Kuali Bootcamp for Interested Technologists Bryan Hutchinson - Cornell University (Development Manager) Jack Frosch – Kuali Foundation (Lead Developer)

Agenda Day 4 –Kuali Coeus Research Administration (KCRA) / Coeus topics –How KCRA uses Rice –Look at some Code –Exercises

KCRA/Coeus Technical Topics Background Coeus and KCRA compared/contrasted How we identified gaps How we are filling gaps Convergence / Divergence Q & A

Background The vision statement from the KCRA project’s successful proposal to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation asks: “What if any and every college and university could use, without fee, an outstanding research administration system that embodies the ‘best of’ techniques and processes for research administration, while maintaining the flexibility to fit disparate institutional structures and needs? “This is entirely possible via a community source partnership to pool resources, requirements, and execution of an efficient development process. The software and community developed through this process could meet college and university needs while providing an economically sustainable path for the future.” The KCRA project is the instrument to develop this software and its community. - Kuali Foundation web site (

Background A significant part of this model is the wholesale adoption of the functionality in a proven system, thereby avoiding the inertia of a “clean sheet” design. The KCRA partner institutions have therefore agreed, from the outset, on the functional components that the project will deliver. The project has chosen MIT’s existing Coeus system as its baseline design. KCRA will then fill in functionality missing from Coeus, update its technical architecture for easier integration with other administrative systems, and release open source software backed by the Kuali Foundation. - Kuali Foundation web site (

Coeus Participation on KCRA KCRA Board –Steve DowdyMITVoting Member –Terri-Lynn ThayerCoeus/Brown Voting Member –Tim SchleicherJohns Hopkins Ex-Officio Member –Jen FlachCoeusEx-Officio Member KCRA Functional Council –Steve DowdyMITVoting Member –Tim SchleicherJohns Hopkins Member –Jen FlachCoeusMember KCRA Technical Council –Sabari NairCoeus Voting Member KCRA Development Team –Rajeev MancherilFormer CoeusDeveloper –Geo ThomasFormer CoeusDeveloper KCRA Subject Matter Expert Teams

Functionality and Features The KCRA mandate is to provide all of the Functionality of Coeus in KCRA. When providing COEUS functionality we are seeking Functional Equivalence not an exact copy of COEUS functionality. For example KCRA screens are functionally equivalent though their appearance and flow is different. The focus has been how to bring the Features of a rich- client system to the Web.

Coeus and KCRA Compared/Contrasted History Architecture Look & Feel

Coeus and KCRA - History Coeus –13+ years of development –46 members in the Coeus Consortium KCRA –Part of the Kuali Foundation –New Development (Startup Q1/2007 Development started July 2007) –Release July 2008 –8 Partner Schools Currently

Coeus and KCRA - Architecture Coeus –Java on top of Oracle Stored Procedures –Not Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) KCRA –Kuali Architecture and Rice –Database Agnostic (R2 and beyond) –SOA

Coeus and KCRA - Look & Feel Coeus –Coeus Premium: Swing desktop application –Coeus Lite: Web Application with functionality subset KCRA –One Web Application –Standard Kuali Look & Feel

Coeus Premium Look & Feel

Coeus Lite - Look & Feel

Kuali - Look & Feel

Approach to Incorporating Coeus Functionality in KCRA Functional/Technical analysis of Coeus (lite and premium) in light of KCRA/Kuali KCRA Functional and technical team trips to MIT Regular involvement of Steve Dowdy, Sabari Nair, Jen Flach, Tim Schleicher, Rob Yetter and other Coeus Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

Gap Analysis - Technical Technical Gaps: things that Coeus does that Kuali (Rice) cannot currently do technically Technical Gap Proposals in Confluence Examples: –Workflow –Custom Attributes

Gap Analysis - Functional Functional Gaps: Functionality that Kuali won't support regardless of technology Functionality vs. Features Rollup of Functional Decisions in Confluence Examples: –Lookup Framework –Custom Attributes –Complex UI

How we are filling gaps Process Documentation Development

Filling Gaps - Process Technical Gaps –Proposals are documented in Confluence and JIRA; the Enhancement Proposal pages in Confluence include: Technical Guide (how the enhancement will be implemented in Rice) Client Developer Guide (how a developer of an application built on Rice would make use of the enhancement). User Guide (how and end user would use the enhancement if applicable). –Presented at weekly Kuali Technical Integration meetings –Approved Proposals are scheduled for a Rice release

Filling Gaps - Process Functional Gaps –Regular review with Lead SME's –Decisions/Recommendations are presented to the Functional Council –Decisions that require technical implementation are taken back to the KCRA development team

Filling Gaps - Development Technical Gaps –Upon Approval are assigned –Work is being done by both the Rice team and the KCRA Team Functional Gaps –Any Functional Gap decisions that require development work are assigned to a KCRA developer

Example - Workflow Workflow was discussed in depth at the KCRA-Coeus Technical Task Team meeting in Boston 2/28 - 3/2/07 Following this meeting, a Gap Analysis document was developed Both Coeus and KCRA (through KEW) support workflow functionality. However they do it in different ways. As a result of the Gap Analysis, several Technical Gaps were identified, and several Functional Questions were raised.

