introduction to openathens
TRANSCRIPT
Eduserv
Not-for-profit IT services on behalf of universities & colleges in the UK
Charitable mission to realise the benefits of IT for learning &
research
Shared services include:– Licence Negotiation Services
• Chest Agreements– Access & Identity Management
• OpenAthens– Web Solutions
• Web Hosting• Web Content Management• Web Development
Purpose of the day
• Learn about & see the latest developments for OpenAthens
• Hear about OpenAthens LA 2.0
• See the improvements to simplify & ease the use of OpenAthens Managed Directory for Administrators
• Learn about the usability developments & new tools for helping you to help your staff & students in the MyAthens interface
• Reminder about annual subscriptions from August 2009 & your next steps
The team
Keith Dixon – AIM Manager
Tom Demeranville – Senior Software Engineer
Sarah Quintin – Software Engineer
Aaron Wolf – Service Desk Analyst
Agenda for the day
11.00 Intro & Welcome – Keith
11.20 Moving forward with OpenAthens – Keith
11.45 Administration Tools – Tom
12.30 Lunch & Networking – ALL!
13.15 MyAthens: New Features & Future Directions - Sarah
14.00 Getting support for OpenAthens – Aaron
14:15 Wrap & Questions - Keith
Access & Identity ManagementMoving Forward with OpenAthens
Keith Dixon – AIM Manager
OpenAthens Workshops, May 2009
Agenda
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
Where do we want to go?
What are we doing to get there?
What’s the next step (in 2009)?
How can you subscribe in 2009/10?
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
OpenAthens is a framework of software & services for Access & Identity Management
AND
Uniquely for UK HE/FE institutions there is a subscription to OpenAthens that provides unlimited access to ALL of the software & services that make up the OpenAthens
framework
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
• What are the components of OpenAthens?– OpenAthens MD
• MD = Managed Directory– OpenAthens LA
• LA = Local Authentication– OpenAthens SP
• SP = Service Provider
• Plus– MyAthens
• A learner/research resource discovery/management tool
AthensIdentityBroker
ManagedDirectory
OpenAthens opens up the Athens Architecture…
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
InstitutionUsing
AthensDA
Local AuthenticationAthensDA + Identity Broker
AthensManaged Directory + Identity Broker
LocalDirectory
… to Federated Access Management (eg. the UK Federation)….
ServiceProviders
using Shibboleth
InstitutionUsing
Shibboleth
UK FederationWAYF
LocalDirectory
UK FederationWAYF
InstitutionUsing
Shibboleth
… & provides both software & service solutions
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProvider
using Shibboleth
OpenAthens SubscriptionShibboleth + OpenAthens Identity Broker
AthensIdentityBroker
ManagedDirectory
InstitutionUsing
AthensDA
InstitutionUsing
OpenAthens LA
OpenAthens
IdentityBroker
ManagedDirectory
LocalDirectory
LocalDirectory
How are people using OpenAthens?
OpenAthens LA
– Easy local authentication to both Athens & Shibboleth resources, fully-supported & easy to budget
OpenAthens MD
– Some institutions host ALL users • Limited scale, limited use, limited IT resource• Easy/quick set-up• Retain library control
– Others host SOME users (using OpenAthens LA or Shib with a local LDAP directory for the majority)
• Walk-in users, affiliated institution users • Back up to local authentication
MyAthens
– As Library A-Z/integrated with Library portal– Low, predictable costs as part of OpenAthens subscription
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
What are the key benefits of the OpenAthens offer to UK HE/FE?
– Simple to budget, annual fees
– Technology flexibility
– Quick & easy implementation
– Low operating costs
– Fit with available Library/IT expertise
– Low risk
PLUS
– Maintenance, support & development included
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
351 institutions subscribed to OpenAthens– 60% FE Colleges
– 40% HEI’s
– 28% subscribed for 3 years
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
Research conducted Dec 08– 90% satisfied with the service
– 90% were quite likely/very likely to recommend
The detail!
