What is Kuali?
5th Annual Conference
on Technology & Standards
Phil McKown
Projects Administrator
Kuali Foundation
www.kuali.org
What is Kuali?
To find out, you can start right here → kuali.org
What is Kuali?
Even better .. Go here!
kuali.org →
Sure, but what is Kuali?
Sure, but what is Kuali?
• A comprehensive suite of administrative
applications for Carnegie Class institutions –
Sure, but what is Kuali?
• A comprehensive suite of administrative applications
for Carnegie Class institutions –
designing
Sure, but what is Kuali?
• A comprehensive suite of administrative applications
for Carnegie Class institutions –
designing
developing
Sure, but what is Kuali?
• A comprehensive suite of administrative applications
for Carnegie Class institutions –
designing
developing
sustaining
Sure, but what is Kuali?
• A comprehensive suite of administrative applications
for Carnegie Class institutions –
designing
developing
sustaining
evolving
Sure, but what is Kuali?
• A comprehensive suite of administrative applications
for Carnegie Class institutions –
designing
developing
sustaining
evolving
• Collaborations of colleges, universities,
commercial firms, and interested
organizations
Sure, but what is Kuali?
• A comprehensive suite of administrative applications
for Carnegie Class institutions –
designing
developing
sustaining
evolving
• Collaborations of colleges, universities, commercial
firms, and interested organizations
Who is Kuali?
You could be here!
Kuali Commercial Affiliates
Why is Kuali?
• Higher Education wants enterprise
administrative applications that satisfy
institutional requirements.
Why is Kuali?
• Higher Education wants enterprise administrative
applications that satisfy institutional requirements.
• Institutions want interoperable modules of
functionality, and to pick and choose among
them.
Why is Kuali?
• Higher Education wants enterprise administrative
applications that satisfy institutional requirements.
• Institutions want interoperable modules of
functionality, and to pick and choose among them.
• Partners want to have a say in what
applications do, how they do it, and who
makes them.
Why is Kuali?
• Higher Education wants enterprise administrative
applications that satisfy institutional requirements.
• Institutions want interoperable modules of
functionality, and to pick and choose among them.
• Partners want to have a say in what applications do,
how they do it, and who makes them.
• Everyone wants Free Software, and it has to
be reliable, flawless, and easy to use.
Why is Kuali?
• Higher Education wants enterprise administrative
applications that satisfy institutional requirements.
• Institutions wants interoperable modules of
functionality, and to pick and choose among them.
• Partners want to have a say in what applications do,
how they do it, and who makes them.
• Everyone wants Free Software, and it has to be
reliable, flawless, and easy to use.
Kuali Has Core Principles
in Designing
1. Do not start with a blank sheet
Start from an established legacy system or at least best
of breed components
2. The features in an application are “functionallydriven”
Functional experts set the priorities and determine what
gets done.
3. Applications are not showcases for technology.
They are delivered online in a standard browser.
Kuali Has Core Principles
in Developing
4. Collaboration and consensus may be
inefficient, but they deliver superior product.
5. Development teams use industry standard
tools
Only they can estimate the resources required.
6. Quality can be assured only when thorough
testing is built into the schedule and done.
Kuali Has Core Principles
in Producing
7. Build in shared functionality with common
components.
Shared infrastructure is difficult but rewarding.
8. Release applications with incremental
advances at optimal intervals.
9. Document, document, document.
The Reality Triangle
The Reality Triangle
McKown’s Maxim:
“You are always in
the Reality Triangle”
The Kuali Projects
• In the Beginning…
the “Kuali Project” started in January, 2005.
• By its “Kuali Test Drive” demonstration
release in March, 2006, it had become KFS:
Kuali Financial Systems
• KFS is based on FIS: Financial Information
Systems client/server application developed at
Indiana University in mid 1990s.
KFS: Kuali Financial Systems
KFS: Kuali Financial Systems
Release 1.0 – Oct 06
Three “Core” modules and common “Nervous
System” infrastructure
Release 2.0 – Nov 07
• Contracts & Grants
• Purchasing / Accounts Payable
• Labor Distribution
KFS: Kuali Financial Systems
Release 3.0 – Dec 08
• Accounts Receivable
• Capital Assets
• Effort Reporting
• Budget Construction
Release 4.0 – Kuali Foundation
The KFS Partners
University of Arizona
University of California
UC Davis
UC Irvine
UC Santa Barbara
Colorado State University
Cornell University
University of Hawaii
Indiana University
University of Maryland
Michigan State University
NACUBO
The rSmart Group
San Joaquin Delta
Community College
KFS Timeline
The Kuali Projects
• Then there were two…
The KRA: Kuali Research Administration
started in January, 2007.
