Integration type
SIS (Student Info System)
What we solve
Ellucian Banner/Colleague institutions need a secure way to verify student and staff identity for onboarding and to require step-up authentication for high-risk actions (financial aid disbursement, grade changes, privileged admin tasks) without relying on weak email/password or manual ID checks. This integration uses Ethos change-notification events and REST APIs to trigger 1Kosmos IDV and write verification status back into Ethos extension fields, and configures Banner Self-Service as an OIDC relying party to 1Kosmos so users can be prompted for IAL2-level assurance when performing sensitive transactions.
Integration architecture
Ellucian Ethos exposes a unified REST/JSON data model using GUIDs across all Banner and Colleague entities. The canonical endpoint for person records is:
1Kosmos integrates as an Ethos-verified partner application registered in the Ethos Integration Hub. The integration operates across three touchpoints:
Touchpoint 1 — Onboarding trigger (new applicant/admit)
1Kosmos receives the event, calls back to Ethos to retrieve PII:
Pre-populates the IDV session with name, date of birth, and institutional email, then sends the proofing link to the student.
Touchpoint 2 — Step-up for high-value actions Banner's Self-Service (Banner 9) uses OIDC for SSO. The institution configures Banner as an OIDC relying party against 1Kosmos as the IdP. When a student or staff member attempts a high-assurance action (financial aid disbursement, grade change, privileged admin function), Banner sends an OIDC authorization request with the /assurance/ial/2 ACR claim. The user completes liveness + credential assertion. The result flows back as an ID token.
Touchpoint 3 — Result write-back After proofing, 1Kosmos calls the Ethos API to write the verification status to a custom Colleague/Banner extension field:
Integration complexity: Medium
Ethos is a mature, well-documented REST layer. The primary constraint is that Ethos Extensions (custom fields) require institution-side configuration. Banner Self-Service OIDC configuration is standard but requires institutional IT involvement.
