Portal-based Enterprise Architecture A role for uPortal? Jim Farmer JA-SIG Summer Conference June 13, 2005 Baltimore, Maryland, USA

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Agenda Prologue Enterprise Portal Defined Why now? The future

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Is uPortal successful? There’s another project, which was funded by the Mellon Foundation … that has been very, very successful—that’s uPortal. It’s in use at scores of institutions now. It is the primary enterprise portal at those institutions. Ira Fuchs, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as quoted in “Learning Management Systems: Are We There Yet ?,” Syllbaus Magazine, July 1, 2004.

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Is uPortal sustainable? The open source portal/portal framework uPortal was also highly recognized and expected to succeed in the marketplace. uPortal came out on top from those respondents that rated their knowledge as excellent or expert. The open source course management system (CMS) Sakai emerged as the most recognized … over 75% of the respondents had heard of Sakai. Ron Abel, “Preliminary Analysis of the Open Source in Higher Education Survey,” Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness, May 3, 2005.

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Okay, you asked Ron Abel, “Preliminary Analysis of the Open Source in Higher Education Survey,” Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness, May 3, 2005

instructional media + magic JA-SIG The uPortal decisions Gleason: No advertising on MY portal. Koehler, Jacobson: Full and immediate transparency Campus Pipeline uses uPortal code Kharchenko, Weiner: Develop technology with industry, adapt to higher education Developers: JSR 168 Thompson, Petro et al: Support the current and new customers well Kharchenko, Ivanov: WSRP

instructional media + magic JA-SIG JSR 168 and WSRP “Jan Nielsen thinks there's a great advantage, "we can't not do it". All the other horses will overtake you if you don't do it. And we will be abandoned. SCT really wants this. He's not so comfortable with WSRP, not as much confidence. Jan expects the Java development community to run with JSR-168 "like a wild pack of dogs" [because it is from the Java community per se].” “Ken [Weiner]: WSRP is an enabler -- it allows things to communicate with each other once they have been written. [it is for remote channels] JSR-168 is a container specification really. Do we write a wrapper for 168 on top of uPortal? Or rewrite uPortal to 168 and make a wrapper for IChannel? Rewriting uPortal would take about a year.” Michael Oltz, “uPortal developers meeting Cornell University, August 7-8, 2003,” Cornell University, September 15, 2003.

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Why WSRP? REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 9, 2004 — As part of Microsoft Corp.'s ongoing commitment to enterprise application interoperability … two new Web Part toolkits and a Web services toolkit for Microsoft® SharePoint® Products and Technologies that enable them to connect systems from multiple vendors using XML Web services standards. Microsoft's WSRP Web Part Toolkit for SharePoint Products and Technologies leverages the Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) specification. “Microsoft Continues Commitment to XML Web Services With New SharePoint Products and Technologies Toolkits,” Microsoft Corporation, August 9, 2004.

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Phases of portal use PhaseExampleLayout Control AggregationEarly Campus Pipeline User Corporate or Learning Portal Early uPortal (as implemented) Proprietary LMS Organization or faculty EnterpriseuPortal with Aggregated layout Distributed, non-hierarchical, not yet defined

Yes, but …

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Enterprise architecture defined Enterprise Architecture: a strategic information asset base, which defines the mission, the information necessary to perform the mission, the technologies necessary to perform the mission, and the transitional processes for implementing new technologies in response to the changing mission needs. An enterprise architecture includes a baseline architecture, target architecture, and a sequencing plan. “A Practical Guide to Federal Enterprise Architecture,” Chief Information Officer Council, February 1, 2001.

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Key points Design to support the organization’s mission. Plan for using new technologies. based on a business case

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Transformation of higher education Mass customization for education Inter-institutional research Improved productivity Quality: More learned per course Unit costs: Lower unit costs per course completion “The National Commission believes we must regain the initiative by holding ourselves to the highest standards of accountability for student success, research and service, and greater productivity in higher education.” “Accountability for Better Results: A National Imperative for Higher Education,” National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education, March 10, 2005.

instructional media + magic JA-SIG The new architecture Chief Business Officer Chief Academic Officer Chief Information Officer ERP Finance Human Resources Facilities Virtual Learning Environment Virtual Research Environment Library IT Infrastructure Chief Marketing Officer CRM Core

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Standards of the new architecture Open standards (WSRP) “Loosely coupled components” using Web Services (SOAP, XML, WS-*) Workflow (BPEL) Java (according to Geoffrey Moore)

instructional media + magic JA-SIG The enterprise portal Enterprise Portal (aggregation and presentation) Enterprise Integration Bus ERP Learning and Research Environment Etc. Workflow Security

instructional media + magic JA-SIG The Organization of Work Course Authoring Course Management Course Delivery Library Help Desk Tutoring IT responsibility

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Why uPortal? Differentiation for higher education Industry, i.e. higher education (Sakai?), services Multimedia-rich portlets Internationalization of portal and content Distributed, aggregated layout (with priorities) Definition and implementation of portlet “context” Cost/performance

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Future uPortal: Jon Allen’s View

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Jon’s view – Dynamic layout

instructional media + magic JA-SIG Jon’s view – Sakai-like layout

instructional media + magic JA-SIG User involvement An open source software development needs two communities: Users and developers. Sometimes they are the same, Linux for example. uPortal needs a user community including faculty who are using the portal in their research and teaching. Sakai may have this with the Sakai Educational Partners Program. From Bill Olivier, CETIS, Enterprise SIG December 2004

instructional media + magic JA-SIG uPortal will continue to be successful IF The current installed base receives satisfactory service and the software product continues to improve. Follows industry-accepted, broadly implemented open standards. There is the realistic promise of needed new functionality in major releases that support the transformation of higher education. “Use cases” for new features comes from experienced, dedicated, visionary users.

The End Jim Farmer instructional media + magic inc. Sakai Program, University of Michigan

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