2011 Sautter Award Proposal – The UCLA MWF
May 20, 2011
2011 Sautter Award Proposal
Project Title:The UCLA Mobile Web Framework
SUMMARY
UCLA’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) began developing the UCLA Mobile Web Framework (MWF) in the spring of 2010 in support of broad academic and research innovation at UCLA, The UC and beyond. Subsequently, UCLA launched UCLA Mobileusing the UCLA MWF via a collaborative campus effort involving 12participating campus units in the fall of 2010. The UCLA MWF was introduced to the rest of the UC at the 2010 UCCSC conference. The project has since grown into a collaborative UC initiativewith five UC Campus’ having launched mobile presences using the MWF and two more in development/evaluation phases. Estimated cost savings/avoidance is approximately > 1 Million dollars.
The UC in the Palm of your hand!
Submitted by: The UC Mobile Collaborative Group
LEAD: Rose Rocchio, Director of Academic Applications, UCLA
Box 155705
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1557
o. 310-825-3981m. 310-621-7441
Team Leaders:
Rose Rocchio, UCLA OIT, UC Project Lead
Eric Bollens, UCLA OIT, UC Lead Architect
Ed Sakabu, UCLA OIT, UCLA Systems Lead
Mike Takahashi, UCLA Communications, UCLA Design Lead
Bill Allison, UC Berkeley Campus Technology Services, Campus Sponsor
Sara Leavitt, UC Berkeley Public Affairs, Business Lead and Developer
Tom Tsai, UC Berkeley Campus Technology Services, Tech Lead
Claire Holmes, UC Berkeley Public Affairs, Campus Sponsor
Brett Pollak, UCSD Campus Web Office, Business Lead
Mojgan A. Amini, UCSD User Experience & Technologies, Technical Lead
Ike Lin, UCSD User Experience & Technologies, Lead developer
Richard Trott, UCSF Technical Lead
Michele Mizejewski, UCSF (content, design, QA)
Joe Sabado, UCSB Technical Lead
Jim Krueziger, UCI Technical Lead
*UC Riverside data was requested for this proposal, but they did not respond in time to include
Team Members:
Joseph Maddela, UCLA Communications, Developer
Tom Tsai, UC Berkeley, Developer
Nate Emerson, UCLA OIT, Mobile Developer
Zorayr Khalapyan, UCLA OIT, Mobile Developer
Leslie Kleinberg, UCSF
Erin Hayes, UCSF
Lucas Rockwell, UCSF
Todd McGill, UCI
Chris Walsh, UCI
URLS:
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UCLA Mobile Web Framework Project Description
UCLA’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) began developing the UCLA Mobile Web Framework (MWF) in the spring of 2010 in support of broad academic and research innovation at UCLA, The UC and beyond. Subsequently, UCLA launched UCLA Mobile using the UCLA MWF via a collaborative campus effort involving 12 participating campus units in the fall of 2010. The UCLA MWF was introduced to the rest of the UC at the 2010 UCCSC conference. The project has since grown into a collaborative UC initiative (governed by the UC Mobile Collaborative Group (MCG)) with five UC campus’ having launched a Production mobile suite of tools using the UCLA MWF, a sixth in development and a seventh in an evaluation phase.
Student Impact: A Mobile Presence is an Expectation
Students have immersed themselves in mobile technologies, as an anecdotal example, it is said that a student will forget his or her wallet before forgetting his or her phone. This UCLA MWF project’s purpose has been to support technology innovation at UCLA, the UC and beyond. A first phase goal of this project has been to make UCLA/UC information consumable on the mobile platform to the vast majority of internet enabled handheld devices, enabling UC students at participating campuses with such a device to put UC institutional data, academic resources and tools (in the future) in the palm of their hands. It is believed that this will increase and deepen student engagement with the UC, take for example the addictive fascination that students have with mobile social networking tools.
Improved Operational Efficiency
The UCLA MWF has been created to provide UCLA and UC academic, research and administrative developers with a method to distribute their content and application functionality to the mobile device platform with speed and ease. Improved operational efficiency has been accomplished by putting real-time bus schedules, event information, fitness schedules, maps, research resources and course details in the palm of UCLA and participating UC communities’ hands.
