UNIT-e Research & DevelopmentMicrosoft Technology Day

Stephen Cain(System Architect)

Disclaimer

This presentation shows a number of areas of Research and Development which are currently taking place or have recently been undertaken in Capita F&HE.

Some of the technologies demonstrated have already been embedded into UNIT-e solutions. Some may be included in future development plans whilst others will not make it past today!

Key Principles - Platform

Database Independence Security

Consistent across sites, platforms & applications Above and beyond database level security

Configuration Driven Pick lists & lookups Reports Labels Layout Search

Toolset Availability Web publishing Reporting Services & SharePoint etc Information Interface

Key Principles – Clients

Horses for Courses SMS, Email in Windows Services Workflow in SharePoint Thick Client Resource Manager, II, Student Manager etc Reporting in Crystal (over MDBs) Smart Client Attendance Grid Room Booking Browser Columbus Online Services Some parts of HR Reporting Services SharePoint

Database Manager (Users)

Move some code to II Significantly improved performance Modernised layouts Improved validation Good platform for enhancements

e.g. Improved LDAP integration

Database Manager (Users) Demo

UNIT-e Technical Roadmap - History

Key Principles - Evolution

64 bit operating systems on client and server Multi Core processors Large scale implementations

NLB, Clusters, etc

Improvements in browser based UI technology Ajax, Silverlight

Increased desire for browser based applications (inc mobile devices) Increased complexity and rate of change for business rules Increased demands on security and audit More links between and within institutions Capita aware of issues raised by new tools

Move to using tools for longer periods internally before release to customer Reduce implementation & training overhead by looking at web access/hosting

Report Generator Re-Write (PDP 2010)

Move code to .NET code base Support new OS

inc 64 bit Replace legacy COM components

IB.NET & Excel Move towards support for UNICODE Reduce upgrade overhead

DMST Improve some aspects of application performance Provide developers with appropriate platform for future

development

Add Validation and Defaulting

A rules engine was added to UNIT-e 4.11 built upon the .NET Framework 3.0 the Rules libraries.

Rules take a series of (usually) basic inputs, perform simple calculations on them and provide outputs.

This is in use in 2 UNIT-e applications in 2009 and will be rolled out elsewhere in 2010.

For example:If (student.dob>1/1/1990)

ErrorCount++;

Rules Engine – Examples

This can be used to set error messages

If (student.dob>1/1/1990 | student.dob<1/1/1980)

setError (“Outside date range.”);

or default information

ModuleEnrolment.Reference=Module.Reference;

Rules Engine – Designer Demo

A 3rd party UI can sit over these rules and provide a friendly designer. Alternatively Capita may build one.

Rules Engine – Potential Integration

Data access layer validation and defaulting

Business controllers user customisation of execution paths

Add to II Condition Delete, Read Only, Create Cascade Changes UI validation

Replace hard coded functions like statutory validation Easier testing Easier to implement changes

Mobile Devices

Ubiquitous mobile devices Consumer driven

No standards

Multiple platforms Expectation of availability

Student and Staff

Security Issues Access to network Personal data Easily lost or stolen

Also bring benefits Better access to information Record changes as they happen 3G and Wi-Fi mean good access

Information Interface in the Browser

ASPX, AJAX & Silverlight under review Important to address some issues with existing II

Need to rebuild II apps for each platform Reach alternative client platforms Improve options for “hosting” UNIT-e

Ensure pain free migration path Match control set

Tabs, ListViews & TreeViews etc Use for in house applications first

II in the Browser Demo

Deploying II to the Web – Cluster

UNIT-e Technical Roadmap - Projected

Questions