Sunshine Connections

General Architecture Overview

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Table of Contents

Sunshine Connections.................................................................................................... 0 Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 1 

Introduction.................................................................................................................... 2 Conceptual View............................................................................................................ 2 Logical View.................................................................................................................. 3 Physical View ................................................................................................................ 4 

Client Computer..................................................................................................... 4 Server Computer .................................................................................................... 4 

User Services (UI – User Interface)............................................................................... 5 User Interface Layer .............................................................................................. 5 

Web Services Layer ....................................................................................................... 7 Data Storage Layer ........................................................................................................ 8 Security and Identity Management .............................................................................. 10 Development Approach ............................................................................................... 11 Implementation View .................................................................................................. 12 Deployment View........................................................................................................ 12 Execution and Operations Architecture....................................................................... 12 

Sunshine Connections Servers............................................................................. 12 Summary...................................................................................................................... 13 

Figure 1 – Conceptual View .......................................................................................... 2 Figure 2 - The Logical View.......................................................................................... 4 Figure 3 – High level Physical View............................................................................. 5 Figure 4 – User Interface Layer..................................................................................... 7 Figure 5 – Web Servcies Layer...................................................................................... 8 Figure 6 – Data Access Layer........................................................................................ 9 Figure 7 – Physical Architecture ................................................................................. 11 Figure 8 – Deployment View....................................................................................... 12 

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Introduction

The Sunshine Connections implementation for the Florida Department of Education combines

several Microsoft technologies to provide a single portal with essential tools for teachers to

improve the quality and efficiency related activities and processes. This implementation is

built on a combination of Microsoft products that includes Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

(MOSS) 2007 and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005.

MOSS 2007 provides enterprise portal functions and facilitates collaboration within Sunshine

Connections teams. MOSS 2007 makes it easier to aggregate and organize information, and

search capabilities for knowledge and relevant information across business processes in the

Sunshine Connections organization. SQL Server 2005 is the primary data repository for all

information related to cases and notes.

This chapter explains the conceptual, physical, logical architecture and the process flow

between the components for this implementation.

Conceptual View

The participants of the DOE and the pilot district users and administrators were instrumental

in outlining the business requirements of Sunshine Connections. A series of application

system requirements were developed with the use of use case analysis, process design and

joint application development (JAD).

The following diagram depicts the Sunshine Connections environment at the conceptual level.

Figure 1 – Conceptual View

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Logical View

This implementation consists of four logical layers: the user interface layer, the Web services

layer, the data storage layer, and the security and identity management layer.

• User interface layer. Components are delivered via Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

technologies. SharePoint web parts provide application functionality, information views, and

collaboration tools for end users. Web parts for Sunshine Connections are developed using

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, or may be provided by vendors, participating school districts

and institutions, or from published web part libraries.

• Web services layer. XML web services provide a programmatic interface for local

information systems to incorporate Sunshine Connections data or functionality, and to

exchange data between local and state information systems. The web services layer also

provides data to Sunshine Connections user interface components to abstract them from

underlying data sources. Sunshine Connections web services are developed using the

Microsoft .Net 2.0 Framework based on current World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

standards to ensure compatibility with web services developed on other platforms.

• Data storage layer. The data environment for Sunshine Connections supports data reporting

and analysis of state-level data, and will support data integration processes and store data for

state wide systems such as the on-line individual education plan (IEP) system. The data

environment uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005 technologies for relational and dimensional

databases, reporting, and data movement processes.

• Security and Identity Management Controlled access to student information is managed in

a Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Active Directory that will contain accounts that have been

synchronized with local directory services via XML web services or bulk data transfer, or

will “trust” local Microsoft Active Directory services via Microsoft Active Directory

Federation Services. Education professionals are matched to only the students they are

involved with from data provided from local student information systems.

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Figure 2.1 represents a high-level view of the logical architecture for this implementation. It

depicts the three layers of functionality and their software components.

Active DirectoryAdmin Tool

FlexibleAuthorization

System

SharePointCollaboration

FCATData View

Web Services Layer

User Interface Layer

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise

Data Storage Layer

Microsoft OperationsSharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007

XML Web Services

EDU Database Cluster MOSS 2007 Database Cluster

Figure 2 - The Logical View The following sections detail the components in each layer of the logical architecture.

Physical View

Client Computer

To access the Sunshine Connections Portal site, you can use any computer that runs a browser

compatible with Microsoft Windows XP or later or Windows 2000 SP3 or later.

Server Computer

To demonstrate the functionality that responds to the care manager's actions on the SharePoint

Portal Server portal site, you must include a server in the physical architecture. This server

must be running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and have the hardware capacity to run all of

the following applications:

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

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• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2

When deploying your solution, you can use any physical deployment architecture supported

by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 running either

on the same server or on physically separate servers.

