NWEUG2015

ELLUCIAN MOBILE PLATFORM @ EWU

Danny Messina

Dana Simmelink

Eastern Washington University

July 30, 2015Information Technology

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

SESSION RULES OF ETIQUETTE

Please turn off you cell phone/pager

If you must leave the session early, please do so as discreetly as possible

Please avoid side conversation during the session

Thank you for your cooperation!

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

INTRODUCTION

This presentation documents the EWU experience launching and running the Ellucian Mobile Platform. We will cover the six months we spent deploying the application and the one year of production support afterwards, including challenges, successes, and recommendations.

Benefits Learn about the Ellucian Mobile Platform

Learn about the EWU configuration and deployment

Provides technical and functional point of views

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

SESSION AGENDA

1. Purchase

2. Design

3. Build

4. Run

5. Challenges

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

PURCHASE

EWU leadership came back from an Ellucian conference with this product. No real RFP was performed. The product was free when included in the Ellucian support contract.

Currently starting year two of a three year support contract

PRO: Supports Hybrid model apps

PRO: Didn't have to hire iOS & Android developers $$$$

CON: Integration with other systems could be better (esp. Ellucian ones)

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

DESIGN

Infrastructure

Look & Feel

Content

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

DESIGN: INFRASTRUCTURE

COMPONENTS: Cloud Configuration Server (ellucian.okta.com)

Mobile Application Server (3.8.1.1305)

Configuration Database (Oracle)

Mobile Clients (iOS, Google, Amazon)

DEV Mobile Application Server running on Tomcat

PRO: Full Control for development

PRO: Not as challenging to learn as WebLogic

CON: Access locked to on-campus & cloud config often breaks

PPRD & PROD Mobile Application Servers are running on WebLogic

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

INFRASTRUCTURE

Verizon

Other Clients

AT&T

Internet

Ellucian

DB Subnet

Externally Reachable

Load Balancer

<MOBILE SERVER URL>:443

Wired

Wireless

On Campus

SSO

LDAP

Internal Services

Weblogic Server 1

Mobile.war

TCP:1521

Weblogic Server 2

Mobile.war

Banner Student

Mobile Config

Two Database Users1) MOBILEBNR2) MOBILECFG

HTTP:8080

mobile.elluciancloud.com

HTTPS:443

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

INFRASTRUCTURE: CLOUD CONFIG

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

DESIGN: MOBILE-CONFIG.GROOVY

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

/* Required configuration settings */grails.serverURL = https://apps.ewu.edu/mobileellucian.configuration.apiKey = '********‘

/* Directory Configuration (Get your Active Directory Guys to Help) */ellucian.directory.types.faculty.searchFilter = "(|(memberOf=CN=Eastern-

Faculty,OU=Generated,OU=Groups,DC=eastern,DC=ewu,DC=edu)(memberOf=CN=Eastern-Staff,OU=Generated,OU=Groups,DC=eastern,DC=ewu,DC=edu))“ellucian.directory.types.faculty.source = "ldap“ellucian.directory.maxResults = 100

/* CAS Configuration */mobileServerUsingWebCAS=truecasServerUrlPrefix = https://login.ewu.edu/cascasServerLoginUri = "/login“mobileServerUsingSAML = false

NWEUG2015

LOCAL CONFIGURATION DB SETTINGS

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

/* Configuration DB setup information */dataSource.driverClassName = "oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver“dataSource.url = "jdbc:oracle:thin:@<oracle_server>:<port>:<sid>“dataSource.username = "mobilecfg“dataSource.password = "********“dataSource.properties.maxActive = 15dataSource.properties.minIdle = 1dataSource.properties.maxIdle = 1dataSource.properties.maxWait = 10000dataSource.properties.minEvictableIdleTimeMillis=60000dataSource.properties.timeBetweenEvictionRunsMillis=60000dataSource.properties.testWhileIdle=truedataSource.properties.validationQuery = 'select 1 from dual‘grails.plugin.databasemigration.updateOnStartFileNames = ['changelog-oracle.groovy']

NWEUG2015

LOCAL BANNER DB SETTINGS

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

/* BANNER DB setup information */ellucian.security.userIdServiceName = “banner“ellucian.security.roleServiceName = "banner“ellucian.datasource.sis.host = "<banner_db>“ellucian.datasource.sis.port = "<banner_db_port>“ellucian.datasource.sis.sid = "<banner_sid>“ellucian.datasource.sis.username = "mobilebnr“ellucian.datasource.sis.password = “********"

NWEUG2015

INFRASTRUCTURE: CLIENTS

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

iOS Android Amazon

http://ewu.edu/ios http://ewu.edu/android http://ewu.edu/amazon

onelink.to/ewuappPlatforms we don't support fallback to the main EWU mobile app page

NWEUG2015

DESIGN: LOOK & FEEL

EWU Branding Important

New Splash Images eachquarter to match website

Customized via: Back-end build tools:

Eclipse for Android / (now Android Studio)

Xcode for iOS

Front-end Mobile Cloud Configuration Tool

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

DESIGN: OUT OF THE BOX CONTENT

Built-In Features: News Feeds Important Numbers Maps Course Schedule Grades Faculty/Staff Search (Directory) Web module

