Enterprise Authentication Services
One challenge of distributed development teams and multi-tool systems is that the user ends up having to remember and synchronize too many passwords. To overcome this challenge, the Kreus CCDE includes the Enterprise Authentication Services (EAS). EAS is server-based software that manages user accounts and access permissions in a centralized manner.
Features:

 EAS uses an ASP.NET web application to facilitate the creation and management of user accounts and access permissions via a web-based interface - the system can be administered from any location with an Internet connection.

 EAS administrators can log into the EAS web site and grant / revoke access to any of the Kreus CCDE tools for any user in the system.

 Administrators can modify role membership for any user to grant or revoke specific features within each of the Kreus CCDE tools.

 EAS XML Web Service allows each of the Kreus CCDE tools to authenticate and authorize users of the system.

 Each user can administrate their personal information such as password and contact information. 

Akis includes a full-text search algorithm that directly uses Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) metadata to identify assets within the repository. Akis provides thumbnails, slideshows, favorites tagging, and even a SCORM metadata editor to add metadata to existing elements if the information that the Kreus CCDE automatically generates is insufficient.

Akis is directly integrated with the Kreus CCDE. This allows identifying where assets have been used in courseware products and allows a change request to be incorporated into the content quickly by assisting in identifying which courseware products are impacted by the change.

Replication
Maintaining consistency of courseware products and execution styles when production teams are not in day-to-day interaction is a challenge. Replication is a server system that automatically moves content from one location to another by merging the content changes and managing conflict resolution through a central traffic hub. The replication process is completely transparent to our courseware production teams.

When a new Sharable Content Object (SCO) is created, the next step is to replicate the new SCO to the replication hub. At regular intervals, the replication server contacts remote site servers and requests a copy of the change log. It retrieves each change, one at a time, and compares them to its copy repositories. If the change does not conflict with a change made on one of the other servers within the last interval then that change is committed to the repository on the replication hub and added to the replication hub’s change log. The replication hub maintains a change log for each server site that information must be sent to. If the change does conflict with a change that occurred within the last interval that change is added to the Conflict Log that is reviewed daily by a Kreus CCDE administrator.
The next step is to send the changes from the replication server to the other remote site servers. Again, a full replication conflict log is maintained to insure data consistency. This creates a duplicate of the content as it exists on the original server. A quality assurance team then reviews the content.

The replication process is continuous, bi-directional, and helps to insure configuration management by automatically maintaining consistency of data across all servers and locations.

The basic architecture of the Kreus application is a three-tier system:

 The first tier is the Client application, a Microsoft Windows based application that is built on the .Net platform. Each screen of Kreus is designed to facilitate a step in the ISD process.

 The second tier of the Kreus CCDE is the Server, an ASP.Net based XML Web Services application.

 The third tier of the Kreus CCDE is a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database designed specifically to facilitate replication and complex data interrelationships.

The Kreus CCDE uses an ASP.Net Web Application to create the courseware from the database. Each courseware component is extracted from the database by an HTTP Handler server object that formats the data as one of the numerous files that make up the overall ADL courseware. Kreus provides two mechanisms for accessing the DHTML content. The first is the Development CMS Web Site and the second is the DHTML Exporter client application.
HTTP Handlers

The Kreus DHTML Exporter uses six main HTTP Handler objects to generate the courseware:

 IMS Manifest Server – Queries the courseware database to determine the structure of the courseware content and composes an XML document depicting that structure. The IMS Manifest is the central metadata document that lists all the content in a SCORM package.

 Metadata Server – Every Package, SCO, and media asset in a SCORM package requires a metadata file. The Metadata Server queries the Kreus database to extract information like keywords, graphic descriptions, or SCO titles to insert in the metadata.

 Image Server – All the media files used by Kreus are stored in the Akis media repository. The Image Server HTTP Handler retrieves the binary media data from Akis and returns it as the original file.
 XML Data Server – All the courseware products of Kreus are converted to XML documents before being added to a SCORM package. Kreus content has worked perfectly from Windows based servers as well as Unix, Linux and Macintosh servers.

 DHTML Server – The DHTML server converts XML Data items into courseware product using XSL style sheets.
 Static Files – The Static Files handler holds the courseware items that are not database generated.

DHTML Exporter Client The Exporter Client performs a similar function to the Development CMS. It allows the courseware developer to view the products in the Kreus CCDE system, but not in “real time”. Instead, it invokes the IMS Manifest Handler and downloads a copy of the manifest to the developer’s workstation. Then, it reads the manifest and downloads every listed file, both data and metadata to the local workstation. Lastly, it arranges all the downloaded files into a SCORM package which could then be burned to a DVD for installation on an LMS or loaded onto a server for government review.



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