1 Kuali Nervous System (KNS) Part 1 Presented by: Jerry Neal – KFS Development Manager Geoff McGregor – KC Lead Developer Brian McGough – KRice Project Manager

2 2 Today’s Presentation A short KNS History Lesson KNS Functionality (Concepts and Live Examples) –Lookups –Inquiries –Maintenance Documents –Business Objects –Data Dictionary

3 KNS History KFS project charter established late 2004 Technical Architects from contributing institutions identified (early 2005) Technical Architects charged with creating an underlying infrastructure upon which we could build KFS –Identify toolset –Identify highly reusable components –Identify development strategies that could scale to a large development team, and decrease per unit development costs Work kicked off to build KNS v1.0 (Jan – June 2005) 3

4 KNS History KNS Leverage begins, development of KFS development starts in earnest using KNS (June 2005) Several small tweaks made to ensure KNS fit needs of KFS development KNS v2.0 developed to enhance functionality and retrofit based on early development experience (Oct - Dec 2005) Since the end of 2005, there have been many changes to the KNS, but only as needed based on functional requirements to better meet our functional customer needs. Additionally enhancements for institutional deployments have always been considered and in most cases implemented. 4

5 KNS History Wrap Up Along came KC Could we leverage what we had done for KFS? Was there overlap in infrastructure needs? Was there gaps in infrastructure needs? YES, we Can, Yes, there were, and Yes there were So evolution of KNS was needed KNS extracted from KFS, and the Rice project was born The Rice project is the middleware reusable elements available to all Kuali Projects KNS Continues to evolve to meet our functional application needs even today 5

6 KNS Functionality (Lookups) Provide ability to search an application entity with consistent look and feel Rapid development of new lookups with XML configuration Easy customization through XML for basic modifications and hooks to Java code for more advanced feature changes Integrates with other application functionality: –Search and return value(s) –Search and link (e.g. maintenance) 6

7 KNS Functionality (Lookups) KFS Demo –Lookup functionality in the KFS is used to search for entity records, provide admin functions and reporting –Lookup ExamplesLookup Examples KC Demo –KC uses lookups to maintain reference data, search and link reference data on forms, and query Grants.gov via web services –Lookup ExamplesLookup Examples 7

8 KNS Functionality (Inquiries) A way to drill down and get more information about a table record 8

9 KNS Functionality (Inquiries) KFS Demo –KFS uses inquiries to provide record detail and balance inquiries –Inquiry ExamplesInquiry Examples KC Demo –KC uses inquiries to provide more detail on lookup results, inquiry results and form data –Inquiry ExamplesInquiry Examples 9

10 KNS Functionality (Maintenace Documents) These are the CRUD documents - an easy way to maintain support tables in a Kuali database –C: Create new table records –R: Read or query table records –U: Update existing table records –D: Delete existing table records Designed to be built in a rapid and standardized way, with hooks for customization if desired 10

11 KNS Functionality (Maintenace Documents) KFS Demo –KFS uses maintenance documents to create and update reference data and apply global changes –Maintenance ExamplesMaintenance Examples KC Demo –KC uses maintenance documents to create and update reference data and customize system behavior in real-time –Maintenance ExamplesMaintenance Examples 11

12 KNS Functionality (Business Objects) Plain old Java objects (POJOs) that implement org.kuali.core.bo.BusinessObject interface Contain behavior to enable rapid development of standard CRUD functionality; can be extended for non- standard functionality Passed through all layers of the application architecture from presentation to persistence 12

13 KNS Functionality (Business Objects) KFS Business Object –KFS uses business objects to model and encapsulate data and relationships in the system –Business Object ExamplesBusiness Object Examples KC Business Object –KC uses business objects to model and encapsulate data and relationships in the system –Business Object ExamplesBusiness Object Examples 13

14 KNS Functionality (Data Dictionary) Describes the entities in your system and their related meta-data Used to describe Transactional Documents, Maintenance Documents, Business Objects and their related lookups/inquiries Used by several functions throughout the system, including: –UI rendering –Validation checks –Document authorization –Workflow integration 14

15 KNS Functionality (Data Dictionary) KFS Data Dictionary Entry –KFS uses the Data Dictionary for KNS frameworks and also to add additional accounting line support –Data Dictionary ExamplesData Dictionary Examples KC Data Dictionary Entry –KC uses the Data Dictionary to build maintenance documents, transactional documents, lookups and inquiries –Data Dictionary ExamplesData Dictionary Examples 15

16 Kuali Nervous System Part 1 Wrap up Components that we saw –Data Dictionary  Ties it all together –Business Objects  Represent Entities in the system –Maintenance Documents  Allow for maintenance of Business Objects (Entities) through mediated or unmediated transactions –Inquiries  Allow for Drill down detail functionality and relationships –Lookups  Allow for finding the Business Object Record that you want to maintain or reference in the system 16

17 Kuali Nervous System Part 1 Wrap Up Diagram 17 Business Object Backing Tables Chart (Business Object) ORM Mapping Data Dictionary Lookups and Inquiries Maintenance Documents Workflow (KEW)

18 Up Next: Kuali Nervous System Part 2 Questions on what you have seen in Part 1? 18