DevCon VII

By B. Victor Chakravarty, Enterprise Architect

Around 160 I.T. professionals gathered on June 23 A.M. for the seventh semi-annual developers' conference. The featured theme was Enterprise Approach to Applications. And within that umbrella theme, two sub-themes were explored in depth: Active Directory (AD) Authentication and Application Performance Diagnostics.

Jim Lopatosky, the Associate CIO, Applications Development and Shared Services, introduced the new System Integration & Governance Team. This is the first time in the history of the Office of Information Technology that there exists a separate team dedicated to exploring common solutions, tools, and methodologies. This approach is expected to deliver better value to customers, not just in terms of return-on-investment, but in terms of actual user satisfaction as well.

Victor Chakravarty, the Enterprise Architect, introduced the AD Authentication landscape. After clarifying the basic terms, Victor covered the interface options for the three main application technology stacks within the State: Java, .NET, and PL/SQL. Victor also covered the pro & con of the two main design choices: whether user identity stops at the application logic layer or continues into the data layer.

Shawn Robichaud & Scott Woodruff, two Programmer Analysts assigned to Natural Resources, covered the .NET-AD Interface in depth. They showcased two applications with contrasting authorization models, even though both authenticated against AD. One application relied exclusively upon AD Groups for authorization, whereas the other built an elaborate authorization structure internally within the application on top of a basic AD Group. Shawn & Scott elaborated the pro & con of these two approaches.

Jason Sardano, a Senior Programmer Analyst assigned to Transportation, covered the Web Services interface to AD. Starting with a basic library of just two classes and three methods, Jason demonstrated an AD attribute navigator and a mashup of three data sources, one of them being spatial. Jason is a developer's developer, and yet again he demonstrated the amazing results that can be achieved by dint of good design.

Walter Brown (I.T. Manager), John DeWitt (Team Lead), and Wayne Harmon (Senior Programmer-Analyst), all assigned to Health & Human Services, discussed performance diagnostics of the ACES (Automated Client Eligibility System) application. ACES has lately been encountering some performance issues. A multi-disciplinary enterprise-wide committee has been launched to troubleshoot it, led by a facilitator using root cause analysis techniques. After a lot of brainstorming, the troubleshooting committee created a fishbone diagram exhaustively elaborating all possible causes, and then systematically explored them one by one. Many causes have been ruled out by now. Even though the smoking gun root cause has not been identified yet, this troubleshooting exercise has triggered a lot of housecleaning, and a general improvement in ACES performance.

Mike Francoeur, an I.T. Consultant, provided live demonstration of Java and PL/SQL interfaces to AD. The best part of Mike's presentation was that the code walkthrough was embedded directly within the demo, thus allowing for the maximum possible interactivity. The code was presented exactly as it was being executed, thereby establishing a direct connection between the invoked methods and their outputs. As a learning tool, Mike's presentation was the absolute best one possible, and the developer community greatly appreciated it.

DevCon VII concluded with an Open Mic session, where the developer community shared their thoughts in random, free-wheeling exchanges. Topics included client-workstation security, identity-based network access, identity-based directory access, encryption requirements for directory interface, single personnel repository (both employees & contractors), meta-directories, virtual directories, comparison of encrypted password strengths, federated directory administration, directory-awareness vs. directory-enablement, Oracle Internet Directory, and many others. It was especially useful to have Mike Pomerleau, the Infrastructure Architect, available to answer infrastructure and security-related questions. Kathy Record, the Associate CIO, Policy, Planning, & Oversight, conveyed a message from the CIO, Dick Thompson.

The DevCon is the best instrument for peer-to-peer enrichment within the State developer community. All materials from this conference are posted on the DevConVII page (accessible only from the Intranet). We eagerly look forward to the next DevCon, to be held sometime in the early-winter.

Article posted on: July 15, 2009
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