WattNames
a JISC VRERI Project
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The WattNames Project Plan
WattNames Project Plan
Project Name: WattNames: Case study and trial implementation to uniquely identify Heriot-Watt University researchers.
Project Tag: WattNames
Project Website:
http://www.icbl.hw.ac.uk/WattNames
Project Team: Santiago Chumbe (PI) and Lisa Rogers
Date this reports was
started: 27-01-2010
Date this report was finished: 15-02-2010
Total amount of JISC money allocated to this project: £26,925
Link to Project details on JISC PIMS: https://pims.jisc.ac.uk/projects/view/1588
Table of Contents:
- Aims and Objectives
- Project Outputs
- Wider Benefits
- Risk Analysis
- Intellectual Property Rights
- Project Relationships
- Work Plan
- Communication Plan
- Success Plan
- Budget
Aims and Objectives
Aim:
The aim of this proposal is to trial an institutional identity resolver based on URIs to enable the production of reliable and unambiguous identification of researchers from the Heriot-Watt University (HW). The URIs will be public and resolve to provide information suitable for a restful API, which will expose researcher’s metadata using a range of XML exchange formats including the record format used and recommended by the Names Project.
Objectives:
- To prototype an institutional identity resolver based on URIs to enable the production of reliable and unambiguous identification of researchers from our University.
- To make public the URIs via a RESTful API, using XML exchange formats, including the record format recommended by the Names Project.
- To examine the benefits and difficulties of implementing such an identity resolver.
- To produce a Case Study, including a sustainable business model, for automated data supply from Universities and Research institutions to the Names comprehensive database.
Project Outputs
- A prototype of a lightweight identity URI resolver system, comprising RESTful interfaces and XML exchange formats.
- A case study describing the potential use of the resolver for the Names Project, the usefulness and effectiveness of the resolver for the Institution and a sustainable business model.
- Report in the form of blog posts and Final Project Report
Wider Benefits
The project will provide a new source of information for the Names project to improve the quality of its dataset and develop a comprehensive national database.
As well as providing benefits to Heriot Watt University in being able to uniquely and unambiguously identify it’s academic and research staff and provide information in preparation for the Research Excellence Framework, the case studies will help other universities to produce suitable strategies and methodologies for implementing an identity resolver based on URIs.
This project will provide benefit to authors from Heriot-University as they will have a high interest in the discoverability, validity and correct attribution of their research work. A secondary benefit will be from external service, researchers and learners with interest in finding and reusing the latest research outputs produced by specific academics.
Risk Analysis
Risks |
How to deal with it: |
1.) Staff Loss |
All staff are in place. ICBL has been able to recruit RAs from our own University in the past |
2.) Lack of support from the Names Project |
We have secured support from the Names Project |
3.) Lack of Support from the 3 relevant departments within Heriot-Watt University |
We have secured support from these departments |
4.) Technical failure |
The hardware to be used at Heriot- Watt will be well managed & maintained. Data is regularly backed up. |
5.) Software failure |
The project will reuse established and supported technology |
Intellectual Propetry Rights
Software will be released under a GPL v.3 (GNU Pubic Licence) licence.
Other outputs will be released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 UK: Scotland .
Project Relationships
Roger Rist,
Project Director, Institute for Computer Based Learning (ICBL),
Santy Chumbe, Project Manager/Developer, ICBL, HWU.
Lisa Rogers, Project Officer, ICBL, HWU.
Paul Thomson, University Technology and Research Services (TRS), HWU
David Cole, University Information and Computer Services (UICS), HWU
David Bond, University Library (UL), HWU
Amanda Hill, Names Project Manager and Community Expert
Phil Barker, Interoperability expert, ICBL, HWU
WattNames Project Relationship Diagram
Work Plan
The Project Team will follow the principles of the SCRUM methodology as changes in the requirements are expect to happen as the project progresses and we will need a mythology to allow us to quickly react to those changes. As those changes can have an impact on the initial estimates of development time, the methodology should allow us to re-plan resources to achieve the expected goals within the project timeframe. The mythology could also help us to increase the communication between stakeholders and developer in order to prevent failure.
