implementing the ellucian portal at north idaho college

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

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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!


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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]


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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.


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SESSION AGENDA

1. History2. Philosophy and design3. Realized Benefits4. Setup and Architecture5. Challenges6. Conclusion7. Questions


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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)


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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)


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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)


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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)


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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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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.


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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


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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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Colleague Components Colleague R18 on Unix Unidata 7.1 Servers (Test and Production combined)

AIX server (2x) Two logical partitions each


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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.


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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


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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.


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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.


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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS


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THANK YOU!Andreas [email protected]


implementing the ellucian portal at north idaho college

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