Implementing the Ellucian Portal at North Idaho College SharePoint 2013/EP 4.1 Andreas Burger North Idaho College 7/30/15 Track: Information Technology Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Session Rules of etiquette Please turn off you cell phone/pager If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible Please avoid side conversation during the session Thank you for your cooperation! Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Introduction SharePoint/Database Administrator here at Over 10 years of experience in Information Technology and Services, including hardware, web design, programming, IT management, database and SharePoint administration, etc. Microsoft Certified Professional MCITP (x2) Contact aburger@nic.edu Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Introduction This presentation is aimed at IT professionals who implement and maintain a Student portal using SharePoint and the Ellucian Colleague portal software. It is giving a glimpse into the history of the ACP/DP/EP here at NIC, the prevailing approach and philosophy as well as challenges faced in the process. The focus is on the current SharePoint 2013/EP 4.1 implementation. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Session Agenda History Philosophy and design Realized Benefits Setup and Architecture Challenges Conclusion Questions State the main ideas you’ll be talking about and itemize all topics you plan to talk about. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

History How it started and how we got here. Use the Section Header Master Slide for topic transitions. How it started and how we got here. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

History: The Challenge How to meet the demand for increasing services? How to simplify Student interaction with NIC? How to provide more services without increasing personnel and resources? Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

History: The Answer por·tal1 /ˈpɔr tl, ˈpoʊr-/ Noun The definition of a portal is a gateway or entry to something else. An example of a portal is a door into a room. An example of a portal is a website that takes you to many other websites. Definition source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/portal Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

History: Initial implementation Portal Version ACP 1.1 SharePoint Version Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (enterprise edition) Rollout: March 2010; soft rollout starting in late 2009 Features Web Advisor with SSO Colleague UI 2.3 One site collection Datatel Team sites (org driven) MySites created but not used Three Audiences (Student, Faculty and Staff) Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

History: 1st Upgrade Portal Version SharePoint Version DP 3.x SharePoint Version SharePoint Server 2010 (enterprise edition) Rollout: Sept. 2013 Features Web Advisor with SSO Colleague UI 4.2 (SSO started working with UI 4.1 on previous installation) 9 site collections SharePoint native Team sites No MySites Three Audiences (Student, Faculty and Staff) Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

