Presentation Slides

http://www.e-framework.org

The e-Framework forThe e-Framework forEducation and Research and its Education and Research and its

relationship to Enterprise Architecturerelationship to Enterprise Architecture

Simon Porter


Presentation Purpose:Presentation Purpose:

The eFramework is a framework for collaboratively describing how systems at a service level interoperate in teaching and research. How does the framework work? Why does it matter? What is the relationship between the

eFramework and Enterprise Architecture?


OverviewOverview

Overview Some observations about Enterprise

Architecture, Standards and Service oriented approaches.

About the eFramework eFramework in action.

Defining a Research Project Repository Service.


Some Observations about higher education Some Observations about higher education industry trends by industry trends by Christopher J. MackieChristopher J. Mackie

Christopher J. Mackie

Associate Program Officer

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Observations about institutional trends in higher education. IDEA 2007

Presentation:


Internal IT capacity is declining Demand is increasing faster than budget Staff are aging; labor markets are inhospitable Software development & maintenance capacity is

vanishing; vendor dependence is increasing Enterprise software complexity is increasing beyond

institutional competence: Home-brew enterprise software is growing impossible to build or maintain

9-10 October 2007

5

Christopher J. MackieAssociate Program OfficerThe Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

5

Some Observations by Some Observations by Christopher J. MackieChristopher J. Mackie


The bottom line (of this presentation)The bottom line (of this presentation)

The Bottom Line:

So there is increasing pressure on Information services divisions to support Research and Education systems.

A General Question

Are there patterns of behaviour that we can adopt together that help progress the goals of education and research more effectively?

To help reduce complexity?

To increase our flexibility in responding to business requirements?

How do we incorporate these patterns of behaviour within our approaches to EA?


Strategy 1

When building an Enterprise Architecture, reuse/ build upon as many artifacts from industry and community as possible. Frameworks Standards Business Process Models Data models


Strategy 2

Start thinking about consolidating services at an enterprise level


Service oriented approach (soa)Service oriented approach (soa)

*Scott Wilson - CETIS

Services need well defined interfaces so all components can access them.

Learning Management Library

Activity Mgt

Collaboration

Assessment

Student Record System

Grading

Reporting

Cataloguing

Messaging Authentication Packaging

Content Mgt Packaging Discovery

SERVICES


LMSNewSuperLMS

SIS

Service oriented approach (soa)Service oriented approach (soa)

Identity Directory

PM

SC

MS

LDAP

OM

S

UI UI

?

UI


Strategy 3 Build your services architecture in

collaboration with the broader Community


Service oriented approach has community Service oriented approach has community foundationsfoundations

A services orientated approach is inherently community focused.

Interfaces to successful services are by their nature, standards based, or at least grounded in common community practice


SIS

Identity Directory

PM

SC

MS

LDAP

OM

S

UI UI

SIS

Identity Directory

PM

SC

MS

LDAP

OM

S

UI UI

SISNewSuperLMS

Identity Directory

PM

SC

MS

LDAP

OM

S

UI UI

SISNewSuperLMS

Identity Directory

PM

SC

MS

LDAP

OM

S

UI UI

University 2

University 3University 4

University 1


So is there a way we can work together to help define these servcies?

Build on the knowledge of others?


The eFrameworkThe eFramework

About the e-Framework for Education and Research


What is the eFramework?What is the eFramework?

Background

Enabling meaningful conversations and collaboration across boundaries

DEST / JISC e-Framework for Education and Research

Now DEST, JISC (UK), MoE (NZ), SURF (NL)


What is it?What is it?

Goal: technical interoperability in education and research by improving community understanding of common

services and standards

Principles service oriented approach (soa) open standards community involvement incremental development


What is it?What is it?

Sure … but what are the e-Framework outputs?

