AVC-IT & CIO FY 09-10 BUDGET PLANNING
SECTION V: BLOCK GRANT REQUEST
Tools/Services Registry
ABBA Category Two: Information Technology
1. Amount of One-Time Funding Request (FY 09-10): $159,787.67
2. Control Unit/Department Funding Contribution:
3. Department(s) to receive funding: IST-DS and IST-AS
4. Project Manager: TBD, likely Rick Jaffe or Ian Crew
5. Describe the Activity:
Concept
To create a tool to support various registries of tools and services, in support of multiple
IST and campus-wide initiatives. The primary goals of these registries would be to:
•
•
Facilitate the discovery and selection of appropriate tools or services based on a
customer's needs (including various parameters like level of support on campus,
ratings from other users, features, etc.)
Build communities of practice around individual tools/services to help provide
support, documentation, and guidance on the use of that tool/service.
As one of the goals of these tools is to take advantage of group knowledge to provide
support, the emphasis of the ongoing maintenance work after the creation of this tool
would be on community building and maintenance, rather than on exhaustive
inventorying of tools/services or extensive writing of documentation.
Examples of uses for this tool include:
•
•
•
•
A registry of collaborative tools in use on campus, including guidance about the
best tools for particular uses.
A registry of tools used by humanities scholars as part of the Bamboo project
A registry of services offered by the CollectionSpace project.
A registry of web services offered by various units on campus, including
Kuali/Student Systems 2012, IST-Application Services, and departmental
programmers.
Two very rough mock-ups of what listings (one tool, one web service) in this tool might
look like is attached at the end of this proposal.
Two of the most fundamental driving philosophies behind the implementation of this
product are:
•
3/9/09
To keep the list of requirements and specifications for the tool as minimal as
possible while still allowing the user to find and work with the tools or services
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AVC-IT & CIO FY 09-10 BUDGET PLANNING
•
SECTION V: BLOCK GRANT REQUEST
they need.
To use off the shelf software and components to implement the requirements as
simply and quickly as possible, even if that restricts customization or somewhat
reduces overall flexibility. (To use an analogy, we're interested in building a
generic low-rise office park, not the Transamerica pyramid.)
Phase 1: Proof of concept (4 months)
Goals and Deliverables:
Overall deliverable: An interactive prototype of a tools/services registry tool, as proof of
concept that this tool can be built in a reasonable period of time; and a proposal detailing
what would be necessary to move from the interactive prototype to a pilot service based
on a more-complete tool.
Specific goals:
1. Find similar work to build upon
• Find and perform competitive analysis of similar products (e.g.
http://digitalresearchtools.pbwiki.com/)
• Discover analogous/similar products and approaches that we can get ideas
from or modify for our own use.
2. Refine requirements
• Assemble a small advisory committee (e.g. 1 architect each from
Application Services, Bamboo, Collection Space, and Collaborative Tools) to
provide requirements, feedback, and ongoing guidance as work proceeds.
It is expected that the members of this group would take an active interest
in the project and spend an average of about an hour a week tracking the
progress of the project, providing input, and attending occasional advisory
committee meetings, organized by the project manager.
3. Develop interactive prototype/demonstrator product
• Base upon rapid web development platform with modules available to
provide various functions (e.g. Drupal, Confluence, Cold Fusion, Ruby on
Rails)
• Develop something good enough to allow real users to try it and participate
in usability tests.
4. Refine proposal for Phase 2 based on knowledge gained and progress made.
Staffing:
A total of .75 FTE, plus ≤ 1 hour a week from advisory committee members, broken
down as follows:
1. Project Manager (.25 FTE)
• Responsible for managing overall project and project team, including
communications to project sponsors and constituents.
• Responsible for performing and documenting research into similar products
(Goal 1).
• Responsible for assembling and coordinating advisory committee (Goal 2).
• Responsible for supervising programmer work (Goal 3).
• Responsible for writing proposal for phase 2, in consultation with advisory
committee (Goal 4).
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AVC-IT & CIO FY 09-10 BUDGET PLANNING
SECTION V: BLOCK GRANT REQUEST
2. Programmers (2 people, .25 FTE each)
• Need expertise and experience in rapid web development tools (e.g.
Drupal)
• Responsible for assembling interactive prototype/demonstrator version of
registry tool (Goal 3).
Other costs:
1. WebFarm and DB service (could use existing collab.berkeley.edu account)
2. Any licensing costs for rapid web development tools selected by programmers.
3. Time for architects to be a part of the advisory committee (see goal 2). This
would be a commitment of ≤ 1 hour/week.
Phase 2: Pilot service development (4 months)
Goals and Deliverables:
Overall deliverable: A tools/services registry tool that is sufficiently mature to roll out as
a pilot service to at least one group of users.
Specific goals:
1. Test interactive prototype and refine requirements from phase 1
• Do usability tests with end users and support providers
• Finalize requirements with groups that will use the tool (Application
Services, Bamboo, Collection Space, and Collab Tools to start)
2. Develop registry tool sufficiently to roll out for at least one group to use with their
customers.
3. Develop a proposal for a third phase of the project, to cover running the pilot
service (including community building around the use of the tool); and developing
the tool and organizational support necessary to move the registry tool from pilot
status into ongoing production and maintenance. It is important to emphasize
that it will take ongoing staff time both to maintain the tool moving forward, as
well as to form and maintain the communities that the tool enables. Without this
significant ongoing focus on community maintenance, we feel that the tool will not
be successful.
Staffing, timeline, and costs:
To be developed as part of work during Phase 1. Staffing and skillsets may need to
change significantly from Phase 1 to accomplish Phase 2 in this timeframe.
As an initial estimate, it is likely that this phase would require at least 1-1.25 FTE, plus
the advisory committee’s time to accomplish this work in this timeframe.
It is likely that the input (and associated time commitment) from the advisory committee
would continue to be critical to the success of the project.
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AVC-IT & CIO FY 09-10 BUDGET PLANNING
SECTION V: BLOCK GRANT REQUEST
Phase 3: Production service development and deployment (4 months)
Goals and Deliverables:
Overall deliverable: A tools/services registry tool that is sufficiently mature to release as
a production tool, in use for several distinct purposes (e.g. a web service registry, a
collaborative tools registry, a registry of tools for humanities scholars.).
Specific goals:
1. Use results from pilot deployment to refine tool to the point where it can be
deployed in multiple locations for multiple purposes.
2. Develop a proposal for ongoing production and maintenance. It is important to
emphasize that it will take ongoing staff time both to maintain the tool moving
forward, as well as to form and maintain the communities that the tool enables.
Without this significant ongoing focus on community maintenance (likely .25-.5
FTE per instance of the registry tool), we feel that the tool will not be successful.
Staffing, timeline, and costs:
To be developed as part of work during phase 2.
It is difficult to estimate the staffing levels needed so far in advance, but we estimate
that staffing similar to phase 2 (1-1.25 FTE, plus the advisory committee’s time) would
likely be necessary to accomplish this work in this timeframe.
6. Describe the significance of the activity, indicating how the activity is
in alignment with Chancellor’s objectives (see
http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/chancellor/access/) :
This tool would provide the underpinnings of several services designed to increase
efficiency, academic excellence, and administrative efficiency. For example, it would be
of use:
• To accomplishing Goal 1A of the campus collaborative tools strategy
(http://collab.berkeley.edu/projects/cctsd/), allowing all faculty, staff, and
students to more easily discover, and get support for, tools that closely match
their collaborative needs, and spend less time searching for a collaborative
solution, and more time working collaboratively.
• To allow programmers and IT staff to more easily discover and take advantage of
web services and the developing services oriented architecture (SOA) of key
campus systems such as Kuali and CollectionSpace.
• To support grant-funded work such as the Bamboo Project, by creating a registry
of tools available for scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
7. Work Plan
Provide a work plan for the proposed solution with high-level steps to
complete the solution, including timeline. (Try to limit your plan to no more
than seven steps.)
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AVC-IT & CIO FY 09-10 BUDGET PLANNING
SECTION V: BLOCK GRANT REQUEST
Milestone
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Phase 1: Find similar work to build upon,
select platform for interactive prototype
Phase 1: Refine requirements in consultation
with advisory committee
Phase 1: Complete interactive
prototype/demonstrator product
Phase 1: Refine proposal for Phase 2 based on
knowledge gained and progress made
Phase 2: Test interactive prototype and refine
requirements from phase 1.
Phase 2: Develop registry tool sufficiently to
roll out for at least one group to use with their
customers.
Phase 2: Develop a proposal for a third phase
of the project, including running a pilot
service, moving tool from pilot to production
and ongoing operations.
Phase 3: Develop production-ready tool
Phase 3: Develop proposal for ongoing
technical and community maintenance of
deployed product
Timeline
2 weeks from start of project
1 month from start of project
4 months from start of project
(end of phase 1)
4 months from start of project
(end of phase 1)
5 months from start of project
8 months from start of project
(end of phase 2)
8 months from start of project
(end of phase 2)
12 months from start
project (end of phase
12 months from start
project (end of phase
of
3)
of
3)
8. Describe any savings or increase in income that will result from this activity,
and how it will be measured. Distinguish savings in time and/or money, and
identify any resulting reduction of staffing levels.
1) This tool will support increased efficiencies in both academic and staff work across
campus.
2) This tool will enable IST and other campus IT support units to take advantage of
the power of “crowdsourcing” to both enhance the level of support for various
tools and services, while reducing the burden on IT support staff.
3) This tool will enable programmers to discover and take advantage of web services
in their programming projects, reducing duplication of effort and allowing the
creation of more robust tools and services.
These benefits are generally of an incremental nature, providing small but important
savings of time to many people on a frequent basis. As such, these benefits, while
significant, are likely hard to measure.
9. Funding: describe the overall funding plan for this activity. Describe any
cost-sharing, matching, or external fund sources that might be used to support
the activity.
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AVC-IT & CIO FY 09-10 BUDGET PLANNING
SECTION V: BLOCK GRANT REQUEST
Currently, the source of funding for this project would be the block grant being requested
in this proposal. As there are currently so many unresolved questions about budgets, we
have not included any cost share at this point.
There is some possibility of funding for this work from grant-based projects such as Kuali,
Bamboo, and CollectionSpace.
Finally, the success of this project could potentially lead to future grant funding from the
National Endowment for the Humanities for further development.
3/9/09
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AVC-IT & CIO FY 09-10 BUDGET PLANNING
SECTION V: BLOCK GRANT REQUEST
SERVICES/TOOLS REGISTRY ESTIMATED PROJECT COSTS OVERVIEW
SERVICES/TOOLS REGISTRY PROJECT COSTS
Phase 1 (Proof of Concept)-4 months
Description
Cost
Notes
.25 FTE, Project Manager, PA IV
$8,333.33 Estimate at $100K/yr each.
Project Manager Benefits @27%
$2,250.00
2 x .25 FTE, Programmers @$82/hour
$28,426.67 Recharge Rates*
Basic MySQL account @ $26/month
$104.00
Unix Webfarm account @ $350 setup,
$590.00
$60/month
Phase 1 Subtotal
$39,704.00
Phase 2 (Pilot Service Development)-4 months
Description
Cost
.25 FTE, Project Manager, PA IV
$8,333.33
Project Manager Benefits @27%
$2,250.00
.25 FTE, User Research/Design
$6,250.00
User Research Benefits @27%
$1,687.50
3 x .25 FTE, Programmers @$82/hour
$42,640.00
Basic MySQL account @ $26/month
$104.00
Unix Webfarm account @ $60/month
$240.00
Phase2 Subtotal
$61,504.83
Notes
Estimate at $100K/yr each.
Estimate at $75K/yr each.
Recharge Rates*
Phase 3 (Production Service Development)-4 months
Description
Cost
Notes
.5 FTE, Project Manager, PA IV
$16,666.67 Estimate at $100K/yr each.
Project Manager Benefits @27%
$4,500.00
.25 FTE, User Research/Design
$6,250.00 Estimate at $75K/yr each.
User Research Benefits @27%
$1,687.50
2 x .25 FTE, Programmers @$82/hour
$28,426.67 Recharge Rates*
Bronze MySQL account @ $202/month
$808.00 Stepping up to bronze level in
pilot/production
Unix Webfarm account @ $60/month
$240.00
Phase 3 Subtotal
$58,578.83
GRAND TOTAL
$159,787.67
*-Note: Recharge rates are included for safety as the programmers to be assigned to the
project have not yet been determined. This cost would be significantly reduced (by
roughly $30,000) if we can find a way to pay salary rates rather than recharge rates.
3/9/09
Page 7 of 7
Calendar-WS web service
Support levels/Getting Help (?):
Service registry example (see
documentation section)
Campuswide (IST):
Level: 3
Contact Support
Tags: CalAgenda calendar schedule
calendaring scheduling event events Oracle
SOAP meeting conference room reservation
Rating: (anyone who's CalNet-authenticated
can rate this service)
Average: * * *
Your rating: * * *
See individual ratings and comments
Description: (Wiki Pane, editable by any
CalNet-authenticated person)
Calendar-WS is a Web Services interface to
CalAgenda, the shared calendaring system on
the University of California, Berkeley campus.
