Sakai Foundation Update 2009

Sakai Foundation Update
Michael Korcuska
July 8, 2009

Agenda
Sakai Foundation in 2008
Sakai Foundation in 2009
Membership
Finances
Conferences
Proposed by-law changes

Sakai Foundation
MISSION —help coordinate design, development, testing & distribution of software; manage & protect intellectual property; provide basic infrastructure & small staff; champion open source & open standards.
PARTNERS — approximately 100 member organizations contribute $10K per year ($5K for smaller institutions, sliding scale for commercial affiliates).
GOVERNANCE— ten board members elected by member reps to serve three-year terms; Executive Director manages day-to-day operations.
BUDGET— funds 4-6 staffers, admin services, computing infrastructure, project coordination, conferences, Sakai Fellows Program, advocacy & outreach activities.
We are not “in charge” of the Sakai Product.
We do develop community practices.

Sakai foundation 2008

Focus on Quality
August 2007: My first month at Sakai
Sakai release 2.4 going in production
Large institutions spending too much time on troubleshooting & maintenance
Fewer resources for new feature development
Immediate Foundation Goal
Quality, Quality, Quality
Other Issues
Desire to rebuild Sakai UX
(Perception of a) developer-dominated community
Roadmap

Changes & Results
Increased Foundation staff focused on QA
Extended QA Cycle for 2.5
Formal Beta and Release Candidates
Final 2.5.0 release in March instead of November
Introduction of Maintenance Releases
Currently on Sakai 2.5.4, the most reliable version of Sakai to date
Challenge: Managing 2.5 and 2.6 releases simultaneously
Not to mention 3.0

UX Improvement
Did not make 2.6 release
Not enough work completed in time for code freeze
Many felt design needed happen on tools before they would deploy on campus
2.7 or 3?
Currently the Foundation is working towards 3.0
Some design work can be implemented for 2.7, but we need resources willing to do this
Overall Result
Positive change in direction
Won’t be satisfied until changes reach release

Sakai 3
Changing expectations
Google docs/apps, Social Networking, Web 2.0
Success of project sites = Sakai beyond courses
New technologies
Standards-based, open source projects
JCR (Jackrabbit)
Open Social (Shindig)
Client-side programming
JavaScript/AJAX
8

Design Result

Sakai 3: What
A set of R&D projects that will form the foundation of Sakai 3
A series of preview releases starting later this year
No defined date for Sakai 3.0

Sakai foundation 2009

Current Challenges
Predictable Roadmap
Good things are happening
When will they emerge into the release?
Action: Sakai Product Manager, Clay Fenlason
Communication
Who is working on what?
Who is interested in the same things I am?
Action: Sakai Communication Manager, Pieter Hartsook
Creating large changes
User Interface Improvement: UX Improvement Project
Major Tool Rewrites
A Completely New Version?
Action: New Product Development Process

Sakai Goals
Adoption
Broad & Diverse (significant adoption by different types of organizations)
The top choice for innovators
Product Experience
Cohesive, effective and engaging (end users)
Platform for local innovation (developers)
Easy to deploy/manage (production)
Community
Easy to contribute (for new & experienced members)
Diverse (roles & institutions)
Excellence (recognized as desirable to belong to)

Community Wants
Clear product vision & direction
More communication from Foundation
Roadmap that allows campus advocates to effectively communicate with stakeholders
Project structure that attracts sufficient resources and uses them effectively
More input from functional experts & designers
Allow diverse types participation
Large and small, Formal and informal, Institutional and individual

Product Life Cycle

Community
Major Product Changes
Generate new ideas
Try new technologies
Prove desirability
Create dev team/plan
Reduce dev risks
Product Council
Finish building
Test
Document

Product Development
Structuring of work in this phase is key
Projects probably need
Project management
Project schedule and plan
Functional leadership
UX (including accessibility and i18n)
Multiple organizations involved
Exceptions possible
K2 using Apache-style management successfully
Key: Ability to predictably deliver quality product

Product Council
Authority:
Decide what is in the official release
How:
Based on objective criteria as much as possible
Open process and document decision-making
Also:
Provide guidance to incubation projects who are wondering what they need to do to make the release

Product Council
Nate Angell (rSmart)
Noah Botimer (Michigan)
Eli Cochran (Berkeley)
Michael Feldstein (Oracle)
Clay Fenlason (Georgia Tech & Sakai)
David Goodrum (Indiana)
John Lewis (Unicon)
Stephen Marquard (Cape Town)
John Norman (Cambridge)
Max Whitney (NYU)

Membership and adoption

July 2009
10th Sakai Conference - Boston, MA, U.S.A.
21
New Foundation Members

Membership
Steady overall
Expiration of original 3-year SEPP commitment
Some institutions are not renewing
Introduction of 3-year discounted membership
20% for a 3 year commitment with up front payment
Membership will be driven by adoption
And effectiveness in coordinating community

23
What Adoption Numbers?
Moodle statistics are often referenced
These aren’t right for us.
Number of Courses/Installation, ~ 40
Number of Users/Installation, ~ 400
33% Higher Education, 12% Commercial
23

24
Sakai Adoption Metrics
Total enrollment of Higher Ed institutions that have adopted Sakai as their primary CLE
24

US Adoption
Large research institutions who have (or will have) Sakai as their primary CMS account for ~22% of total enrollments (up from 16% as of Paris)

Overall US Adoption
Overall, US institutions who have adopted Sakai have total enrollment of 949,000.
Up from 832,000 at Paris (12% increase)
In Thousands

Adopting 2 or 3?
Generally, the answer is 2.6 or 2.7
It works well today
3 doesn’t exist yet
The best path to 3 will be through 2
Bb/WebCT migration to 3 is undefined
Bb/WebCT migration to 2 is well known
Many will be migrating from Sakai 2 to 3
Exceptions
You don’t have a CMS or you are using something like Sharepoint
Your adoption timeline is 2012 or later

Finances and budget

Finances
Healthy: $890K of current assets
Current Cash Balance of almost $500K
A/R of almost $400K
But
Conference expenses haven’t come in yet
Much of this reserved for future years (3-year memberships)
Expect to collect/spend approximately $900k this year

Spending Goals
Less spending on conferences
Net of $300k two years ago
Net of $60k (estimated) this year
More spending on product development
QA, UX, Release management
More spending on communications
Internal and external (outreach)

Sakai Foundation Update 2009

by Michael Korcuska

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