Principles of the UCLA Mobile Web Framework
The UCLA MWF focuses on several key principles:
- Maintaining a ‘Device-Agnostic’ mobile web framework capable of dealing with an increasing variation in internet enabled handheld devices.
- Serve as a resource for building mobile applications, providing scripts and styling that take advantage of device-specific features, while employing the concept of ‘Graceful Degradation’ to sensibly and semantically serve the vast majority of devices (all that meet the least common denominator standard).
- Facilitate a Unified mobile presence, with one outward presence comprised of many individual modules. The framework shall provide resources that facilitate this unified identity, while leaving applications under the control of and hosted by their respective departments.
- Maintaining Technology Platform Independence by using only CSS3 and Javascript
- Enabling a scalable and distributed architecture to deliver a high performance experience to all mobile consumers
- Conform to Modern web standards such as HTML5, W3C Mobile Web Best Practices and the Global Authoring Practices for the Mobile Web
Collaboration at the UC
There are currently five production campus mobile presences (UCLA, UCB, UCSD, UCR, UCSF) that are built using the UCLA MWF. The UC Mobile Collaboration Group (UC MCG) is a sub group of the ITLC Collaborative Technology Group (CTG). We held a ½ day in person kick-off meeting on 4/18 that was attended by representatives from UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCSF, UCSD, UCSB and UCI. The MCG will be setting up monthly governance discussions and will meet in person biannually.
The UCLA MWF has been built as a campus aggregation point for many data owners to mesh their data and services for the purpose of a consolidated campus mobile identity as a service for the user. This ability to provide value to the end user, has managed to get the MCG past the initial campus bias against the “not built here” sentiment and has now moved into helping other UC’s get past the “not built here” tendency as well.
Financial Impact = > $1,040,000 per annum:
By implementing the MWF’s device agnostic strategy, UC campuses have been able to enjoy asignificant savings/ cost avoidance in that each unit would have otherwise had to select and implement a web framework, or spend sorely depleted development dollars on device specific skill sets and code bases. Cost avoidance at UCLA ($420K)* + cost avoidance at UCSD ($280K)* + cost avoidance at UCSF ($210K)* + cost avoidance at UC Berkeley ($130K)*. * See details in Campus Summary sections
Collaboration beyond the UC
In late April, UCOP approved a “Source Available” license for the UCLA MWF. A “Source Available” license allows the public to freely use the UCLA MWF code but does not allow users to fork it or distribute it with the hopes that it will encourage ongoing contribution to the evolution of the MWF.
The strategy of going with a source available license has been to allow the UC to benefit by collaborative investment and energy going into the development of mobile applications for the higher Education arena that use the MWF. To date there are thirty six developers who are contributors to the source code of this project. There are 11 institutions that have an active access to the UCLA MWF repository those that are non-UC include:Clemson (NC), The University of Michigan, The University of Illinois at Chicago and The University System of Georgia. Additionally, seven other institutions have voiced interest in using the MWF and are evaluating it, these include, Cardiff University, Wales UK, Santa Monica College, The University of Oregon, Texas A&M Health Sciences Center, The University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Waikato University NZ and Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.
MWF Implementation @ UCLA: UCLA Mobile
UCLA Mobile
UCLA launched its mobile presence as ‘UCLA Mobile’ at on September 2nd, 2010. It was built as a collaborative effort in less than three months by several campus groups using the UCLA MWF. The modules that were initially launched were, Newsroom, Happenings, Directory, Campus Map, Bruin Bus, UCLA YouTube Channel, UCLA on iTunes U and the Campus Tour. UCLA units collaborating in the ‘UCLA Mobile’ effort include: OIT, Student Affairs, UCLA Communications, UCLA Facilities, UCLA Transportation, CTS (now ITS), The Library, The Career Center, CENS, SSDA, Parking Management, The College and an faculty led Chemistry glossary project.
