implementing the ellucian portal at north idaho college
TRANSCRIPT
NWEUG2015
IMPLEMENTING THE ELLUCIAN PORTAL AT
NORTH IDAHO COLLEGESHAREPOINT 2013/EP 4.1
Andreas BurgerNorth Idaho College
7/30/15Track: Information Technology
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
SESSION RULES OF ETIQUETTE
Please turn off you cell phone/pager If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly
as possible Please avoid side conversation during the session
Thank you for your cooperation!
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
INTRODUCTION
SharePoint/Database Administrator here at
Over 10 years of experience in Information Technology and Services, including hardware, web design, programming, IT management, database and SharePoint administration, etc.
Microsoft Certified Professional MCITP (x2)
Contact [email protected]
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
INTRODUCTION
This presentation is aimed at IT professionals who implement and maintain a Student portal using SharePoint and the Ellucian Colleague portal software. It is giving a glimpse into the history of the ACP/DP/EP here at NIC, the prevailing approach and philosophy as well as challenges faced in the process.The focus is on the current SharePoint 2013/EP 4.1 implementation.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
SESSION AGENDA
1. History2. Philosophy and design3. Realized Benefits4. Setup and Architecture5. Challenges6. Conclusion7. Questions
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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HISTORY
How it started and how we got here.
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HISTORY: THE CHALLENGE
How to meet the demand for increasing services?
How to simplify Student interaction with NIC?
How to provide more services without increasing personnel and resources?
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HISTORY: THE ANSWER
por·tal1/ˈpɔr tl, ˈpoʊr-/
Noun The definition of a portal is a gateway or entry to something else.
An example of a portal is a door into a room. An example of a portal is a website that takes you to many other
websites.
Definition source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/portal
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HISTORY: INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION
Portal Version ACP 1.1
SharePoint Version Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
2007 (enterprise edition)
Rollout: March 2010; soft rollout starting in late 2009
Features Web Advisor with SSO Colleague UI 2.3 One site collection Datatel Team sites (org driven) MySites created but not used Three Audiences (Student, Faculty
and Staff)
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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HISTORY: 1ST UPGRADE
Portal Version DP 3.x
SharePoint Version SharePoint Server 2010
(enterprise edition)
Rollout: Sept. 2013
Features Web Advisor with SSO Colleague UI 4.2 (SSO started
working with UI 4.1 on previous installation)
9 site collections SharePoint native Team sites No MySites Three Audiences (Student, Faculty
and Staff)
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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HISTORY: 2ND UPGRADE
Portal Version EP 4.1
SharePoint Version SharePoint Server 2013
(enterprise edition)
Rollout: Oct. 2014
Features Web Advisor with SSO Colleague UI 4.5 with SSO 13 site collections SharePoint native Team sites
(>175) No MySites Three Audiences (Student, Faculty
and Staff)
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGNWhy we did what we did when we did…“Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum.” (Antoine Léonard Thomas)Rough translation: “Because I wonder if this is going to work as advertised, therefore I think, therefore I am.”Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN
Branding Achieve a look and feel that
conveys the importance of the portal as an institutional tool.
Brand the MyNIC portal with ourcolors and with our styling, and extend this design to other site collections
Encourage look and feel for all site collections. Discourage use of OOTB composed looks (replaced themes from SP 2010)
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN
SharePoint Designer Pros:
Powerful with the correct skills and knowledge
Cons: Powerful with the incorrect skills
and knowledge
Bottom Line: NO SharePoint Designer at NIC
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PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN
Site Collections Root site collection
Ellucian Portal Centrally managed
Path-based site collections Collaboration and publishing Distributed management
Host-named site collections They enable a company to use the
same structure in Office 365 and in an on premise installation. We don’t currently use them here at NIC. They may come into play for the SharePoint 2016 upgrade.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN
Features in use Student Email (SSO with ADFS/SP2013) Fac/Staff Email w. SSO WebAdvisor w. SSO Colleague UI (SSO with v. 4.1) Team Sites (SP native) Blackboard w. SSO (Codeplex code basis,
augmented by NIC programmer) SSRS (native, linked through the Portal) SharePoint 2010 workflows Office Web Apps (currently in Test) Access Apps (WIP)
Features not used MySites Social media features SharePoint 2013 workflows Outside (purchased) apps or web
parts
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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EXPECTED BENEFITS
Expected Benefits: Many SSO!!!
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REALIZED BENEFITS
Realized Benefits: ~85%
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SETUP AND ARCHITECTURESystem components and setup
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SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE
Key Goals for build High availability through redundancy and
virtualization Resilience through geographically dispersed
host locations Availability on-site as well as off-site
5 extension campuses Availability of resources 24/7
Predictable backup and recovery terms (RPO and RTO)
Secure and compatible authentication that allows for easy integration
Identical Test and Production environments
Technologies used VMWare hosts connected through fiber Hosts set up on opposite sides of campus
Portal configured as extranet site
Direct attached storage, multiple and overlapping backup and recovery technologies
AD and ADFS authentication technology Claims based authentication is native to SharePoint 2013)
Secured with https (http over TLS/SSL)
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SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE
Colleague Components Colleague R18 on Unix Unidata 7.1 Servers (Test and Production combined)
AIX server (2x) Two logical partitions each
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE
Portal Components SharePoint Server 2013
Enterprise Edition SQL Server 2012 with AlwaysOn
availability groups WS 2012 R2
Servers (Test and Production each, some overlap)
SharePoint Web Front End (2x) SharePoint Application Server SharePoint SQL (2x) Web Advisor Web Server Colleague UI Web Server Load balancer (Application Request
Routing Office Web Apps server Access Apps server
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CHALLENGESAlong the way, we have faced multiple challenges.Here is a selection of the biggest ones, along with some recommended remedies.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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CHALLENGES: THE TRIAD
Challenge Institutional sponsorship(at the
highest level) Time, effort, political clout, culture
change or adjustment Governance
Tools need to reflect the business. Taxonomy
A subset of Governance, reflects culture of institution
Remedy Find/encourage/designate a cabinet
level sponsor who sees the need and the possibilities
Create cross-campus governance team that reaches into every aspect of the institution. TAKE THE TIME!
Understand and document who you are as an institution, and reflect that in your taxonomy
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
CHALLENGES: THE BLACK BOX
The “Black Box” challenge Consultants (Ellucian and other)
will perform work behind the scenes if allowed to and create huge gaps in your staff’s understanding of the system(s).
Remedy Get consulting to be on-site as
funds allow, and have designated staff build the system(s) in conjunction with the consultants.
If that is not possible, use WebEx type sessions to get the work done.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
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CHALLENGES: MISCELLANEOUS
Challenge Quality control
EP 4.1 rolled out a WebAdvisor web part that kept timing out because socket connections would “fill up” and not be released.
Forms for SharePointMicrosoft has officially deprecated InfoPath, and the integration with SharePoint is decreasing. FOSL was cancelled.
Remedy A subsection of EP 4.2 was released
ahead of time as a patch and fixed the issue
No complete solution available (please come see me if you have one!)
Third-party tools Access Apps SharePoint native list forms Office Forms/Workflows
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ONGOING INITIATIVES AND FUTURE PROJECTS
Office Web Apps (in Test) Access Apps Integrate SSRS into SharePoint natively Enable SharePoint 2013 workflows
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IN CONCLUSION
The Ellucian Portal is a worth-while and rewarding system with enormous potential!
If you are thinking about implementing it, make sure the entire institution is on board.
Take the time to put appropriate governance in place Map out what features you want to use and create a roadmap
for feature extensions and upgrades.
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
NWEUG2015
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho