LIMPOPO – FOSS ProgressK Joubert

Government CIO SummitTowards reducing costs of doing business in

government and contributing towards achieving clean audit

Date: 29 May 2013

AgendaBackground – FOSS Policy 2007

FOSS initiatives in Limpopo

Provincial approach

Free and Open Source Lab

Planned Projects

ICT Governance

Challenges & Lessons Learned

Recommendations

FOSS Policy 2007In 2007 the South African Government signed a policy for the adoption and implementation of Open Source Software. The policy states the following:

• implement FOSS unless proprietary software is demonstrated to be significantly superior.

• Whenever the advantages of FOSS and proprietary software are comparable FOSS will be implemented

• Whenever FOSS is not implemented, then reasons must be provided

• The South African Government will migrate current proprietary software to FOSS whenever comparable software exists.

• All new software developed for or by the South African Government will be based on open standards, adherent to FOSS principles, and licensed using a FOSS license where possible.

• All Government content and content developed using Government resources is made Open Content

• The South African Government will encourage the use of Open Content and Open Standards within South Africa.

Developed a Strategic Performance Monitoring Tool in PHP & PostgreSQL, the system is also used by the department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, the Limpopo department of Transport and Limpopo department of Public Works.

The PERMIS system (Performance Management Information System) won the CPSI innovation award! This system is developed in PHP and PostgreSQL.

The above mentioned applications as well as the department’s Intranet & Websites are hosted on Red Hat Linux servers.

Asterisk is used for a VOIP solution.

The department also took the initiative to conduct an Open Source assessment in the department.

FOSS Initiatives in LimpopoCoGHSTA

FOSS Initiatives in Limpopo

Health Information System implemented in 41 Hospitals, base operating system is Red Hat Enterprise Linux, 80 servers operational and running for 6 years.

Office of the Premier implemented IBM Domino server on Suse Linux, the website of the Office of the Premier is developed in Joomla / mySQL and is hosted on a Suse Linux server.

Currently planning the implementation of Alfresco as enterprise content management system.

Department of Sports, Arts & Culture installed Ubuntu & Linux Mint in 10 Libraries across the province.

Department of Health

Office of the Premier

Department of Sports, Arts and Culture

FOSS Initiatives in Limpopo

WordPress is used for an internal portal

phpScheduleIt is used for resource booking

The following FOSS systems are currently being piloted:– sLiMs Library management system – OsTicket for a customer helpdesk system– CuteFlow for workflow in the department

LimeSurvey is used to process questionnaires

Limpopo Department of Roads & Transport

Limpopo department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism

FOSS Initiatives in Limpopo

FOSS applications used•Internet and Intranet sites are developed in Joomla. •Desktop GIS used is Quantum GIS. •3D Virtual Learning Environment using OpenSim is implemented on Ubuntu Linux in 8 schools.•CloneZilla is used for cloning of workstations•Web2Project is used as project management solution•Mantis is used for bug tracking and reporting

Other Open Source solutions used in the FOSS Lab•Plone is used as a document repository•Cyn.in is used for knowledge management•OpenNMS is used as network monitoring tool•Ubuntu, Centos, Mint, Fedora•OpenERP•VirtualBox•ClearOS

LEDA

Provincial approach

Free and Open Source LabObjectives and functions of the FOSS Lab• Ensure Limpopo becomes a producer of FOSS and an informed user of FOSS.• Introduce FOSS systems to the Province• Contribute to the FOSS community• Enable departments to test solutions in a lab environment before they are deployed in critical

environments.

– Test new FOSS Installations– Test backup & restore procedures– Test new technology in complex environments

• Assist FOSS developers and users to develop/test applications

– Provide hands-on training to developers and users

Free and Open Source Lab

FOSS Technologies in the Lab

Planned projects• E-Heritage

• Security assessment for departments

• FOSS awareness

• Extension of the SMME Database

• Cloud

• Alfresco Enterprise ECM

• Library systems

• Localized spin of Linux for Limpopo

• FOSS Training across all levels in the LEDA ICT Academy

ICT GovernanceRisk Management

Do not assume FOSS systems are risk free, manage FOSS risks just like any other risks

Risks that should be considered:• Availability of the source code• Version control in the development of the software• Certification • Interoperability (MIOS)• Intellectual property rights• Community support v. Vendor support

Configuration management

Document configurationsFollow a formalized configuration change process

Security management

Enforce security policiesEnsure critical security patches are installedKnow and understand, which services are active and why

Challenges & Lessons Learned• Lack of awareness of FOSS is problematic

• No set guidelines or standards exists

• Open Source skills not readily available

• Certified training not easily available

• If FOSS is not well supported implementations become unsustainable

• Implementation of FOSS can disempower the traditional power-users and support personnel

• The concept of FOSS is not well understood

• Departments use different sets of rules for FOSS and proprietary software

• Stability of FOSS is remarkable

• Departments are keen to use FOSS but reluctant to produce FOSS

• Diversity of FOSS is its strength but it is also problematic

Recommendations• Conduct readiness assessments in all departments

• Develop FOSS implementation Roadmaps

• Implement FOSS based on departmental readiness and product maturity

• Do not shy away from mixed environments

• Use same standards for FOSS as for proprietary equivalents. (update, patch, monitor, etc)

• When proprietary systems are implemented make sure they use compatible standards (MIOS)

• Consider to release some developed systems as FOSS

• Promote community involvement and create active forums

Thank you!