Office of Medical Informatics

Office of Medical Informatics
Systems Integration and Development

Overview of Core Services

This document describes a network of services centered around four cores:

  1. Authentication/Authorization
  2. Administration/Scheduling/Calendars/Communication
  3. Education (aka EvalSuite)
  4. Content/Resource Management

Most of the programs listed here already exist and interoperate to various degrees. Our intention is to capitalize on this rich legacy and build a new generation of applications that are highly integrated. The following diagram provides an overview of these services in the context of UF and beyond.

Core Services
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Key to Terminology and Services

  • COMPTrac - Longitudinal Student Database (Office of Med Education)
  • Confab - Discussion List/Weblog Engine
  • ECal - Online Calendar and Announcement System
  • EvalSuite - Evaluation and Assessment System (will become EvalCore)
  • FIND - Database of student, faculty, and staff
  • IDCore - Roles & Groups Engine (linked to LDAP and PeopleSoft)
  • LDAP - Campus Directory and Authentication Service
  • ModCore - Educational Module System (Under Development)
  • People, Tasks, Meetings (PTM) - Shared Todo List, Meeting Agenda Manager
  • Replay - Lecture recording distribution for first and second year students.
  • ToGo - Document Distribution (will become part of CommCore)
  • WebCT - Campus Course Management Software
  • XAM - High-Stakes Testing Engine

Core Services as They Exist Today

Authentication/Authorization

The Education Core (EvalSuite) uses a legacy system of randomly generated passcodes. Over the past few years we've gradually replaced these with Gatorlink Authentication (aka LDAP) provided by the UF Open Systems Group. Authorization is currently defined by numerous Access Control Lists (ACL files). The eight digit UFID provided by main campus is the unique identifier of choice. It is likely that we will use ACL files less an less in favor of the more robust Groups & Roles engine.

Administrative Systems

The applications in this core are already robust and widely used: demographic (FIND), temporal (ECal), and organizational (Groups & Roles). We recently changed FIND from a static database to one that automatically mirrors authoritative information from main campus. Where authoritative sources are lacking or inconsistent we blend in locally controlled data as needed (ID photos and preferred first names for example). Our major source for demographic information is the same LDAP service we use for authentication. Affiliation data for faculty, staff and residents comes from the campus-wide human resource system (PeopleSoft). We also plan to link to the course registration system (ISIS) to better deal with student affiliations.

Several programs currently interarticulate to perform core communications services: ECal (with weekly email digests), Tickler (reminder system, part of EvalSuite), Confab (discussion lists), Replay (mp3 lecture recordings), Togo (secure document distribution) and Podcasting. Over the next year we will consolidate these into a new, comprehensive communications system (CommCore).

Evaluation/Assessment

The six programs that make up Evalsuite are all showing their age. Our oldest program, evalCGI, has been in continuous use for almost twelve years. Hundreds of thousands of evaluations, examinations and surveys have flowed through this program. The new EvalSuite will expand to include portfolios and gradebooks to make up the Education Core. Our very successful high-stakes testing engine, know as XAM, will remain in service for the foreseeable future.

Content Management/Instructional Support

The MedInfo web server (medinfo.ufl.edu) is home to several Gigabytes of instructional material. Separate sub-sites serve the needs of each of the four classes of Medical Students, the Physician Assistant Program, certain dental courses, Housestaff, Continuing Medical Education, as well as various student and non-profit groups. We also support the main COM website (www.med.ufl.edu) which resides on a different server. We currently employ four different content management systems: Dreamweaver (site editor), Page Publisher (commercial), Filer, and the new Module Core. Other special purpose programs are also under deveopment, a web-based audience response system for example.