Example - Workflow Rice Enhancement Proposals were written for the technical gaps and presented at the Rice Integration Team meeting where they were approved. JIRA Tasks to implement the proposals were assigned. Some have been completed and some are still in progress. Functional Questions were presented to the Lead SMEs who provided answers and shared information back with the larger Functional team.

Example - Workflow Technical Gap: 'Meta-Rules', 'Rules', and 'Conditions' Context: Coeus Rules can have multiple conditions combined with boolean logic, and each condition can be based on a database column, YNQ answer or a database function. Coeus has the concept of Meta Rules where individual rules are combined with ordering and if/then logic. Proposal: We can model Coeus conditions and routing rules as KEW rules if we make some modifications to the framework.

Example - Workflow Technical Gap: 'Multiple Approvals' Context: Coeus prompts the user, when they get their first approval request, if they are going to get future approval requests and allows them to choose to receive these requests or bypass them (opposite of ignorePrevious KEW configuration where system determines if user gets future requests based on static configuration.) Proposal: We could do routing report and look for user in those, then prompt if necessary & pass flag to KEW if this action should stand in for future action requests (the flag to KEW is the enhancement).

Example - Workflow Technical Gap: 'Inbox - View Resolved Gap' Context: Coeus shows users both pending and resolved items in their Inbox (Action List equivalent) Proposal: Enhancement Show Resolved items in action list, perhaps as a separate tab (this is the same thing as the My Outbox enhancement request described in Workflow Document Search Enhancement Request.)

Example - Workflow Functional Questions Context: Coeus contains a nice UI to maintain Routing and Notification Rules and Meta Rules, while most of the workflow configuration for KEW is done in XML. Rules can be maintained via a web UI in KEW, but it is not as nice or full-featured as Coeus. Question: How much of the existing Routing Maintenance UI In Coeus Premium should be kept?

Example - Workflow Question: Can we deliver version 1 of KCRA without the fancy UI and depend on the XML configuration in KEW, and then include the Rule Maintenance UI improvements in a later release? Proposal: Stick with the existing KEW XML configuration for Release 1 of KCRA, and then deliver a more full-featured UI that is similar to Coeus Premium (allowing for differences between desktop and web clients) in Release 2. This will allow us to concentrate on functionality first and features later.

Example - Workflow Implications: –If we stick with existing KEW XML configuration for Release 1 of KCRA, there will be more technical expertise and possibly more training/documentation required for implementing schools, however, it reduces the demand on the development team and allows them to concentrate on replicating Coeus Functionality. –If we need to implement a more complex UI in Release 1, this will take developer resources away from replicating other Coeus functionality (Reality Triangle). Decision: We will move ahead using the KEW XML based configuration for Release 1. A more advanced Workflow configuration UI (similar to Coeus) will be deferred until Release 2.

Filling Gaps Rice Enhancements for KCRA Release 1.0 –19 Enhancements Proposed –17 Approved, 1 Deferred for KIM, 1 Not needed based on existing KEW functionality –15 Development Complete, 2 In Process Functional Questions –18 Decisions based on initial gap analysis, some of which led directly to Rice Enhancements –Continuing dialog via Lead SME/LBA/DM meetings

Convergence / Divergence Long-term proposal: Coeus and KCRA products merge into one. What is our upgrade path? Until the product merge, how do we keep KCRA and Coeus from diverging? How can we pro-actively help these two products converge?

Managing Divergence Coeus has regular releases, and these aren't slowing down, nor should they at least for now KCRA needs to have a complete functional release that can be implemented to show we're legitimate We need to keep track of new Coeus releases and manage which features get put into KCRA Future –Joint design –KCRA team members actively monitor Coeus enhancement requests

Proactive Convergence Proposal: KCRA as a replacement for Coeus Lite Maintain shared db to make sure both KCRA and Coeus can run on top of any database changes KCRA makes Develop future Coeus modules using Kuali architecture / Rice framework Coeus’ offshore team helping port grants.gov to KCRA / Kuali architecture / database agnostic code

Upgrade Path Strategy Keep the Coeus database structure largely intact –Minimize table changes –Create views to help maintain backwards compatibility Develop scripts to enable a seamless upgrade for Coeus Institutions to KCRA

Questions?