• KRA is based on Coeus Professional and
Coeus Light applications developed at
MIT.
KRA: Kuali Research Administration
KRA: Kuali Research Administration
Release 1 – Jul 08
• Proposal & Budget Development
• Grants.gov
Release 2 – Aug 09
• IRB / Human Participants
• Awards
• Conflict of Interest
KRA: Kuali Research Administration
Release 3 – Sep 10
• Animal Care and Use
• Negotiations
• Subcontracts
Release 4 – Oct 11
• Bio-Safety
• Export Controls
• Chemical Tracking
The KRA Partners
University of Arizona
Huron Consulting Group
University of California Indiana University
at Davis
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology
Coeus Consortium
Michigan State
Colorado State
University
University
Cornell University
Weill Medical College
KRA Timeline
The Kuali Projects
• Now there are three…
The KS: Kuali Student started in July, 2007.
• KS is based on Student Services
components and designs developed at
University of British Columbia.
An Open Source Student System:
It is coming
What is Kuali Student?
New generation Student Services System
• “Student-centric” - built to support students and
administrators from any institution
• Modular – open source – standards-based
Flexible, scalable design
Built to accommodate dynamic learning environment
• Service-Oriented Architecture delivered through
web services
What is Kuali Student?
• Five year development plan: 2007 - 2012
• Community-source project
Team consists of founder and partner institutions
Participation opportunities are available!
• Current Participants:
Why KS Now?
• Many student service systems do not meet
current needs
• Vendor solutions may not be the answer
• Development of in-house systems is
challenging
Increasingly complex technology requires
specialized resources
Why KS Now?
Competing for scarce IT resources in a
constrained market
User requirements and expectations increasing
rapidly
Budgets and funding are constrained
• We can build systems that do more for users
• Collaboration and open source
development does work
Kuali Student will...
Support end users
Support a wide range of learners and learning
activities
Support a wide range of business processes
Make it easier to change processes
Deliver a product based on services
Be sustainable through community source
development and adoption
KS: Kuali Student
Tier 1
• Curriculum Development
• Customer Contact
• Enrollment
• Degree Audit and Academic Evaluation
• Student Financials
KS: Kuali Student
Tier 2
• Admissions
• Scheduling
• Awards and Financial Aid
• Concierge
KS: Kuali Student
Tier 3
• Recruitment
• Alumni
• Event Management • Family Financial Planning
• Housing
• Elections
• Athletics
• Student Life
The KS Partners
University of British Columbia
University of California at Berkeley
Florida State University
University of Maryland at College Park
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
San Joaquin Delta Community College
KS: Kuali Student
The Kuali Projects
• All served on a bed of Kuali Rice…
KRice grew out of the original KFS
Nervous System in mid 2005.
• Kuali soon realized that there are
common components among several or
all projects
• Common code can be developed to share
(☺) or
developed in duplicate (☹).
KRice: Kuali Rice Infrastructure
The Grains of Rice ...
KIM: Kuali Identity Management – authentication of
persons, roles, etc.
KNS: Kuali Nervous System – common services
• data dictionaries
• lookups and inquiries
• maintenance documents
• note and attachment features
• custom attributes
• pluggable business rules
KRice: Kuali Rice Infrastructure
KSB: simple service bus aimed at easy
integration in a service-oriented architecture
KEW: Kuali Enterprise Workflow
• eDocs = electronic
documents
• routed online to browser
• routing sequence set by
business rules
•
•
•
•
Route Log = audit trail
workgroups
delegation
all elements maintained
in eDocs
KRice: Kuali Rice Infrastructure
KEN: Kuali Enterprise Notification – secure
communications broker for institutional
business
KOM: Kuali Organization Management –
hierarchical organizations, generic hierarchical
structures
KEW: Kuali Enterprise Workflow
KRice: Kuali Rice Infrastructure
KRice initially delivered as APIs for Kuali
project developers
Now moving to distributed web services
Release 0.9.1 – Jul 07
• Prototyping tool
Release 0.9.2 – Feb 08
• Used in KFS Release 2
Release 1.0 – Sep 08
• Incorporated into future KFS, KRA, and KS
How is Kuali Organized?
