Reduced data entry, increased accuracy in student counts and meal status classifications and resultant government funding increases are hailed by districts as benefits of successful SIF installations.

SIF is used to manage data from school district application software (such as LunchBox) and enables different software products to interact and share data. Unlike with the more prevalent import/export-type interfaces between software applications, SIF data is real-time data.

The need for data interoperability is usually behind a district’s first look at the world of SIF. Implementing SIF can shrink administration to a single point of data entry, saving time and minimizing troubleshooting.

LunchBox is SIF-certified at version 1.5 and is an active member of SIFA, the School Interoperability Framework Association. SIFA’s vendor and end user members work together to define data movement in the school environment.