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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

X12 188 — Educational Course Inventory

The 188 transmits the inventory of courses offered by an educational institution — title, code, credits, prerequisites, instructor — to an education partner or accreditation agency.

Purpose

The 188 documents the course catalog of an institution: course code, title, credits, level (UG, GR), description, prerequisites, frequency, instructor. It supports transfer credit articulation, reverse credit, and accreditation reporting.

It feeds the Student Information System (SIS), state higher education agencies, and transfer agreements (e.g., Common App). Acknowledged by 997.

Envelope structure

The 188 travels within the three X12 envelope levels (ISA/IEA, GS/GE with functional group EE, and ST/SE). Didactic example in release 004010:

x12 example-188.x12 
ISA*00*          *00*          *ZZ*UNIVERSITY    *ZZ*COMMONAPP     *260515*1800*U*00401*000000188*0*P*>~
GS*EE*UNIVERSITY*COMMONAPP*20260515*1800*1*X*004010~
ST*188*0001~
BGN*00*COURSEINV-2026-FALL*20260515~
N1*PR*ACME UNIVERSITY*24*EIN-UNIV~
LX*1~
REF*ZZ*COURSE-CS101~
NTE*ZZ*INTRODUCTION-TO-COMPUTER-SCIENCE~
QTY*GA*4~
REF*ZZ*LEVEL-UG~
LX*2~
REF*ZZ*COURSE-MATH240~
NTE*ZZ*LINEAR-ALGEBRA~
QTY*GA*3~
REF*ZZ*PREREQ-MATH121~
SE*12*0001~
GE*1*1~
IEA*1*000000188~

Common segments

  • Header — ST, BGN.
  • Institution — N1*PR.
  • Courses — LX loop: REF*ZZ (course code), NTE (title), QTY*GA (credit hours), REF*ZZ (level / prereq).
  • Summary — SE.

Common pitfalls

  • Course versioning: a course evolves (curriculum revision); a 188 must carry the version for correct articulation toward receiving institutions.
  • Quarter vs semester credits: 1 quarter credit ≠ 1 semester credit (typically 2/3 ratio); a 188 without specifying the academic calendar misleads transfer.
  • Equivalency mapping: a 188 alone is not sufficient for transfer — it must be accompanied by articulation agreements or crosswalks.

Documentation

The code 188 and the name Educational Course Inventory are public and listed on x12.org/products/transaction-sets. The complete structure of loops, qualifiers and code lists is distributed by DISA via the proprietary Implementation Guides (TR3). ediverse.io covers only public concepts, the envelope and didactic examples.