SELF EVIDENT APPLICATIONS FOR

UNIVERSITIESDesigning for the Extended

Enterprise

Greg Smart

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.

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.

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.

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’,

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

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,

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?