[Portfolio] OSP roster automation proposal

[Ward, Lynn E.]

HI all,

During our last weekly call, IU demoed and facilitated the  roster automation feature described in the following feature template:

http://confluence.sakaiproject.org/display/OSP/Roster+Synchronization

Unfortunately, Chris Maurer (the developer of this functionality) was not on the call, so we were unable to answer all of the questions about the features.  I met with Chris this morning and  I've also done some additional testing, so I can update you on some specific points.


1.       Jan Smith and others asked about how roles were mapped when syncing is turned on.  According to Chris, this is all handled via an XML config file.  The settings apply to the feature server wide, which means the same role mappings will be used whenever synching is turned on.  But each institution can control which roles are synched and how those users are mapped to roles in the ePortfolio site.  In other words, even though IU's local configuration only moves users in the "access" - type roles, but it is possible to move and sync users in all roles and to specify the role that should be applied in the target site.

Chris will be providing documentation on how to customize the mappings, but the good news is that it doesn't require any changes to the application code.

We also discussed the possibility of developing a UI for selecting and mapping the roles on a per site basis.  This will require a lot of additional design and development.  Given all of the other projects on their plate,  it's unlikely our development team will be able to get this work done for 2.8.  So a question to consider during an upcoming call is whether the current configuration methods and options are flexible enough to meet the needs of other institutions.


2.       Questions were also raised about how roster syncing and assignment linking is affected by making students inactive in the associated site or hiding (unpublishing) the associated site.  I did some brief testing with the following results:

a.       If a synched user is made inactive in a course site that has been associated and synched with the portfolio site:

                                                                i.      The user remains in the portfolio site with an "active" status.

                                                               ii.      The user's submissions to the matrix made directly or via assignment linking are still visible.


b.      If an associated site with roster synching is hidden (unpublished)

                                                                i.      Synched users remain in the portfolio site with an "active" status.

                                                               ii.      The user's submissions made via assignment linking are visible only to those who have permission to access the unpublished site.  Work added to the matrix directly by the synched user is unaffected.

I will not be on the call next Monday (Feb 22), so you all can either pick up the conversation on whether to include in 2.8 with Chris and Bryan or wait until I am back on March 1st.   Or, we can carry on via email.

Lynn

PS

I will also post these notes as a reply to Beth's comments in the feature template and eventually write them up more formally within the feature template itself.





==========================
Lynn Ward, Principal Systems Analyst, Academic and Faculty Services
University Information Technology Services<http://uits.iu.edu/>
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Information Technology and Communications Complex (IT 218R)
535 West Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46202
Phone: 317-278-5713  E-mail: leward at iupui.edu<mailto:leward at iupui.edu>

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