Automated data exchange between a student information system and a course management system using an application programming interface that is directly exposed to the student information system as a web-service is disclosed. Submission of a new user record, enrollment of a user in a course, or changing user or course information triggers automatic data synchronization between the student information system and the course management system. The application programming interface provides single sign-on and bidirectional synchronization capabilities as well as real-time and asynchronous batch processing capabilities. The application programming interface supports XML, flat file, and web services processes and incorporates the IMS Enterprise v1.1 Specification standards.