Technology Solutions Roadmap

Introduction

Date Finalized: August 31, 2023 

Most Recent Update (see below): October 1, 2023

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the ASEE Data & Technology Services Roadmap. We're embarking on this initiative with the firm belief that transparency and collaboration form the bedrock of any successful strategy.

The creation of this roadmap represents a significant step in our ongoing mission to provide an efficient, effective, and user-friendly experience for all members. It is a reflection of our commitment to improving how we employ technology, acknowledging past challenges while focusing on delivering a more stable and robust future.

Our roadmap is not simply a plan put together by our Technology Solutions Team in isolation. It has been collaboratively designed in consultation with various stakeholders who understand our mission and members' needs at a granular level. These include our Membership and Conferences Staff, who have direct, day-to-day contact with our members; the Board of Director's IT Committee, who provide strategic oversight and ensure our technology aligns with our organizational objectives; and ASEE's Senior Leadership Team, whose insights are key to harmonizing our technology with broader institutional goals.

This roadmap offers a glimpse into the projects we have planned for the next six months. Our goal in future years is to release a comprehensive, year-long roadmap, but we have chosen to start with a half-year plan to allow for more agility and adaptability in these early stages of our roadmap journey. We want to ensure we are responsive to the needs of our members and can flexibly adapt to any unforeseen circumstances or opportunities that may arise.

In releasing this document, we hope to invite feedback, encourage dialogue, and foster a sense of collective ownership over the direction our technology strategy takes. Your engagement is integral to our success, and we look forward to shaping the future of ASEE together.  

Current System

Over the past decade, the ASEE has intricately woven together a rich tapestry of tools and technologies. These are designed not just to manage the extensive membership data but also to streamline content delivery, facilitate seamless communication, and securely store pertinent data. As educators and innovators yourselves, you'll appreciate the complexity of meshing legacy systems, some of which have been with us for over a decade, with newer, agile Software as a Service (SaaS) systems introduced during the challenging pandemic era.

Let's demystify some of these integral systems:

Association Management Software (AMS) - Impexium: Adopted in 2019 and fully integrated by 2021, this platform is the backbone of our member management. It transcends simple member data, encompassing institutional details, demographics, invoicing, and membership tenure. The interoperability of Impexium with Kentico, Personify (our ASEE Hub), and NeMo ensures a unified experience for our members.

Content Management System (CMS)/Website: The hub where information flows! Integrated with our AMS, it's not just a platform to share but a smart system that restricts or allows access based on membership status and permissions.

NeMo - New Monolith: A testament to our commitment to adapt while retaining our legacy, NeMo is an enhanced version of our time-tested Monolith software. Quantifying its value, it's a culmination of over 117 person-years of developer effort, translating to approximately $15 million in developmental costs. NeMo boasts of a staggering 400,000 lines of code[1]. Given the unique 'conference of conferences' model of our annual meeting, switching to a Commercial-off-the-shelf software like EasyChair would entail significant organizational restructuring, a testament to NeMo's irreplaceable value.

While these are our core systems, the ASEE tech landscape is further enriched by a myriad of other software tools that support our principal operations and grant-funded initiatives. For those who wish for a more detailed technical deep-dive, Appendix A offers a comprehensive breakdown. In addition, we also manage over 50 servers for all our systems, including Windows and various Linux distributions.

In conclusion, we remain steadfast in our commitment to harness technology to enhance your experience, keeping you informed, connected, and engaged in all ASEE endeavors. Your understanding of these systems not only provides transparency but strengthens the bridge of trust and collaboration between us.

Constraints and Principles Guiding the Current Work

The primary ambition for my team this year is to significantly refine and stabilize the user experience within our membership and conference systems. The enhancements reflect lessons learned and feedback accumulated over the past years.

To this end, we've strategically fortified our tech roster. The software developers we've welcomed aboard over the past year are not just coders; they're seasoned technologists. Their proficiency in Ruby on Rails, coupled with their vast experiences spanning from 4 years to a remarkable 17 years, sets a robust foundation. Further enriching our team's dynamics is the diverse educational and professional backgrounds they bring, allowing us to adeptly navigate the intertwined realms of legacy systems and modern SaaS platforms unique to ASEE.

Our development roadmap is primarily segmented into three pivotal categories:

Technical Debt: This encapsulates components in our existing tech stack that warrant upgrades or intricate debugging.

Membership Systems: Inextricably linked with the Impexium platform.

NeMo (Conferences): A system intertwined with both the original Monolith and its evolved version, New Monolith.

While we're charting a clear path forward, it's essential to note that we've earmarked developer bandwidth for emergent tasks. These include catering to unplanned requests, roughly half to a full day each week, and obligations towards our federal grant work, which takes up minimal time, around half a day monthly.

However, like any technology-driven venture, we have our set of challenges. Two major pieces of technical debt have recurrently hampered the user experience:

Database/Page Indexing: The process of updating pages by either the user or developer has presented issues. This affects conference authors being able to search and locate sessions or their own papers.

Impexium-NeMo Integration: The melding of our Association Management System with our conference management platform has been a source of recurring challenges for our community. During the last conference year, several hundred users experienced an array of issues.

