Kuali Student: A Next Generation Administrative System

Educause Live! WebcastJuly 22, 2008

Richard SpencerExecutive Director IT

University of British Columbia

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How universities work• Students and faculty are the key resource

– teaching and learning– scholarship and research– community service

• Product– learning, knowledge and educated people– we don’t sell it, it doesn’t generate revenue

• Staff– support these activities

• Everybody– does a lot of tedious administrative stuff

• Money and time are limited– it is hard to come up with a high margin, best selling, product

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• 1st generation: make information accessible and usable – no paper forms or files– systems of record are all online

• 2nd generation: run core business processes– support processes that cross departments– highly scalable

• Next generation: help people do what they need to do– easy to use– intelligent

• Key objective: support end users– make it easier to learn, teach and do research– make it easier for people to help people

Systems in a university

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• eliminate paper forms and files– scan any incoming paper and work with images

• support processes end-to-end – run across departmental boundaries

• complete transactions in real time• handle routine transactions, alert staff to the exceptions, • use rules and workflow to automate approvals

– lowest possible personal intervention in each process

• scalable– low incremental cost for additional transactions

• enable change and innovation– no logic or process flow in application code

Systems that improve processes

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Systems that help staff

• allow customers to complete processes online– staff don’t have time for extra work

• information is accessible to authorized users– let people see what they need to see - no more or less

• customers and staff see the same information– “you will always get the lowest fare at ual.com”

• give staff the information they need to help customers– prior transactions, rules, options etc.

• allow staff to override rules when appropriate– make in-person approval simple and flexible

• no training to do what you know how to do

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Systems that help end users

• use the information we already have• simple interface

– no training to do what we know how to do

• present options and alternatives– provide immediate, helpful, feedback and response

• explain the rules– but only when necessary

• let users work on tasks over time– keep copies and develop scenarios– leave and return later

• trust the user– audit later if necessary

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Students, faculty and staff are the key to productivity in universities

System and process change in any organization is only successful if people embrace it

The goal is not to reduce the number of people - it is to give them tools to let them do more

People make universities work

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Kuali Student

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Goals for Kuali Student• support a wide range of users and activities

– eliminate unnecessary constraints

• support a wide range of business processes– “customization is good”– “your processes, not someone else’s best practices”

• make it easier to change business processes– implement new processes more quickly and economically

• deliver scalable processes– all information is online and updated in real time

• enhance human interactions – great interface design, tools for staff delivering service

• internationalization– usable in many regions and countries

Support the end user

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High level entities

Use entity models that allow flexibility:• person• time• learning units

– courses, sections, lectures, student contributions, non-credit..

• resources– learning spaces

• rooms– collections of rooms, parts of rooms

• outdoor spaces• online resources

assumptions should not restrict what you can do

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Concierge• use what we know about:

– the person, the rules, the experience of others

• suggest valid choices– don’t make the user wade through choices that don’t apply

• apply and explain the relevant rules– don’t expect the user to read and understand the regulations

• anticipate peoples needs– these courses meet your requirements and match your interests

• integrate processes to make things easier– do you want to apply your tuition credit to your child’s registration?

• implement using rules and workflow

support the end user!no training required for things we know how to do

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Concierge

InstitutionalInformation

Requirements

PersonalInformation

Information aboutthe experiences

of othersPossibilities

We should use:

to support users

Options

Record

Status

Goals

Pitfalls

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Using workflow and rules engines:• processes are represented using workflow, not coded

into the system• rules are represented in rules engines, making them

easier to review and change• responsibility for processes and rules is separated from

technical issues• rules and policies govern access to information• workflow and rules engine technology is reusable and

scalable• a configuration application will be provided

process change is easier

Rules and workflow

...somewhat

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Access to information

To ensure users and systems have access to information:• abstract data from systems

– information is often common to more than one application

• data must be current and correct– one primary data store, no information stored on paper

• data should be maintained and provided by services– applications don’t need to know how or where data is stored

• manage access to data services– identity management for people and applications

• apply rules and policies within the service– check that information to be returned is appropriate

rules and policies should be known and explicit

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Service oriented architecture• break business processes down into “services” which are:

– reusable– autonomous– agnostic– stateless– loosely coupled

• define services by:– service contracts (what they do)– service interface definitions (how they communicate)

• applications are built from reusable components, using:– modular design– loosely coupled components– workflow and rules engines (services)

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Implementing SOAWeb services• simplicity• platform neutrality• standards

– including SOAP, WSDL, XML

Standards• use open standards wherever possible (e.g. WS*, PESC)Configuration• simplify administration of rules and workflowGovernance• Separate governance of service contracts from technical

decisions

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Component abstractionSOA allows abstraction of components into layers• presentation layer

– portal

• applications - “owned” by departments– business services– use rules engines and workflow to abstract logic and process flow

• process agnostic services– infrastructure services are used by multiple business processes

• data services– applications don’t have to understand the data structure

• service bus– provides communication services, ensures integrity

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Contact Admission Enrolment

Identityservices

Evaluationservice

Awardsassignment

Person data academic history awards

Conceptual system architecture

Rulesservices

Workflowservices

Learning planservice

Businessservices

Process agnosticservices

Infrastructureservices

Presentationlayer

Dataservices

Con

cier

gePortalConcierge

Service bus

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Systems can provide a comparative advantage

staff have tools and time to do more and help more people

the support we give students and faculty helps define us

great systems can help us attract and keep the best people

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Community Source Development

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Community source development

Institutions formally partner to develop systems

• systems are created specifically for higher education

• shared resources spread the cost of development

• upgrades and enhancements contributed by the community lower the cost of software maintenance and enhancement

• flexible architecture supports community source, vendor supplied and home grown components.

• commercial installation and support is encouraged

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Open source applications

SOA systems can be implemented:• using open source development tools• using open source infrastructure components• using open standards• by building open source applicationsBenefits:• code is open and can be modified by the institution• other institutions can develop modules you can use• applications may be more reliable• support and development can be assuredRisks:• support and development may not be assured

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Kuali Student founder & partnersFounders • University of British Columbia• University of California, Berkeley• University of Maryland, College Park• Florida State University• San Joaquin Delta College• University of Southern California

Partners• MIT• Cambridge University

Also• Andrew Mellon Foundation• Kuali Foundation• AACRAO, NITLE

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Information on Kuali Student

www.student.kuali.org