1. SELF EVIDENT APPLICATIONS FOR UNIVERSITIES Designing for the Extended Enterprise Greg Smart

2. The Self Service Application A business model with far reaching implications. Developed from the convergence of two trends:- –The Internet, which gives us:- A ubiquitous global network, A commonly accepted, but relatively limited interface (html). Lower demands on client processing power. –The ERP Application, which gives us:- A defined set of rules for transacting business. A relatively constrained environment, Linked business processes.

3. Why Self Service? Objectives of Self Service applications are typically:- –To reduce cost of processing, The ‘Captive’ vs the ‘Volunteer’ user, The Student as Customer, –To give greater choice and flexibility to the ‘customer’, –To reduce the scope for error, –To make ‘the customer’ responsible for the accuracy of their data, –To avoid the need for training.

4. Self Evident for Self Service A self service application must be self evident. –Obvious to use, –locally specific, –Readily available (ie through a browser), Self Evident applications will multiply. Self Evidence can only be achieved through creating multiple interfaces onto enterprise applications.

5. Server Centric Applications We cannot afford to rewrite our business applications to fit this new model. The server should provide a repository for –Data, –Business Logic, –Inter-application Interfaces. The server centric model gives:- –A single, stable, reliable code base, –Maintains ‘One Version of the Truth’,

6. A Window on the Data Each Self-evident application is an interface into the server application. –It can be replicated and modified to meet different circumstances, –It can use terminology which the user will understand to describe data and processes, –It can be easily modified, without changing the underlying rules, This promotes interfaces that are content driven

7. Content Driven Interfaces The Self-Evident interface is:- –Content Driven:- Shaped by the Data, Adopts suitable terminology, –Process Driven:- Leads the user through the required steps, Validates data in order to encourage correct completion, –Not Transaction Driven:- Shaped by the transaction definition, Assumes the user knows what they are trying to do, Rejects errors,

8. The Technology Bit (Non MS) The elements of a Self Service environment:- –Enterprise Applications ERP or Best of Breed. –Application Integration Linking applications at the application server level. Component applications (EJBs) linked via CORBA. Messaging and Data Definition. –Transaction Processing Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability. JSP allow a link between htlm or xml interfaces and application objects. –XML/XSL separates data from presentation.

10. Keep the *!!*?s Out! A direct and immediate link between the user and the data, but that user could be anyone. Security must provide:- –Authentication That a person is who they say they are. –Encryption So that Data is protected –Authorisation So that people only do what they are allowed to do. The greatest threat is still from within.

11. Can Everything be make Self Evident? Would you want to? Ask yourself:- –Where are the benefits? –Who are the potential users? And how many of them are there? –Can we deliver not just data, but information? –Can the interface be Content, not Transaction driven? What stops something from being Self Evident?

12. The Experience of Bath Access to our Finance System (Lawson) –Arrow and Aura, access to financial data for budget holders. –E-Procurement – the web based requisition. Registrations On Line. –An ambitious project, –Doesn’t follow the model, –But does give a layer of abstraction.

13. Where will Self Evident Lead Us? Forces us to confront who our customers are. What effect on staffing levels and job descriptions? Blurs the divide between an organisation and it’s customers –Feeds the dis-intermediation process. Supports the Application Service Provider model –Common processes, different interfaces. Adds to the Virtual Learning Environment by helping to merge the process of learning and the management of the learning process. What IS a University?