Electronic Working methods

1
Electronic Working methods

• Sami Trabulsi
• Editing publication division
• ITU

Geneva, 15-16 December 2008
2
Outline

• a The new authentication system
• b DMS the ITU document management system
• c Informal FTP area
• d Mailing lists
• e Web conferencing tools

3
a - New authentication system (1)

• A new powerful feature
• Allows the extension to Guestsof the services
  previously reserved to TIES
• Self subscription to some services
• Active directory feature

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a - New authentication system (2)

• Synoptic

Old GDDB
GUESTS
TIES
SDB
Serv n
Rules exceptions
Serv1
Serv1
Serv1
R1
G-S1-R1
AD
Serv1
Serv1
R2
G-S1-R2
Ri
G-S1-Ri
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a - New authentication system (3)

• ITU-T members invited to open a TIES account to
  benefit from ITU-T services
• For more information http//www.itu.int/ITU-T/edh
  /edh-faqs.html

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c EWM Informal FTP areas (1)

• Former iFTP
• Irregular structure
• Archive folder collecting frozen information
• Documents folder where DMS documents are
  replicated
• non-TIES special FTP areas
• password distributed on the net
• or Write function restricted to TIES and Read
  access from http

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c EWM informal FTP areas (2)

• Former iFTP (continue ...)
• Access right management
• Management by EWM
• Members are added manually one by one to each
  group and the access rights are set
• Limitation of web-upload processes to a single
  folder for security reasons

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c EWM informal FTP areas (3)

• iFTP path must be stable through SP
• iFTP folders should be archived in place
• Old FTP roots (ties.itu.int and ftp.itu.int) will
  continue to be used
• New structure will have a new root ifa.itu.int
• Access controlled by new AD features

9
c EWM informal FTP areas (4)

• New study period FTP area will include the study
  period numberifa.itu.int/t/2009/sg16/xchange/gen
  
• Logical access to DMS documents from iFTP
  structure (no replication)
• Special FTP areas RW access to TIES and
  designated users
• Public FTP areas Write access to TSB, Read
  access to all public

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c EWM informal FTP areas (5)
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c EWM informal FTP areas (6)

• First level nodes created by EWM
• RW access defined at those first level nodes.
  Guests authorized
• Children nodes access rights then defined by
  inheritance
• Document node access rights independant from DMS
  rights
• Uploading to sub-folders authorized

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c EWM informal FTP areas (6)

• Old iFTP archived in the old structure in a
  classical way (archives) message pointing to
  new IFA structure
• archived iFTP documents also migrated to new
  structure by EWM
• Links to the IFA areas updated as necessary

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d EWM Mailing lists - Previous situation (1)

• Previous mailing list system was Majordomo
• Groups associated to mailing lists defined inside
  Majordomo system as groups of individual mail
  addresses

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d EWM Mailing lists - Previous situation (2)

• Subscription to mailing lists
• Visible reflector lists
• Maintained by EWM group
• TIES users may subscribe/unsubscribe using the
  TIES mailing list interface but had to be
  approved by EWM
• Those who dont have TIES accounts can send their
  request to EWM and are subscribed manually using
  Pandora
• Special (hidden) reflector lists
• Subscriptions done manually by EWM group using
  Pandora on demand and approval of the Counsellor
• Unsubscription is done manually by TSB staff

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d EWM Mailing lists - Previous situation (3)

• Reflector list membership accessible to members
  using their TIES account
• Due to the addition of many exceptions,
  impossible to synchronize mailing lists with
  GDDB. The absence of information on bounced mails
  prevented also such clean-up.
• The workload of mailing list maintenance was high

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d EWM Mailing lists - New system (4)

• SYMPA system on a UNIX platform
• Roles associated to the mailing lists defined in
  the active directory, not in Sympa system
• Moderator
• Subscribers

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d EWM Mailing lists - New system management
(5)

• Mailing lists created by EWM group
• Subscription to notification lists
• Self subscription mechanism accessible to TIES
  members (public lists)
• Subscription to open reflector lists
• Self subscription mechanism for TIES members
• Guests added by EWM group on counsellors
  requirement.

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d EWM Mailing lists New system management (6)

• Subscription to restricted (hidden) reflector
  lists
• members will be added by EWM on counsellors
  demand
• Unsubscription to any of the mailing lists
• self-service
• Archives
• Accessible to TIES members and subscribed guests
• Different metadata attached, mainly sender,
  subject and date. Ordering possible by date and
  sender

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d EWM Mailing lists New system management (7)

• Access to membership information decided list by
  list (default membership of reflector list is
  visible)
• Advantages
• Synchronization with TIES information
• Facilitation of mailing list maintenance

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d EWM Mailing lists New lists naming (8)

• List names are unique
• New address _at_lists.itu.int
• Proposed scheme includes study period, likewise
  for iFTP areas
• t09sgxxwpy, t09sgxxqzz, ...
• Allows for Question and WP renumbering, merging,
  etc
• But other schemes possible
• Archiving by study period

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d EWM Mailing lists - Migration to new lists
(9)

• For the new study period, new mailing lists will
  be created fresh by EWM group on counsellors
  request
• Previous Majordomo system addresses copied en
  bloc by script during a limited period of time on
  new system
• Membership will have to self-subscribe to new
  mail notification lists and reflectors lists

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d EWM Mailing lists - Migration to new lists
(10)

• EWM will register members of restricted mailing
  lists
• In the future, a function will allow study group
  secretariats to subscribe and unsubscribe
  members on/from mailing lists.
• For general public notification list, guest will
  be invited to create a guest account an to
  self-subscribe to the available public lists if
  they wish so.

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d EWM Web conferencing systems

• Free facility available since 2007
• ITU-T members (rapporteurs, editors, ...) wishing
  to organize a web conference should contact SG
  secretariat indicating date, time and duration.
• Counsellor sends back confirmation, and other
  information (password, audio bridge, ...)
• For more information, see http//www.itu.int/ITU
  -T/edh/faqs-onlinemeet.html

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Conclusion