Savings / Cost Avoidance @ UCLA = $420,000:
Using the calculation that each unit participating in the UCLA Mobile effort, would have required ½ FTE to manage the mobile environment overhead that the UCLA MWF does instead, UCLA has avoided spending $420K, which is derived by taking:
(hours for ½ FTE = 875) * Average developer rate ($40) * Units participating (12) = $420,000
Usage Statistics of UCLA Mobile:
- As of 5/19/2011: Total visits = 232,841, Total Page views = 731,500, Avg time on site = 1.48 minutes. The most popular modules are Happenings & Campus Map
UC Berkeley Mobile Implementation Summary
MWF Implementation @ UC Berkeley:
A 2010 survey of the UC Berkeley student and faculty populations by the California Digital Library showed that roughly 50% of students and faculty own Internet-capable mobile devices. This matches a broad trend that will find mobile surpassing all other modes of Internet access by 2013.
In January of 2011, UC Berkeley’s UC Berkeley Public Affairs, Campus Technology Services began a collaborative project to implement a UC Berkeley mobile suite of tools using UCLA’s MWF. In February of 2011, UC Berkeley’s Library joined the project. Beyond the MWF, UCLA has also been instrumental in supporting UC Berkeley’s development effort and in facilitating the UC system wide collaboration. The m.berkeley.edu site includes the campus map, directory, events, news, library tools, varsity athletics, as well as links to UC Berkeley's social media. The site is viewable on any smart phone or other mobile device, providing convenient timely information to the campus community.
The site is built using the Mobile Web Framework originally developed at UCLA (MWF), whichfacilitates the "federation" model where each module is supported locally by the department responsible for the data or service, while appearing to the user as one seamless website. For example, the Library module is run by the Library's Systems Office, while the supporting framework software is maintained by the Office of Public Affairs housed on a server provided by Campus Technology Services. This provides the best of both worlds: decentralized deployment of content with centrally maintained device detection and support utilities.
Savings / Cost Avoidance @ UC Berkeley = $130,000:
License of product might have used = $25,000 per annum + (hours for ½ FTE = 875) * Average developer rate ($40) * Units participating (3) = $105,000
Usage Statistics @ UC Berkeley:
UC Berkeley’s mobile implementation is averaging around 2,000 page views or 1,000 visits per day. The map, directory, and events calendar are the most used modules in the site.
- 23,439 Absolute Unique Visitors since site launched
- 2.43 Average Pageviews
UCSD Mobile Implementation Summary
Selection of a Mobile Web Framework @ UCSD:
UCSD approached this project with a broad vision, looking to provide a forward looking mobile strategy that would support the coming wave of mobile application development. Additionally, UCSD envisioned a future where most units on campus would want to have some form of a mobile presence. Thus the UCSD mobile team coordinated a mobile web framework evaluation project in which eight campus entities and IT groups worked together to select the best solution through a vigorous mobile web Framework evaluation phase.
The UCSD Framework Evaluation team ranked frameworks based on License, Cost, OOTB Feature Set, Industry Standards, Documentation, Ease of, Implementation/Adoption, Learning Curve, Time Required to Implement, Maintainability, Scalability, Cross-platform Support, Run in Mobile Browser, Extensibility, Availability/Maturity, End User Usability, End User Accessibility, Integration with CMS. The avg. ranking from all participating campus IT groups was:
- UCLA MWF: 130/150
- Next runner up: 90/150
MWF Implementation @ UCSD:
UCSD selected the UCLA MWF for its shift from a native mobile presence to a web-based mobile presence. They implemented and just very recently re-launched UCSD Mobile as a web based suite of mobile tools using the UCLA MWF. All campus IT groups are now able to use this technology without additional setup and configuration time Positive student impact includes providing relevant information at students' fingertips (most used apps being course information, location, shuttle). Improved operational efficiency is generated by UCSD’s mobile tools now being device-agnostic and are thus able to run on any users' phone with a browser. The units at UCSD that have been collaborating on the UCSD Mobile Framework project include: Academic Computing and Media Services (ACMS), Administrative Computing and Telecommunications (ACT), Biological Sciences, The Colleges, Libraries, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), Student Affairs, University Communications and Public Affairs (UCPA).
