary basis, the SSN will still be available for use in Banner as a “previous ID” and retained in SPAIDEN with the appropriate change indicator. 

Continued issuance of New ID Cards.

Data cleanup will continue to resolve those issues outlined in Phase 1.

 

Timeline

The proposed timeline for the conversion of SSN to unique identifier is as follows:

Budget

Anticipated budget costs for the SSN conversion include:

Printing new ID Cards                                  =          $13,000
(includes card design services, supplies, printer rental, and additional labor)
Re-printing campus forms                            =          $10,000
Communications                                           =          $  1,000
(brochures, fliers, postage, if necessary)
Total cost                                                     =          $24,000
These costs are estimates and cannot be firmly established until the data survey stage is completed.