The On-Line Services Configuration service takes care of the setting of properties required by the available online services. It is really just here as an abstraction layer so that the user can enter the required information into their profile and that data is stored and can be re used by other services, decreasing the time and effort to set up a selection of services.

The other side is that we are refactoring our online services at the moment and we are certian that there will be several changes over the next six month to a year. This service allows these changes to be, at least for the most part, transparent to the user. The data collected is stored in an LDAP instance which serves all of our internal services as well as several others that we are presently sourcing from external entities.

Using the service is easy and is initiated by clicking an icon in the NetKernel control panel. Users are able to see their settings locally and make changes and send them up to the server as required. There is also an online form which will validate as data is entered. The initial use is through this online form rather than the local module.

We will have a video and manual on the service available soon and both will be available through the Portal or the On Line Training menu item.