1. 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

2. 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

3. 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
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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:
Use this area to elaborate on each talking point.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

9. History: Initial implementation
Portal Version
ACP 1.1
SharePoint Version
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Philosophy and Design Features in use Features not used
Student (SSO with ADFS/SP2013)
Fac/Staff 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

17. 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

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

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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. Questions & answers
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

30. Thank You!
Andreas Burger
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho