e learning management system (asp.net) (c) learning manageme… · with central corporate...

OSS | DOCUMENTATION DEPARTMENT WHITE PAPER | e LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ASP.NET)

1

OSS ©

E_LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ASP.NET)

APPLICATION SPECIFICATIONS, FEATURES SCREEN SHOTS & DESCRIPTIONS

VERSION: ASP.NET (2), V1G1D0

UPDATED: 3Q/2007 REFERENCE: MIDDLEWARE 0525/87


2

CONTENT DESCRIPTIONS 1. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

1.1 PROGRAMMING CODES 1.2 DATABASE 1.3 APPLICATION SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE 1.4 HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE

A. BASIC HIGH AVAILABILITY (HA) DIAGRAM B. FULL SCALABILITY DIAGRAM

1.5 OVERALL DIAGRAM OF COMBINED APPLICATION SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE 2. APPLICATION INTRODUCTION, FEATURE SPECIFICATIONS & SCREEN SHOTS

ILLUSTRATIONS 2.1 INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND INFORMATION 2.2 APPLICATION FEATURE DESCRIPTION 2.3 APPLICATION SCREEN-SHOT ILLUSTRATIONS

2. OSS APPLICATION SERVER AS MIDDLEWARE

3.1 INTRODUCTION TO OSS APPLICATION SERVER 3.2 OSS APPLICATION SERVER SCREEN SHOT EXAMPLES


3

1. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 1.1 PROGRAMMING CODE & TOOLS

The App’s source codes were written in: A. Microsoft Visual Studio.NET (ASP.NET & VB.NET), B. Infragistics.NET and C. AJAX.

1.2 DATABASE (RELATIONSHIP DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM) The App was pre-built with a Data Access Layer (DAL) middleware, which supports the underlying App to be flexibly connected to any RDMS database that clients prefer, from MS SQL to Oracle 11g to IBM DB2. The defaults are with MS SQL 2005/08 and MY SQL v5.0.

1.3 APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE The App’s core architectural foundations can be described in two (2) major platforms: A. N-Tier: The core App’s source codes are written in N-Tier based object-oriented

design. In short, the N-tier platform allows the App’s source codes to be laid over tier-based hardware (cluster-server), which ultimately creates for powerful scalability and fail-over (High Availability) purposes. For details, please refer to [Section 1.4 Hardware Deployment] below.

B. SOA (Services Orient Architecture, details are at Section 3.0 below): The App’s foundation is enriched by host of centralized utility services that provides System Administrators a set of powerful tool to ensure users are in compliance with central corporate governance. Some of such SOA services are Single Sign-In, Identity Management, Audit Trace, RSA Encryption, Alert Messaging Service and others. Client can opt for this as option.

The following diagram depicts the full N-tier architectural topology of the underlying Application, for illustration purpose.


4

Web Tier

OSS Enterprise Service Portal / or Client Existing Fixed IP Webpage

System Security : OSS Access Control Manager & Session Manager

LDAP

Optional – Archival – Alert Management – Work Flow – Business Intelligence

API

Audit Trail

RSA Encryption Authentication

Authorization

OSS © Application Server

(ASP.NET)

OSS Data Access Layer (DAL)

Application Components

OSS © E-LMS OSS © Service Fulfillment

Other Applications

Other RDBMS IBM DB2 Oracle Microsoft SQL

20055

Back-up Software

: External Data Storage Device [SAN/ NSA/Tape]

Optional: Second Data Centre For Back-

Up + Recovery

OSS Administration

Module

[Dictionary]

Application

Tier

Database Tier

Internal Users External Users


5

1.4 HARDWARE ARCHITECTURE The following is to explain how the N-tier based App is to enable client to scale up and for failover deployment (or for Scalability & High Availability):

A. Basic Model: To achieve minimum HA, client can deploy the App with a

configuration of two (2) web, two (2) application and two (2) database servers which is capable to support 100 concurrent logon users. Details are depicted at [DIAGRAM 1.4 (A)]; and

B. Scale-UP Model: The basic model above can be further scaled up over time to allow for accommodating increasing number of concurrent users, when the underlying business grows. This is particular useful when the clients undertake multiple development works at different geographic sites. This hardware model is capable to scale up to consist of 32 web, 12 application and 2 database server that is capable to support approximate 1,000 concurrent logins. Details are at [DIAGRAM 1.4 (B)].

DIAGRAM 1.4 (A)

2 units [App Servers]

Database Server

BASE HARDWARE CONFIGURATION

The Base Redundancy Hardware Configuration can consist of 2 Web Servers, 2 Application Servers and 2 Database Servers.

Operating System1. MS Windows Server 2008 (Enterprise Edition)

2. MS Application Centre 2000

Operating System:

1. MS Windows Server

2008 (Enterprise Edition)

2. Database Independence

Client can choose any:

- IBM DB2,

- Oracle 10 g or

- Microsoft SQL 2005

Active Node

Passive Node

OSS Application Software + Business Logic

DATA BACK-UP

`

1

2

3

4

SWITCH-1 SWITCH-2

ROUTER

SETSFIREWALL

SET

INTERNET

2 units [Web Servers]


6

DIAGRAM 1.4 (B)

Up to 12 units of Application Servers with Component Load Balancing

Up to 32 units of Web Servers with Network Load Balancing

Database Server

Ultimate Hardware Scalability: The N-Tier Platform will allows client to scale up to 32 Web Servers and 12 Application Servers as indicated below

Operating System1. MS Windows Server 2008 (Web

Edition) with Network Load Balancing

Operating System1. MS Windows Server 2008 (Enterprise Edition)

2. MS Application Centre 2000

Operating System:

1. MS Windows Server

2008 (Enterprise Edition)

2. Database Independence

Client can choose any:

- IBM DB2,

- Oracle 10 g or

- Microsoft SQL 2005

Active Node

Passive Node

OSS Application Software + Business Logic

DATA BACK-UP

`

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

1230

31

32

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Increase up

to 32 web

servers

SWITCH-1 SWITCH-2

ROUTER SETS

FIREWALL SET

INTERNET


7

1.5 OVERALL DIAGRAM OF COMBINED APPLICATION SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE The following diagram depicts the location based co-relationship between hardware and

application software, when they are deployed together.

TOPOLOGY ON HARDWARE AND APPLICATION SOFTWARE DEPLOYMENT & CONFIGURATION

`

Application

Server

Web

Servers

Switch-1 Switch-2

Database

Server

Active Node Passive Node

End-Users

SAN/NAS

BACK-UP

System Security: Access Control

Manager & Session Control

Application

Software-1

Application

Software-2

Application

Software-3

Application Infrastructure Building Block: Access Control,

Encryption, Audit Track, Single-Sign_In, SMS, Report

Portal & Others

Data Access

Layer (DAL)

Database

END-USERS


8

2. APPLICATION INTRODUCTION, FEATURE SPECIFICATIONS & SCREEN SHOTS ILLUSTRATIONS 2.1 APP’S INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The Application, OSS © E_LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (ASP.NET), is part of our OSS © Human Capital Management System series, where client can procure it as stand-alone application deployment. The idea was simple – in a typical corporate organization, its most precious asset is always its human talents. In most cases, once an employee is talent spotted, the HR Head needs a tool, where this Application is all about, to keep track on the said talent’s learning life-cycle processes, these includes carefully crafted mentorship programs, on-the-special-assignment’s training and external attachments to ensure he/she is well groomed and equipped the necessary skill for successor planning purpose. Obviously, the Application does more than that. Its functionalities not only provide the tool set to help keep track of the said talent pools; but it also serves as a tool to explore other talents within the organization thru retaining, maintaining, upgrading and set role-models on the existing talent pools for other aspirants to excel. Ultimately, the end result for this Application is to promote and fortify the eco-system where all the training related affairs are crystallized, strategized, implemented and reviewed at a compact and meaningful dashboard view to yield the most desired organization benefit – to keep the brightest and most innovative employees in place. How does it work? Its prominence is laid out by having it as a single platform (portal) for learning process on the following mechanism: 1. The platform where it permits all the section heads within the

organization to nominate and register their most potent subordinates online as possible successors;