… a knowledge base …

Describing interfaces between applications• technology independent genres• technology dependent expressions• e-f descriptions of standards

Service Usage Models• how to combine services to meet business requirementsCORE SUMs•Commonly Repeating SUMs or reusable patterns

Collaboration framework• common vocabulary• templates for developing documentation• information on technologies, projects, practice


SEARCH

ANNOTATE

RESOLVE

IDENTIFY

AUTHORISE

PERSONALISE

MESSAGING

SCHEDULE SIMULATE

HARVEST

REGISTER

AUTHENICATE

ALERT

Service Genre

Service GenresService Genres


SEARCH

ANNOTATE

RESOLVE

IDENTIFY

AUTHORISE

PERSONALISE

MESSAGING

SCHEDULE SIMULATE

HARVEST

REGISTER

AUTHENICATE

ALERT

Service Expressions (e.g., SRU, SRW, Z39.50, CQL, ECL – in specific context)

BehavioursOperationsData DefinitionsStandards & Specifications…

Service ExpressionsService Expressions


Service Usage ModelsService Usage Models

Learning Object Repository Network

Business context

Services

Data


Guides: the collaboration frameworkGuides: the collaboration framework Each Component is documented within a

Collaboration Framework

Name Rationale Classification Version Description Functionality Usage Scenarios Applicability Requests and Behaviours Use and Interactions

Structure Applicable Standards Design Decisions and

Tradeoffs Implementation

Guidance and Dependencies

Known Uses

A Service Genre Description Contains…

Genre: technology independent Expression: one specific way to realise the genre

Many expressions for each genre Different expressions may overlap in function Expression may be only part of one genre Key component for interoperability

In specific context, project, community May tighten standards and data semantics Can be used to develop service implementations Can be service-oriented design and runtime

contract Any one SUM in terms of either expressions or genres, but not both

(XOR)

DEFINITIONS

Service Genre Vs Service Expression

TEMPLATES QUALITY ASSURANCE


What can it do?What can it do?

Publishing Information Asset catalogue of technologies and standards Experiences in adoption, testing emerging standards and

technologies Communities focused around interoperability

Leveraging International Experience What are other countries doing (consistent vocab) How are they doing it (consistent model)

Strategic Advice Pick a community in which to interoperate Informed choice of domain tools, standards and technologies Existing gaps become more obvious Promotes reuse and not rebuild


What can it do?What can it do?

Interoperable Development (Standards and Services) Standards encourage Interoperability, “soa” encourages Integration But Standards and Services are not enough! Addresses interoperability at the pain points

At the business policy/process level At an application and implementation level At the service-oriented level

(service interfaces and contracts) At the semantic level In a specific context

Adoption and Adaptation Taking standards or community profiles and adopting or adapting e-Framework provides a feedback mechanism Analysis of differences between communities/adaptations


But the e-Framework …But the e-Framework …

is not intended to be prescriptive

is not meant to be implemented all at once

is not an architecture


How it is being usedHow it is being used

Work in progress (Wiki)

Research: Research Journal SUM Research Project Registry SUM ARCHER SUM Australian National Grid SUM MAMS National Grid SUM Storage Resource Broker (SRB) SUM gLite Data Management (EGEE) SUM

Learning: R2Q2 SUM SPAID SUM ResponseProcessing SUM CamTools Sakai SUM Learning Object Repository Network

(LORN) SUM Flowtalk SUM

Library: FRED Repository Federation SUM ASK SUM USQ ePrints Repository SUM

Administration: Student Transfer SUM Early Notification SUM Identity and Access Management

SUM

Common SUMs: Australian MAMS SUM (Shibboleth) FRED Authenticated Harvest SUM OpenID SUM MAMS OpenID Provider SUM Persistent Identifier Linking

Infrastructure (PILIN) SUM


Back to the Central QuestionBack to the Central Question

So does the e-Framework represent a pattern of behaviour that we can adopt together that helps effectively progresses the goals of education and research?

Answer: Yes, when it comes to understanding and acting upon technical interoperability of services.


How can Enterprise Architecture use EA?How can Enterprise Architecture use EA?

You can use the e-Framework as part of your toolkit for constructing a collaborative enterprise services architecture


Building an ESA with the help of the Building an ESA with the help of the eFrameworkeFramework

What services is it practical to include within an ESA?

I need a way of designing acceptable usage patterns for service X….

This service is really important to a number of business areas, how do I communicate this to a non technical audience?

How do I engage with existing infrastructure and expertise?