SCRUM methodology for the Technical Design and Development
High Level Design:
- Functionality for API
back-end system
- Identification of relevant institutional database systems
- Creation of a layer to inter-communicate with these systems
- Functionality for institutional identity
resolver system
- Design of the URI resolution process algorithm
- Development of the URI resolver
- Functionality for RESTful API
- Design and development of RESTful interface
- Creation of XML exchange formats compatible with the Names Project
- Functionality for Case
Study
- Testing interoperability with Names Project API
Sprint Cycles:
- First Sprint (01-Feb-10 to
15-Mar-10)
- Develop: layer to inter-communicate with institutional systems
- Wrap up: Map unique IDs across systems
- Review: Resolve all issues reported via bug tracker toolAdjust: Remove or adjust unresolved issues
- Sprint Review Meeting: 16th Mar 10
- Second Sprint (17-Mar-10 to
31-May-10)
- Develop: URI resolver prototype
- Wrap up: Integrate URI resolver with institutional systems
- Review: Resolve all issues reported via bug tracker tool
- Adjust: Remove or adjust unresolved issues
- Sprint Review Meeting: 1st. Jun 10
- Third Sprint (02-Jun-10 to 03-Jul-10)
- Develop: API and XML exchange formats
- Wrap: Implement API to handle requests from Names Project
- Review: Resolve all issues reported via bug tracker tool
- Adjust: Remove or adjust unresolved issues
- Sprint Review Meeting: 04th Jul 10
- Product Release: 05th Jul 10
Both the Product Backlog and the Sprint Backlog will be tracked, monitored and resolved via the mantis bug-tracker tool.
30 min SCRUM Meeting (Twice a week) : Postgraduate Centre Bar (Wed & Fri; 10:45AM)
Working Team:
- Roger Rist
- Santy Chumbe (leader)
- Lisa Rogers
Interested Team:
- Paul Thomson
- David Cole
- Phil Barker
- David Bond
|
Communication Plan
Reporting of project progress and deliverables will be posted on the blog. The project will regularly use twitter to communicate with other developers and the JISC community. A member of the project will attend programme meetings. We have categorised the blog project in categories that reflect the topics required for the Progress Posts. Our Project Officer is in charge of posting communications on the blog. Our developer will participate in any event organised by the JISC Developer Community that is relevant for the project.
Success Plan
Communication with the Names project and the three departments within our own institution was made early before the project was funded, and a letter of support from each was obtained.
An initial basic SWOT analysis has been undertaken in the first weeks of the project, which will be followed by further analysis at the end of each code sprint. The following steps have been taken to ensure the project is run in a successful way:
- engaging the University Systems Architect
- engaging the University Research Systems Management officer
- engaging the Names Project Manager
- being part of a community of developers working in the same area
These are some key envisioned moments that would suggest success along the way:
- URI identity resolver system is ready
- API and XML exchange formats are ready for trial
- A sample data of HWU researchers are recorded in Names database
- Feedback is received from the Names Project
- Feedback is received from the University TRS office
Budget
Directly Incurred Staff |
January
10 – |
August 10– October 10 |
TOTAL £ |
|
RA, Grade 7, 44 days |
£9102 |
£0 |
£9102 |
|
RA, Grade 7, 22 days |
£4046 |
£0 |
£4046 |
|
Total Directly Incurred Staff (A) |
£13148 |
£0 |
£13148 |
|
Non-Staff |
January
10 – |
August 10– October 10 |
TOTAL £ |
|
Travel and expenses |
£400 |
£0 |
£400 |
|
Hardware/software |
£0 |
£0 |
£0 |
|
Other |
£0 |
£0 |
£0 |
|
Total Directly Incurred Non-Staff (B) |
£400 |
£0 |
£400 |
|
Directly Incurred Total (C) (A+B=C) |
£13548 |
£0 |
£13548 |
|
Directly Allocated |
January
10 – |
August 10– October 10 |
TOTAL £ |
|
Project Director/Principal Investigator |
£1033 |
£0 |
£1033 |
|
Estates |
£3073 |
£0 |
£3073 |
|
Technician |
£757 |
£0 |
£757 |
|
Directly Allocated Total (D) |
£4863 |
£0 |
£4863 |
|
Indirect Costs (E) |
£15247 |
£0 |
£15247 |
|
Total Project Cost (C+D+E) |
£33658 |
£0 |
£33658 |
|
Amount Requested from JISC |
£26925 |
£0 |
£26925 |
|
Institutional Contributions |
£6732 |
£0 |
£6732 |
|
Percentage Contributions over the life of the project |
JISC 80 % |
Partners 20 % |
Total 100% |
|
No. FTEs used to calculate indirect and estates charges, and staff included |
No FTEs 0.31 |
Which Staff R. Rist, S. Chumbe and L. Rogers |
||