Freestone Integration
netFORUM Enterprise integrates with the Freestone™ Learning Management System so that
educational data and purchases that are tracked in netFORUM are visible to those Freestone users
who are also netFORUM eWeb users.
The baseline integration between netFORUM and Freestone maintains the customer record in
netFORUM, including the customer's login credentials. The educational content that is stored in
Freestone becomes available for view when the customer makes a purchase in netFORUM. Course
completion and certification information is generated and maintained in Freestone and pushed to the
netFORUM CEU credits module.
Freestone can also be styled to mimic the netFORUM eWeb site.
The baseline integration provides the following features:- Single Sign-on (SSO) between netFORUM and Freestone.
- Order data in netFORUM is pulled into the Freestone application and displayed in the Freestone portal.
- Course completion and attendance data is pushed from Freestone to the netFORUM CEU module.
The following integration features are outside the scope of the baseline integration. Theyrequire additional analysis by the implementation team and will incur additional costs:- Catalog data can be synchronized from netFORUM to Freestone, including titles, descriptions, speaker information and pricing data. All course content is created and maintained in Freestone.
- The integration can include a split shopping experience for the customer. The browse, search, and shopping cart functions can be accessed from either netFORUM or Freestone. At checkout, the customer is directed to the netFORUM Enterprise eWeb interface for payment. This feature requires catalog synchronization.
- The use of the Agilutions Credentialing Engine is not included in the baseline integration with Freestone, but can be provided as an additional customization.
Freestone Integration: Requirements Integration with the Freestone Learning Management System requires the followingsystem settings and environmental requirements for each netFORUM site to beintegrated with Freestone:
- The baseline integration requires eWeb. If your organization does not use eWeb, a customized integration is required. Contact Abila Professional Services for more information.
- A netFORUM xWeb user must exist for Freestone to access netFORUM. This user should have a user ID similar to Freestone_xWebUser so that the account is easily recognized. To create an xWeb user, contact Abila Customer Support or your implementation consultant.
Freestone Integration: Setup and Implementation
The integration with Freestone requires that the Implementation Services team or Professional Services
team make modifications to both the Freestone installation and the netFORUM Enterprise installation.
The baseline integration requires the modifications described below. Features outside the scope of the
baseline integration require analysis and might incur additional costs. Contact your netFORUM or
Freestone implementation specialist for more information.
Notes:- The changes described in this section must be performed by Abila. Abila might assign separate implementation consultants for Freestone and netFORUM.
- Changes made for the integration must be applied to each product instance that supports the integrated features. For example, changes might be applied to the test, staging, and production instances of each product for an organization.
The following implementation tasks are required for each Freestone instance:
- The Freestone application must be updated with the netFORUM URLs for the netFORUM eWeb instance and xWeb interface. Freestone redirects netFORUM users to the netFORUM eWeb log-in page and uses the xWeb interface to pull customer data.
- The Freestone application includes scripts to recognize the integration with netFORUM, redirect users to the netFORUM.
- The Freestone application is modified to recognize learning content purchases made in netFORUM so that it can display those purchases to the customer in the Freestone portal.
- The Freestone application is modified to update course completion data in the netFORUM CEU module
- The Freestone portal can be styled to mimic the organization's eWeb interface. This allows customers to have a relatively seamless experience when redirected to the eWeb site to sign in or purchase learning material.
The following implementation tasks are required for each netFORUM instance:
- An xWeb user must be created for use by the Freestone application. This user ID must be tested before passing to the Freestone implementation consultant.
- The netFORUM consultant must supply appropriate information about the netFORUM instance to the Freestone implementation consultant, as follows:
- xWeb user credentials (user name and password).
- xWeb URL endpoint.
- eWeb base URL
- iWeb base URL
- URLs used by the Freestone application must be gathered and supplied to the Freestone implementation team.
Freestone Integration: Single Sign-on
In the integration between Freestone and netFORUM, the user record is owned and managed on the
netFORUM platform. The integration uses Single Sign-on (SSO) to make sure that updates to the user
record are tracked accurately whether the customer logs in from the Freestone or netFORUM eWeb
interface.
SSO means that a user has a shared identity across both applications can log in to both applications by
logging into either site. For example, if the user logs into netFORUM eWeb, and then navigates to
Freestone, they do not need to log in to Freestone separately.
SSO begins when a user lands on the Freestone portal to perform an action that requires them to sign
in to the application. This could be purchasing a course, viewing existing purchases, or launching
content.
SSO authenticates the user using a netFORUM eWeb login and returns the user immediately to the
Freestone portal. This is accomplished using a web redirect to the eWeb site and by the xWeb
AuthenticateLdap method.
Authentication Process
Freestone/eWeb users log in to the netFORUM eWeb site, using their netFORUM credentials. The
authentication is the same with the Freestone integration, whether they enter from the Freestone
portal or the eWeb site. When the Freestone portal is styled to mimic the eWeb site, the end user log-in
experience should be seamless from either website.
The SSO includes the following validation for a user's credentials:
1. A user can browse to the organization's Freestone portal. If the organization has customized their
Freestone portal with the netFORUM Enterprise integration, the user is automatically redirected to
the netFORUM eWeb login page.
2. The user enters their netFORUM eWeb credentials (user ID and password).
- If the validation succeeds, netFORUM returns a token to Freestone that can be used by subsequent actions of the Freestone application (for example, purchasing a course).
- If the validation fails, the netFORUM waits for the user to sign in successfully before sending the token to the Freestone application.
- If the token expires before a successful sign-in or if the token cannot be validated, the authorization process ends with an error message that prompts the user to contact Customer Support. This is unlikely to occur.
3. If this is the first time that the user has signed in from the Freestone portal, the Freestone
application creates a Freestone registration for them, using the same user ID and password as the
eWeb site. Subsequent sign-ins by the user update the user’s identity in Freestone from the
information in netFORUM Enterprise.
4. A valid token can be used as long as the session is active. If the session is closed, times out, or if
the user signs out, a new sign in and token are required.
Freestone Integration: Order Data and Attendee Data
The heart of the integration between netFORUM and Freestone is the ability to transfer data between
the two systems. The baseline integration includes the following types of data transfer:
- Order data is pulled from netFORUM and displayed in the Freestone portal, so that the registrant is able to see the Freestone course content they have ordered in netFORUM.
- Completion and certificate data is transferred from Freestone to the netFORUM CEU module, so that course completions and credit information are updated in the customer record in netFORUM.
Order Data
The Freestone application is modified for the integration to recognize learning content purchases
(products and events) made by netFORUM customers. The integration uses a
GetQuery xWeb method
to return the customer's purchase data, and then displays any product codes that match the Freestone
catalog in the Freestone portal page for the customer.
The frequency of this data pull can be set according to your organization's requirements. By default,
data is pulled when the customer signs in to the Freestone portal. Additional updates can be pulled on
page load for selected pages, such as the course catalog and classroom pages.
For organizations with large data volumes or long purchase histories, the data pull can be date
restricted. This is an optional setting, which must be requested during the integration implementation
process.
CEU Credit Updates
The Freestone application is modified for the integration to update the customer's CEU credit
information with appropriate credit hours, product/program/event information, credit types, and both
add and earned dates. In most cases, the add and earned dates will be the same, since the completion
information is updated automatically when the customer finishes the learning product or event that
earns the credit.
The Freestone application uses the
InsertFacadeObject xWeb method to create and update the
course credit information for the customer record in the CEU module.
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