Poor/Very Poor
%
Neither %
Good/Very Good
%
Don’t Know %
Track record 0 7 90 3
Experience in HE/FE 0 0 97 3
Customer focus 3 10 82 3
Innovation 0 21 69 10
Technical leadership 0 24 66 10
Specialised knowledge 0 10 86 3
Explanation of technical issues 3 14 80 3
Ongoing maintenance 7 3 87 3
Value for money 7 17 68 7
Ongoing communications 10 7 80 3
Technical Support 7 17 72 3
Invoicing 3 17 52 28
Non-tech help 0 25 65 10
Intent Survey Jan 2009/10
Customer perceived advantages of OpenAthens
– Familiarity
– Continuity, no additional work for the Library
– Simple & easy to use & administer
– Usage statistics
– Participation in UKAMF
– Access to Shibboleth resources
– Access to non-Shibbolised resources
Intent Survey Jan 2009/10
Customer perceived advantages of OpenAthens
– Do not have to develop in-house IdP
– Minimal impact on internal IT
– Access to online resources off campus
– Good value
– Peace of mind
– Support
– Enables a smooth transition to local authentication
Intent Survey Jan 2009/10
Customer perceived areas for improvement– Service desk response
– Promoting non-Athens resources on MyAthens
– Reliability
– Subscription fees
Intent Survey Jan 2009/10
Customer perceived areas for improvement– Confusion between accessing Athens &
Shibboleth resources
– Issues accessing Shibboleth resources
– Lack of statistics for Shibboleth resources
– A password that matches existing student login/ID
Intent Survey Jan 2009/10
Do you intend to subscribe in 09/10? %Definitely will 42Almost certainly 21Probably will 20Might not 14Definitely not 3
With 3 months to go over 150 institutions have already signed up to OpenAthens for UK HE/FE for
2009/10
Reasons for subscribing/not
Subscribing– Lack of skill/time/budget to implement & support Shibb
– Happy with OpenAthens
– OpenAthens LA 2.0
– Access to Athens resources
Not– Have a functioning Shibboleth Idp
– Proxies/IP authentication
Resources
Ave
How many resources do you subscribe to? 265
Athens 62%
Shibboleth 40%
Other 8%
State of flux, mixed bag for the foreseeable future
Institutions need a solution that is flexible and adaptable
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
OpenAthens - Open & Standards Compliant
– OpenAthens LA, MD & SP - flexibility
– Athens & Shibboleth resources co-existing
– New technologies = New opportunities
• OpenID
• Information Cards
– Standards are continually evolving
– Solutions must be flexible, adaptable & cost effective
Where do we want to get to?
For institutions – Continue to increase value & reduce risk
– Greater choice– Keep costs predictable & low– Future-proofing
For IT & Library Administrators – Increase capability & reduce workload
– Increase usability• Configuration & management in IT• Resource entitlement & ad-hoc users in
Library– More functionality
Where do we want to get to?
Close engagement with HE/FE IT & Library needs
– External – collaboration & resource access
– Internal – identity, entitlement management & provisioning
Close engagement with Access & Identity Management developments
– Federation standards & technologies
– User-centric standards & technologies
Close engagement with Learner/Researchers needs
– Usability
– Integration with Resource Discovery
What are the next steps? (in 2009)
Openness & Standards Compliance
– OpenAthens LA & SP
– Ease of Install & Management
Administrator Usability & Tools
– Processes & Interface
– Diagnostics & Statistics
Learner/Researcher Usability & Tools
– Usability
– Resource Discovery & Management
What are we doing to get there?
More Resources– Development
– Services
More Events– Workshops
Product Development Advisory Groups– OpenAthens MD
– OpenAthens LA
Alpha Test programmes
Beta Test programmes
What are we doing to get there?
