Proxy Issues & Proposed Solutions

Several colleges who have implemented Canvas have raised concerns about the requirement to implement the proxy workflow and haven't chosen not to do so to avoid the challenges and frustration to their students, faculty, staff and IT.

• To support the colleges that are not ready for Fall 2018 The immediate priority are the colleges who are attempting to comply with the Canvas/Proxy requirement for the fall 2018 term.  
• Remove the requirement for Fall 2018 and allow the Tech Center and ES to 1) develop & complete implementation with colleges, 2) improve the Proxy sign-in UI and workflow, and 3) develop a "short-form" Account creation process for existing students.
   
• Colleges need more information and options from the Tech Center on how to roll out the proxy integration for Canvas.

Faculty and staff have complained that they are getting redirected to the proxy as well as students and it's catching them off guard. The college had not informed/trained staff and faculty, or the information wasn't understood by the college during IT integration.

Some colleges don't want to implement the proxy workflow this fall until better implementation support and training is provided by the Tech Center.

Overall, colleges do not understand the purpose of the SSO proxy: how it works, why it's important, and how it is related to OpenCCC (or CCCApply or the CCCID). 

Admissions & Records may have an understanding of the overarching need for a systemwide CCCID, but in general, college faculty, staff, counselors, and even college/district leadership hasn't been exposed to the significance of the CCCID and how it's used to track student records across the CCC system over the lifetime of the student's educational journey. 

1. The Tech Center needs to develop a clear, consistent message about the significance of OpenCCC, the CCCID for all students, and the SSO Proxy --- providing information on the purpose, the requirements, the long-term goals and objectives of the systemwide ID for all students - 
2. Develop a college implementation plan to accompany the technical integration plan/requirement for the SSO proxy 
3. Develop and publish implementation documentation for all scenarios and include diagrams to help colleges visualize how the flow of data works between the OpenCCC Account system at time of application, how they
4. ensuring that all CCC colleges (faculty, staff, Administrators, and students) understand the technical and operational implementation requirements;

• A communication plan/campaign needs to be developed and implemented with the following components (Email campaign, training & support materials, video tutorials, impl:
  • Description and purpose(s) of the CCCID, Proxyacross campaign/plan on the Proxy service.
  • The CCCID is now an MIS reporting requirement starting summer 2018
  • All students must have a CCCID and the colleges need to store this data field in their SIS and common student directory so it can be passed in the college/district IdP for consumption by all systemwide applications and services;
  • The CCCID facilitates single sign-on for students across CCC systemwide apps and services, but does not ensure SSO between CCC apps and college apps*
• regarding the goals and  and communicate it out to all colleges through a comprehensive Communication plan  clearly and more frequently with colleges about the purpose, objectivean effective implementation, training & support plan for all colleges as part of an "all college" communication (Email campaign & links to supporting docs online) with suggestions and alternatives for college implementation
• a communication to all colleges with implementation suggestions for several different scenarios:
  • Implementation process for colleges that haven't been storing the CCCID for students (in other words, the college is not sending over the CCCID for any students, even if the student has an OpenCCC account);
  • Implementation process for colleges that haven't informed staff, faculty or students on the purpose of the proxy, what students need to do, etc.  
  • Implementation process for colleges that have a large number of non-credit or special populations that don't have CCCIDs.

Tech Center needs to implement an effective implementation process for the proxy to send out communication to all colleges with a consist

The complete proxy workflow has not been fully development and communicated - internally or externally. It isn't enough to talk about and confirm the technical integration piece of the proxy implementation, but 

Colleges that adopted OpenCCCApply years ago never stored the CCCID in their SIS, thus the processes are not in place to implement the full workflow process 

• Based on feedback from colleges, students perceive the proxy to be illegitimate ("Is this for real?"). It appears to be a phishing attempt or scam, and doesn't feel congruent to their expectation that they were on their way to Canvas from their college portal..

• Colleges perceive the proxy as a barrier for their students

• Faculty and staff perceive the proxy as a barrier for them - they are frustrated 

• Colleges need better training and support on the proxy web service and overall workflow. 

UI Issues

• The proxy sign-in page needs a better design to legitimize the service for students and colleges.

• The sign-in page lacks legitimate, recognizable branding to the user so they feel comfortable that the re-direct is official and approved by the college, the CCCCO, and the application they are trying to access. 

• The sign-in page messaging is confusing for the user; it's not clear what login credentials we are asking for. The student has just signed in to their college IdP and then immediately we are redirecting them to a second, different sign in page. The messaging lacks enough information to explain why the student is seeing the proxy sign-in page.

• The sign-in page needs a Help link or better, an embedded video tutorial that can guide the student through the process (either sign-in with OpenCCC credentials, or recover account credentials and sign-in, or create an account if you don't have one.

UX Workflow Issues:

• To streamline the proxy workflow, colleges want a "short-form" OpenCCC Account creation process for the students who are already students at a college.   

• Colleges are frustrated that students are re-directed to the proxy while they to complete assignments for a course or program. Colleges want an optional workflow process that doesn't interrupt their students on their way to an important are trying to access a systemwide application 

• Colleges are frustrated that we don't offer an easy way for bulk assignment of CCCID numbers to non-credit or special needs students (Adult Ed, Inmates, special K12 programs, and non-credit students). 
• Colleges want to provide the Tech Center with a spreadsheet of account data and get back bulk-assigned CCCID assignment process

• Many colleges don't know how to get the CCCIDs created during proxy re-direct back into their SIS or common directory systems.  Better, comprehensive Information needs to be provided to colleges about the EPPN>CCCID API process. 

OpenCCC Account Issues: 

• Overall, the OpenCCC Account Creation process, especially when asked during proxy re-direct, is perceived as redundant, unnecessary, long and intrusive; especially when the user has already provided most of the information to the college already when they applied, enrolled, registered, etc.

• Students are put off by the questions, especially SSN, Birthdate, address, phone, email, etc.

• It is very unclear whether the SSO proxy is a product or a required technology component or simply a system technical requirement - both internally and externally from the field. 

• Currently the SSO proxy does not have a project charter, project plan, business requirements, or roadmap; thus making it extremely difficult for continuous improvement and supporting our colleges.

• The SSO Proxy also lacks a clear development team and