International Software Forum

In 4.0, is there a field to store an SSN? I looked through all the Employment tables and couldn't find anything. In a previous chapter of my life, I remember asking for the SSN, but I can't find a home for it. Please advise.

Lucy Zoe

Hi Lucy:

I believe the SSN only lives in the USCIS Form(s) and doesn't live in a database level.

Hey Jodi,
Where do you store it after collecting the data in an e-form? Custom table/field?

Lucy Zoe

Hi Lucy!

There is not a place in sunapsis for SSN field. So, it just goes straight from eform into the USCIS form via template. I hope this helps!

You can use a custom table, I would just recommend it is encrypted. Some institutions have special protections on how SSN should be stored.

We are not allowed to keep the SSN saved in any system.

It is still collected at admission but is not an open field in our SIS anmore.

Thank you,
Kim Brumbaugh
Wright State University

I see there are places for it in some of the Employment Forms (I-765 q 13b) so they can be saved in the database but I don't think the intention is for them to be maintained there. Lucy, what's would you be using the SSN for?

In the past, I've seen other schools collect the SSN for Incoming Exchange students. I have no idea why - but I remember they had a solid reason. Having just survived encryption, I know that sunapsis encrypts it in Form I-129 and I-140. But you could just collect it and encrypt the e-form field and not store it anywhere.

Thanks for the follow-up.
Lucy Zoe

Hi Lucy!

Theoretically, yes, the SSN could live in the eform field and not be pushed into any field in sunapsis. I don't know how to encrypt an eform field. This is a good question though because scholar advisors have to collect SSN for H-1Bs and so I wonder how folks are securing this SSN? Maybe some people are encrypting the eform field.

I'd like to hear more and will keep asking as I run across colleagues who work with H-1Bs. Thank you for putting this SSN thread out here.

Best regards,
Jodi

Greetings,
There are tables in the Sunapsis Database that have SSN stored in them. They usually are connected to specific e-forms and take the name of dbo.form??? Depending on what form they are for. To see a list of all encrypted fields see this article in the KB: FAQ: What are the encrypted fields in the sunapsis database?

To encrypt a field on an e-form you turn on the Concealed View setting on the field.
2SUN4: Configuration Management - E-Form Configurations - E-Form Design : Use Conceal Submitted Value to encrypt the selected field in the sunapsis database when encryption is enabled.

I believe (although I haven't checked) that if you do a custom field, you would have to set the field in dataobjects.xsd to encrypt="true" on the datum definition. That triggers the actual encryption / decryption in the table. Remember when modifying the dataobjects_jb.xsd you should do it in the institution version (dataobjects_jb_institution.xsd) of the .xsd not the original.

Tom