Uniting Cultures, Technology & Applications

1. Uniting Cultures, Technology & Applications A Case Study University of New Hampshire

2. University of New Hampshire • Research II institution • Land grant, space grant, sea grant institution • 2 campuses (Durham & Manchester) • 11,400 undergraduate students • 3000 graduate students • 736 tenured or tenure track faculty • 2000 staff

3. Culture • Traditional IT organizational structure • Academic computing (Academic Technology) • Administrative computing (Enterprise Computing) • Desktop computing, email, network services (Telecom & Client Services)

4. Technology • Blackboard v6.2 • Redhat Linux AS2.1 & AS3.0 • Oracle v9i

5. Applications • ID Management System built in-house • Self-service password reset built in-house • Accounts management system built in-house • Single Sign On via Oracle Identity Management solution • SCT BANNER Student Information System v7.1 • SCT BANNER Human Resources System v6.1 • Linux-based e-mail, Horde IMP v4.0.4

8. How did we start? • Gathering technical managers from across three areas • All wanted a single authentication service to provide authoritative person information • Would we create one or multiple, duplicative services? • To build a single system, how should UNH students, faculty, and staff access it?

9. MyUNH—Institutional Portal • Vision: • Leverage acceptance of Blackboard by students and faculty to provide the UNH community access to the electronic resources they need to do their work. • Provide access through one login using one username/password through one integrated, secure, Web-based interface, MyUNH.

12. Blackboard Manual Update • One FTE dedicated to Blackboard updates • Automate updates from SCT BANNER to Blackboard • Enterprise Computing Group resources • Make presentation to the Student Information Services Steering Committee • Worked with SIS Team Lead & Chair

13. Functional Requirements – Provision Bb from Banner • Automate the manual process of creating Blackboard accounts, roles, courses, and enrollments using data acquired from our Banner Student Information System.

14. EAI Solution Pros • The cool technology factor • EAI via SCT Luminis Data Integration Suite • SOAP • Blackboard Event Driven API • Capable of near real-time provisioning

15. EAI Solution Cons • Event driven model not needed or desired (our IdM system is batch updated) • Relies on developing technology • Dependent on proprietary technology • Adds an additional infrastructure layer • Vulnerable to vendor interdependencies • Requires significant local development

16. The Path Taken • Provide a fault tolerant solution with a low level of system and vendor interdependencies • Build on our experience with manual Bb snapshot processing • Leverage availability of the Identity Management data abstraction layer • Leverage existing Banner and Oracle skills • Provide training opportunity in Bb Building Blocks

17. Advantageous Technology Environment • Extensive cross-system collaboration between departments • Live data available directly from IdM views created specifically for application provisioning • Unique and permanent usernames • No dependence on UNH person IDs (usually SSN)

20. Snapshot method • Using this method you update Blackboard Learning Systemdatabase with information contained in a feed file, which could be a flat file or XML file. • The data in the Blackboard database is consistent with institutional data at the time the feed file (snapshot) was created. • System administrators use Snapshot Tool program provided by Blackboard to load the data.

21. UNH Snapshot Controller components • Snapshot Controller Engine • Oracle PL/SQL • Java • Unix shell • Snapshot Controller User Interface • Bb Building Blocks Java API & JSP tag libraries • Struts & Tiles • JSP, Java, JDBC

22. Snapshot Controller Engine Features • Provides automated processing of a single snapshot as well as a group (batch) of dependent snapshots • Has user notification through email at the end of the processing or in case of failure • Usernotificationreports are HTML formatted and contain processed data and time statistics

23. Snapshot Controller Engine Features cont. • The engine is a collection of PL/SQL packages and tables. • Tables contain metadata and logs. • Snapshot and batch definitions are contained in metadata. • Engine uses a snapshot definition to execute the snapshot. • Engine uses a batch definition for batch processing of snapshots.

24. 1 2 6 5 3 4 Snapshot Tool Database Processing Logs Main Steps in Snapshot Processing Blackboard IdM Directory Service Feeds Logs bb.admin@unh.edu Snapshot Controller PL/SQL Engine Snapshots Metadata

25. Main Steps in Snapshot Processing • Read snapshot definition from metadata tables. • Pull feed data from the IdM Directory Service using the source SQL’s definition. • Create the feed file and transfer to the Bb application instance. • Launch Bb Snapshot Tool to load the feed into the Bb database. • Parse Snapshot Tool logs and output and load into the controller log tables. • Compile the processing report and email it to the Bb administrators.

26. Snapshots Metadata Every snapshot definition has: • Id, Name and Description • Term code • Example: 200601 or 200502 • Feed file name pattern • enroll_instructors_$term_$run_id.dat • enroll_instructors_200502_3259.dat

27. Snapshots Metadata cont. • Source SQL • SQL statement returns the feed result set • Data source key • Examples: SYSTEM, SIS.COURSES.SPRING2006 • Command template • Calls Snapshot Tool with proper parameters, paths and names. • Post process action • Example: sshot_actions.set_combo_courses_status

28. Snapshot Controller User Interface • Convenient web-based data interface to: • Snapshots and batches metadata • Processing logs • Engine configuration parameters • Associated files • Alternative way to manually execute both an individual snapshot or a batch • Installed as a Blackboard Building Block

40. Contact Information Bill.Baber@unh.edu, Associate Director Dmitry.Sadykov@unh.edu, Bb Developer Extraordinaire Terri.Winters@unh.edu, Director