LIS Gateway from Psydev Ltd enables direct integration between Campus Solutions and Moodle; handles 20,000 unique enrollments.
Sheffield, UK, January 8, 2015: North Dakota University System (NDUS) has solved the problem of provisioning data from its student information system to Moodle, using the LIS Gateway product from UK software company Psydev Ltd.
NDUS is made up of 11 campuses with close to 50,000 students and uses the PeopleSoft Campus Solutions student information system to serve all 11 institutions from one single environment. However, each campus runs its own learning management system and these all need to be populated from the central Campus Solutions database.
To handle this integration, NDUS uses Oracle’s Student Administration Integration Pack (SAIP). This provides an open integration (based on the IMS Learning Information Services standard specification, LIS v2.0) from PeopleSoft Campus Solutions to popular learning management systems such as Blackboard Learn.
However, four of the NDUS campuses use Moodle, which presents unique challenges for integration because it is written in PHP and there are many different versions in use, making implementation of LIS difficult. Oracle recommended that NDUS make contact with Psydev Ltd., an Oracle Gold Partner that specialises in data interoperability standards for educational systems.
Psydev’s Gateway for Moodle is an IMS-certified Moodle LIS implementation which integrates Moodle directly with Campus Solutions via SAIP. Psydev Ltd were closely involved in the development and testing of the LIS standard and developed LIS Gateway for Moodle specifically to overcome the problems of implementing LIS with Moodle.
While Gateway for Moodle has been designed to be usable “out of the box” it also has the flexibility to allow for customisation to suit specific needs. Jerry Rostad, Director of User Services for Core Technology Services of the NDUS, explains:
“During the proof of concept phase, Psydev identified some potential bugs and undertook additional development to create customised plugins for our Moodle. Following successful testing and some additional customisation work with Psydev, we are now implementing the Psydev LIS Gateway and, starting in the spring semester, it will be processing roughly 1,500 courses and 20,000 unique enrolments. The tool has been great. It greatly increases the efficiencies of getting data from our PeopleSoft student system to Moodle.”
Phil Nichols, CTO of Psydev, agrees:
“NDUS’ strategy of integration was not just about putting systems together, but putting them together in the right way. Standards like LIS and products like the LIS Gateway allow for integrations that do not need continual upgrades and changes – they allow your systems to work together today and as additional releases come out. Standards also allow disparate systems to operate and be managed together as one environment, making University IT operations more efficient.”
Psydev works with a variety of Higher Ed Institutions and Learning Management companies to implement LIS Gateway and other standards-based solutions. For more information about LIS Gateway and all of their products and services please visit www.psydev.com/products.
Contacts for further information:
US:
Kathy Walters, NSoma
[email protected], 1-877-300-6215 ext 100
UK:
Melanie Kanarek, Psydev Ltd.
ENDS
