uniting cultures, technology & applications

Uniting Cultures, Technology & Applications

A Case Study

University of New Hampshire

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

Culture

• Traditional IT organizational structure– Academic computing (Academic

Technology)– Administrative computing (Enterprise

Computing)– Desktop computing, email, network

services (Telecom & Client Services)

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

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

Enterprise Computing

Academic Computing

Telecom. & Client Service

Application Administration &

Development

Systems Administration

Application Stewardship

ERP Support Model

Enterprise Computing

Academic Computing

Telecom. & Client Service

Application Administration &

Development

Systems Administration

Application Stewardship

E-mail Support Model

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?

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.

Enterprise Computing

Academic Computing

Telecom. & Client Service

Application Administration &

Development

Systems Administration

Application Stewardship

Current Blackboard Support Model

Enterprise Computing

Academic Computing

Telecom. & Client Service

Application Administration &

Development

Systems Administration

Application Stewardship

Identity Management & SSO Support Model

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

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.

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

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

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

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)

IdM

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UNH Bb SSO Infrastructure Overview

MyUNH Authentication

Blackboard Webcat UNH E-mail

AccountManagement

AccountSelf-Service

Oracle SSO Services

Oracle LDAP Services

IdM Database

IdMResolver

AccountManagement

Service

IdMDirectoryService

USNHBanner

HR

UNHBannerStudent

GSCBannerStudent

Academic Technology Enterprise Computing Group Telecom. & Client ServicesCIS Cross Department

Iden

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Sou

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Dat

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ervi

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Gen

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Use

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IdM

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UNH Bb SSO Infrastructure Overview

MyUNH Authentication

Blackboard Webcat UNH E-mail

AccountManagement

AccountSelf-Service

Oracle SSO Services

Oracle LDAP Services

IdM Database

IdMResolver

AccountManagement

Service

IdMDirectoryService

USNHBanner

HR

UNHBannerStudent

GSCBannerStudent

Academic Technology Enterprise Computing Group Telecom. & Client ServicesCIS Cross Department

Snapshot method• Using this method you update Blackboard

Learning System database 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.

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

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

• User notification reports are HTML formatted and contain processed data and time statistics

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.

IdM Directory Service

1

Snapshot Controller

PL/SQL Engine

Snapshots Metadata

Feeds Logs

Snapshot Tool Database

Blackboard

4

3 5

62

Processing Logs

Main Steps in Snapshot Processing

bb.admin@unh.edu

Main Steps in Snapshot Processing1. Read snapshot definition from metadata

tables.2. Pull feed data from the IdM Directory

Service using the source SQL’s definition.3. Create the feed file and transfer to the Bb

application instance.4. Launch Bb Snapshot Tool to load the feed

into the Bb database.5. Parse Snapshot Tool logs and output and

load into the controller log tables.6. Compile the processing report and email it

to the Bb administrators.

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

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

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

Contact InformationBill.Baber@unh.edu, Associate Director

Dmitry.Sadykov@unh.edu, Bb Developer Extraordinaire

Terri.Winters@unh.edu, Director