What is the Kuali Foundation?
Take another look at www.kuali.org
How is a Kuali Project Organized?
How is a Kuali Project Organized?
How is a Kuali Project Organized?
How is a Kuali Project Organized?
How is a Kuali Project Organized?
How is a Kuali Project Funded?
How is a Kuali Project Funded?
• Founding and Partner Institutions
• Tendered financial and development resources
• Functional expertise and commitment
How is a Kuali Project Funded?
•
Founding and Partner Institutions
• Tendered financial and development resources
• Functional expertise and commitment
• Mellon Foundation Grants
2005 - KFS
2006 - KRA 2007 - KS
How is a Kuali Project Funded?
•
Founding and Partner Institutions
• Tendered financial and development resources
• Functional expertise and commitment
• Mellon Foundation Grants
2005 - KFS
2006 - KRA 2007 - KS
• Kuali Foundation
• Foundation Partners – currently 23 institutions
• Commercial Affiliates – Foundations and Corporations
How is a Kuali Project Funded?
•
Founding and Partner Institutions
• Tendered financial and development resources
• Functional expertise and commitment
• Mellon Foundation Grants
2005 - KFS
2006 - KRA 2007 - KS
• Kuali Foundation
• Foundation Partners – currently 23 institutions
• Commercial Affiliates – Foundations and Corporations
So What About Standards?
After all …
So What About Standards?
Kuali Projects are developed on industry standards:
• J2EE: Sun Java 2 Enterprise Edition
• JDK: Sun Java Development Kit
• SOA: Service-Oriented Architecture
• XML: eXtensible Markup Language
• Eclipse with Web Tools
• Tomcat: Application Server
• Apache 2: Web Server
So What About Standards?
Kuali Projects are developed on industry
standards:
• Oracle and MySQL: Database Client
• Linux: Operating System
• SVN: Subversion Code Management
• Anthill Pro and Bamboo: Continuous
Integration
• Ant and Maven 2: Application Build and
Deploy
• Fisheye: Code Repository Viewer
So What About Standards?
Kuali Projects are tested on industry standards:
• JMeter: Performance Testing
• JUnit: Unit Testing
• Clover and Emma: Code Coverage
• PerformaSure and YourKit: Profiling
So What About Standards?
Kuali Projects are designed and documented on
industry standards:
• Confluence: Documentation
• Jira: Issue Tracking
• Word: Functional Specifications
• Visio and Erwin: Data Modeling
• PerformaSure and YourKit: Profiling
• Excel and Project: Project Management
So What About Standards?
Kuali Projects live in a new standard:
Community Source
• Collaboration: Confluence of the best and
brightest
• Governance: Consistent and transparent processes
and management
• Dedicated Resources: Tendered by Partners and
managed by Project Managers
• Subject Matter Experts: Functionality is defined by
the institutional power users
So What About Standards?
Kuali Projects live in a new standard:
Community Source
• Support: The Kuali Foundation delivers support
and oversight
• Industry Standards: Proven tools used across
teams: “Kuali Architecture and Development
Standards”
• Experience: Project staff become the internal
experts for institutional implementation and
support
So What About Standards?
Kuali Projects live in a new standard:
Community Source
• Sakai: Sister community source project for
Instructional Content Management
• Higher Education:
• KS Leadership is tracking PESC standards on Core,
Course Description, and Transcript
• JISC: Joint Information Systems Committee
• JA-SIG: Java Community Source Conference
The Software is Free – so why join?
Software is a fraction of the total cost …
• Implementation
• User Support
• Institutional Customization
• Resources
… all cost, dearly.
The Software is Free – so why join?
• Becoming an active member …
Kuali Projects
Kuali Foundation
…is the least expensive way to grow
these resources at home
• Participation buys influence
The Kuali Community
The Kuali Community shares
its expertise and honors yours.
Thank you
Phil McKown
pmckown@indiana.edu
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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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So What is Kuali?
Kuali is loosely translated from the Malay
language into English to mean "humble utensil
that plays an important role in the kitchen."
The Kuali Community
The Kuali Community shares
its expertise and honors yours.
Thank you
Phil McKown
pmckown@indiana.edu