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

BUILD

SSO Configuration

Customized Content Maps

Numbers

LMS Integration

Web Module

Org Sync

Directory

Deploying Mobile Clients Testing with Ellucian Go

App Stores & Approvals

iOS

Android

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

BUILD: SSO CONFIGURATION

The 3.5 version introduced CAS Browser Based Authentication PRO: Easy configuration

CON: Students complain about having to login all the time

PRO/CON: Our SSO Login wasn't responsive at launch

Our configuration is below

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

// From our mobile-config.groovy file

mobileServerUsingWebCAS=truecasServerUrlPrefix = "https://login.ewu.edu/cas"casServerLoginUri = "/login"

NWEUG2015

BUILD: CUSTOMIZED CONTENT

Maps

Important Numbers

LMS Integration

Org Sync

Faculty/Staff Search (Directory)

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

BUILD: DEPLOYING MOBILE CLIENTS

iOS Very cautious when submitting

Took two plus weeks for approval

Certificates caused confusion

Android Well Documented

Overnight Approval

Amazon Use the same package as Android

Accidentally used personal Account 1st Time

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

BUILD: TESTING

Don't build DEV and TEST Clients Use Ellucian Go! Use the testing links in

PUBLICATION Ellucian GO knows how

to open these links!

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

BUILD: APP STORES

Apple: App Store ($99 + Tax ) / Year Very Scary Approval Process Be conservative w/ your submission

Google: Play Store $25 (1x Charge) Less Strict Approval Process

Amazon: App Store $0 Simple to do after the Android build is complete We did it (is it worth your time?) VERY low download numbers

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

RUN

Analytics Distinguishing Web Module Traffic w/ &mobile=true

Google Dashboards: App Overview

Trouble tracking external web links

Traffic Trends / Spikes

Summary Current/Total Installs

Top Screens

Content Bus Schedule

Order Food Online with Tapingo

Events

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

RUN: ANALYTICS

Google Dashboards: App Overview {New Users, Active Users, Country, Top Device Models, Country, User Engagement}

Distinguishing Web Module Traffic w/ &mobile=true

Trouble tracking external web links

App Overview

Tracking External Links?

Traffic Trends / Spikes Start/End of Quarter Spike (Schedule/Grades)

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

RUN: SUMMARY

Current/Total Installs: Android:

711 Current / 1,070 Total

Amazon: 63 Total Installs

iOS 872 Total Installs through Dec 31st

312 Total Installs April 1 - Current

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Top Screenviews for June

1. Home Screen - 4,442

2. Schedule (full view) - 1,152

3. Schedule (daily view) - 911

4. Sign In Page - 855

5. Grades list - 821

6. Notifications Detail - 454

7. Course Overview - 345

8. Term List - 273

9. Map of Campus - 234

10. News List - 170

NWEUG2015

RUN: CONTENT

Bus Schedule

Tapingo Online Food Ordering

Events

LyndaCampus (training)

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

CHALLENGES

Registration Still not Available

Security Vulnerability

Failed Dining App (Integration & Deployment)

Surveys (lack of response)

Poor Integration w/ Portal and Banner SSB

Videos??? Images??? YouTube???

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

SESSION SUMMARY

Summarize the key points you want your learners to remember

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Be sure to leave about 10–15 minutes for questions from your audience

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

NWEUG2015

THANK YOU!

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Danny Messina

Senior Manager

Application Development &Web Design

Phone: 509.359.2830

Email: dmessina@ewu.edu

Dana Simmelink

Web Developer

Application Development & Web Design

Phone: 509.359.4356

Email: dsimmelink@ewu.edu

NWEUG2015

EXTRA STUFF! DEVL REFRESH

Our DBAs "Refresh" our DEV & PPROD Database with production data which conveniently 'breaks' the moblile app server

This script fixes it and the DBAs execute it after a Refresh

Server may still need a restart

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

UPDATE CONFIGURATION_DOMAINSET CLOUD_ID = <DEV CLOUD ID>, DISPLAY_NAME = ‘Development’, MOBILE_SERVER_URL = ‘<DEV URL>’, NAME=’Development’WHERE ID=1;

NWEUG2015

ADDING A MAP WINDOW

In Banner, the map window map to rows mapped in the campus table

We had to add a building mapped to the campus as well for the mobile application to recognize the campus

insert into stvcamp (STVCAMP_CODE, STVCAMP_DESC, STVCAMP_ACTIVITY_DATE) VALUES ('DIN', 'On Campus Dining Locations', '25-MAY-14');

INSERT INTO STVBLDG (STVBLDG_CODE,STVBLDG_DESC, STVBLDG_ACTIVITY_DATE)VALUES ('AAB', 'The Garage 2', '25-MAY-14');

INSERT INTO SLBBLDG (SLBBLDG_USER_ID, SLBBLDG_DATA_ORIGIN, SLBBLDG_ACTIVITY_DATE, SLBBLDG_MAXIMUM_CAPACITY, SLBBLDG_CAPACITY, SLBBLDG_CAMP_CODE,SLBBLDG_BLDG_CODE)VALUES ('DSIMMELINK','mobile', '25-MAY-14','2', '2','DIN','AAB');Coeur d’Alene, Idaho