JA-SIG and uPortal Presented by Justin Tilton at The Washington Post, Washington, DC Thursday, 19 February 2004, Washington, DC

Publisher’s Note This presentation was given to an executive committee of the Washington Post. Three “firms” were asked to describe their portal software. SAP, BEA, and uPortal gave two-part presentations: To a technical review committee and to executive management. The Washington Post used uPortal software in one of their applications. It was implemented August 2003. uPortal was integrated with the Post’s authentication software to provide single signon for the implemented application. One of management’s key issues was extending single signon to all applications for all users. Depending upon the application, to the public, business partners, and staff and associates. One of the issues expected for open source software is long-term responsive support. JA-SIG asked business partner Unicon, Inc. to join in this presentation describing available commercial support for uPortal.

JA-SIG Java In Administration Special Interest Group www.ja-sig.org www.ja-sig.org.uk National and regional conferences Clearing house https://www.mis4.udel.edu/JasigCH/ Collaborative projects

The vision Facilitate the transition to new Web technologies, especially Java and Web Services, through training and collaboration. Develop software, important to higher education, that can be shared. Improve productivity in higher education.

Goals The JA-SIG's goals are to: Nurture communication of best practices, new technologies, and innovative methodologies and projects related to Java and Web Services. Increase peer review, collaboration, and group discussion related to institution-developed Java administrative applications Broaden Java technology cross-fertilization between firms and schools on both a functional and geographic basis Mission statement, 2002

Activities The JA-SIG membership is engaged in three activities. Sponsorship of a twice-annual conference in the U.S. and one in the U.K. JA-SIG Clearinghouse - a place on the Web to facilitate the sharing of Java and XML components. Development of a free, open source, open standard portal for higher education: uPortal.

Some JA-SIG members Boston College Princeton U British Columbia Delaware Nagoya Cornell Denison El Camino Community Lehigh Illinois State Cal Poly SLO Rutgers Roanoke College Yale Texas Tech Columbia New Mexico Virginia Tech Kansas Hawaii Hull Nottingham + ~300 more…

What is uPortal? Enterprise portal Framework for presenting aggregated content (channels) Personalization Role-based access control and layouts Open source, collaborative effort Java web application

Why uPortal? Features important to higher education Open standards Internationalization Decentralized control of publishing and related parts of the user layout Layout based on role, accessibility, and user preferences Anonymous authorization for access Open standards

Higher Education Most of these features apply to Higher Education uPortal is bridging the gap between corporate portals and the needs of Higher Education Institutions

Why open standards? Sharing: Interoperability (component architecture) Risk Management: Ability to change software if needed Architecture: Choice of components

Mentoring Area Affiliation Internationalization (XLIFF) Oracle Corporation Layout (XSLT) Software A.G., Remote portlet (WSRP) IBM Corporation Integration SAP A.G., HR-XML and IFX Forums Learning systems Airbus, Boeing Security NIST, NSA Performance Wells Fargo

Business relationships Firm Area iAssessment K-12 teacher assessment Unicon, Inc. Academus learning system and uPortal technical support SCT Corporation Higher education administrative suite the r*smart group Electronic portfolio

Commercial and open source Departmental Content Management (HyperContent, Columbia University) Unicon Academus Learning System (Academus, Unicon, Inc.) uPortal PeopleSoft Integration (PeopleSoft Adapters, Unicon/IBS) Virtual Research Environment (Sakai CHEF, University of Michigan)

Commercial and open source Departmental Content Management (HyperContent, Columbia University) SCT Luminus Enterprise Content Management (Documentum, EMC Corporation) uPortal Banner Integration (Banner Adapters, SCT) Learning System (Sakai, Stanford University)

Types of portals Personalized display uPortal 2.0 framework Integration uPortal 2.0 + Web Services + Adapters Enterprise uPortal 2.3 + Web Services Enterprise Process uPortal 3.0 + Sakai workflow

Multiple target devices

Current Work: Accessibility

Current Work: Accessibility

Industry Recognition

The future Continue deployment Industry-based technical support Cooperative development of commercial products by business partners Further development of the portal itself Sakai Project 2004-2005 Coordinated development of products using uPortal (e.g. Sakai partners)

The End Justin E. Tilton jet@immagic.com www.immagic.com

Supplementary Material Follows These slides are for reference only; they were not included in the presentation.

Some uPortal Sites

Yale University

Illinois State University

University of Delaware

University of British Columbia

CalPoly San Luis Obispo

Columbia University

Cornell University

Denison University

Instructional media + magic

Interactive Business Solutions

Ringling School of Art and Design

Red Universitaria Nacional

Universidad de Lima

University of California, Irvine

What is a Channel? Displays content Interactive applications XML feeds Rich Site Summary (RSS) Web services Legacy systems Interactive applications E-Mail, Calendar, Briefcase, News, Survey, Search, Announcements, Classifieds, Discussion Forums, Address Book, Chat, Bookmarks The Meteor Project eTranscript

RSS news feed channel

RSS Channel

RSS version 1.0 channel

Streaming Audio and Video RSS version 1.0 channel In-line HTML Streaming Audio and Video

Architecture of uPortal

User Layout User Layout is an abstract structure defining the overall content available to the user userLayout is a tree structure consisting of “folders” and “channels”, the later always being the leaf nodes

User Layout

Structure Transformation Channel Column Tab User Layout

Theme Transformation

Compiling the Presentation userLayout Structure transformation XSLT structuredLayout setRuntimeData() XSLT Theme transformation Channels renderXML() HTML, WML VoiceML...

