ombiel campusm Reference Code: IT018-001456 Publication Date: 13 Apr 2014 Author: Tim Jennings SUMMARY Catalyst campusm is a cross-platform mobile and web application environment that enables an educational institution to deliver a range of static and dynamic information, with a high-quality user experience, to students, staff, and related communities. Key findings campusm is available on leading mobile platforms, including Apple ios, Android, and BlackBerry, and also provides a powerful responsive web interface that can act as a student portal. A quick to deploy, hybrid cloud solution, combining both software- and platform-as-a-service, with prebuilt connectors for the most common back-office systems in education. Easy for institutions to customize the core application, create mini apps of their own, and add new information sources. Architected to integrate with the client s existing directory and single sign-on environments. ombiel provides deep integration of learning management systems (LMS) such as the open source Moodle project into the campusm platform, with support also planned for Canvas, Desire2Learn, and Sakai. campusm includes a sophisticated reporting and analytics capability, which helps clients to track app usage and optimize the content and user experience. campusm will benefit from closer integration of social network and social collaboration tools as its scope extends across a greater part of the student experience Ovum recommends Higher education institutions looking to incorporate a mobile channel for students to access personalized information will find campusm a comprehensive and well designed option that is easy to deploy. With competition to attract students becoming more intense, anything that enhances the student experience will ultimately translate into increased numbers and client Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 1
satisfaction. Mobile access to information is now a basic expectation for students, so institutions must ensure they are not disadvantaged by deficiency of service or a poor user experience. As campusm has matured, it is now easier to identify multiple areas of functionality that can justify the business case for deployment, and as the boundaries between mobile and web development become blurred, the ability to span both is a significant advantage. The inclusion of comprehensive reporting and analytical tools helps to quantify the return on investment and fine tune the content and functionality of the application. Value proposition Higher education institutions, in common with organizations in other sectors, are seeking to automate and simplify their key business processes, particularly their interactions with students, and to maximize the degree of self-service. The distinct management challenge in higher education is the very large user population, which turns over around a quarter of its students on an annual basis. All large institutions have therefore web-enabled the provision of information to students, and are extending this to transactional systems such as library records, course management, and timetables. For the 16-25 demographic, mobile devices are the preferred channel for online interaction, with the expectation not only of web access but increasingly dedicated mobile apps which deliver enhanced functionality and a superior user experience. Rapid innovation in the mobile market provides further complexity for the institution in trying to support the latest devices, operating systems, and development platforms. Figure 1 shows their investment priorities in these areas. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 2
Figure 1: Global Higher Education investment priorities for mobility Source: Ovum ICT Enterprise Insights (Global sample of 486 institutions) campusm from ombiel provides a comprehensive platform that enables the delivery of integrated mobile services to students, giving access to a range of static information such as institution and course details, and dynamic information such as library records, timetable changes, resource availability, and alerts. It also makes use of platform-specific features to deliver functionality such as location-enabled campus maps and push notifications. Importantly, campusm is architected in a way that makes it easy for institutions to deliver information and services via the mobile channel and via the Web, is scalable to large student numbers, and can incorporate new information sources without additional development work. Ovum believes that mobile delivery of services has become an expectation for progressive higher education institutions, and that ombiel s campusm is a compelling solution to deliver this functionality without fuss. SOLUTION ANALYSIS Functionality campusm is one of the first mobile platforms designed to deliver information and services to students in higher education, with support for the most popular platforms: Apple ios, Android, and BlackBerry, together with a responsive web client. Work is also under way on a version for Windows Phone. The solution is designed to deliver static information such as university guides, course information, and regular timetables, dynamic information such as library records, PC availability, news and events, exam Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 3
