Summary of Workshop Outcomes

Customer focus

The essential characteristics are:

• Flexibility
  

• Consistency
  

• Reliability
  

• Accuracy
  

• Timeliness

Technical focus

The principal factors are:

• Integrated access
  

• Transparency to user
  

• Best practice institutional planning
  

• Consistent analysis of e-learning environment
  

• More inclusive planning processes
  

• Better management of expectations
  

• More explicit statements of business requirements

Integration issues

• Clear identification of service layers
  

• Single sign on to multiple systems
  

• Authorisation "as-you-go"
  

• Vertical and horizontal links to legacy systems
  

• Links to digital asset and digital rights management systems
  

• Service discovery through portal platforms
  

• Application of disparate toolsets
  

• Interfaces with learning management systems

Content management issues

• Consistency of information and distribution of content
  

• Common semantics – defined ontologies
  

• Robust metadata schemas
  

• User-friendly authoring environments
  

• Accommodation of learning and information objects/content
  

• Multiple forms of delivery.

"Rules" of engagement between universities and industry partnerships

• Ensure a mutual understanding of business and technical requirements
  

• Avoid the "single-solution" syndrome
  

• Be flexible within a medium/long term strategic framework
  

• Do not be risk averse
  

• Encourage a prototyping environment
  

• Adopt industry "best practice"
  

• Make explicit statements on standards issues
  

• Do not be afraid to fill the gaps with proprietary solutions
  

• Accept the principle of iterative development
  

• Embrace mutual outsourcing, where appropriate.

Conclusions

1. Cultural issues can impede technical implementations.
   

2. Cultural issues need to be addressed by better business analysis and change management processes.
   

3. The power of technology to change cultural patterns should not be under-estimated.
   

4. More explicit business statements are required to assist both institutions and industry partners in implementing technical change.
   

5. The principles of customer focus and technical focus are interdependent.
   

6. Levels of required technical integration need to be clearly understood by all parties.
   

7. Achieving integration goals is likely to require medium to long term commitment from industry partners.

Actions

1. COLIS partners will now build up their own versions of the "chunk" systems environment and specify areas for individual/collective development over the next six months for circulation to industry partners (subject to normal rules of confidentiality).
   

2. Industry partners are invited to approach COLIS partners, either individually or collectively with prototype or integrated solutions.
   

3. The iterative development of a high level systems component framework and associated taxonomies will continue, with a view to agreement at the COLIS/IMS/industry summit in February 2001.
   

4. The digital rights management business requirements specifications will be developed and disseminated in the September-November 2001 period.

Back to Archives