The term "vertical" is used used to denote a business domain. For example:

1. Learning
2. Student records
3. Finance
4. Human resources

Standards for interoperability at the technical level (SOAP, REST, JAX-WS etc) are discussed in the technical section.

Several organizations are responsible for developing interfaces that have widespread applicability within the student domain:

1. IMS
2. PESC
3. HR XML
4. MARC XML
5. Kuali Student Curriculum
6. Kuali Student Enrollment
7. Kuali Identity Management

The purpose of this section is to:

1. Understand the role of these different organizations
2. The applicability of the interfaces:
   1. From the perspective of the authors (eg: what is PESC proposing to accomplish)
   2. From the perspective of the consumer (eg: what has been the experience of implementers)
3. Cooperation and alignment between these organizations
4. Uptake of the various standards and interfaces