2. The platform where it invites internal mentors and external higher-learning institutes to market their most relevant Executive Courses where all these talent-spotted can register for enrollments;

3. The platform where it permits the trainees to record their thought and comments on the said courses’ relevancies, the lecturers’ experience and effectiveness, as well as their ideas of improvements after the completion of the said course. These are to serve as foundation for the parties (the HR Heads and external institutions) for future improvements;

4. The platform where it provides a base for engaging third party auditors to verify the training’s effectiveness;


9

5. The platform where it records the full training endurances and life-cycle on each potential employee; and

6. The platform where it serves as base of points for training courses’ accreditation processes.


10

2.2 APPLICATION’S GENERAL DESCRIPTION & FEATURE-SPECIFICATION The section below is to the feature specifications of the core Application. I. LEARNING WEB PORTAL MODULE

A.1 Shopping Carts – for public users/applicants to download and procure

certain learning materials; A.2 Update Learning Material Information by authorized Training Institutes/

Trainers; A.3 Search Engines A.4 Publishing & Hyperlink to other relevant websites; 4.5 Announcement Module A.6 Calendar of Events; A.7 Feedback & Enquiry Forms A.8 Survey & Opinion Poll

II ONLINE REGISTRATION PORTAL A. Type of Companies

A.1 External Education Service Providers A.2 Surrogate Employers – an organization that performs online

transaction on behalf of companies whose employees are employed by the surrogate employers

A.3 Business Intermediaries – as online filer on behalf of their

clients, be it Training Organization, Company or Individual apply for Accreditation, training grant and claims.

A.4 Course Accredited Body (CAB)

i. Accredited Training Service Providers & Non-Accredited ii. Training Individual/ Companies for those non-science or

non-engineering related courses, and iii. Government’s Statutory Boards/ Agencies/

Commissioners

B. Online Registration & Update Company Profile Information

III. TRAINING & ASSESSMENT ORGANIZATION MODULE (TAO) B.1 To allow TAO to create, delete, update, retrieve, save, draft and submit

applications for A. Account Registration; and B. TAO Accreditation Status


11

It is to enable them to be legally “Approved TAO” to transact with the system online.

B.2 Profile TAO in types: Approved Training Organizations, Approved

Accreditation Bodies, and Approved Assessment Criteria & Parameters,

B.3 Role & Responsibilities Definition accorded by TAO;

B.4 Accreditation Process A. Course Accreditation Body – it is an approved body to

undertake quality functions on behalf of relevant authorities/ statutory boards for course accreditation on certain industries/ trades that submitted by training institutions. Work flow support automatic routing for course accreditation from online submission, approval/reject and announcement on eLearning Portal.

B. Self-Accreditation Function- SAF-approved organizations are ATAO accorded with special privileges to accredit their own courses. The system supports ATAO to submit self-accredited courses to relevant Course Accreditation Bodies for approval. Work Flow between SAF-approved organizations and CAB include prompt, invocation, trigger and highlight thru email, SMS and bulletin board;

C. Non-Accredited Courses – These are courses that submit for

government granting but not required to go thru the accreditation processes. Training institutes can provides both accredited and non-accredited courses under the same premises for approval.

D. Approved Accredited and Non-Accredited Courses- CAB and Accreditation Bodies can access, assess, approve/reject, approve with conditions and update/publish on both accredited and non-accredited courses on eLearning Portal.

IV. COURSE MANAGEMENT MODULE

A Course & Training Management Integrated Portal

A.1 Course Definition (Title, Intake, Course Size, Venue & Time

and Criteria for Course Interchangeable For Substitutes) A.2 Course Schedules Definition (Date, Time, Frequency, In-Take) A.3 Course Replacement for Cases of Absence of Attendees;

Lapse, Withdrawal or Discontinuance of Course,


12

A.4 Course Pre-requisite Competency (Mandatory and Requirements)

A.5 Course Registration by Internal & External Training Institutions

A.6 Course Approval/ Reject Status A.7 Course Materials Download A.8 Online Attendance Records A.9 Online Exam Criteria Setting & Questionnaires Setting A.10 Online Exam Taking, Records & Announcement/ Publishing A.11 Exam Alert for Trainees Module A.12 External Certificate Service Provider – Printing Services

