January 2004 — Features
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New IDEAS: Putting the School Interoperability Framework to the Test
Phase three will build a robust reporting platform to reside on top of the data-integration capabilities. This will entail the use of data marts and data warehousing to collect and aggregate historical case-level data and tools enabling end users to quickly access information through a Web interface. The key to the ultimate success of the New IDEAS collaboration and goals will be the ability to place timely, accurate information into the hands of people who can use it best toward improved teaching and learning experiences for students and other district stakeholders.
Finally, phase four will integrate all district information into a central Web portal, consolidating multiple interfaces into a single point of entry to all information resources.
Project Implementation
New IDEAS was conceived through meetings among strategically positioned personnel within Jurupa USD and the three partnering technology corporations. The developed plan encompassed the entire project from the assigned tasks through to the ultimate outcome. The project team consistently brainstormed expected roadblocks, pitfalls and other potential adverse scenarios; however, positive attitudes were maintained as all remained confident of a successful outcome.
Ongoing discussions focused on issues such as available software, the layout of databases and the logistics of the data transfer throughout the district. These group analyses greatly assisted in determining appropriate future implementation plans and system inclusions (e.g., transportation and human resources applications, the Microsoft Class Server, the intranet portal and even MS Windows Active Directory).
Once the logistics were understood, an installation strategy was formed. The installation began with a new server and Windows 2003 Enterprise. However, just as the installation was completed, the technicians were informed of adverse technical issues with a Windows 2003 installation in another school district four months earlier. Following re-evaluation, conversion back to the Windows 2000 Advanced Server was initiated, running Service Pack 3 with MS SQL Server 2000 and MS BizTalk Server 2002. Once the rollback was completed, further instructions suggested moving to Service Pack 4 and .NET Framework 1.1 Service Pack 1.
After a measure of trial and error, all server software was installed and the technicians were ready to introduce the Zone Integration Server (ZIS) and repository ("How SIF Works" 2002). Due to changes in the SIF specifications, it was necessary for the software company to update the ZIS. During the downtime of about two days, the technicians upgraded all of the applications to be used in the pilot run of the vendor-suggested versions. Then, roughly five days into the project, all software on the server was ready, including all upgrades of the SIF-compliant software. The technicians were now ready to fire up the ZIS. Technical personnel from the ZIS software company connected to the server and performed a remote SIF server install. With a few configuration changes to the server, the software installation progressed smoothly.
