Sakai 3 at CSU - a catalyst for rethinking Information Systems

Paul Bristow : Enterprise Architect - ApplicationsCharles Sturt University - Australia

2September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Presentation Structure

• Application needs• Back end, Front End• Sakai 3 at CSU• Sakai 3 and SOA• Sakai 3 and Online Architecture• Organisational Implications for IT

3September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Applications Need To Be

★Reliable

★Backed Up

★Meet Business needs

★Usable

★Adaptable

★Scalable

★Fast

★Attractive

★Accessible

★Easy to maintain

★etc

4September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Applications Need★Some of these requirements conflict★Institutional IT tends to emphasise the reliable, stable side★We’ve been burnt too many times losing things★Don’t want to break billing, student admin, payroll!★But modern organisations need to leverage their information★Which means leveraging applications★We need more agility★But still need stability where it counts

5September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Applications and Process★Applications support Business Processes★But inflexible applications mean we often change business process to work around how the application designer expected the process to work★This limits innovation★More flexible applications allow us to let the business optimise the process and change the application to support the new process★Organisational change makes this critical

6September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Back end, Front end

★At last year’s conference Nico and Ian talked about Server Side vs Client Side development★Server side development is slow and owned by tech people★Client side is more rapid and open to broader involvement★This is the model for Sakai 3, a back end kernel providing content and services with user interface implementation on the client through javascript (libraries)

7September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Back end, Front end

★ Massimo Pezzini - Gartner Applications: Trends & Technologies Summit

Front EndFront End Back EndBack EndModern user experience

Reliability

Ease of development AvailabilityFast Results Scalability

Low Cost IntegrityMultiple devices Security

… …OPPORTUNISTIC SYSTEMATIC

8September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Back end, Front end★This struck a chord★We’ve always had difficulties being opportunistic★IT build apps that have the back end characteristics★We have difficulty with apps where people would prefer to have their application 90% on the back end characteristics than not at all★Also resources dedicated to those back end attributes★Users want modern applications, device independent, etc

9September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Back end, Front end

★Both sets of attributes are required ★We need a stable back end to support innovation at the front end★Parallels with enterprise architecture - an organisation needs to build a stable ‘platform for execution’ to allow freedom to innovate with manageable risk★But we need to consciously separate the two, in both application architecture and mindset

10September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai and Client Side

★So we’ve built a new tool/app with client side techniques in our sakai 2.4 system★Next presentation will talk about this★New skills, but new enthusiasm★These skills will be relevant to sakai 3★So building skills, mindset for transition

11September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 and Client Side

★Sakai 2 tools typically had services and tool code in the same stovepipe★Separation within the tool projects but typically tools were standalone apart from core sakai services★Sakai 3 has resources in a common address space which may be shared across user interfaces★The RESTful access to JCR content gives us a kind of universal access layer★We can create servlets to proxy restful addresses into soap calls to SOA endpoints in other systems

12September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai at CSU - Uses

★Virtual Learning Environment★teaching tools and entry point per subject offering★guaranteed provisioning of tools to sites★provisioning of users and groups★entry point for teaching resources★portfolios

★Collaboration★Research, Administrivia, Projects★collaboration tools, shared resources

13September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 at CSU - Functions

★Content Repository★Authorisation★Content Search★Resource Addressing (that universal access space)★Organisation★Widget Server/Host★Widget container★Organiser of content★Organiser/manager of people and groups?★Portal/Entry Point

14September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 at CSU - Use

★Likely to want same provisioning of sites, groups users for subject offerings★More flexible cohorts, dynamic groups native★Likely to need the same set of tools★In transition we may need to host some tools in a Sakai 2 instance and integrate the two instances★Lose none of the backend desired ‘ities’★More flexible, pluggable options for back end services and integration★Better content management, sharing, authorisation★Better personalisation

15September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 at CSU - Use

★Confident Sakai 3 has an architecture that will meet these needs★Participating in Sakai 3 so our needs and experiences contribute to the range of experience influencing direction

16September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 and SOA

★Our application vendors are increasingly providing SOAP endpoints to their APIs★They are exposing data and units of functionality★Our integration server has SOAP endpoints to all its ‘flow services’★We have an enterprise data model which will be increasingly able to provide real enterprise shared data through SOA services★Sakai 3 natively uses REST. We can create servlets which can map RESTful addresses into SOAP calls and return results

17September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 and SOA

★We can create representations of SOAP services in the JCR which could make them discoverable through standard Sakai 3 services★At the UI level our proxied SOAP services have the same addressability and calling conventions as native Sakai 3 content★Sakai 3 content is (subject to authorisation) able to be accessed through RESTful services by other systems

18September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 and Online Architecture

★Online Architecture★Organisation of online resources★By audience - eg students, prospects, staff, public★By content - eg disciplines, organisational structure★By workflow - eg enrol, make a payment★Personalised portal★Generic entry point - the front door

19September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Sakai 3 and Online Architecture

★Sakai 3 has the potential to do all these★But we’ll probably mix and match★Vendors may have portals that have off the shelf functionality that is compelling to specific audiences or content areas★But we’ll expect vendors to have similar front end back end separations of concern★And we’ll expect seamless integration across all portals

20September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Organisational IT Implications

★Need to develop client side skills★Need Identity Management to support authentication requirements between the back end and the front end

★ie single sign on needs to be able to pass through to content providers (eg Sakai 3 JCR)

★Expect more volatility in new client side applications★Potentially users mashing up our services with their own widgets★Security/Authorisation needs to be enforced at the back end resource entry point (the restful URL into the kernel), it can’t be left to the UI level

21September 2009

AuSakai 09 - Bathurst, NSW, Australia“Sakai as a Scholarly Environment: Pedagogy, Systems, Processes and

Outcomes”

Thank you

★Questions