B. Individual Trainee: Profile & Update Portal B.1 Trainee Profile Portal – View, Update, Save, Search & Print

i. Name

ii. Age Group & Income Group iii. Industry Relevancy iv. Education Level v. Training History/ Achievement Records

vi. Full Qualification Attainment Records vii. Attainment thru Assessment (exp: Train-and-Assess)

viii. Grant Application & Claims B.2 Query- It allows trainees to search and query for Competency

Units in certain industry for relevant course available; B.3 It supports trainee to apply for grant online; submit for claims

and check of status of approval & payment; B.4 It supports trainees to view training records online; B.5 Course Requisite Check List – upon trainee’s enquiry online, the

system supports the balance of criteria and requirement for full certification, and

B.6 Authorized users on behalf of trainees, such as Approved TAO

and Business Intermediaries to perform the above functions online on behalf of end-users.

C. Registered Trainer & Assessor: Profile, Accreditation & Eligibility Portal

C.1 Portal for View, Update CV, Save, Search and Print

i. General Profile

ii. Certification, Competency, Education and Relevant Industrial Experience Records/ Notes/ References


13

iii. Past History of Similar Education Provision records iv. Honor, Achievement v. General Feedback from Past Students’ Comments &

Feedback vi. General Feedback from Peer/ Institution/ Education

Service Providers

C.2 The system supports to search and view list of courses that have been approved by ATAO, and

C.3 The trainer and assessors can be engaged more than one organization, and the system supports a. ATAO to view and maintain a list of trainer and assessors

directly employed by them; including creating detailed employment information; and

b. The system supports to compile and consolidate each trainer/assessor’s employment records in a single repository where he/she can port it to the particular training organization at any given time that he/she is representing for

D. Auditor

D.1 The system supports online leave management for Auditors to

prevent clash of schedules; D.2. The system supports auditors to view and search for the list of

assigned cases, assignment dates and aging profile; D.3 For new audit assignment, the system supports the auditor to

online accept, re-schedule and request to reject his/her assignments;

D.4 The system supports auditors to online access the list of

relevant courses’ applications and download for auditing purpose;

D.5 The system supports multiple assignments for a single auditors

and the following services:

A. The system supports the employing organizations to view the list of auditors, assign new assignments to their auditors, to re-schedule of assignments and provide general scheduling management;

B. The system supports each auditor to online update his/her audit case/assignment; and


14

C. The system supports auditors to send risk alert to their supervisor and respective government boards on issues that may suspect of irregularities.

V. GENERAL SEARCH ENGINE

A. Intranet Search Engine (internally search), B. Internet Search Engine (external search) and C. Federated Search Engine (OPTIONAL)

VI. COURSE ACCREDITATION BY TRAINING & ASSESSMENT ORGANIZATIONS

A.1 The system supports approved private TAO (such as private training

service providers) to create, edit, save & draft, and submit new course online, together with supporting documents, for course accreditation;

A.2 The system supports on online payment processing for ATAO for fee

dues and chargeable; A.3 The system supports status update as and when there is progress

and change of application status to relevant parties. A.4 The system provides SMS/Email trigger for status of approval/ reject

for applicants; and A.5 The system supports ATOA to view application status and resubmit

application documents when the Accreditation Bodies deems insufficient or shortfall of such materials.

VII. TRAINING SERVICES PROVIDERS

A.1 The system supports online registration of either training services

organization or training service individual providers; A.2 The system supports training service providers to submit their both

accredited and non-accredited courses online; A.3 The system supports online capabilities to create, edit, save, update,

delete, withdraw and change existing courses’ details with alternative choices;

A.4 The system supports online record publishing of each trainee’s

attendance on scheduled courses, on assignment, sit for exam and participates for extra-curriculum activities;

A.5 The system supports online exam taking for course offered and

supports alternative exam schedule when the trainees miss it with valid and acceptable medical reasons;


15

A.6 The system supports user-friendly printer formats for download

course information and materials; A.7 The system supports online course materials’ upload and updates

thru Zip format; and A.8 The system supports online reply and advice via IM charts to

trainees’ special needs.

