JISC

The project will develop an online data access management system based on the User-Managed Access (UMA) Web protocol, a newly proposed technology that expands OAuth. UMA is in the process of being standardised by the UMA work group (charter of the Kantara Initiative). The project will define a Higher Education case study that exemplifies access management requirements for HE applications, implement UMA-based access management solution and evaluate this through a user study. Through this work, we aim to ensure that HE requirements for access management are taken into consideration early in the standardisation process, and, at the same time, ensure that UK HE continues to be at the forefront of developments in this area.

Aims and objectives

The overall aim of the SMART project is to develop an exemplar authorisation infrastructure based on the User-Managed Access Web protocol and evaluate its benefits within a HE environment. Specific objectives of the project are as follows: 

1. Define a use case scenario for User-Managed Access within HE environments and derive a set of requirements for UMA-based solutions for HE applications. 
2. Develop a novel UMA-based authorisation solution that will meet needs and satisfy requirements of HE environments. 
3. Deploy the UMA-based solution within a HE institution, integrate it with exemplar institutional Web applications and evaluate it through a user study. 
4. Contribute with the use case scenario, developed software and project findings to the UMA WG and actively participate in the standardisation effort of the UMA Web protocol. 
5. Demonstrate, document and disseminate all work conducted throughout the entire project.

Project methodology

The SMART project will consist of the following phases:

1. Defining a HE scenario for the UMA use case. 
2. Agile development of UMA-based authorisation system. 
3. Integration of the new authorisation system with exemplar institutional Web applications. 
4. Evaluation of the novel authorisation system through a user study.

Additionally, throughout the entire project the team will produce documentation and will engage in dissemination activities as necessary.

Anticipated outputs and outcomes

1. Use case scenario for HE environments that shows the applicability and importance of User-Managed Access within such environments. Based on this use case a set of core requirements that are of particular interest to the UK academic community will be derived. 
2. Implementation of the prototype Authorisation Manager and appropriate plugins (libraries) for existing Web applications used within Newcastle University (both the AM and plugins will be fully documented to aid their further maintenance). 
3. Demo application of integrated institutional Web applications and our prototype Authorisation Manager. 
4. Evaluation report based on gathered feedback, demo application and conducted research throughout the entire project.

Technology / Standards used

This project will adopt open standards and technologies that are well established in the Web community. Developed software will be open source.