[OPA-devel] Good News: The OPA team expands

[Joseph P. <Jos...@pw...>]

[[ 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...




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