History: 2nd Upgrade Portal Version SharePoint Version SharePoint Server 2013 (enterprise edition) Rollout: Oct. 2014 Features Web Advisor with SSO Colleague UI 4.5 with SSO 13 site collections SharePoint native Team sites (>175) No MySites Three Audiences (Student, Faculty and Staff) Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Philosophy and Design Why we did what we did when we did… How did we go about bringing our SharePoint and EP environment into being? What were some deciding factors? The quote “Ego cogito, ergo sum” is formulated by René Descartes in his treatise “Principia Philosophiae” in 1644. The fuller form was coined by Antoine Léonard Thomas in 1765 in an essay praising Descartes Why we did what we did when we did… “Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum.” (Antoine Léonard Thomas) Rough translation: “Because I wonder if this is going to work as advertised, therefore I think, therefore I am.” Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Philosophy and Design Branding Achieve a look and feel that conveys the importance of the portal as an institutional tool. Brand the MyNIC portal with our colors and with our styling, and extend this design to other site collections Encourage look and feel for all site collections. Discourage use of OOTB composed looks (replaced themes from SP 2010) Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Philosophy and Design SharePoint Designer Pros: Cons: Powerful with the correct skills and knowledge Cons: Powerful with the incorrect skills and knowledge Bottom Line: NO SharePoint Designer at NIC Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Philosophy and Design Site Collections Host-named site collections Root site collection Ellucian Portal Centrally managed Path-based site collections Collaboration and publishing Distributed management Host-named site collections They enable a company to use the same structure in Office 365 and in an on premise installation. We don’t currently use them here at NIC. They may come into play for the SharePoint 2016 upgrade. Use this area to elaborate on each talking point. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Philosophy and Design Features in use Features not used Student Email (SSO with ADFS/SP2013) Fac/Staff Email w. SSO WebAdvisor w. SSO Colleague UI (SSO with v. 4.1) Team Sites (SP native) Blackboard w. SSO (Codeplex code basis, augmented by NIC programmer) SSRS (native, linked through the Portal) SharePoint 2010 workflows Office Web Apps (currently in Test) Access Apps (WIP) Features not used MySites Social media features SharePoint 2013 workflows Outside (purchased) apps or web parts Expected Benefits of the combination of SharePoint and the Active Campus Portal were very high Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Expected Benefits Expected Benefits: Many SSO!!! Expected Benefits of the combination of SharePoint and the Active Campus Portal were very high Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Realized benefits Realized Benefits: ~85% Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Setup and architecture Use the Section Header Master Slide for topic transitions. System components and setup Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Setup and architecture Key Goals for build High availability through redundancy and virtualization Resilience through geographically dispersed host locations Availability on-site as well as off-site 5 extension campuses Availability of resources 24/7 Predictable backup and recovery terms (RPO and RTO) Secure and compatible authentication that allows for easy integration Identical Test and Production environments Technologies used VMWare hosts connected through fiber Hosts set up on opposite sides of campus Portal configured as extranet site Direct attached storage, multiple and overlapping backup and recovery technologies AD and ADFS authentication technology Claims based authentication is native to SharePoint 2013) Secured with https (http over TLS/SSL) Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Setup and architecture Colleague Components Colleague R18 on Unix Unidata 7.1 Servers (Test and Production combined) AIX server (2x) Two logical partitions each Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Setup and architecture Portal Components SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise Edition SQL Server 2012 with AlwaysOn availability groups WS 2012 R2 Servers (Test and Production each, some overlap) SharePoint Web Front End (2x) SharePoint Application Server SharePoint SQL (2x) Web Advisor Web Server Colleague UI Web Server Load balancer (Application Request Routing Office Web Apps server Access Apps server Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Challenges Use the Section Header Master Slide for topic transitions. Along the way, we have faced multiple challenges. Here is a selection of the biggest ones, along with some recommended remedies. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Challenges: The Triad Challenge Remedy Institutional sponsorship(at the highest level) Time, effort, political clout, culture change or adjustment Governance Tools need to reflect the business. Taxonomy A subset of Governance, reflects culture of institution Remedy Find/encourage/designate a cabinet level sponsor who sees the need and the possibilities Create cross-campus governance team that reaches into every aspect of the institution. TAKE THE TIME! Understand and document who you are as an institution, and reflect that in your taxonomy These three are closely related and all are very necessary for a successful implementation of the Ellucian Portal. Sponsor=Champion=Owner Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Challenges: The black box The “Black Box” challenge Consultants (Ellucian and other) will perform work behind the scenes if allowed to and create huge gaps in your staff’s understanding of the system(s). Remedy Get consulting to be on-site as funds allow, and have designated staff build the system(s) in conjunction with the consultants. If that is not possible, use WebEx type sessions to get the work done. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Challenges: miscellaneous Quality control EP 4.1 rolled out a WebAdvisor web part that kept timing out because socket connections would “fill up” and not be released. Forms for SharePoint Microsoft has officially deprecated InfoPath, and the integration with SharePoint is decreasing. FOSL was cancelled. Remedy A subsection of EP 4.2 was released ahead of time as a patch and fixed the issue No complete solution available (please come see me if you have one!) Third-party tools Access Apps SharePoint native list forms Office Forms/Workflows Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Ongoing Initiatives and future projects Office Web Apps (in Test) Access Apps Integrate SSRS into SharePoint natively Enable SharePoint 2013 workflows Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

In conclusion The Ellucian Portal is a worth-while and rewarding system with enormous potential! If you are thinking about implementing it, make sure the entire institution is on board. Take the time to put appropriate governance in place Map out what features you want to use and create a roadmap for feature extensions and upgrades. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Questions & answers Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Thank You! Andreas Burger aburger@nic.edu Coeur d’Alene, Idaho