middleware planning and deployment 102: mapping out your strategy internet2 spring meeting 6 may...

Middleware Planning and Deployment 102:Mapping Out Your Strategy

Internet2 Spring Meeting 6 May 2002

Internet2 Spring 2002 Meeting 2

Panelists

• Tom Barton, University of Memphis

• Mark Crase, California State System

• Louise Miller-Finn, Johns Hopkins University

• Jack Seuss, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

• Ann West, Internet2/Educause/NSF Middleware Initiative


A Bit About Middleware

Middleware makes “transparent use” happen, providing consistency, security, privacy and capability

•Identity - unique markers of who you (person, machine, service, group) are

•Authentication - how you prove or establish that you are that identity

•Directories - where an identity’s basic characteristics are kept

•Authorization - what an identity is permitted to do


Topics Not Covered

Middleware’s:

Business Case

Utility

Long-term Value

Technology details


Topics To Be Discussed

• Middleware is steadily moving out of the test-bed environment and into the mainstream.

• Implementation challenges at higher education institutions are a reflection of the idiosyncrasies of that environment.


Factors for Success

Institution

Leadership Implementation


Institutional Environment


Institutional Environment: Public vs. Private Institutions

• Public and private institutions will be subjected to different governance pressures that may impact how Middleware might be developed and deployed.

– Legal– Financial– Organizational Politics– Governance Structure


Institutional Environment: Collaborative vs. Competitive

• Effective middleware development will require participation from all quarters. Development in a culture of cooperation and information sharing will require less effort than in an environment where information is hoarded or success is judged on departmental gains or losses.


Institutional Environment:Institutional Vision vs. Local Control

• Is there a strategic vision for the institution or is business done an a day-to-day, year-to-year basis?

• Are business practices and applications well-coordinated?

• How “hardened” are your silos?

• Is there an ERP project underway?


Institutional Environment:Strategic vs. Tactical Planning

Middleware development and deployment will require both approaches.

• Strategic planning to define the implementation “road map,” ensure long-term success and ongoing alignment with the institutional mission

• Tactical planning and project management to ensure implementation stays on time and on budget


Institutional Environment:Risk and Change

Risk Averse vs. Thrill SeekingChanging the way we do business involves risk.

• Commitment of resources that might be used elsewhere

• Shifts in control of services and/or applications

• Reliance on unfamiliar/untested technologies

Change Readiness• Simply put, change is tough! How ready is your institution?


Institutional Environment:Entrepreneurial vs. Structured

Free agents are frequently the source of innovation, but command-and-control is required to ensure the “trains run on time.”

• Both are needed

• Balance is required

• What incentives will you use to ensure that everyone is engaged?


Institutional Environment:Acceptability of Outsourcing

Some middleware solutions might best be provided by the commercial sector, but institutions with represented employees may find this approach unacceptable.

• What are the options?

• Are required resources available in-house? If not, are consultants available for the short term?


Institutional Environment:Role of IT

Perceived Value of Central IT• Is Central IT seen as adding value, or as a barrier to progress?

• Will it accepted in a coordinating role or will a surrogate be required?

Strategic Resource vs. Tactical Tool• Are strategic decisions made with IT in mind, or is IT a bolt-on after the fact?

• Are funding decisions made with IT input?


Institutional Environment:Policy & Legal Constraints

Ownership of Data• Is data stewardship well-defined?• Is it centralized or distributed?

Access to Data• Formally or loosely governed?• Access authority centralized or distributed?

Data Administration• Centrally managed or distributed?• HIPPA and FERPA compliant?


Institutional Environment:Resources Requirements

Financial Resources• Centrally managed or distributed?

• Multi-year or annual budgets?

Human Resources• Centrally managed or distributed?

Communications• “Mass Media” for accuracy

• “Personal Touch” for context


Institutional Environment:Middleware and its Role

Middleware Must Be Defined• Do the stakeholders understand what it is?

• Have the components and their relationships been defined?

Benefits of Middleware Described• Do program managers understand how middleware can help improve/increase service?

• Do end-users understand how it will affect their activities?


Institutional Environment:Middleware and its Role

Business & Academic Drivers Defined• Internal drivers:

– Transactions between members of campus community– Transactions between members and institution

• External drivers:– Transactions between institutions

Mapping Benefits Against Drivers• Match priority applications against the appropriate middleware components


Preparing for Implementation


Preparing for Implementation

Issues, factors and choices that determine how to do the implementation.

The previous section examined the institutional environment and how it will influence your middleware implementation.

Now the rubber starts to hit the road…


Preparing for Implementation: Organization Culture & Structure

•Number of IT departments outside of central IT

MW is an integrative infrastructure. The more existing services are balkanized, the slower will progress be and the more effort will need to be spent on organizational engineering.

•Consolidated organizational functions or separate reporting structure?

Build or reinforce communication & coordination channels among service providing groups.

“Wormholes.”


Preparing for Implementation: Organizational Culture & Structure

•Competitive or collaborative?Anticipate challenge to “ownership” or feeling of disenfranchisement in a competitive environment. Anticipate need to be especially clear and to continually keep everyone on the same page in a collaborative one.

