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Standards, Services, and Excitement
Mark MazelinDave Rotman
Cedarville University
© Copyright 2004, Mark Mazelin and David RotmanThis work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for
this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice
is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.
Agenda
• Problems and challenges to be addressed
• Sample end-user solutions
• “Five D” approach
Problems
• Providing customer-focused solutions
• Retaining legacy systems and data
Challenges
• Web delivery of services/information
• Integration of systems
• Authentication
• Authorization
• Limited budget and staff resources
• Selection of tools and protocols
Responding to Challenges
A spry old guy managed to get the best of a robber - by asking to use to the bathroom.
Police in Wilmington charge that Charles Dale forced his way into the home of an 87-year-old man Sunday morning.
According to authorities, Dale tackled the man and went through his pockets. The elderly victim asked the robber if he could go to the bathroom.
The 87-year-old man then climbed out of a window and called 911 from a neighbor's house.
Dale was busted nearby and now faces a number of counts, including robbery and burglary.
(http://www.dumbcrooks.com/March292004.htm)
CU Environment
• 3,000 students
• 99% undergraduate
• 80% live on campus
• 2,500 CU-owned computers
• 1,200 student-owned computers
• Resnet since 1992
• Emphasis on use of technology
Service Examples
• Advisee folder
• myApplication
• Event registration
• Phone/photo directory
Define Desired Services
It’s a good thing that the phones worked…
One criminal broke into the basement of a bank through a street-level window. In the process, however, he suffered from several lacerations. After he realized that he could neither get the money nor climb back through the window from whence he came, the robber panicked. Realizing he was going to bleed to death if he did not get help, he located a phone and dialed 911. The rest, as they say, is history.
http://www.dumbcriminalacts.com/acts.php?category=1&page=1
Define Desired Services
• What services?– Focused visits– Brainstorming– Leveraging project requests
• What priorities?• How to get buy-in?
Define Desired Services
• What services?• What priorities?
– Benefits– Costs– Decision making
• How to get buy-in?
Define Desired Services
• What services?• What priorities? • How to get buy-in?
– Leverage personal friendships– Maintain trust up/down organization– Build history of success
Develop Infrastructure
Reliable equipment is a must…
Two men tried to pull the front off a cash machine by running a chain fromthe machine to the bumper of their pickup truck. Instead of pulling the frontpanel off the machine, though, they pulled the bumper off the truck. Theypanicked and fled, leaving the chain still attached to the machine, their bumperstill attached to the chain, and their license plate still attached to thebumper.
http://www.realpolice.net/dumb_criminals_3.htm
Develop Infrastructure
• Goals– Build an extensible environment– Provide uniform authentication mechanism– Enable automated account maintenance– Share authorization hierarchy– Have minimal data redundancy– Ensure good performance
• Our model• Other models
Develop Infrastructure
• Goals• Our model
– LDAP (lightweight directory access protocol)– NDS (Novell Directory Services)– Master data within student information system
• Other models– Microsoft-centric (Active Directory)– NMI (NSF Middleware Initiative)
Design Transaction ModelCONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSALYou may be surprised to receive this letter from me, since you do not know me personally. My name is J Ngorin. The purpose of my introduction is that before the death of my father, he had taken me to Johannesburg to deposit the sum of US8.5 million (Eight million, Five Hundred thousand United States dollars),in one of the private security company, as he foresaw the looming danger in Zimbabwe this money was deposited in a box as gem stones to avoid much demurrage from security company. This amount was meant for the purchase of new machines and chemicals for the Farms and establishment of new farms in Swaziland.
This land problem came when Zimbabwean President Mr.Robert Mugabe introduced a new Land Act Reform wholly affecting the rich white farmers and some few black farmers, and this resulted to the killing and mob action by Zimbabwean war veterans and some lunatics in the society. You can help protect this inheritance and gain a sizeable sum for yourself by replying in strict confidence.
Design Transaction Model
• Integration challenge– “legacy” systems– network operating system– Web servers/services– Course-management system– Database server
• Techniques
• Our Implementation
“Legacy Systems”
•Datatel/Colleague ERP•Viking fund raising•Radio network operations•CASS postal software•Credit-card processing•Library patron database•Id-card system
Design Transaction Model
• Integration challenge
• Techniques– Direct software calls– Creation of intermediate interfaces– Conversion of proprietary data structure to
standards-based format (LDAP, XML, XSL, etc.)
• Our implementation
Design Transaction Model
• Integration challenge• Techniques• Our implementation
– General-purpose LDAP subroutines• Query• Add/change/delete record
– Functionality on two different systems• Evolutionary design• Performance considerations
– Communications techniques• RSH• HTTPS (HTML forms, “Web services”)• ODBC/JDBC
Deliver Early Wins
An Alabama man was arrested for having his 4-year-old nephew drive him to the sheriff's department because he didn't have his drivers license. Jail employees standing in the parking lot watched in amazement as a small child drove up in a 1977 Cadillac DeVille. The boy was standing in the driver's seat behind the wheel, and his uncle was working the gas and brake from the passenger seat. The pair had driven the car that way for six miles, from the man's home in Mount Moriah to the Moultrie jail. The man's license had been taken by police duringa roadside license check. he told police he put his nephew behind the wheel because he didn't want to get in trouble by driving to the jail without a license.
http://www.thebigshow.com/picsnsuch/archive/dumbcrook/dcrk1130.html
Deliver Early Wins• Inquiry only
– Results returned by email – Transcripts, rosters, etc.
• Simple updating– Dorm signout– Set email alias
• Complex processes– Course registration– Time cards– Admissions application
Don’t Stop
• Iterative process– Think broadly– Build tools
• Keep adding new features
• Be flexible– Ego-less decision making– Listen to the customer
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.
- Walter Elliott
“Five D’s”
• Define desired services
• Develop infrastructure
• Design transaction model
• Deliver early wins
• Don’t stop
You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.- J. Askenberg
Standards, Services, and Excitement
Mark [email protected]
Dave [email protected]
Cedarville University