Savings / Cost Avoidance @ UCSD = $280,000:
By providing a common framework, available to all campus entities for developing mobile applications in a unified style and centrally-managed framework, we estimate a cost savings/avoidance of: $280,000 per annum. This cost avoidance is arrived at by eliminating the need for campus departments to investigate, setup, host, and manage their own mobile framework servers for developing department mobile applications.This calculation is based on average 1/2 FTE to cover support, development and hardware costs, per participating department, and assuming about 8 participating departments, average FTE $40/hour, and ~1750 hours per year is 1750/2 x $40 x 8 = 280,000
- Additionally, there will be a future savings of the Blackboard mobile license of $25K per annum that UCSD will avoid starting next year.
Usage Statistics @ UCSD:
- 1st week after launch: 2,000 hits; 31,257 page views
UCSF Mobile Implementation Summary
MWF Implementation @ UCSF:
At UCSF, six units have worked together to make their mobile offering utilize the MWF and have had very positive results. Positive impact on UCSF student quality of life includes increased availability of information when people need it most. The most used UCSF apps are the Shuttle, Fitness, and the Directory. Improved operational efficiency includes parity between planned device-specific offerings from campus IT and the device-agnostic m.ucsf.edu site. A decision to usethe UCSF/UCSD developed Appcelerator Titanium native app container contributed tothe MWF would allow for both device-specific offerings and the web mobile site could be maintained from a single code base in the future (but will not be for now).
Additionally, in the future, using the MWF could be a low-cost alternative to the Blackboard service we're contracted to providing a savings of approximately $25K per annum. Another possible substantial savings will be if the Patient Wayfinder project decides to leverage the Locations API for their mobile interface.
Savings / Cost Avoidance @ the UCSF = $210,000 annum:
In the future, MWF could be a low-cost alternative to the Blackboard service we're contracted to (valued at $25K). Another possible substantial savings will be if the Patient Wayfinder project decides to leverage the Locations API for their mobile interface. Additionally, by using the calculation that each unit participating in the UCSF Mobile effort, would have required ½ FTE to manage the mobile environment overhead that the MWF does instead, UCSF has avoided spending $210,000, which is derived by taking:
(Hours for ½ FTE = 875) * Average developer rate ($40) * Units participating (6) = $210,000
Usage Statistics @ UCSF:
1st week after launch: 11,286 page views, 1927 visits, 2:19 average time on site
UCI Mobile Implementation Summary
MWF Implementation @ UCI:
We have chosen the UCLA Mobile Web Framework (MWF) to develop our main campus mobile web site. We also see the MWF in helping create a centralized service on campus for people who may want to create a mobile site.
The benefits will include increased collaboration on web development as well as reduction of the need to develop mobile applications. Creating mobile applications can be very costly, so being able to move mobile apps to a web-based environment has the best cost savings.
More and more students coming to UCI are relying on their mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) as part of their daily life. Faculty, staff, and visitors also are becoming more reliant on these devices. These people are bringing their tools, but we are not providing them with the information they need to use those tools. We believe that creating a mobile web experience using the MWF is central to helping all users in their daily lives at UCI.
Technologies & Standards
Technologies used @ UCLA:
Technologies & Standards used in the MWFHTML 5, HTML 4.01 Transitional, XHTML MP 1.0, CSS 3, CSS 2.1, WCSS, Javascript 1.5, ECMA-262-3 HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1
Server-side languages:PHP (core),Bash, .NET, Java
Other technologies: WURFL, GD, Google Analytics
System architectures:
- Linux / MySQL / Apache
Project management technologies: Subversion, Git, JIRA, Github, Drupal
Technologies used in the Implementations of the MWF
Technologies used in UCLA Mobile:
- PHP, .NET, Java, Bash
- Linux / Apache / MySQL
- Windows Server / IIS / MsSQL
Technologies used @ UCSD:
- PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript for framework by ACT
- J2EE for core apps by ACT
- .net for tours app by Student Affairs
Technologies used @ UC Berkeley:PHP, HTML, CSS, Javascript
Technologies used @UCSF:PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, UCLA MWF, Eclipse IDE, CodeIgniter, MySQL, Java, Google Maps API, XML, PhotoShop, Subversion