timetables, and alerts, and location-based services such as interactive campus maps and person locators. Each customer s deployment of campusm is customized with their own layout and branding, and this can easily be updated by the customer as required. Although built on a common service-oriented framework, all campusm apps are platform-native, to take advantage of client-specific features such as GPS functionality and NFC. Information and service definitions are common across all client types, so only need updating once for deployment to all platforms. In its latest version, campusm has adopted a responsive web approach to interface design, using a dynamic grid and tile style of interface which delivers a strong user experience. This also enables customers to use a single platform across both mobile and web environments. They can also customize the inclusion and behavior of individual tiles to be device-specific. Several institutions are planning to use the campusm responsive web interface as a replacement for their existing web portal. Figure 2: campusm responsive web interface example Source: ombiel campusm is administered through a web-based App Manager Portal, which enables the customer to easily modify almost every aspect of the client apps, and is one of the solution's powerful and distinctive capabilities. This includes the information for delivery to users (with the App Manager acting as a simple content management system), the layout and branding of the apps, user registrations, RSS feeds and alerts, and coordinates for location-based features. Changing the application at this level does not require users to download or reinstall a new version of the app; any updates will be pushed out automatically on the student's next access. The platform can handle double-byte character sets, supporting all European languages, Japanese, and simplified Chinese. It is also possible to support multiple languages within a single app. Increased use is being made of location services, with the ability to optionally share GPS location with friends, and to check in to physical locations using QR codes or NFC readers. The latter is seen not Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 4
primarily as a social feature, but to help users orient themselves within a campus environment, and to provide enhanced information on the facilities available at a particular location. New facilities have been added to make it easier to share content by email or social channels, and to send feedback from within the app; for example, to report a problem or make a suggestion. Prebuilt integration is included for the most common higher education back-office and student information applications, and campusm s App Extension Kit (AEK) can be used to integrate with a much wider range of a customer s in-house systems as required. The AEK can also be used to develop mini apps to run within the campusm environment. ombiel provides an app exchange where customers can share these assets. campusm has deep integration of virtual learning environments (VLEs) such as the open source Moodle software into the campusm platform, which enables users to download files from, and upload to, these systems for offline working. The software includes a native file manager to assist this process. This can accept material via email and from cloud-based storage such as Dropbox or Box.net. ombiel is in the process of adding support for additional VLEs including Canvas, Desire2Learn, and Sakai. campusm includes a full reporting and analytics suite that can capture detailed information about system and app usage, including active users, device types, app sessions, menu options, content hits and downloads, and passes this data back to an analytics server in the campusm cloud. Customers can then run a wide range of standard or bespoke reports on system usage and performance, with drill-down capabilities into detailed data, and export to CSV, PDF, and graphic formats. This is an important element of the campusm platform, as it helps clients to track and measure usage, and to quickly tune content and services to meet user needs. campusm is primarily delivered using a cloud-based software- and platform-as-a-service model, which Ovum believes will be the preferred option for this market, helping to overcome the management challenge of recurring user provisioning cycles. If dynamic links to an institution s back-end systems are required, then a hybrid deployment model is used with a Tomcat application server running at the client site to feed this data in realtime to the cloud-based service. Extensive use is made of caching to improve performance, and all requests to underlying source applications are stateless to overcome limitations of intermittent connectivity. This architecture is shown in Figure 3. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 5
Figure 3: campusm architecture Source: ombiel All requests to the service and to back-end systems are individually authenticated, and use HTTPS for additional security. Delivery of the service is carried out by the University of London Computer Centre, which offers enterprise-class hosting with a focus on the educational market. Go-to-market strategy ombiel is based in the UK, sells directly to higher and further education institutions in the UK and Ireland, and is now expanding into North America and other global markets. campusm is available in several editions. campusm Student is the full version of the solution and provides integration with an unlimited number of back-end systems. It enables clients to produce a fully featured mobile app for its users, incorporating all of the campusm functionality, the App Extension Kit, and the App Manager. campusm Enterprise takes this one step further by using tight integration to an institution s LDAP or other directory to enable clients to offer campusm to different audiences such as staff, alumni, prospective students, and to different year groups or other subsets of the main student body. This can be delivered as separate apps or as multiple roles within a single app, with the user profile determining the options available. There are also campusm Solo and campusm Student Recruitment editions available, designed for customers that do not require integration to their in-house systems and which can be used for any event, open days, campus open house, student orientation (or freshers week), or student union guides. Pricing for campusm solutions is on an annual subscription basis, related to the number of full-time students at the institution, plus a fixed setup fee in year one. Pricing bands range from an entry-level deployment for up to 2,000 students, through to larger deployments for 25,000 or more students. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 6
