Open Source uPortal: A Framework for Institutional Collaboration

1. UBC’s e-Strategy: uPortal and Open Source Applications • Presented to • McGill University Portal Executive Committee • October 24, 2003 • Ted Dodds, CIO, University of British Columbia

2. eCommunity The Framework People eLearning eResearch eBusiness Connectivity Sustaining Operations

3. uPortal at UBC • Very early adopter • Partly defensive to “free” portal vendors of the day • uPortal has outlasted initial competition • Collaborative development • Contracted with IBS in early 2000 • Development and (Java) skills transfer • Rebuild application development capacity in ITServices • Regular multi-institution developers meetings ongoing

4. uPortal at UBC • “myUBC” in production September 2000 • uPortal “0.9” • Main channels: web-mail, SIS, calendar • Adoption targeted at incoming cohort (~5,000) • Use grew rapidly to 34,000 users, primarily students • First mover benefits • UBC was early contributor to JA-SIG clearinghouse • Continue to contribute • Also seek to leverage contributions of others • Upgraded to uPortal 2.0 rather recently

5. uPortal International Adoption • Adoption continues to increase • Based on informal survey • More than doubled in past year • 50% outside USA • Multilingual support • French, Japanese, Swedish • US-based interest in Spanish • Both framework and channels • Mellon Foundation funding • US$750,000 over 3 years

6. uPortal Current and Future • InfoWorld Nov 7/2003 • Nominated for Top 100 software products • Development plans for 3.0 • JSR 168 enabled (standard portlets) • WSRP Remote Portlet Consumer (remote producer) • Delivery date TBA, possible mid-2004 • JSR 168 “portlets” • Pluggable user interface components that provide a presentation layer to Information Systems

7. uPortal and the “Portal Business” 1 • Turning from portal software to • Adapters and connectors • Implementation expertise and services • Portal frameworks becoming standard/commodity • Applications becoming focus, hence JSR 168 • Risk of implementation failure • Primary cause: lack of content (“empty” portal) • Gartner: 20% is shelfware • Meta: 30% failure rate (better than IT average!) Source: Jim Farmer’s report on Enterprise Portals Conference, Chicago, Sept. 30/2003

8. uPortal and the “Portal Business” • uPortal continues to compete favourably • User base, technology, open standards • SAKAI would augment uPortal’s position in Higher Ed. • Open Source can complement commercial • Luminous product based on uPortal • Unicon (formerly IBS) continued engagement and commitment • Open really means open

9. SAKAI Project • Five member consortium • Michigan • MIT • Indiana • uPortal • OKI • Purpose • “Code mobility” through open source • Overcome technical and timing challenges • Portal and CMS – Fall 2004 • Existing IP integrated – Fall 2005

10. Related Open Source Projects • SAKAI institutions offer extensive code base • Institutional level commitment to open source • Belief that sharing provides greater value than individual attempts to commercialize local innovation • Appications sampler • Course management (CHEF, Michigan) • Content management (CUCMS, Columbia) • Workflow (EDEN, Indiana) • Personal information (Chandler, OSAF) • Portal (uPortal, JA-SIG) • Identity management (CAS, Yale)

11. Institutional Collaboration • SAKAI Model • More examples of collaboration in US than Canada • Networking a possible exception • UBC and UCB • Actively discussing joint projects • Canadian Collaboration • McGill and UBC appear to have similar vision • Focusing on end-user (productivity, effectiveness, service) • Opportunity to explore common needs and collaboration possibilities