Calendar-WS makes it possible for your
application to find, add, and delete meetings,
room and equipment reservations, and similar
types of events on CalAgenda calendars for
people, roles, resources, and events.
Career Center:
Level: 3
Contact Support
Educational Technology Svcs:
Level: 5
Contact Support
Intercollegiate Athletics:
Level: 5
Contact Support
News: (Wiki Pane, editable by any CalNet-authenticated person)
addDailyNote procedure to be added to test server in February, January 27, 2009.
A new remote procedure, addDailyNote, will be added to the test server on February
10, 2009. This allows you to programmatically add "Daily Notes" to a calendar.
Documentation: (Added/Maintained by administrators of site, not widely
editable)
* Version: Non-versioned; last revision date of WSDL interface appears to be July 28,
2007
* Audience: Campus software developers
* Intent: Provide read/write access to CalAgenda user, resource, and event calendars
* Restrictions [if none, service is public]: A user account on the CalAgenda service
* Protocol (e.g., REST, SOAP, XML-RPC, JSON) SOAP (RPC style)
- Request protocols accepted: SOAP over HTTP
- Response protocols provided: SOAP over HTTP
* Operations [name + short description per operation, incl. error handling]
* pingServer - Verify operational status
* getEventsByRange - Retrieve calendar events by date range
* getEvent - Retrieve a calendar event by its ID
* addEvent - Add a new calendar event
* deleteEvent - Delete a calendar event by its ID
Details: http://calagenda.berkeley.edu/help_training/developer/calendar-ws/currentinterface.html
* Types [if any; e.g., instance examples, DTD, XSD] Instance examples are provided
at http://calagenda.berkeley.edu/help_training/developer/calendar-ws/currentinterface.html
* pingServer - Verify operational status
* getEventsByRange - Retrieve calendar events by date range
* getEvent - Retrieve a calendar event by its ID
* addEvent - Add a new calendar event
* deleteEvent - Delete a calendar event by its ID
Details: http://calagenda.berkeley.edu/help_training/developer/calendar-ws/currentinterface.html
* Types [if any; e.g., instance examples, DTD, XSD] Instance examples are provided
at http://calagenda.berkeley.edu/help_training/developer/calendar-ws/currentinterface.html
* Service Window [availability] 24x7
* Operational since: February 2006
* Lifecycle [how and how frequently is service expected to change over time] Minor
changes every 1-2 years. Service will require replacement or major revision when the
CalAgenda service changes to new server software in 2010-2011 (ETA as of February
2009).
* Registry [how, if at all, to register service clients, for change notices, etc.]
* Further Detail [for machines / developers; e.g., WSDL, API]
https://calendar-ws.berkeley.edu:8004/calendaraccess/services/
CalendarAccessImpl.wsdl
* More Info [for humans; e.g., on-line HowTo document(s)]
http://calagenda.berkeley.edu/help_training/developer/index.html
* Contact Details
- Service Provider Contact Details [email protected]
Expert Commentary/Reviews/Advice/Cautions: (Added/Maintained by
administrators of site, not widely editable)
Submit or propose the first review of this service
Use Cases/Tips/Tricks/FAQs: (Wiki Pane, editable by any CalNet-authenticated
person)
Getting Started guide for programmers
Common error messages
Henry Gonzales, Rhetoric
I found that the only SOAP toolkit for PHP4 is too slow to effectively use this service.
PEAR::SOAP for PHP5 and above works significantly better.
Discussion Forum: (Threaded discussions about this item, based on PHPBB or
similar)
Topic
Last post
Replies Views
Alternatives to Calendar-WS?
Feb 12, 6:42am by Oski Bear
2
23
Getting started with SOAP/Java
Feb 10, 10:43pm by Sam Spade 17
55
Modify calendar events in place? Feb 9, 12:38pm, by Oski Bear
3
9
Individual Star Ratings and Comments (from any CalNet-authenticated user)
***
by Oski Bear, Jan 30
Service worked for me as described. There was significant overhead in getting
started: I needed to install over eight required libraries to get SOAP::Lite working in
Perl on my Linux box. I wish I had the ability to modify calendar events in place; right
now, you have to delete an event and add a new event, and if not careful can lose the
state of meeting invitees.
