[Year 12 IT Apps] OT - Ultranet functionality - true integration ?

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Roland and Robert, 

   I think as admirable as batch import/export facilities are, in this day of striving for truly integrated systems,  subsystems need to be able to allow for access to the data in terms of partial or full import/export or retrieval, modification or addition through real time web based functionality. 
  We have used this approach with our local version of the Ultranet known as MyFHC ( Ultranet is copyright ) , to generate live web based timetable viewing and hyperlinking to access specific moodle courses. This was achieved through a number of web pages incorporating session variables, LDAP, and retrieval from both MSSQL and mySQL using PHP.
  There are several other challenges on our journey towards full integration:
   1. real time roll marking data access and SMS to parents phones.
   2. live progressive reports online for students/parents on the way to the final version of the report. There was a thread on this recently and it is an area I am excited about.
   3. More moodle integration , see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjLukDNtf3k and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RuxnXeBos&feature=related by Tomaz Lasic ( thanks Ros Meadows for the link )


Best Wishes



Kevork Krozian
IT Manager , Forest Hill College
k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
Mobile: 0419 356 034

>>> "Timmer-Arends" <timmer at melbpc.org.au> 14/03/2009 5:36 pm >>>
>From Roland> ... agree on an XML transport layer and ...

Exactly my thoughts when all this came out into the open. Most (secondary) schools have most programs they need to operate the school's admin. If our place is anything to go by, the single biggest inefficiency is the lack of interoperabilty between the various packages.When the new report format was introduced and a contract awarded to produce QuickVic, someone managed to cobble together an XML specification that allows qucik, easy transfer of data between CASES and QuickVic (MarkBook). It seems to me that creating an EducXML and then insisting that all vendors create import/export functions that speak EducXML would be a heck of a lot cheaper, free up a lot of time for users, and have a greater chance of success than inventing a whole new, all singing, all dancing wheel.

Regards
Robert T-A
Brighton SC