VIII. PRIVATE AND PUBLIC EMPLOYERS A.1 The system supports employers submit their employees profile for

training courses registration online; A.2 The system supports them to update, edit, delete, save and

alternate employees profile online; A.3 The system supports alert (email/SMS) to nominated employees

upon the successful registration of training courses, which it then follows up with letters/ emails to details the training courses’ venue, schedules, frequency, intake and other relevant information;

A.4 The system supports to backend check on nominated course

whether they are eligible for government various grants; A.5 The system supports employers to online check their nominated

employees’ attendance records, exam result and special notes by respective trainers; and

A.6 The system supports online view and print-out on consolidated fee

chargeable on their nominated employees’ need.

IX. LICENSEING & RENEWAL SCHEMES A.1 For Registered Training Institution, A.2 Service Providers (Individual and Companies); and A.3 Auditors

X. INCENTIVE MANAGEMENT (OPTIONAL)

A.1 Budget Management Module A.2 Project Grant Management Module A.3 Claim Management Module A.4 Audit Management Module A.5 Refund Management Module A.6 Funding Rate Module


16

2.3 APP’S FEATURE SCREEN SHOT ILLUSTRATIONS A. REGISTRATION OF STUDENTS OR TRANEES

Before you can deploy the solution, it is necessary to register the said trainees first.


17

B. TRAINING ADMINISTRATIVE MAIN MODULES: This screen illustrates the major Sub-modules as below:

A. Training Setting (Course Type, Course Title, External Training Institute and Trainer Particular);

B. Attendance; C. Course Evaluation; D. Grant Management; and E. Alert Management (to inform successful registered trainees on course

status and remind them for preparation thru email/SMS/letter)

Before the Application is being deployed, the System Administrators got to pre-set the said courses. It also allows registered external education institutions to login to post their next semester’s course information.


18

C. ONLINE COURSE REGISTRATION: The system supports both the private and public organizations (employers) to nominate & register their employees for the courses tabulated in the system. The course details show schedule of intake, venue, duration, session and trainer particular on the said course selected.

Step-1: To view the course’s detail, please click {Course} here.

Step-2: Select your course you are interested, then you click {Details} button here. Please see screen right after this.

Step-3: You can see here, the system display all the available information on your selected course, such as its intake session, schedule, eligibility and others.


19

D. TRAINER QUALIFICATION & BACKGROUND INFORMATION: This screen illustrates, prior to the registration for the said courses, each trainee can logon online to check the said course’ trainees background information, such as their qualifications, relevant working experiences and number of years in such training coaching.

Step-1: You can allow the trainee/students to check the trainer’s background. To do so, you click {Details} here.

Step-2: You can here there is a pop-up windows where it is to show you the selected trainer’s background information here.


20

E. TRAINEE’S COURSE APPLICATION FOR SUPERIOR’S APPROVAL & STATUS UPDATE: The screen illustrates the system supports workflow routing where all the newly registered cases will be routed to respective department heads for approval/reject, after counter checking the registered trainee’s pre-requisite competency, working experience and minimum education level.

F. COURSE EVALUATION PANEL: The following two screens are to illustrate how the

appointed External Audit Body/Accredited Commissioners to build Course Evaluation Form prior to the Course takes place.

The forms were pre-prebuilt prior to the courses got started, where they are given to the attendees (or trainees) to evaluate the courses’ qualitative criteria.

To build a brand new Course Evaluation Form (CEF), please click {Add New} here. Then please see the next screen.

Step-1: To approve the said trainee’s course application, you just need to check here.

Step-2: Then you can click here to either {Approve} or {Reject} the said applicant.


21

G. ATTENDANCE RECORDS: This screen illustrates the Each Course’s Attendance Records

from its date of commencement to its last day. This online information is used to calculate each trainee’s attendance ratio as well as base for claims of training expenses.

From here, the appointed accredited commissioners can build the said Course Evaluation Form (CEF). This form is used to evaluate how effective the course and trainers to the appointed trainees.

