The myDENISON Portal Story: Implementing and Sustaining a Student Portal

1. A “small can be beautiful” portal story Janell Baran - Denison University

2. Abstract I. In the Beginning • Why? Strategic Reasoning • The Committee • The Criteria • The Contenders • The Choice II. The Plan • Timeline • Portal Retreat • The Prototype Run-off • Community Involvement • Marketing • Testing, testing, testing, .... and more testing • User Support

3. Abstract III. Implementation Issues • Collaborative Open-source: JA-SIG's uPortal Project • The Team -- Where are the Java Programmers? • User Authentication • Tying In with Other Systems • Outside Channels • Inside Channels IV. Where We Are Now • The myDENISON Grand Tour • Usage • Continued Maintenance • What Next?

4. Abstract V. Lessons Learned • Community Involvement from Start • Start Simple and Grow • It's All About the Users • Exploit Existing Resources and Content • Market Aggressively Conclusion

5. I. In the Beginning • Why a Student Portal? Strategic Reasoning • Student Retention • Competitiveness • Community Building • Streamline Information Access • Build on Existing Strengths • Denison 2000 Initiative (1998 - infrastructure) • Denison Information Initiative (2000 - IT personnel, 5.5 new positions)

6. I. In the Beginning B. The Committee • Chaired by VP of Finance and Management • Represented a range of interests: • Assistant Provost for Instructional Technology (faculty and students) • Director of Computing Services (all computer users) • Associate Director of Administrative Computing (administrative users) • Oracle DBA ** • Web Services Manager (pagemaintainers and students)

7. I. In the Beginning C. The Criteria • Pre-defined general objectives • Specific portal selection criteria

8. I. In the Beginning D. The Contenders • CNAV Systems • Blackboard 5, Level 3 • Oracle Portal • JA-SIG uPortal

9. I. In the Beginning E. The Choice • Open Source vs. Commercial Vendor Debate • Support and Documentation • Future Development • Cost • Scalability • Integration • Target Market - Academia vs. Business • 2 Clear Finalists, No Clear Winner • Solution: Parallel Prototype Development

10. II. The Plan A. Timeline • Committee begins meeting: December 2000 • Committee OKs prototype development: April 2001 • Final product choice: June 2001 • myDENISON target release: August 2001

11. II. The Plan B. Portal Retreat • 3 Days in May 2001 • Focus on: • Authentication • Performance Issues • Content Development • Marketing Strategies • Administrative and Instructional System Integration

12. II. The Plan C. Prototype Run-off Winner: JA-SIG uPortal • Cost • Straight-forward Integration with Existing Website • Ease of Customization • Active and Supportive Development Community • Strong Academic Focus • Strong Alignment with Denison Web Enterprise Goals

13. II. The Plan D. Community Involvement • On-line Survey • Focus Groups • Student • Staff • Campus E-mails • Meetings with Key Content Providers

14. II. The Plan E. Marketing • Focus Groups • Survey • Brochure • Student Activities Fair Booth • Freshman Orientation Presentation

15. II. The Plan F. Testing, testing, .... and more testing • Functionality • Performance • Cross-browser/Cross-platform • Usability

16. II. The Plan G. User Support • FAQs • Portal Help Channel and Feedback • myDENISON Portal Tutorial • myDENISON Channel Development Tutorial

17. III. Implementation Issues • Collaborative Open-source • JA-SIG's uPortal Project • Apache HTTP server and Tomcat Java servlet container, both from the Apache Software Foundation • PHP • mySQL • DocBook and OpenJade • IMP email from the Horde Project

18. III. Implementation Issues B. The Portal Development Team -- Where are all the Java Programmers? • Web Services Manager • Web Programmer ** • Web Technology Analyst ** • 4 Student Web Development Assistants ** New position resulting from Information Initiative

19. III. Implementation Issues C. User Authentication • Phasing in LDAP, used for myDENISON • Rest of Denison website and web-based email (IMP) still uses IMAP

20. III. Implementation Issues D. Tying In with Other Systems • Web-based email: IMP • Course Management System: Blackboard 5, Level 1 • Administrative Management System: Banner plus Web4Student module

21. III. Implementation Issues E. Outside Channels • Yellow Pages • Slashdot • Weather • Google Search • The Economist

22. III. Implementation Issues F. Inside Channels • On-campus jobs • Event Calendar • Library Resourses • On-line Voting & Surveys • Bulletin Board (prototype)

23. IV. Where We Are Now • The myDENISON Grand Tour • Usage • Continued Maintenance • What Next?

24. IV. Where We Are Now 2. Usage Statistics • ~20% Customization • Regular Users:~30% (Year 1, students only)~50% (Year 2, students & staff) • End of Semester Peaks and Vacation Valleys • Nearly 100% Taste-tested • Staff usage much lower than students (8% vs. over 50%

25. IV. Where We Are Now 3. Continued Maintenance and Development • Bulletin Board • On-line Voting • Dining Menus • Web4Employee/Staff myDENISON • Course evaluations

26. IV. Where We Are Now 4. What Next? • Other Banner Web4 modules: • Web4Faculty • Web4Alumni • Correspond to: • Faculty myDENISON • Alumni myDENISON

27. IV. Where We Are Now 3. Further development of highly personalized role-based delivery • Services • on-line timesheet submission • network account application • Seshat: link checking and template validation for pagemaintainers • announcements management • Information • transcripts • job openings for staff • announcements • housing lottery room finder

28. V. Lessons Learned • Community Involvement from Start • Secure sponsorship at the highest level • Seek out your toughest critics... and integrate them into the process • Spread responsibility broadly for setting objectives, but narrowly for implementation

29. V. Lessons Learned B. Start Simple and Grow • Portals offer 3 types of user incentives: • One-stop shopping • Convenience of pass-through authentication • Unique features • Critical mass -- at least 1 "killer" channel in each category -- necessary to generate sufficient draw for first release • Subsequent channel releases keep interest high • Reliability is critical -- user trust is easily lost

30. V. Lessons Learned C. It's All About the Users • Make checklist of impacted offices and targeted groups -- involve representatives from each in development/implementation process • Do personal and/or small group demos BEFORE final release • Be flexible and incorporate as many suggestions as possible • Long-term maintenance item: continue to actively seek feedback

31. V. Lessons Learned D. Exploit Existing Resources and Content • Carefully assess existing technical capabilities, human and machine • Apply the 3 Rs: Reuse, Repackage, Repurpose

32. V. Lessons Learned E. Market Aggressively • Take advantage of every opportunity for exposure • each user contact (see above) becomes a marketing opportunity • review the checklist -- has everyone been contacted? • introduce new technologies through the portal • new student orientation, the first wave

33. Conclusion With the proper tools anything is possible