Jim Helwig (University of Wisconsin-Madison) Session presentation at the 2012 Jasig Sakai Conference. My UW-Madison, the uPortal-based enterprise portal at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has used a variety of techniques to successfully integrate content from a variety of enterprise applications. Techniques include deep linking, proxying, dashboards and content aggregation. Source systems include learning management systems (Desire2Learn), human resource (PeopleSoft), student information (PeopleSoft), email and calendar (Sun/Oracle), help desk (Infra) and others. This presentation will showcase examples, describe the techniques and highlight what has been contributed back to the community.

1. uPortal Integration
in Action
Jim Helwig
University of Wisconsin-Madison
June 10-15, 2012
Growing Community;
Growing Possibilities

2. Where I’m Coming From
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3. Me
 Not a developer :-(
 But I know a lot of developers
 Managing portal related team
 uPortal Steering Committee Chair
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4. My UW-Madison/My UW System
 uPortal for 6+ years
 80,000 users
 13 campuses
 13 virtual portals in the same portal instance
 100+ portlets
 Dozens of backend systems

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5. User Experience Options
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6. Links
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7. Lists
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8. Notifications
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9. Dashboards
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10. Embedded
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11. Techniques
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12. Bookmarks
 Quick configuration
 Aggregate from across
campus
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13. Dynamic Menu Portlet
 Persisted in database
 Leverage groups/roles
 Allows for delegation
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14. Simple Content Management
 Quick configuration
 WYSIWYG editor
 Richer presentation
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15. RSS Feeds
 Quick configuration
 Reuse existing content
 Content managed remotely
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16. Notifications Portlet
 API for inserting notifications
 Aggregate from multiple sources
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17. IFrames
 Quick configuration
 Works with SSO
 Content managed remotely
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18. Web Proxy Portlet
 Easy configuration
 Caching options
 Content remotely
managed
 Pass along attributes
 AuthN options
 Statefull app
 Language flexibility
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19. Web Proxy Portlet
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20. Custom, Native Portlets
 Tailored, richer user experience
 Inter-portlet communication
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21. Custom Native Portlets
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22. Data Sources
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23. Data Access Object Layer
 Flexible App
Business
 Plug-able Objects
 Aggregate
Data Access Layer
Datasource Datasource Datasource
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24. Direct Database
 Known skill set  Complex queries
 Easy to manage  Security concerns
 Fast  Various DB flavors
 Upgrade impacts
 Tied to source
availability
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25. Web Services
 Standards  New skill set
 Documented data  More overhead
model
 Versioned API
 AuthN/AuthZ
options
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26. Point-to-Point Web Services
 No middleman  Limited support by
source systems
 Tied to source
availability
 Complex data
model?
 Scalable?
 Harder upgrades?
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27. Hubs and Web Services
 Better availability  Additional
 Better data model implementation
 Better performance layer
 Aggregate multiple  Time for thoughtful
sources design
 Scalable
 Easier upgrades
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28. Text
Questions?
Jim Helwig, jim.helwig@doit.wisc.edu
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