Major functionality releases
– OpenAthens LA 2.0
Minor functionality releases
– Admin Tools
– MyAthens
– OpenAthens SP 1.3
Compliance, servicing & bug fixes
– UK Fed Compliance
Administrator Usability and Tools
Focus on Administrator Interface & Toolbars
April 2009– Interface Update – more intuitive
• Paging tables for lists of users
• Quick multiple account creation
– Graphical statistics
– Shibboleth statistics & basic diagnostics
Oct 2009– More configurable?
• Commonly used functions?
• Service status, maintenance notices, diagnostics?
– Email address as login?
April 2009• Improve accessibility (e.g. style chooser for visually
impaired)
• Increase Admin/User configurability including
– Generic search panels & HTML editing for custom content
– Ability to add non-Athens resources to the resources list (e.g. Shibboleth)
October 2009• Pre-populated panels?
• Manage configuration of toolbar?
• “Add to MyAthens” button for library & service provider web sites?
Learner & Researcher Usability & Tools
UK FederationWAYF
InstitutionUsing
Shibboleth
What are we doing to get there?
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProviders
using Athens
ServiceProvider
using Shibboleth
OpenAthens SubscriptionShibboleth + OpenAthens Identity Broker
Op
en
Ath
en
s SP
1.1
AthensModule
ShibModule
AthensIdentityBroker
ManagedDirectory
InstitutionUsing
AthensDA
InstitutionUsing
OpenAthens LA
Op
en
Ath
en
s LA
2.0
AthensModule
ShibModule
OpenAthens
IdentityBroker
ManagedDirectory
LocalDirectory
LocalDirectory
OpenAthens LA
OpenAthens LA 1.0 = AthensDA PLUS access to Shibboleth (UK fed) resources via OpenAthens gateway functionality
OpenAthens LA 2.0 – Based on the same platform as OpenAthens SP– Multi-platform/language support– Athens, SAML 1.1,2.0 (Shibboleth 1.3, 2.0) module
OpenAthens LA 2.0 SysAdmin/Admin Tools
– Easy install, configuration, management for IT
– Easy user-entitlement admin/management for Librarians
OpenAthens SP
Used by Service Providers - Available as part of UK HE/FE OpenAthens subscription
April 2009 - Multi-platform support
– OpenAthens SP 1.3 - Athens, SAML 1.1/2.0 (Shibboleth 1.3/2.0) OpenID, Cardspace
Dec 2009 - OpenAthens SP 2.0 – SysAdmin/Admin Tools?
– Multi-federation support?
• OpenAthens SP 2.0 – SURFNet, InCommon, CRU (French Federation)..?
Services & Support
Service Desk Web Interface – Feedback?
Dec 2009 - v2.0 – integration, usability and configurability
– Service Information?• Service availability, overall statistics• Institution specific statistics
– Administrator Forum/Knowledgebase?• Sharing service knowledge• Answers to current/common issues• Monitoring & input from Tech Support
How do I continue to subscribe?
June 12th –closing date for all notice of subscription terminations
– Retention permission allows non-subscriber’s data to be retained until 31 October 2009 to provide:
• appropriate message to users
• a safety-net
June 30th – invoices sent (as appropriate)
July 31st – Non-subscriber data deleted unless permission given to retain until Oct 31st
2009/10 Pricing
• JISC-Banded
• Includes new product developments
• Fixed for those who signed in 2008/09 for 3 years
• 3% increase for 2009/10 renewals
JISC Band 2009/10 Fee
A £8,320
B £7,440
C £6,570
D £5,690
E £4,820
F £3,940
G £3,060
H £2,190
I £1,310
J £700
Does this all make sense to you?
Q&A
Summary
Where have we got to with OpenAthens?
- Unique package for UK HE/FE
Where do we want to go?
- Increase value, reduce IT/Lib workload
What are we doing to get there?
- Development investment & engagement
What’s the next step (in 2009)?
- OpenAthens LA 2.0, Admin & MyAthens
How do you subscribe?
- Sign & return confirmation for invoicing