Content Transformation XML XSLT Processor XHTML: Web Browser HTML: PDA Stylesheet WML: Cell Phone

Flexible Layouts Structures Themes Skins Tab / column Tree / column Multi-column Multi-row Skins Matrix, Java

Tab / Column Layout

Tree / Column Layout

Skins

Skin: im+m

Skin: VSAC

Skin: matrix

User Preferences Swappable layout and preference management modules Profile management module Tab-column specific prefs. module Skin selection

User Preferences

Publish/Subscribe Channel publishing document Channel parameters Default values Modification permissions Descriptions Publish/Subscribe steps Step sequence Instructions, help A complex channel with multiple XSL views

Channel Types

Channel Settings

Channel Controls

Channel Rewiew

Aggregated Layouts The Governing Body - The State, County, District The Institutions – Universities, Colleges, Schools… The Schools – School of Medicine, School of… The Departments – Sociology, Psychology… The Faculty – as related to student users The Campus Services – Library, Financial Aid… The Users – Student, Faculty, Staff…

Using the Tab & Column visual metaphor The Governing Body Policies Has information about: Members Meetings Bylaws Events Policies Budgets Directories Services Directory Services Members Meetings Events Using the Tab & Column visual metaphor

The Institutional System The System Has information about: Campuses Academic Programs Research Libraries News Campus Info Programs Research Libraries Search All Libraries News

The Institution Has information for: Content such as: Prospective Students Current Students Faculty Staff Visitors Content such as: Admissions information eTranscripts Online gradebook Policies and procedures Campus events Institution About Admissions Academics Research Events Calendar Directions/ Campus Map Online gradebook

A School in the institution Has information about: Admissions Programs Calendar Faculty & Research Career Management School of … Programs Academic Calendar Admissions Faculty Research News Directions/ Campus Map

A department Has information about: Faculty Info Program Information Bios, Office Hours Program Information Career Tracks Seminars Calendar Department of … Faculty Info Programs Careers Alumni Endorsements Seminars Calendar Directions/ Campus Map

A Faculty Member by Class Has information about: General Information Bio, Hours, Contact Syllabus Shared Files Student Reviews Threaded discussions Group Chats Enrolled Students List Opt-in Past Enrolled Professor … General Info Syllabus Virtual HD Enrolled Students Course Reviews Past Enrolled Group Chats

Campus Services Has information about: Libraries Financial Aid Housing Health Services Legal Services School Paper Book Store Career Services Clubs Commons Financial Aid Current Aid Grant Search Scholarships Counseling Health Services Legal Services School Newspaper Book Store Career Center

The User Wants to subscribe to: Weather News Arts & Entertainment Traffic Online Games Email Groups Calendar Online Invitation Instant Message myTabs Weather Instant Message Email Traffic Calendar Groups Theater Search Game Driving Directions

What is Aggregated Layout? The experience constructed for the end user by the implementers/administrators of the portal combined with the end user's customized content A system for constructing, managing, and administering grouped content, such that the presence and level of visibility of this content is guaranteed to appear in a users layout A system to allow users to self select grouped content to appear in their layout

A snapshot of the hierarchy Governing Body Institutions Schools Departments Faculty User

The content path to the user Governing Body Institutions Schools Departments Faculty User

Aggregation of content A users layout being constructed from pre-defined fragments

Subscribable Groupings Health & Legal Services Column User adding content that has been grouped by content administrators Tab by Faculty and course Departmental Calendar and Events Column

Some terms… Pushed Content Pulled Content Propagate The prearranged incorporation and updating of content in a user's uPortal Layout Pulled Content Self selected incorporation of content (including content fragments) into a users personal layout Propagate Spread or extend to users of the system

Fragment Construction Jan Tanner has Content Fragment Administrator privileges and she wants to start constructing fragments.

Fragment Construction After selecting a fragment type, she adds content and sets restrictions

Fragment Construction Priority range determines the mobility of the content, and initial value is used to determine the position of content in the layout

Fragment Construction

Fragment Construction The restrictions below describe rules for content mobility

Fragment Subscription If a user is a member of a group allowed to subscribe to a fragment, then that fragment will appear during user preferences - subscription

Web services as an architecture

A Web service is XML business messages using ebXML/SOAP compliant data transport rendered using XSL transformations for a remotely authenticated user

Web services architecture is XML “tagged” data content eXtensible Markup Language ebXML/SOAP data transport Simple Object Access Protocol XSL transformations for presentation eXtensible stylesheet language and now UDDI/WSDL directory services Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration, and Web Services Description Language

Award Letter, the Meteor Channel, & e-Transcript as examples of Web services

Award Letter A component of the SAM (Student Aid Management) System by Sigma Systems in Denver Colorado PURPOSE It is a method of communicating to students information about the financial aid they are being offered based upon their eligibility. It is a method of communicating from the students their intentions regarding the aid they have been offered.

The Process FAFSA (on the web) Institution determines eligibility Grants, Scholarships, Loans Institution gathers documents for aid FA Officers counsel students Institution & Students tracks aid status Institution offers aid (Award Letter) Students accept or deny offered aid Institution stores students choices and the process continues to disbursement

FAFSA

Tracking documents

Logging in

Institution's summary

On-line Award Notification

Details

Offer Summary at Institution

On-Line Award Letter

Meteor in a nutshell… UDDI Lender XML

Diagram of Meteor Concept Web Services HTML Meteor XML Student Access Provider Data Provider

As implemented ... Web Services Meteor Secure HTML Secure XML Standard Browser uPortal Meteor SOAP Meteor SOAP Database

Data from multiple sources, locations

Meteor Channel in the uPortal

The Meteor channel

e-Transcript: User Login

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