• For more information about Microsoft Office SharePoint Servicer 2007, please

see the following resources http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms550086.aspx

• For more information about SQL Server 2005, see the SQL Server home page on the

Microsoft Windows Server Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/default.mspx

Figure 1.6 shows a high-level representation of the physical architecture for this

implementation.

Figure 3 – High level Physical View

User Services (UI – User Interface)

User Interface Layer

The user interface layer exposes information through the Microsoft Reporting Services Web

Part. Additional interfaces are accessible through the use of ASP pages.

The following components are part of the user interface layer:

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• FCAT Data View. A Microsoft Reporting Services Web Part that displays student FCAT

scores to users.

• FAS Interface. An ASP page provides the interface in which student mappings to IEP are

extended beyond the primary teacher.

• ADAT Interface. An ASP page provides the interface in which users reset their passwords.

• SharePoint Services Collaboration. Microsoft Office SharePoint Servicer interface to web

part, list, libraries, etc.

The user interface (UI) of Sunshine Connections is implemented using Windows Office

SharePoint Server. Information from DOE information systems will be rendered in the

SharePoint environment via reports and other views contained in web parts. Application

functionality may be contained in web parts, or in Active Server Pages (ASP) .Net application

components. In either case, most UI components of Sunshine Connections will access web

services rather than source data systems to provide a layer of abstraction from underlying data

systems to avoid having changes in those data systems force changes in application logic and

UI components, and to keep data sources isolated from external internet access.

Additionally, the SharePoint UI provides collaboration functionality such as document

management and sharing, shared workspaces, threaded discussions, alerts, surveys, and

calendars.

Districts and vendors may develop their own UI components, or add to existing application

UIs depending on local requirements and local technology platforms by consuming the same

web services that the web parts in Sunshine Connections use. Districts and vendors may also

create their own web parts if they are using SharePoint locally or Java applets if they are using

J2EE. The possibility exists to share web parts among districts where SharePoint is being

used and the DOE, or applets among districts using J2EE. The following diagram depicts the

SharePoint UI implemented with web parts that can be accessed directly by district users, it

also shows how local portal UI components could access DOE web services.

Sunshine Connections UI components that are deployed in the restricted area will use Active

Directory authentication for user access.

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Figure 4 – User Interface Layer

The Web services layer uses the information from the user interface layer to perform business

logic as part of the translation between these two layers.

Web Services Layer

The Web services layer of Sunshine Connections translates the information from the data

storage layer to the format required by the user interface layer. This layer includes components

that perform the business logic and allow access to the data stored in the databases. The web

services layer of Sunshine Connections is designed for the following:

• Contain application logic including access controls

• Allow loose coupling between UI components and data sources

• Allow integration between systems at the DOE and Districts

The Web services layer includes the following components:

• Web service. Communicates data between the user interface layer and data storage layer. The

Web Service includes a method called GetFCATXml. This method is used to access student

FCAT scores. The user interface calls the Web service to retrieve student data.

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2007. Provides the portal site functionality and

serves as the access point for student FCAT scores.

The data received and processed by the Web services layer is stored in the data storage layer.

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Figure 5 – Web Servcies Layer

The abstraction of source data using web services as an intermediary additionally aids in

controlling access to source data making it more difficult to hack the data directly.

Districts and vendors may consume web services provided by the DOE to embed state level

information or application functionality directly into their applications. Districts and Vendors

may also implement their own web services to create integration points between their local

systems and external systems at the DOE, other districts, and other local government agencies.

The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) specification will be used where applicable to

implement DOE web services and districts and vendors are encouraged to consider using SIF

in their integration solutions.

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Data Storage Layer

The data storage layer is the storage repository for all the components in the logical

architecture including the implementation and required software. This implementation

includes several custom databases. The Web services layer utilizes SQL stored procedures to

store and retrieve data in SQL Server tables.

This implementation stores data in the following databases:

• EDU_Production Stores all final information such as Student demographics and FCAT

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scores.

Figure 6 – Data Access Layer

In addition to the custom database, the data storage layer consists of other SQL-based

databases. These additional databases store data related to SharePoint Services. However, this

implementation does not directly access the SharePoint Services databases.

The data environment for Sunshine Connections uses Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for

relational databases, dimensional databases, and extraction, transformation and loading (ETL)

processes. Data stored in this environment is loaded from other DOE data sources with the

DOE education data warehouse (EDW) being the primary source, and from district data files

that provide data to map teachers to their students.

This additional data environment exists to support reports and views of information, and web

services that provide information so that the data is structured according to user requirements

and DOE data sources don’t have to be queried directly.

The basic recommendation for solutions that are intended to work with Sunshine Connections

is that they either leverage existing data environments. If additional components are added,

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those components should be compliant with industry database access standards such as OLE

DB and ODBC.