Research Project Case Study


A Case Study: Research Project InformationA Case Study: Research Project Information

The Problem: Research project information is replicated

all over the research sector: In Grant proposals, ethics applications On departmental websites In the use of high performance computing

facilites and the creation of virtual organizations As part of RQF submissions


Research Project information should flow across these systems like course information flows across systems in the student sphere

Except that it doesn’t


Dept

Central adminResearch collections

Granting Bodies

High Performance Computing Facilities

Dept

Central admin

Dept

Centra

l admin

Media


Dept

Central adminResearch collections

Granting Bodies

High Performance Computing Facilities

Dept

Central admin

Dept

Centra

l admin

Media

Research project registry


To successfully argue for a new approach to communicating research project information, I need to be able to tell a compelling story about services that crosses multiple organizational boundaries.

A problem ready made for the eFramework


eFramework Approach for describing a eFramework Approach for describing a research project registryresearch project registry

Identify candidate service usage models for a research project registry from the perspective of:

High performance computing facility A faculty or department Granting body (such as the ARC) Research collection registry


eFramework Approach for describing a eFramework Approach for describing a research project registryresearch project registry Based on the business needs, factor out the services required:

Business Process Names

Service Genres

DataSources

Visio® template for SUM diagram, revised 20070802Template © Copyright 2007, e-Framework Partners

VPAC Research Project Service Usage Model

Summary Descriptions of Requirements for Business Processes

Register a new Research Project

Register a New Research Project

Manage Groups

Provide services to a Research Project

Provide services to a research project

Authenticate

Research Project Person Data

Publish Research Project Information

Publish Research Project Information

Manage Research Groups

Update Research Project Information

Provide services to a research project

Authenticate

Authorise

Authenticate

Authorise

Search

Manage Activity(Research Project)

Retrieve

Search

Retrieve

Manage Activity(Research Project)

Manage Groups

Harvest

Search

Retrieve

Search

Retrieve



Request VPAC services for a project

Describe in detail how these services interrelate

SearchAuthenticate

Researcher

Authenticates

Search for Project

Return results

VPAC User Interface

Search Request

Select Project

Retrieve

Define VPAC Project Roles

Manage Activity Manage Groups

Assign Project Roles

VPAC Research Project ServiceUniversity Research Project

Service

Get Project Details

Return results

Create Project

Project reference



SearchAuthenticate

Researcher

Authenticates

Search for Project

Return results

VPAC User Interface

Search Request

Select Project

Retrieve





Service

Get Project Details

Return results

Create Project

Project reference

SearchAuthenticate

Researcher

Authenticates

Search for Project

Return results

VPAC User Interface

Search Request

Select Project

Retrieve





Service

Get Project Details

Return results

Create Project

Project reference

SearchAuthenticate

Researcher

Authenticates

Search for Project

Return results

VPAC User Interface

Search Request

Select Project

Retrieve





Service

Get Project Details

Return results

Create Project

Project reference

SearchAuthenticate

Researcher

Authenticates

Search for Project

Return results

VPAC User Interface

Search Request

Select Project

Retrieve





Service

Get Project Details

Return results

Create Project

Project reference

SearchAuthenticate

Researcher

Authenticates

Search for Project

Return results

VPAC User Interface

Search Request

Select Project

Retrieve





Service

Get Project Details

Return results

Create Project

Project reference

SearchAuthenticate

Researcher

Authenticates

Search for Project

Return results

VPAC User Interface

Search Request

Select Project

Retrieve





Service

Get Project Details

Return results

Create Project

Project reference

Use the set of service interactions defined in the Service usage models as a basis for describing a service expression

Service Expression



Identify existing standards candidates upon which a research project registry could be based.

PROJECT

ORGUNIT

Skills

CV

GeneralFacility

ParticularEquipment

ContactResults

PublicationResultsPatentResultsProduct

Service

FundingProgramme

Event

ClassificationPrize/Award

PERSON

http://www.eurocris.org/


What then?What then?

Advocate! Across 4 countries Across the University sector Revise with feedback Seek support a resaerch project repository

service


ContributingContributing

http://www.e-framework.org Documentation, templates, instructions

Contact the editors: [email protected]

e-Framework Community Wiki https://e-framework.usq.edu.au/users/wiki/ In use by contributors

See what’s happening Contribute, Comment


For more information… Contact: [email protected] Newsletter: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/E-FRAMEWORK.html

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike-2.5 Australia Licence.

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