About the Local Caching Software (LCS)

Enables efficient utilization of local school bandwidth by caching test data locally.

With the traditional CAL software, test data is downloaded from a central location for every student taking a test. This process can put a burden in the school's external Internet connection if a large number of students are testing simultaneously. With the LCS architecture, schools will be able to cache all the tests in a local school or district level caching server, and students taking a test will download the test data from the LCS instead of a central location. This process will eliminate the need of downloading the same test multiple times from the CAL Data Center. However, each end client still needs to download all the test data from the LCS. Your school intranet should be able to handle the communication between each end client and the LCS.

The LCS provides a solution for caching student responses. A feature of the LCS is the ability for student responses to be cached locally until the student ends the test. Once the student ends a test session, the LCS saves the test responses at the CAL Data Center. This will allow students to continue taking a test, even in the event of Internet problems between the local school and the CAL Data Center. The LCS will cache all the student responses until it is able to connect to the CAL Data Center and save the responses. However, no students will be able to take new tests until your Internet connectivity is reestablished. In the situation where the LCS has cached the student responses, student results will not be available until Internet connectivity is reestablished and responses are successfully saved to the CAL Data Center.

The LCS does not require any significant maintenance support from your system administrator, apart from installation and configuration. The LCS does not require any commercial server hardware and you can use a high-end desktop that satisfies the minimum requirements to run the LCS.

The LCS will store all the test data and student responses in a database on the hard disk of the system running the LCS. In case of system crash, shutdown, or restart, the LCS will restore the test data and responses from the database.

The LCS provides a web-based monitoring tool that helps you track the daily activity in the LCS. You can use the monitoring tool to track:
- Number of Practice Tests taken
- Number of active users between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM
- Number of test parts finished in the LCS and saved in the CAL Data Center
- Number of test parts finished in the LCS and pending to be saved in the CAL Data Center
Learn more about the LCS Monitoring Tool.