EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Welcome! Course outline Course elements: 1. Content Management – Searching and indexing – Item structure and XML 2. Moderation Workflow 3. Bulk Item Management 4. Bulk upload options 5. Reports 6. User details 7. EQUELLA support EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Core Principals Review EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Native EQUELLA EQUELLA Certification EQ101 EQUELLA Core Principles Certification Integrated EQUELLA EQU EQ101 EQUELLA Core Principles Certification Digital content and EQUELLA Digital content • Individual files, Multi-file archives, learning objects, remote content Metadata • Information about content EQUELLA items • The fundamental EQUELLA entity EQUELLA collections • The storage units that house items EQUELLA institutions • The whole repository EQ101 EQUELLA Core Principles Certification EQUELLA item lifecycle EQ101 EQUELLA Core Principles Certification How does EQUELLA work? Every item that enters the repository is catalogued • Item metadata Users are provided with suitable permissions to • Search, view, create, manage, administer… Searches use the item metadata to return results. Items and their components can then be linked to courses. EQ101 EQUELLA Core Principles Certification Anatomy of an EQUELLA Repository EQUELLA Institution User Management Collection Security Contribution Wizard Unique URL Metadata Schema Administration Console Workflow Multiple Collections Multiple Items Security EQ101 EQUELLA Core Principles Certification Item Content Metadata EQUELLA’s Universe EQUELLA frees content from the bounds of its repository: • • • Shared interfaces and metadata standards Copyright management Digital rights management Content can be federated, harvested or linked to or from external sources: • • Other EQUELLA institutions External repositories that implement industry accepted standards and protocols EQ101 EQUELLA Core Principles Certification Presentation Layer EQUELLA UI LMS – eg. Bb/Moodle Integration Agent Management Layer Custom Applications SOAP Agent Discovery Metadata Rights, Security, Workflow Consume Layer Upload, search and consume: Learning content, research, iTunes U, YouTube, copyright materials Common Uses for EQUELLA LMS Integration(s) Content tagged to standards and/or taxonomies Image data base Research Repository Library System Integration Federated Searching DRM/Copyright Course/Content Production Student ePortfolio Open Educational Resources / Open Courseware And more... Client Stories A few client stories on how EQUELLA is used at other institutions: http://www.equella.com/community/client-stories/ EQUELLA Content Management EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Overview EQUELLA manages content using the following processes: • Contribution—allow documents and multimedia material to be imported and created • Search indexing—to catalogue materials to make them discoverable • User role/privilege assignment—identify all key users and their roles including content managers • Collection privilege assignment—assign roles and responsibilities for workflow review processes EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Fundamental elements The management processes are supported in EQUELLA by • Metadata – • Fundamental to contributing and cataloguing EQUELLA items Access control lists (ACL) and privileges – Fundamental to the user role and item type management EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Contribution Content management begins with item contribution. During contribution, information about the item is entered and the attachments are uploaded. So how do you determine what information to collect? EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Information The information required for managing content depends on the content and how it is to be used: • • • Are the items to be shared with other repositories? Are the items only for internal use? Are digital rights assigned? EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Metadata The information collected during contribution is in fact metadata and its fundamental purpose is to make content discovery and management easier. Managing content in large repositories requires organization: Information stored without structure makes it difficult to distinguish what the information is, text could represent a name, description or author. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Metadata schemas Organization of metadata is controlled by the metadata template called a metadata schema. A metadata schema • Typically comprises a number of elements or nodes arranged in a hierarchy • Provides a structure for information that is copied each time a new item is contributed • Provides a map for EQUELLA to enable it to find or store the required information • Schemas are used in collections, workflows and searching EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA metadata schemas EQUELLA provides an editor for creating schemas and places no restrictions on their structure. This is a program management task. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Metadata schemas EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Common schemas To simplify sharing of content with other repositories standard schemas have been developed, such as: • IMS—http://www.imsglobal.org/metadata/ • Dublin Core—http://dublincore.org/ Typically, schemas only implement part of these schemas because they are extensive with parts that are not relevant to all organizations. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Metadata and searching Metadata provides the means for finding EQUELLA content. Metadata is used to catalogue content using a process called indexing. The index associates search terms with the location of content in the repository. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA searching EQUELLA provides a range of searches each configured for a specific purpose. Searches can be accessed: • Directly from EQUELLA • Through an integrated application, such as LearningStudio or Blackboard • Through the Resource Selector or HTML Editor during contribution EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA indexing EQUELLA indexing is the process of cataloguing items for searching. Indexing is controlled by options associated with a schema node • Searchable by Free Text • Index for Power Searches Selecting either or both options will include the metadata stored in this node in the index so it is available for a suitably configured search. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Schema node indexing EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Schema node indexing EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Items The previous section discussed how metadata can be organized and used, this section describes how items are stored. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Contribution EQUELLA items are created by contribution. During contribution, each item is given a copy of the collection schema and the copy is filled with information from the contribution wizard. Information is also added by the system, including • A unique identifier called a UUID • Time and date of contribution • Item status EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification After contribution EQUELLA creates a URL for the item and stores metadata as a file in the filestore and the attachments in a separate attachments folder. EQUELLA also updates the system metadata associated with the item. Some of this information can be found in the item URL. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA URLs EQUELLA item URLS comprise the following components: The name of the EQUELLA server (e.g., http://myequella.someplace.edu.au/) The EQUELLA institution name or code (e.g., learning/) The institution names or codes are created by the organization when EQUELLA is installed The unique ID of the item (e.g., items/5b0dbc71-b4443789-d6e5-dce072993c5e/). The version number (e.g., 2/) cont’d EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA URLs Following the version number is a long string of characters beginning with “?” that are EQUELLA application instructions on how to search and display the item, and can be ignored when saving the URL for later use or to email to colleagues. Thus, the full “useful” EQUELLA URL will look like this: http://myequella.someplace.edu.au/learning/5b0dbc71b444-3789-d6e5-dce072993c5e/2/ EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Viewing the item filestore EQUELLA items and their attachments can be viewed by inserting a tildé character “~” immediately before the question mark. An example is http://myequella.someplace.edu.au/learning/5b0dbc71b444-3789-d6e5-dce072993c5e/2/~?... Entering this URL into a browser will display the item page providing links to the constituent parts of the item. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Viewing the item filestore Selecting <XML> displays the item XML document. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Viewing the Item Filestore The displayed XML will be a combination of • entered metadata and • system generated metadata EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification System generated XML The nodes for system generated XML are appended to the item metadata schema and cannot be accessed when editing a schema. System generated XML contains system related information such as the item ID, the version number, the date of creation or editing, the workflow steps the item has been through, etc. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification System generated XML This is an example of system generated XML attributes: <item id="7a9204a1-22be-957c-7408-963c1c07bbef" itemdefid="b4c2ddf0-b647-db8b-1e0d-d899d851724a" itemstatus="live" key="30219" version="1"> This is an example of system generated XML elements: <datecreated>2010-01-27T16:49:30+1100</datecreated> <datemodified>2010-01-28T11:08:40+1100</datemodified> <dateforindex>2010-04-09T09:09:17+1000</dateforindex> EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Practical exercises Using the Item structure and XML exercises sheet participants should • • • • • Contribute an item. Find the item after contribution. Note the components of the URL. View the item filestore View the item and system metadata EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Moderation Workflow EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Access control lists and privileges Fundamental to the user role and item type management are the security privileges and access control lists (ACL). Access control lists control every aspect of EQUELLA and how it can be used by users. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Access control lists (ACL) The ACL defines the items and functionality available to EQUELLA users by granting or revoking privileges. The ACL provides a hierarchy of inherited privileges enabling • Institution ACL to be applied to all collections, items or users • Collection ACL to be applied to all items in the collection • Item ACL to be applied to specific items • Role ACL to be applied to all users associated with that role • Simple and powerful control over items and users EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification An EQUELLA ACL EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Content management role assignment To play a role in content management, users must have suitable privileges. Typically, users are assigned to a suitably configured user group that is then assigned to an EQUELLA role by a system administrator. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Group assignment Users are put into Groups EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Role assignment Groups are assigned to Roles EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Content management roles Content management is a collaborative processes typically involving the following roles • Creator—responsible for creating or editing content • Editor—responsible for refining content to organizational standards • Publisher—responsible for releasing content for use • Administrator—responsible for managing ACLs for content and users • User—the person who reads or otherwise takes in content after it is published or shared EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Role coordination The interaction between the various content management roles is coordinated by a workflow. Workflows automatically notify reviewers when a review is required. Workflows are typically created by a system administrator. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Workflow overview Workflows are associated with a collection and can be a simple one-step review or complex multi-step editorial and technical reviews that contain multiple publication paths. Items contributed to a collection with a workflow will enter the workflow when • The item is contributed • A new version of the item created • The item moves to a Review state after the designated period has elapsed EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Item States Item states indicate an item’s progress through the workflow • Items have the status Moderating after entering the workflow for the first time • Other status displayed are Rejected and Review • Other moderation states displayed in the moderation history are Assigned, Accepted (Live), May moderate, Must moderate, Asked to Moderate, Unassigned, Notifications. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Workflow messages EQUELLA notifies moderators when items require review by displaying a message on their Home Page Task List or in the notifications section of the navigation bar. Email reminders can also be sent to moderators when items are not reviewed within a defined period. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Task List messages Tasks assigned to me—displayed when you must moderate an item. • Items in this group are classified as Asked to Moderate on the Tasks page item filter. Tasks assigned to others—displayed to review group members when the X items have been assigned reviewers. • Items in this group are classified as May Moderate on the Tasks page item filter. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Task List messages Unassigned Tasks—displayed to review group members when the X items have not been assigned to reviewers. • Items in this group are classified as Unassigned on the Tasks page item filter. Must moderate—displayed when you must moderate an item. • Items in this group are classified as Must Moderate on the Tasks page item filter. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Task List messages Items that were rejected—displayed to item contributors when the X items have been rejected by a reviewer. • Items in this group are classified as Rejected on the Tasks page item filter. Items that went into review—displayed to item contributors when the X items re-enter a workflow to be checked for currency. • Items in this group are classified as Review on the Tasks page item filter. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Workflows Workflows can be • very simple • extremely complex EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Performing workflow tasks Clicking on a Task group in the Task List displays the list of all items in that list. The list can be sorted and filtered to select specific items. On the right, amid the filters, there is a keyword input window. Following this is a filter by Collection. Selecting a Collection results in the display of a workflow step filter. Finally there is an item filter by Status. Filters can be used individually or in combination, and the results sorted by date, rank, rating or title. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Moderating an Item When the Moderate button to the right of an item is clicked, the Tasks page is displayed. Above the action buttons at the bottom of the page is a link: Show Moderation Progress. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Advanced functions When the Moderate action is selected for a given item, a number of action buttons are displayed at the top of the page. Reject, Approve, Prev & Next Also: Edit resource, View summary, View metadata If an item is Rejected, it can return to a previous workflow step or can be returned to the original contributor (setup in workflow). EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Advanced functions - Reject The moderator will be asked to confirm the rejection by clicking the Confirm rejection button. Items which are rejected must be accompanied by comments. Comments are displayed to moderators, the original owner (if the item is rejected back to them), and in the Item history. Item owners, when an item has been rejected, will see a Redraft under Actions. Redrafted items are returned to moderation workflow. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Advanced functions - Accept It can also be Accepted – this makes it live and removes it from workflow. Comments can be added by selecting the Comments button. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Workflow steps Workflow steps are the places in a workflow tree where, when reached by an item, moderation occurs. To see which step has been reached by an item, find the item and go to the Moderation History. Information similar to that on the following slide will be displayed. NOTE: steps and their names are created when a workflow is designed. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Workflow steps EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Workflow Reports EQUELLA has two default workflow reports: • • Items in Moderation Items in Moderation for more than 2 weeks The second is a subset of the first. Each lists the item name, the date and time the item first went into moderation, and the item version. The item names listed in the reports are hotlinks – clicking on these takes the user to the item’s summary page. (NOTE: The link does NOT go to the moderation page.) EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Workflow exercises Using the Moderation workflow exercises sheet participants should • Contribute an item. • Perform a workflow step that accepts the item. • Perform a workflow step that rejects the item. • Redraft an item. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Bulk Item Management EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Bulk Item Management This section of the course describes various functions that can be performed on multiple EQUELLA items. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Overview Bulk item management is used to • change the status of one or more items in one or more collections • clone items • move items to new collections • assign new ownership to items These actions are only available to users with appropriate privileges, such as EQUELLA content administrators. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Bulk management operations Bulk management operations can be performed on the Manage Resources Navigation Link Actions that can be carried out include Archive – changes a Live status to Archive Make live – sets the Archive item status back to Live Re-draft – make changes to item in workflow and resubmit to moderation Submit for moderation – submit items for moderation EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Bulk management operations Reset Workflow – restarts the Moderation Workflow Review - puts an item back into a Moderation Workflow and sets the item status to Review Change Owner - allows the item owner to be changed to another EQUELLA login username Clone - allows an item to be duplicated without saving the history of the parent item Move - allows an item to be moved to a new Collection EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Bulk management operations Delete – removes items from the repository and sets the item status to Deleted Restore - sets the Deleted item status back to Live Purge – permanently removes Deleted items It is irreversible. Purged items cannot be recovered – they and their index entries are completely removed from the database Suspend – removes items from the repository and sets the item status to Suspended Resume – restores item from suspended state EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Group by item status The filter menu in Bulk Management lists groups of items by like status. Options currently available include • All: (active items) • Draft • Live ( “published” items) • Rejected • Moderating (includes items flagged for Review) • Archived • Suspended • Deleted • Review • Personal EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Selecting combinations of items • • • Limit by Collection Limit by item owner Limit by last modified date (a date range can be selected, or just a single date, as required) One or more of these filters can be used together to reduce the number of items retrieved from the EQUELLA database. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification How to select via item metadata and XML nodes If a specific collection is selected, a new filter will appear: “Edit query.” This filter allows a user to generate queries against the database using schema nodes, plus data values possibly stored in the selected node. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification How to select via item metadata and XML nodes “Where” statements are generated as a result of this filter. For example, where /xml/item/lom/technical/format <> “video” This filter can be used on its own or along with one or more of these filters, in order to reduce the number of items retrieved from the EQUELLA database. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Practical exercises Participants should work through the exercises provided on the EQ201 Bulk Management exercises sheet. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Bulk upload options EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Bulk Importer and other upload options This section describes how data can be imported into EQUELLA EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Overview EQUELLA items can be individually created via the contribution wizard and they can be bulk uploaded from, for example, legacy databases. The three options for bulk loading data into EQUELLA include • EBI (EQUELLA Bulk Importer), which is available to users from the EQUELLA Community Site upon request • A Java import utility • Custom programming by a consultant to client specifications EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification What is EBI? The EBI (EQUELLA Bulk Importer) creates EQUELLA items from data contained in a csv file. It is accompanied by a comprehensive user manual. It can also read and import attachments – either files or URLs, including multiple attachments for the same item. EBI is configured via a GUI that allows the user to configure how EQUELLA uses the CSV file. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EBI EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification CSV file The spreadsheet (csv file) must comprise a minimum of two rows: • The first row contains the XML paths where data is to be stored; • The second (and subsequent) row/s contains the values to be stored. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification CSV file EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Imported Items EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Java utilities There are two utilities that allow items, or items plus attachments, to be exported and imported: Export tool - exports records from a collection as XML files plus linked attachments. The original items and attachments remain in the original collection. Import tool - reloads exports into another EQUELLA collection – perhaps on a different server – as long as both schemas match. Available from EQUELLA Client Support EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Custom programming Custom programming gives an organization or institution great flexibility in exporting and importing data from legacy systems to EQUELLA. Python (an open source computer language) is the preferred scripting language for these activities. Python uses API calls which can manipulate existing EQUELLA XML or create and upload new XML. Python scripts can also be used to upload attachments. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Reports EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Reports This section describes the reports that are available in EQUELLA, how they are run, and how they are created. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Standard Reports EQUELLA is installed with a set of default reports (this may vary depending which version is implemented at your site). These include: Items in moderation for more than 2 weeks • Items in moderation • Items rejected through workflow report • URL checker report • Users Report • Weekly usage • EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Customized Reports New reports can be created by using the BIRT report designer, downloadable from the EQUELLA support site. Using BIRT requires specialist training - prior experience with SQL is an absolute requirement for generating reports with the Report Designer. Alternatively, EQUELLA can be commissioned to create or modify reports according to client specifications. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification How to Run Reports Reports can be run by users with the appropriate EQUELLA permissions. (NOTE: reports should not be run during peak times, since generating large reports may impact on system performance.) Available reports are listed in the EQUELLA Reports navigation button. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification How to Run Reports To run a report, select it from the Report list and OK to confirm to display the report. The default report format is HTML. Select PDF from the drop-down list to display the report as a PDF document ready for printing. You can also export as an Excel file. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Parameterized Reports Parameterized reports are those that require a user to input variables such as date ranges. Parameters are used to filter results, and thus restrict the number of items that match the criteria used in the report. Parameters can also be used to allow one report to pass parameters to another report. When reports are run that use parameters, a wizard prompts the user for the required input values. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Drilling Down Through Reports Some reports allow users to generate further reports or get more information about an item listed in the report. For example, the Top Search Queries report lists the most popular items for the past number of days (the number is a parameter passed into the report by the user when it is run). This report lists search terms and the number of hits per item; clicking on an item link displays the item username and date in a new browser window. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Practical Exercises Participants should work through the exercises provided on the EQ201 Report exercises sheet. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification User Details/Profile EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Edit User EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Overview Users can: • Edit username and email details • Change password • Set the frequency of workflow notifications • Hide the login notice • Select to be notified about collection changes • Change preferred language displayed • Select a time zone for display dates EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification Practical Exercises Participants should work through the exercises provided on the EQ201 User Profile exercises sheet. EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification EQUELLA Support EQ201 EQUELLA Content Administrator Certification User level support Typically, this support is provided by a local support team led by the system administrator. Contact your local support team as the first step to resolving user issues. 102 EQUELLA Certification EQXXX Institution level support Direct access to EQUELLA support Typically, this support is restricted to system administrators. Contact support@equella.com to obtain log in details to the EQUELLA Support Site. Support Site: http://support.equella.com 103 EQUELLA Certification EQXXX What’s available from Support? EQUELLA support provides: • EQUELLA Documentation (by version) • Knowledgebase & RSS feed • Open support tickets (or via email) • Track open tickets • EQUELLA Installer and upgrades • Internationalization packs • Sample reports • Miscellaneous Tools • Access to consultants EQUELLA Certification EQXXX EQUELLA Consultants Consultants offer at-cost services, including • • • • • Customized scripting Integration enhancements Transformation templates Security configuration Bulk importing of items and user records from legacy systems EQUELLA Certification EQXXX User community forum The International User Community forum is designed to facilitate interaction amongst the EQUELLA client community. Register at the community site: http://www.equellacommunity.com EQUELLA Certification EQXXX Further training courses EQUELLA provides the following training courses: • EQ101 – Core Principles Certification • EQ201 – Content Administrator Certification • EQ301 – Application Administrator Certification • EQ302 – Advanced Application Administrator Certification • EQ401 – System Administrator Certification EQUELLA Certification EQXXX Thank you! Please take a moment to complete the survey. Quick checkboxes are fine. Detailed comments are welcome but not required. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/atctraining