ELSA Technical Requirements

This section describes the overall technical details of Skillsoft's Percipio ELSA product.

Installation

The ELSA product is a desktop application. The components are installed with a single signed *.msi file.

Browser extension versus Windows Application

The Percipio ELSA browser extension uses the Chromium extension framework to interact directly with the web page providing a mechanism for the user to conveniently interact with their Percipio site without leaving the current web page.

The Percipio ELSA Windows application provides a packaged version of the Chrome extension running inside of an Electron package. This package contains a version of the Chrome browser designed to run inside of another application. The extension code runs within this packaged version of Chrome.

Data Storage and Transmission

  • All data communicated with Percipio is done using HTTPS.
  • Data that originates from Percipio ELSA:
    • Search terms are the only free-form data that an ELSA user can input through ELSA.
    • An ELSA user can indicate that a Percipio asset is “Liked."
    • An ELSA user can request that a Percipio asset be added to a playlist.
    • ELSA reports on behalf of the user's progress within media playback (video, audio). When a user views a Percipio asset that has a media track, ELSA will monitor the user’s progress and periodically report the amount of time spent in the asset to the server. The progress reported for that user allows ELSA and Percipio to resume playback from that point when the user requests to view that asset again.

ELSA stores the following information in local storage within the browser or within the embedded browser in the desktop application:

  • Site name (percipioSite), such as company.percipio.com
  • Navigation information for the ELSA extension screens to allow backward navigation within the extension
  • User's selected locale (en, fr, de, etc.)
  • Auth token, like a cookie, has a 90-day expiration date
  • Percipio Site URL, such as https://customername.percipio.com
  • User preferences (autoplay, highlight)

User Login Process

Percipio ELSA allows a user to login either with Percipio credentials or with Corporate Credentials using SAML SSO. The login configuration is done on the Percipio side independent of the ELSA product.