“Two forms of entropy.”

•Willingness to changeMoving to MW is a fundamental change in technical infrastructure. Formally or informally, organizational structure must change too.


Preparing for Implementation:Skill Sets & Roles

•Technical architecture planningGrasps the breadth of databases, applications, security, and their interrelationships. Understands organizational needs and values and can map those into functional and security requirements for MW.

•Project managementThis person needs to have a level of influence equal to being near the top of the central IT org chart. Might be the same as the technical architect.


Preparing for Implementation:Skill Sets & Roles

•Systems analysis & interpersonal communications

Interacting with data stewards. Ensuring that detailed designs mesh with real practices in business & academic offices.

•Systems, database & application development

People who can implement the selected technologies and who understand the details of how they must be integrated into the existing infrastructure.


Preparing for Implementation:Staff Resources

•FTE requiredHeadCount/10000 + numberPlatformTypes/3

+ numberApps/4 + numberCBSs/2

Increase for shorter implementation time or for complex policy requirements. It depends….

“Bridge for sale – good condition.”

•Ongoing staffing >= initial levelAnticipate success. More MW services will be built to integrate more apps over time.


Preparing for Implementation:Staff Resources

•Use staff-in-residence, hire new staff, use consultants?

Org culture & structure, extant skills, non-elective ongoing workload, time & money available for training all impact whether you must hire outside.

•Sharing the visionKey technical people must share the vision of the strategic value of the project. This alone might determine whether the project can be “assimilative” or instead must be a “new activity” – perhaps a technical leader must be hired.


Preparing for Implementation:Project Resources

•“Assimilate” or fund a “New Activity”?This is a summary question. Are your existing skills, time, and money sufficient to permit assimilating a MW project into “overhead time”, or must new funding be sought to cover missing skills, insufficient staffing levels, lack of a natural “home” within your existing organizational structure, or just because it’s convenient to use the project to vie for additional resources?


Preparing for Implementation:Communication Plan

•The ChampionMust share the vision at meetings/presentations and be supported from the top. Tailor the message; financial officer, data owners (SORs),IT stakeholders, techies. EmphasizeROI, identity management, security. Since buy-in essential from all fronts, use Public Affairs, PR offices if available

• A WebsiteContinual flow of info for a diverse audience


Preparing for Implementation:Technology

•New vendors or technologies needed?Plan up front for time to assess what you already have and see how that meshes with the proposed technical architecture.

•Metadirectory processingExpect your technical architecture to include a “metadirectory”. Spend some time to carefully consider its design and component technologies – you will have to live with this for a long time.


Preparing for Implementation:Technology

•New hardware needed?Meeting performance & functional requirements, avoiding side-effects that can occur with multiple services being co-hosted, and security provisioning will likely entail new hardware. Plan on it. Provision for scalability, it will payoff.

•Solid network infrastructureIf the network isn’t working flawlessly, remediate before you start a MW project. MW relies completely on the integrity and performance of message channels over the network.


Roles of the CIO


Roles of the CIO

Developing an Enterprise Directory is akin to implementing an ERP project.

The role of the CIO is similar:

•Executive leadership

•Developing campus support

•Change management

•Managing expectations


Roles of the CIO:Executive Leadership

•Unlike ERP, a CIO can’t expect other executives to “sponsor” middleware.

•A CIO must make the case, meaning justifying the ROI, of middleware

•Identify the tangible benefits from middleware that matter to your campus

•Make certain you treat this as a major project with a well-defined system development life cycle (SDLC)


Roles of the CIO:Developing Campus Support

Laying the groundwork:

•Meet privately with key leaders and explain middleware and discuss what it means to their unit. Include faculty leaders in this

•Use the bully pulpit a CIO has to discuss the project with faculty, staff, and executives

•Don’t forget to build consensus in your internal IT organization


Roles of the CIO:Change Management

Like ERP, middleware cuts across divisions and requires broad support

Create a sense of urgency to the project, why is it important?

It isn’t possible to over-communicate

Identify ways to involve stakeholders in the decision making process

Make certain you develop some quick wins


Roles of the CIO:Managing Expectations and Budget

Like ERP, middleware development is an on-going process:

•A well-written project plan with quick wins defined at appropriate intervals is key to managing expectations and budget

•Life-cycle budgeting needs to be identified

•Middleware’s benefit is often found in productivity gains or through self-service. Identify ways to measure this ahead of time.


Roles of the CIO:Final Comments

CIO’s are responsible for IT architecture, of which, middleware is a fundamental component. No one else will do this for you.

Every campus has leaders that must be brought on board for major projects, seek them out.

Make certain you develop formal plans, identify quick wins, and communicate the benefits.


What’s next?

Break into discussion groups on

• Institutional Factors

• Implementation Factors

• Leadership Factors


Questions and Comments?

• Tom Barton, [email protected]

• Mark Crase, [email protected]

• Louise Miller-Finn, [email protected]

• Jack Seuss, [email protected]

• Ann West, [email protected]


www.internet2.edu

www.internet2.edu

middleware planning and deployment 102: mapping out your strategy internet2 spring meeting 6 may...

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