Introduction to Kuali Rice

ITANA Screen2Screen: Kuali on CampusMay 2009

Eric Westfall – Kuali Rice Project Manager

Kuali Rice Vision

• Kuali Rice is a middleware framework• Support the needs of the Kuali Application Projects

−Foundational middleware components and services−Enhanced software development framework

• Leverage the middleware and development frameworks for building custom applications

• Achieve sustainability through community source development and adoption

• Iterate Rice architecture towards a Service Oriented Architecture

Kuali Rice Objectives

• To create standard APIs to Rice components• To design components which are modular• To provide a reference implementation based on

industry standards• To ensure intellectual property and open source

license compliance is maintained • To promote adoption by a wide variety of

institutions, primarily in higher education• To build a large community of interest with strong

sustainability

Kuali Rice Components – Version 1.0

• KNS Kuali Nervous System• KEN Kuali Enterprise Notification• KSB Kuali Service Bus• KEW Kuali Enterprise Workflow• KIM Kuali Identity Management

• We will now explore each of the components in more detail

KNS Overview

• Provides reusable code, shared services, integration layer, and a development strategy

• Provides a common look and feel through screen drawing framework

• A document (business process) centric model with workflow as a core concept

KNS Development Paradigm

CHART_TChart

(POJO)ORMMap

Data Dictionary

Lookups and

Inquiries

MaintenanceDocuments

TransactionalDocuments

Workflow(KEW)

Transactional Documents

• These are data-entry centric documents or “transactions” that model the business processes

• Examples include: Proposal Development, Journal Entry, Payment Reimbursement

• Built on a case by case basis using the Kuali Rice tag libraries (encompass snippets of UI behavior):−Notes and attachments−Workflow route log (audit log)

• Integrated with workflow

Maintenance Documents

• No GUI programming required, user interface is rendered by framework

• These are used for maintaining data• An easy way to maintain support tables in a

database• Supports creation of new records and editing of

existing records• Examples include:

−Budget rates−Project codes

Other KNS Features

• Data Dictionary• Question component• Notes and attachments• Pluggable business rules• KIM Integration for Authorization• System parameters

Ken Overview

• Works with the action list to provide a single place for all university related communications−Workflow items come from KEW−Non-workflow items from KEN

• Non-workflow example items−Overdue library book−A concert on campus−Graduation checklists for seniors

KEN Overview - Continued

• Provides a secure and controlled environment for notifying the masses

• Eliminate sifting through email• Communication broker which provides any

combination of action list, email, or custom notifiers−Controlled by user preferences

• Audit trail for all messages just as in KEW

KSB Overview

• A common registry of services−Lists all services on the bus and how they can be

connected−Through simple Spring configuration, Java based

services can be “exported” from a rice enabled application as SOAP or Java Serialization over HTTP services

• Common service locator paradigm - access services remotely or locally

• Other “Rice Clients” can consume services published on the KSB

KSB Communication Models

• Synchronous = P2P : waits for a response• Asynchronous = messaging : fire and forget :

possible callback• Queues = single service retrieved from

redundant set of services; only one invoked• Topics = all services retrieved from

redundant set of services; all invoked

KSB Security• Bus level : option to digitally sign, WS-

Security used for SOAP services• Service level security through Acegi

−Service level, method level−User proxying through standard security models

(i.e. CAS, Kerberos)−Security context passed along (user, authn

token, roles)−Services can call authn/authz authority to

validate context

KEW Overview• Provides a content-based routing engine.

− Documents created from process definitions (Document Types) and submitted to the workflow engine for routing

− Routing decisions made based on the XML content of the Document• Traditionally used for business transactions in the

form of electronic documents that require approval from multiple parties. For example:− Transfer of Funds− Hire/Terminate Employee− Timesheet− Drop Course

• Composed of a set of services, APIs, and GUIs

KEW – Core Features• Action List (User’s Work List)• Document Searching• Document Audit Trail (Route Log)• Flexible process definition (Document Type)

−Splits, Joins, Parallel branches, Sub processes, Dynamic process generation

• Rules Engine• Email Notification

KEW – Core Features• Notes and attachments• Wide array of pluggable components to customize

routing and other pieces of the system• eDoc Lite

−Framework for creating simple documents quickly• Plug-in Architecture

−Packaging and deployment of routing components to the Rice Standalone Server at runtime

KIM - Overview

• The Kuali Identity Management module will be included in version 1.0 of Rice

• Provides identity and access management services to Rice and other applications

• Includes a service layer as well as a set of maintenance screens

• Supported Concepts include:−Entities and Principals−Groups−Roles and Permissions−Authentication

KIM – Overview

• Shared identity and access management services that all Kuali projects can use

• Generic enough to be used by non-Kuali projects• Provide a rich and customizable permission-based

authorization system• All services available on the service bus with both

SOAP and Java serialization endpoints• Provide a set of GUIs that can be used to maintain

the data

KIM – Overview

• Provide a reference implementation of the services but allow for customization/replacement to facilitate integration with institutional services or other 3rd party IDM solutions

• Allow for the core KIM services to be overridden piecemeal−For example: override the Identity Service but not the

Role Service

Further Information about Kuali Rice

• The main Rice web site−http://rice.kuali.org−Sign up for our public mailing list−Access to our wiki