Rest assured, we're not only cognizant of these hurdles but are actively dissecting them to pinpoint and rectify the underlying issues. Our roadmap, stretching from the closing quarter of FY 23 to the inaugural quarter of FY 24, provides a detailed trajectory. While we've set deadlines, adaptability remains our strength; timelines might shift as we progress. At the heart of all our endeavors is an unwavering commitment to amplifying the user experience for our vast membership while safeguarding ASEE's financial integrity.

Your patience, understanding, and feedback will undoubtedly be pillars of our success in this journey. We're actively engaging with various leadership groups, including the IT committee, PIC Chairs, and the Membership committee. Our aim? To comprehensively understand the pulse of our members' needs and concerns about our systems, thereby directing our future work in ways that resonate best with our community. Additionally, this fall, we're excited to collaborate with a design class. Through a class project, we aim to conduct an exhaustive user acceptability test for our conference management system.

While we're eager to address all concerns, it's important to note that immediate redressal for every feedback point might not be feasible. However, your insights are invaluable. They not only help us address current concerns but also play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of our improvements in subsequent years. Your voice aids in ensuring our endeavors are aligned with the evolving needs of our members.

Navigating Challenges in Our Software Migration

The challenges detailed in this roadmap stem, in part, from our attempt to transition from our bespoke core software (Monolith) to a new array of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms from 2019 to 2022. The journey wasn't smooth; in particular, the adaptation of the conference management system faced significant hurdles.

Given the obstacles, we found it prudent to revert to our customized system, NeMo, for managing conferences last year. However, for other facets of our operations, we have continued with the new SaaS platforms. This entire process coincided with the pandemic, further complicating matters as we had to swiftly pivot to virtual conferences, often making decisions in a time-crunch.  An relevant example of the challenges faced was the initial unsuccessful attempt to migrate the user database to the new system in 2021. Though subsequent efforts were made, we're aware there may remain lingering issues. Another pressing concern is the indexing discrepancies; members updating their details sometimes find these updates not reflecting consistently across platforms. At its core, this issue stems from the incompatibility between the new SaaS platforms and our legacy custom database/system.

Addressing this paramount challenge has ascended to the top of our action list. Our focus remains unwavering: to bolster NeMo's stability and enhance the experience for our members this year.

Details

The annual conference presents a unique set of demands that shape the focus and priorities of our technology solutions team. Critical tasks associated with the conference, such as the opening and closing of abstract submissions, naturally take precedence. This might momentarily affect our ability to address individual concerns as they emerge.

Our primary mission is to elevate the stability of our conference management system beyond what you've experienced in the past. We're currently operating based on a well-defined calendar and a meticulous task list. Should any alterations to this plan arise, rest assured they won't be made in isolation. We will continually update this document with any changes. Additionally, such decisions will be made post thorough deliberations with key stakeholders, including the IT committee, the conference and membership teams, and the staff of the data and technology sector.

Calendar of Annual Conference Events

Change Management: Changes to this roadmap and tasks will be published in a change log.

October 1, 2023 Update and Assessment 

FY 23 Q4 Tasks (Before October 1, 2023)

These technical tasks are meant to have the following impact on users when completed:

1. Allow members to see updated changes they make for membership information or paper information across all platforms in a reasonable amount of time (less than a day). The size and complexity of our systems prevent instantaneous updates.
2. (Tentative) Make sure papers from the 2023 annual conference and DOIs are available in https://peer.asee.org

As of October 1, 2023: Both are partially done. For (1) we have a daily task (not automatic) For (2), 2023 papers are in peer with corrected information. 400 requests, 87 currently outstanding for prior year updates. 

Detailed Accomplishments Below: Green indicates commentary on partially complete tasks. A strikethrough indicates a task has been accomplished. The Technology Solutions team has accomplished a lot and has mapped out better solutions as we move forward. 

AD HOC Requests from July to September 

1. Integration of SSO with Prisms new website. 
2. Integration of Classified ads in NeMo with Kentico. 
3. ADRP Application
4. Topical Plenary changed back to Distinguished Lecturer. 
5. Division outside of ASEE: upload their papers to peer (big zip) from 2022.
6. E-fellows (Cohort # 3) (Still outstanding)

The Technology Solutions department could not provide support for the items in red (1)-(5). Item (6) is still being discussed. 

FY 24 Q1 Tasks (October 1, 2023-December 31, 2023)

These technical tasks are meant to have following impact on users when completed:

1. Several issues raised during the review process from 2022-23 will be resolved so that deadlines can be moved and the chairs still see the abstracts without contacting ASEE staff:
   1. Topical Plenary as a category will be finalized across all systems; 
   2. Program chairs will be able to assign papers to panels and special sessions; authors
   3. Papers should display when uploaded
   4. Reviewer certificates will be visible
   5. Chairs should see a report of reviews still pending by reviewer
   6. Papers without at least one reviewed author will be withdrawn by the registration deadline.
   7. Several statistical reports that had been visible in Monolith (the prior system) will be made available in NeMo
2. Several internal (planning, code repository) tools for IT staff will be chosen and/or updated to create more time to address emergency issues in our system.
3. Azure switch CDN 
4. (Tentative) Make sure papers from the 2022 annual conference and DOI are available in. 2019 DOI’s will be assigned https://peer.asee.org

[1] This comes from the SLOCCount tool available here: https://dwheeler.com/sloccount/