If the finger-print’s scanner reader is deployed, the system will automatically record the attendance of each trainee.


22

H. ALERT TRIGGER & MANAGEMENT: This screen depicts the flexibility of the system where it permits the System Administrators to pre-set Pre-determined Trigger Points (thresholds) where the respective stakeholders will receive the said SMS/Email alerts, when the event is triggered. For instance, once the Exam Results are published, the Department Heads will be alerted thru email/SMS on their respective subordinates’ performances on the said most recently completed training courses.

I. GRANT MANAGEMENT: This page illustrates the total available Grants where the

trainees can apply for, if they are eligible. Its functionalities include of: A. List of Grant’s Applicants (Names, Departments, Amount of Grant Applied For,

Grant for Purpose, Eligibility and others); B. List of Grant Applications Were Approved or Rejected (coupled with reasons and

by whom of approval authorities), and C. List of Appeals (once the Grant Application was rejected)

The table is to tabulate the applicants’ particular, in accordance to the grant type they applied for.


23

J. COMPUTER BASED TRAINING (Optional): Client can upload the video contents here where it permits for online training purpose. In order to use this feature, the hosting environment must be equipped with high speed broad-band facilities.

K. BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE’S DRILL-DOWN (OPTIONAL): The screen below depicts you can use the BI App to drill down the App for insight and particular information that critical to your business advantages.


24

3.0 OSS © APPLICATION SERVER AS SOA MIDDLEWARE 3.1 APPLICATION SERVER _ FEATURE SPECIFICATION & DESCRIPTIONS You can enhance the core App with the SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) middleware, OSS © APPLICATION SERVER (ASP.NET). It provides a powerful tool set for the System Administrators to ensure central corporate governance is complied with; pre-set and configure central security & risk control; pre-set encryption security to protect certain data fields and pre-set User Access Right, in addition to setting up User-ID and Password’s parameters (or Identity Management).

The App Server is an SOA based foundation block that not only provides the essential common utility services to the core App (e@ LMS); but it also can be deployed as Web Service body to help connect to other third-party Applications for data-exchange purpose. The following provides a brief introduction on the essential services that provided by the App Server’s application: A. SYSTEM SECURITY – IDENTIFY AUTHENTICATION & PARAMETERS

A.1 VALUE-BASED POLICIES A.2 STATE-BASED POLICIES

B. AUTHENTICATION C. AUTHORIZATION D. AUDIT TRAIL & TRACK E. DATA PROTECTION: RSA ENCRYPTION F. ACCESS CONTROL MODULE- FILE ACCESS RIGHT TO APPLICATION COMPONENTS G. LDAP (LIGHTWEIGHT DIRECTORY ACCESS PROTOCOL) AND ACTIVE DIRECTORY H. REVOCATION OF USER ACCOUNT MODULE I. REPORT PORTAL MODULE


25

3.2 SCREEN SHOTS ILLUSTRATIONS OF OSS © APPLICATION SERVER (ASP.NET)

A. System Security – The [General Parameter Setting] tag that allows System Administrator to remotely configure various log-in parameters for each user.

B. System Security @ Audit Trail Module – It allows System Administrator to keep tracks each user’s log-in activities (access, view, data entry, edit, print and others). By the end of the day, the system is to tabulate the user activities in Date, Time, Action, Field he/she accessed and others.


26

C. System Security @ File-Access Right Allocation– Assigning specific access right on each file to each user, in accordance to the user’s role and responsibility.

D. System Security @ Feature-Access Right Allocation. This class-specific (Object Oriented) feature allow system administrator to allocate Access Right in check-box whose features will be accorded to approved users.


27

[OPEN SPECTRUM SOLUTION]

1. The above information is correct at the time of this article went to print and release

on the OSS website. OSS reserves the absolute right to alter and change any of them at any given time without notifying the installed clienteles;

2. For most updated information on the said application, please contract your nearest OSS authorized resellers or logon to www.open-spec.com for contact; and

3. For reporting of error and mistakes at the above article’s, please send your message to [email protected].

http://www.open-spec.com/

e learning management system (asp.net) (c) learning manageme… · with central corporate...

Documents