How KCRA Uses Rice How KCRA uses Rice Moving Rice Functionality Forward KCRA Development Process

How KCRA Uses Rice Kuali Rice is the basic development framework used by KCRA, but… –KCRA is Functionally different from other Kuali Applications –KCRA is Technically different from other Kuali Applications

Functionally different from other Kuali Applications Analysis of Functional Differences Differences provide basis for Rice enhancements –Extend and customize functionality where possible –Focus on Extension, not Disruption –Add new tools to the Rice toolbox

Technically different from other Kuali Applications Same basic building blocks (Kuali stack) Rice allows us to make our own choices about development –Maven, not Ant –Jetty, not Tomcat (Development) –HTMLUnit Tests –Bamboo, then Continuum, not Anthill for CI

Documents - Size KCRA: Few, large, complex KFS: Many, small, still complex KNS –Data Dictionary - Specify multiple pages –Web Flow - Allow consistent behavior while navigating between multiple pages in arbitrary order –Document interaction - Document is saved/loaded –Rules - Events/Rules can be specified in code and extended

Documents - Size

proposal Proposal budgetVersions Budget Versions …snip… grantsGov Grants.gov actions Proposal Actions

Documents - Web Scope KCRA: Large Documents, Session based KFS: Currently Request based KNS –Mitigate issues with Session based persistence (multiple browsers, etc…) –Eases development/maintenance (hiddens, load- save-load anti-pattern)

Documents - Web Scope <action path="/proposalDevelopment*" name="ProposalDevelopmentForm" validate="true” attribute="KualiForm" input="/WEB-INF/jsp/ProposalDevelopment{1}.jsp" scope="request" parameter="methodToCall" type="org.kuali.kra.proposaldevelopment.web.struts.action.ProposalDevelopment{1}Action">... public class ProposalDevelopmentDocument extends ResearchDocumentBase implements Copyable, SessionDocument {... }

Documents - Locking KCRA: Pessimistic Locking, Long lasting docs, Session Based, Functional Areas KFS: Optimistic Locking, short lived docs KNS (Rice Enhancement) –Centralized locking mechanism –Document Authorizer classes –Provide two layers of locking if desired

Documents - Versioning KCRA: Many documents require versioning KFS: Versioning not required in general (PurAp docs do version) KNS (enhancement pending - KCRA Release 2.0) –Support optional versioning of documents –Configuration option –Little additional code required –New Version created by user request or programmatically

Custom Attributes KCRA: Transactional Documents, table based, runtime KFS: Reference Data, code based Implemented in KCRA for Release 1.0 (Future enhancement to move from KCRA to KNS) –Support both models –UI: Integrated custom tag –Accessible for Lookups, Routing, Reporting –Strongly typed for validation

Custom Attributes

User Roles; AuthZ KCRA: User/Role based; Integrated into Unit Hierarchy; Code checks Permissions KFS: Workgroup based KIM –Manage people/groups –Role Qualifiers allow integration with Unit Hierarchy KNS –Document Authorizer Class

People KCRA: Research System required data KFS: Financial System required data KIM –Define a ‘Person’ generically –Institution specific attributes –Application specific attributes

KIM

Workflow KCRA: Can support Coeus routing: Units define custom rules and responsibilities; Initial configuration based on analysis done by Kenton Hensley and Dan Dwyer KFS: Account, Unit based; Rules defined for the entire document KEW –Flexible routing allows document/node based workflow (and more) –Multiple KCRA-related enhancements

Moving Rice Functionality Forward Identifying KCRA Requirements –Gap Analysis between Coeus and KCRA Kuali Technical Integration Meetings –Technical representatives from Rice enabled applications –Review of Enhancement Proposals based on Functional Requirements Project Planning –Managing multiple release schedules

Moving Rice Functionality Forward Development Work on approved Rice enhancements split between KCRA and Rice teams Rice Enhancements for KCRA Release 1.0 –19 Enhancements Proposed –17 Approved and completed, 1 Deferred for KIM, 1 Not needed based on existing KEW functionality

Synergies and Moving Forward KCRA –Relies on Rice to provide functionality Rice –Greater richness of functionality as KCRA requirements are integrated Future Rice Enabled Applications –More choices, more functionality, more features

KCRA Development Process Distributed Development Team Module Teams led by a Development Manager Common Tools Clear Expectations Defined Standards and Processes

KCRA Development Process Development Toolbox –Eclipse –Junit / Httpunit –Jetty –Subversion (svn) –Maven Shared Tools –Continuum (CI) –Fisheye

KCRA Development Process Shared collaboration tools –Confluence wiki –JIRA bug tracking –KCRA Developer mailing list –PolyCom video-conferencing –Breeze / Adobe Connect - online collaboration –Skype - text / voice / video chat

KCRA Development Process Clear expectations for KCRA Developers documented in Confluence –Code Reviews Peer Reviews of all code, periodic larger group code reviews of interesting/complex/etc code –Coding Standards –Documentation Standards –Tool usage –Unit/Integration Tests –Etc Regular meetings –Weekly 1-on-1 –Weekly Code Reviews –Monthly all team and module team meetings –Periodic Face-to-Face meetings

KCRA Development Process 1.Functional Specification completed 2.DM reviews spec 3.DM assigns JIRA to developer 4.Developer works in Eclipse against local database with Jetty 5.Developer commits to svn 6.Continuum gets latest updates and builds KCRA app and runs unit tests 7.CNV environment built daily 8.REG environment built weekly

Questions?

For Further Information –General KCRA Information –KCRA Documentation Bryan Hutchinson -

Code Review Let’s take a look under the hood!

Exercises