Deployment As a cloud-based solution, deployment of campusm can take place within a relatively short timeframe, and much of the effort involves deciding on the range of services to deploy, defining the app branding and layout, and collecting and deploying the required information through the App Manager Portal. Typically this phase will take between two and 12 weeks to complete. ombiel will manage the process of registering and gaining approval for client apps through the relevant vendor's app store. Once the app is available, students will download it to their client device, and go through a simple registration procedure and authentication before starting to use it. ombiel also offers app design and branding development for clients that require these services For the cloud-based portion of the application no special technical skills are required; where campusm is to be integrated into back-end systems, directory and security management expertise, and knowledge of the specific back-end applications will be required. For users of the application, level 1 and level 2 support would normally be provided by the institution's own helpdesk and technical staff, with ombiel offering level 3 support during normal business hours included as part of the subscription. ombiel was founded in June 2009, by an experienced management team, and currently has a customer base of 31 institutions in the UK, and four internationally, with more than 200,000 registered users in total. Deployment examples The University of Cape Town (UCT) was looking for a strong mobile presence to consolidate its reputation as a technological innovator in South Africa s higher education sector. With the fast deployment timescales of campusm, UCT was able to deliver a mobile app to support the international conference it hosted within two months of selecting the platform. campusm consultants demonstrated a strong track record in system integration, having successfully developed solutions with leading education IT systems. For UCT, integrating with the PeopleSoft portal was a priority, in order to channel student finance information, along with personalised course timetables and course results, through the app. With Active Directory integration, users also benefit from single sign-on. It works with the university s learning management system, Sakai, providing access to learning resources for students on the move. The app also offers campus services such as local bus timetables. Following the launch of the ilancaster app in 2011, Lancaster University started to develop local features using the campusm App Extension Kit (AEK), to meet user needs as well as give the institution a competitive advantage. Independently, they have developed a range of local customisations on ilancaster, including a personalised finance application displaying students credits, invoices, and sponsor payments. This has been well received by staff at the Cashier s Office, where student enquiries have gone down significantly as a result. Lancaster was the first institution to implement the integration of campusm with Moodle; features such as offline access to learning resources have proven popular with students. They are also at the forefront of innovations in augmented reality with a campus tour and information feature, which interoperates with NFC and QR touchpoints and is profile-based, offering targeted information to different stakeholders such as staff and students. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 7
DATA SHEET Key facts about the solution Table 1: campusm data sheet Product name campusm Product classification Enterprise applications Version number Continuous Release date July 2009 Industries covered Education, conferences, local government Geographies covered All Relevant company sizes All Platforms supported ios, Android, Blackberry, Web Languages supported All European, Japanese, simplified Chinese Licensing options Annual subscription Deployment options SaaS Route to market Direct Company headquarters Wolverhampton, UK URL www.campusm.com Source: Ovum APPENDIX Methodology Ovum assessments are independent product reviews carried out using Ovum s evaluation model for the relevant technology area, supported by conversations with vendors, users, and service providers of the solution concerned, and in-depth secondary research. Author Tim Jennings, Research Fellow and Chief Analyst tim.jennings@ovum.com Ovum Consulting We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Ovum s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at consulting@ovum.com. Disclaimer All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Ovum (an Informa business). Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 8
The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please note that the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect. Ovum. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited Page 9