ProACT:
CUMREC 2004
“Spicing Up Technology”
Austin, Texas
May 17, 2004
Van Follette
Washington State University
Information Technology Services
Copyright Donovan Follette 2004. This work is the intellectual property of the
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High Tech, High Touch
Prospect and
Communication Tracking
System
Presentation Outline
• About Washington State University
• Business Problems and Opportunity
• Project Objectives
• Design Issues and Solutions
• User Experience
• Observations
• Future Possibilities
• Questions?
•Land-grant university
•Research I status
•22,000 students
•Four campuses
•Distance education program
•Multiple learning centers
Washington State University
~DDP~
Spokane
Pullman
Tri-Cities
Vancouver
Business Problems
• Central campus PC-based enrollment
management system was not scalable for use
university-wide
• Recruiting units had own disparate
communication and tracking mechanisms
• Recruiting units needed automated
communication planning and tracking
• Data and business processes were
not integrated
High Touch, but No Tech
Ima Student
High Touch, but No Tech
Ima Student
Business Opportunity
A strategic University initiative
to increase quantity, quality,
and diversity of students
Project Objectives
• University-wide recruitment solution
• Integration with administrative systems
• Common data repository with “flexibility”
• Single comprehensive view of a prospect
accessible to all recruiting agents
• Framework for a robust communication
delivery mechanism
• Centralized data and technical support
Design Issues and Solutions
• Buy or build?
• Best technologies and design patterns?
 Principle-driven design and development
i.e. extensibility, scalability, and reuse
• N-tier client/server, enterprise-level, desktop
application
• Programming language
• Robust authentication/authorization
• ‘Near’ zero tolerance for data duplication
Prospect and Communication Tracking System
e
r
u
t
c
e
rchit
A
Client
Application Server
• Client Executable
(ProACT)
• Business Registry
Info
• COM+
• Business modules
• Data access modules
• SourceSafe
Database Server
• SQL Server 7.0
• Stored Procedures
Win2K
Win2K
Prospect and Communication Tracking System
e
r
u
t
c
e
rchit
A
Client
Application Server
• Client Executable
(ProACT)
• Business Registry
Info
• COM+
• Business modules
• Data access modules
• SourceSafe
Database Server
• SQL Server 7.0
• Stored Procedures
Win2K
Win2K
Prospect and Communication Tracking System
e
r
u
t
c
e
rchit
A
DCE
• Authentication
• Authorization
Client
Application Server
• Client Executable
(ProACT)
• Business Registry
Info
• NCRYPT
• COM+
• Business modules
• Data access modules
• SourceSafe
• NCRYPT
• NetCrusader
Win2K
Database Server
• SQL Server 7.0
• Stored Procedures
Win2K
Prospect and Communication Tracking System
e
r
u
t
c
e
rchit
A
DCE
• Authentication
• Authorization
Client
Application Server
• Client Executable
(ProACT)
• Business Registry
Info
• NCRYPT
• COM+
• Business modules
• Data access modules
• SourceSafe
• NCRYPT
• NetCrusader
Win2K
Database Server
• SQL Server 7.0
• Stored Procedures
Win2K
Prospect and Communication Tracking System
e
r
u
t
c
e
rchit
A
Client
MVS
DCE
• Authentication
• Authorization
• Attunity Connect
-Application Connector
-Attunity SQL
Application Server
Natural
• Client Executable
(ProACT)
• Business Registry
Info
• NCRYPT
• COM+
• Business modules
• Data access modules
• SourceSafe
• NCRYPT
• NetCrusader
• Attunity Connect
Win2K
Adabas
Database Server
• SQL Server 7.0
• Stored Procedures
• Attunity Connect
Win2K
Design Issues and Solutions
• User-Interface design?
 Intuitive screens
 Hide data and processing complexities
 Logical flow for communication design and
delivery
User Experience
• “Communication profiles can be as detailed or as
broad as needed.”
• “Our data is much cleaner.”
• “We are able to report clean data to the community
colleges, and … the exchange of data between us and the
community colleges is crucial.”
• “My favorite feature is the history. We are using this
data to examine our marketing strategies
and the types of materials we develop.”
“If I’d only known then …”
Administrative Support
Learning curve for new
technologies
User Involvement
Project Methodology
Working Relationships
within IT Services
Plus
Understaffed
Implementation
Timeline
Minus
High Tech Firsts for WSU
• First secure authentication to non-web
environment
• First WSU-built, enterprise-wide, n-tier,
client-server desktop application
• First application to implement cross-platform
database joins with the institutional legacy
database
• First non-MVS application to leverage WSU’s
sophisticated associate match-create software
via RPC
High Tech Firsts for WSU (cont’d)
• First application to use an external
authorization service to control user accesslevel permissions
• First application to fully employ a prototypeand-build methodology
• First non-MVS source code management,
programming quality standards, and quality
assurance procedures
Future Possibilities
• Robust communication delivery mechanism
• Web-based request for information support
• Enhancements to include central campus
• Travel and Event Master Schedule
• Telecounseling Management
• Event Participation
• Recruiting Partner Management
Questions?
For further information …
Donovan Follette
Lynn Hulett
Susan Osiensky
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
The End