Elgg 1.2 social networking software
Support levels/Getting Help (?):
Tools registry example (see documentation
section)
Campuswide (IST):
Level: 5
Contact Support
Tags: Open-source, free, web-based, mac, win,
webfarm, dreamhosters, extensible, open data,
plugins, PHP-based, widgets
Rating: (anyone who's CalNet-authenticated
can rate this service)
Average: * * *
See individual ratings and comments
Description: (Wiki Pane, editable by any
CalNet-authenticated person)
Elgg is a free open-source social network
platform available at http://elgg.org/. Elgg has
been in use for a number of years, particularly
among educators. Version 1.0, released in
November 2008, represents a major upgrade
from the Classic Elgg; it is a modern, open,
extensible platform. Version 1.2 is current (Feb
2009), with v1.5 due later this month and
another big update on the roadmap for August
2009. The software is still young, but maturing,
with an active and growing community of
developers gathering around it.
RSSP:
Level: 5
Contact Support
Haas:
Level: 2
Contact Support
English:
Level: 6
Contact Support
News: (Wiki Pane, editable by any CalNet-authenticated person)
Elgg at Harvard: an Interview
Wed, Feb 4, 2009 11:23 AM
So Far in 2009...
Sat, Jan 24, 2009 10:59 AM
Documentation: (Added/Maintained by administrators of site, not widely
editable)
http://community.elgg.org/ - themes and plugins
http://elgg.org/developers.php - for developers
http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/Main_Page (wiki),
http://groups.google.com/group/elgg-development/ (Google group for developers)
Follow Elgg on Twitter: http://twitter.com/elgg
Link to Machine-readable service description
Service Level Agreement
Licensing/Costs/Downloads
etc.
Expert Commentary/Reviews/Advice/Cautions: (Added/Maintained by
administrators of site, not widely editable)
Jamie Faucibus, IST
Although no unit on campus supports Elgg to date, the LDAP-auth and CAS-auth
Follow Elgg on Twitter: http://twitter.com/elgg
Link to Machine-readable service description
Service Level Agreement
Licensing/Costs/Downloads
etc.
Expert Commentary/Reviews/Advice/Cautions: (Added/Maintained by
administrators of site, not widely editable)
Jamie Faucibus, IST
Although no unit on campus supports Elgg to date, the LDAP-auth and CAS-auth
plugins can be used in tandem to enable CalNet authentication. The PHP instance on
which Elgg is running must be configured to support LDAP, and you must register
your site with the folks at CalNet. For more information, see this knowledge base
article.
Best of Open Source Software for Collaboration 2008, Info World
"...While Elgg lets corporations, governments, and schools quickly establish blogs, the
system's collaborative features encourage building communities of users with shared
interests. Other Elgg fine points include podcast support, file repositories, user
profiles, an RSS aggregator, and branding features. Significantly, the software
integrates with other IT systems and provides OpenID authentication." Full report...
Use Cases/Tips/Tricks/FAQs: (Wiki Pane, editable by any CalNet-authenticated
person)
FAQ link to IST knowledge base
Link to tips/tricks at another institution
Ursula, IST
Elgg has both a profile page and a dashboard. This can confuse some new users.
Here is a link to a discussion about how some users choose to utilize each. Also, note
that the Default Widgets plugin lets administrators define a default set of widgets for
both the profile and the dashboard.
Jane Smith, L&S
Elgg now offers support for pay. That might make it a bit less overwhelming for new
adopters.
Discussion Forum: (Threaded discussions about this item, based on PHPBB or
similar)
Topic
Last post
Replies Views
Documentation is sorely lacking! Feb 10, 10:43pm by Joe Crispin 23
372
Who using Elgg on campus?
Feb 9, 12:38pm, by Jane Smith 39
589
Can I authenticate via CalNet?
Feb 17, 3:49pm by Ursula
8
54
Individual Star Ratings and Comments (from any CalNet-authenticated user)
****
by Oski Bear, Jan 30
We are using Elgg as a prototype platform. We are investigating other platforms, such
as Ning, as we determine our requirements. So far, Elgg is pretty cool!
**
by Aaron Antonius, Jan 12
Elgg is ok, but it's too lightweight. Drupal has modules that can replicate all Elgg
functionality and is much more reliable, more ready for the enterprise.