Office of Medical Informatics

Office of Medical Informatics
Systems Integration and Development

Find Version 2 Functional Overview

Return to Core Services

This document describes the redesign of our online directory system (aka Find). Find (find.medinfo.ufl.edu) has been in service for about two years at the time of this writing. It replaced an earlier system called dir.cgi that provided course rosters and id photos to other systems. Our primary goals are to increase accuracy and timeliness, while decreasing the need to build "silos" of the same information over an over again within the college. A related system, Groups and Roles, provides robust control over access and disemination of this information.

ECal Flow Chart
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Key Functionality

  • Mirror of Campus Systems - Find 1.1 introduced live syncronization with the campus LDAP server. It also introduced a semi-automatic process to synchronize with the campus ERP (aka Peoplesoft).
  • Storage for "Local" Data - The College of Medicine requires enhanced data not available through any campus system. Online access to ID photographs is one important example. Cleanly handling perferred names vs. official names is another.
  • Role-Based Access - The system supports sophisticated services to manage roles and groups.
  • Several Web Interfaces - The system provides multiple forms of web access and levels of security.
  • Several Report Formats - In addition to viewing data on individuals, the system has a robust report generation system. Authorized users may periodically create rosters, email lists, and data extracts on demand.
  • Support for Business Operations - The system is optimized to provide timely and accurate information for "official business" users within the college. Most use requires authentication and depends on the role(s) of the user.
  • Support for Other Systems - Find is also designed to provide demographic, role, and contact services for other sanctioned computer systems (ID photos for example).

Work Plan (Under Construction)