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Security and Identity Management

Because of the sensitivity of the personally identifiable student information, the security layer

is the foundation to all Sunshine Connections services. This implementation uses Microsoft

Active Directory services for user authentication and access control.

Users will have either an account within the Sunshine Connections Active Directory

environment or they will be authenticated by the Active Directory through Active Directory

Federation Services (ADFS). Authentication is successful through a trust relationship between

Sunshine Connections and local district Active Directory environments.

An alternative solution is available for districts who are not running Microsoft Active

Directory. A web-based interface, accessible through SharePoint Services, uses XML web

services allowing district system administrators the ability to maintain account access to

Sunshine Connections.

The following XML web services are used for the account maintenance tool:

• AccountMaintenance Tool XML.

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Figure 7 – Physical Architecture

Additionally, ADAT, a password management system has been developed for Sunshine

Connections to enable users to change and recover passwords.

It is strongly recommended that applications created for or by the DOE take advantage of the

Sunshine Connections Active Directory environment as it will ultimately have accounts for all

education professionals (teachers, counselors, principals, administrators, etc.) in the state.

Creation of individual application security schemes for the same set of users will result in

multiple security accounts per user, which can significantly increase the complexity of identity

management and become a security risk.

It is also strongly recommended that applications created for school districts use the local

district’s directory services environment for user authentication and access control, again to

minimize the complexity of user identity management.

District or vendor applications that consume Sunshine Connections web services that provide

protected information will require authentication as well. Sunshine Connections will use Web

Services Enhancements (WSE) for .Net for programmatic access of web services.

Development Approach

The Sunshine Connections team used an agile, milestone-driven approach to the construction of Sunshine Connections, initially focusing their attention on the most significant architectural elements.

Tools used during the construction of Sunshine Connections include:

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

• Microsoft SQL Server 2005

• Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2005: SSIS & Reporting Services

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0

• Microsoft Visio Professional

• Microsoft Word 2003: Used to record requirements

Additional facts regarding the Sunshine Connections development approach:

• Source Control: The team maintains 1 Team Foundation Server source project

• Managing Builds:

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• Managing Deployments:

• Defect and Requirements Tracking:

Implementation View

The implementation view describes how the classes and interfaces are organized into

directories, projects, and assemblies in the file system and in the Microsoft Visual Studio

Team Foundation Server

Deployment View

For the system architecture, this view documents the likely physical topology. It includes

each computer in the implementation and describes how they are interconnected. The

configuration for each noted is also specified – operating system, database, and applications

Figure 8 – Deployment View

Execution and Operations Architecture

All the servers that run Sunshine Connections are managed by a team of experts at the DOE in Tallahassee. The DOE location provides network redundancy and failover capabilities. Additionally, all network load and traffic is monitored to ensure optimal performance. The Sunshine Connections systems run almost exclusively on Dell Servers with the following configurations: Sunshine Connections Servers

• Internal Web Servers CPU: 4 Itanium, XmHz RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard

• Public Web Server

CPU: 4 Itanium, XmHz RAM: 4 GB

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OS: Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard

• Database Cluster Servers CPU: 4 Itanium, XmHz RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard

• SharePoint Servcies

CPU: 4 Itanium, XmHz RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard

• Domain Controller

CPU: 2 32bit XmHz RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard

• FTP Server

CPU: 4 Itanium, XmHz RAM: 4 GB OS: Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard

Summary

In order to realize the maximum value of the information framework of Sunshine

Connections, DOE, district and vendor initiatives should develop solutions following the

architectural pattern described above. Minimizing the number of directories for identity

management, separating user interface, middle tier application logic and web services, and

data components are just a few of the recommended standards. Additionally use of standards

such as XML and SIF will facilitate interoperability among the variety of information systems

in use by education entities.

Sunshine Connections receives data from district student information systems and the DOE

education data warehouse into a Microsoft SQL Server database environment in the database

server tier to match students to FCAT results and students to their teachers.

The data is formatted for viewing using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services in the

application server tier, which houses the XML web services components of Reporting

Services.

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The Reporting Services reports are rendered in the SharePoint portal in the SharePoint server

tier, which serves as the UI for Sunshine Connections.

Users are challenged for login credentials by the reverse proxy server (a Microsoft ISA

Server), which authenticates the credentials against the Microsoft Active Directory domain

controller. Once authenticated, user credentials are used to access UI components in the

SharePoint portal, and also to control access to reports in the application server tier and

underlying data in the database server tier.

.

Sunshine ConnectionsGeneral Architecture OverviewTable of Contents

IntroductionConceptual ViewLogical ViewPhysical ViewClient ComputerServer Computer

User Services (UI – User Interface)User Interface Layer

Web Services LayerData Storage Layer Security and Identity ManagementDevelopment ApproachImplementation ViewDeployment ViewExecution and Operations ArchitectureSunshine Connections Servers

Summary

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