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From: Joseph P. <Jos...@pw...> - 2003-01-29 08:34:13
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[[ Jako: Hello, I don't think Joseph's mail actually got thru to the opa=20 list. So here's another try using=20 mailto:opa...@li... (not=20 opa...@li...). JJ]] Colleagues, I would like to introduce you to Kate Duncan who works in the=20 Social Development Branch (Child, Family and Community) of Human Resources= =20 Development Canada. I met her yesterday at the Business of Open Source=20 http://oclug.on.ca/boss Conference in Ottawa. I learned to my surprise=20 that in the past few weeks her team decided to start working with OPA-PHP. I gather that HRDC's interests are similar to Claire's pilot of OPA-IDRC,=20 in not needing the public site functionality. It would probably be useful= =20 for Kate and team to see a demo of the OPA-IDRC build, even though it's in= =20 ColdFusion. Assessment from some IDRC personnel would also be valuable. On looking at the code, they have the same issue as some of us discussed=20 earlier, that the coding is a little more convoluted than necessary --=20 nevertheless, my own testing so far shows that aside from some minor bugs,= =20 it works. In recent weeks I have described our own use of OPA-PHP at PWGSC as=20 "urgent" to launch a national competition among business & law school=20 students ("Open for Business: Canadian Case-Writing Competition"), in which= =20 we are collaborating with Industry Canada and Treasury Board=20 Secretariat. However given the time needed for Common Look and Feel=20 Requirements, I prefer to take more time to get this right. So it will be=20 best for my team on that project to launch the competition without going=20 online, and get it online with OPA-PHP as-soon-as practical. If we put up=20 OPA by the end of April, that's will at least be before the majority of=20 submissions on a 30 May 2003 deadline. I am not making any assumptions about whether any of you can commit=20 resources, or if so, to what extent. For any of you who can assist,=20 however, it appears there are three tasks. Together, there would mean, in= =20 effect, taking OPA-PHP to "Version 3.0": 1. Fix bugs, and in those particular sections we worked, streamline and=20 comment the code. Later on (say for 3.1), streamline the rest of the code; 2. Upgrade the interface to meet all "Common Look & Feel" requirements of=20 the Government of Canada, but in a manner that anything that may be=20 particular to Canada can be removed via the Admin interface. Most of these= =20 requirements will actually make it far easier for others to implement OPA=20 in any other enterprise settings. 3. If feasible, make the entire public interface & functionality a simple=20 admin option that can be engaged or disengaged. This permits us to keep to= =20 a single code stream, which has many advantages. Mark and Jako -- what's your assessment? Following are some introductions: Kate Duncan Here's the Government Electronic Directory Service page on Kate (Kathleen): http://alex.srv.gc.ca/cgi-bin/web500/SEo%3dGC%2cc%3dCA?SV=3DDuncan%2C+Kathle= en&SF=3DSurname%2C+Given+name&ST=3Dbegins+with&x=3D33&y=3D10=20 It turns out her office is just the next tower over from mine in the same=20 building complex. This it was fun for me that Canadian taxpayer funds spend= =20 on OPA might now be getting around full-circle -- from Bellanet/IDRC=20 Ottawa, to EarthCouncil Costa Rica, to WorldBank Washington, to KinCite=20 near the Hague and Kampala Uganda, to PWGSC and HRDC in Ottawa (not to=20 mention the several 100 other private-public-education sector downloads in= =20 between). For Kate's benefit: Mark Faul was co-architect with me of OPA version 1.0, in ColdFusion/Access= =20 at http://www.bellanet.org, and he created both the OPA-IDRC and OPA=20 Version 2.0 iterations. Sara Kerr now works full-time at Bellanet, and helps to maintain OPA Eric Mainville works in Architecture & Standards Directorate, PWGSC, and is= =20 helping at the code and application admin level with our uses of OPA Jako and Jan operate the firm KinCite http://www.kincite.com/ in the=20 Netherlands. They took the initiative to invest in porting OPA-ColdFusion= =20 2.0 to OPA-PHP in 2001. Thanks for that, once again! Claire Thompson was the Sr. Program who took the lead to pilot an=20 adaptation of OPA-ColdFusion corporate-wide at IDRC in 2000. This involved= =20 having Mark Faul remove the public website interface. Claire now has other= =20 responsibilities at IDRC, and is not directly involved with=20 OPA-IDRC. (Thus, Claire, can you put us in touch with anyone who may have= =20 opinions about what worked and what didn't?) Matt Beavan is in New Zealand, and has offered to assist with improvements= =20 to OPA-PHP. Sorry, I don't know much about Matt at this time. Daniel Buckles and Gilles Chiche were our clients for OPA 1.0 at the MINGA= =20 program, International Development Research Centre. They wanted it for=20 small grants programs in Latin America, the Caribbean and southern Asia. David Reid is Co-ordinator of the Public Consultation Working Group,=20 Government On-Line. This is a Treasury Board / Privy Council Office=20 initiative, though David is based at Heritage. He mentioned to me some=20 weeks ago a possible interest in OPA. Bruce Catley is Director of Architecture & Standards, where he encourages=20 Eric, I and others to engage the open source approach for the benefit of=20 citizens and taxpayers. I don't have a World Bank contact relating to Version 2.0. Mark, can you=20 help with that? * * * Sorry for the double-posting for those of you who are on the opa-devel list= =20 at sourceforge. If others wish to join, it is here=20 https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/opa-devel Regards, Joseph (Jos=E9) Potvin Management Team Member, Enterprise Architecture Architecture and Standards Directorate Government Telecommunications & Informatics Service (GTIS) Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) 11 Rue Laurier, Place du Portage, Phase III, 4th Floor (4A1) Gatineau (Hull), Quebec K1A 0S5 (819) 956-8617 Voice (819) 956-8621 Fax jos...@pw... =20 |