Portals, Knowledge Management and Performance Support: Achieving Significant Outcomes

1. Portals, Knowledge Management and Performance Support:Achieving Significant Outcomes Gloria Gery Gery Associates Tolland, Massachusetts ggery@attglobal.net (413) 258-4693

2. Portals are HOT! • Huge development activity occurring • Quick way to organize resources • Trial and error design by everyone • Not always designed to specific goals • Needs and organizing and goal framework to achieve highest level outcomes • knowledge management • performance support

3. Website vs. Portal? • Websites: delivery environment • Portal: goal and user focused • eBusiness: include transactions

4. Portal • Integrated, single point of access to • knowledge • data • tools • communications • task support • Not a software application per se, but can provide access to applications • A form of performance support

5. Portals: Types and Focus • Organization (Company, Department, Unit) • Mission, Org. Charts, Contacts, News, Programs, Products,etc. • Role (e.g. Manager Resource Center, Employee, Instructional Designers Center, Sales Reps, Physician) • Tools, Content, Resources, Data, News, Related Sites, Communications • Functional or Content ( Learning Center, Travel, Health, Financial) • Tools, Data, Content News, Related Sites, Communications

6. Portals: Types and Focus (continued) • Task Performance (Find and Purchase Product, Find a Job, Home Maintenance) • Tools, Data, Content, Deliverable Creation, Communications • Data (Accounts, Transactions, Orders, Inventory

7. Typical Goals and Design • Combined types • Often nested • Goals sometimes confused Need to be explicit in advance! • Collection • Classification • Filtration • Integration

8. Collection & Aggregation Gathering of resources and putting them "in one place" to access. • Reduce search and navigation complexity • Assure complete resources: users don’t have to know what to look for

9. Classification Grouping content, resources, tools, applications into meaningful categories. • easier identification and retrieval • create organization frameworks for users

10. Improved Representation Improvements in the way content is presented • to increase clarity and meaning to users • language • form • media • metaphor • visualization

11. Filtration Mapping goals, tasks, processes, content, data, tools and tasks to profiled user groups and individuals • filtered resources appropriate to identified user attributes • filters defined by organization, user or both • role, organization, location, job grade, security, etc.

12. Integration Within a Site • Bringing resources together to • minimize expertise/knowledge requirements • navigation • synthesis Example: mapping knowledge to process or task so users can access filtered content while doing a given task. Integration combined with increasing task or process focus is among the most powerful results to achieve.

13. Integration Among and Between Portals • Integrate across portals • content • multi-step, cross-functional tasks • design • controls, navigation, language, graphics, layout, interaction methods, functionality (e.g. search, index)

14. Transformation… We Must Reconceptualize • Reconceiving design approach to • focus on goals, tasks and user requirements rather than creator point of view • aid in achievement as well as information access

15. Progression • Within a project prior to release • goal • iteration • Over time through versioning

16. Goals • Create consistent, explicit, integrated extensible portals • Establish momentum • Balance structure and freedom • Immediate use with little/no learning required • Simple navigation to related resources • Reusable content, tools, code, etc. • Provide process support • Rapid development • Simple maintenance: content, systems, operations, relationships • Focus on what users need -- not gratuitous elements • Meeting present and future organizational needs • Meet the needs of multiple users: duality of needs • Developing and maintaining a community of practice to achieve integration: achieve blending

17. Requirements • Defined, agreed upon architecture components • navigation • structure • interface controls and interaction methods • components (e.g. search, index) • language/terminology around generic components • graphical design: layout, color options • site behavior • profiling mechanisms and filtering sites/data • powerful living resources documents/tools for internal & external contracting: requirements for reuse (e.g. SOW’s, technical, standards, Section 508, controls, sources, tools) and method for understanding (e.g. web developers portal); evaluation metrics, content mgt. System requirements (technical) • IT architecture • Printer friendly view

18. Requirements (continued) • Agreed upon relationships among and between sites and what’s on them • Responsibility definition • Collaboration among organizations • Responsibilities - Control Points • Process and security requirements: profiling. registration, etc. • Method: style sheets, documentation • Communications mechanisms: what exists, plans, etc. • Accessibility: Section 508 compliance: • Branding • Content Guidelines (e.g. Professionalism, Appropriateness, Writing Style

19. Resource Types and Standards • Types of Content/knowledge: e.g. policy, procedures, program info, product) • Data: individual and group e.g. Training History, Transactions • Performance Support Tools (task support) e.g. Calculators, Task Completion Wizards, Transaction Mechanisms) • Software applications: e.g. (PeopleSoft, Modeling tools) • Collaboration mechanisms: e.g. Message Boards, Instant Messaging • Engines and data bases: • Etc. TBD….

20. Site Structure, Navigation and Relationship Maps • What’s on a given site/ organization • Relationship of among and between sites • access methods • reuse of components e.g. Learning Center accessible from Employee Resource; Index, Search, Code for populating pull-downs; ) • Profiling criteria to filter views • Etc. TBD

21. Issues • Gaining agreement • Phased implementation approach • New design • Integrating with existing sites • Reengineering existing sites to new standards • Modeling and documenting site structure and content • Defining maintenance methods and responsibility

22. Personal Financial Portal • Data (only filtered component) • News • Tasks • Products • Interesting implementation of menus within tabbed folder

23. Personal Financial Portal • Planning Context • Events focus • Task Focus (plan, analyze, allocate, develop strategy • Integrated content resources

24. Personal Financial Portal: • Research Context • News • Data

25. Data Portal: Airline Mileage • Filtered data • multiple views • click to underlying transactions • Tasks (Mining Mileage • Product/Program Content

26. Data Portal: Airline Mileage • Data by airline program • Click on airline name for underlying detail leading to mileage and how many miles to next award level

27. Content Focus • Content • Search • Personal Data • Tools • News • Communications • Events • Product (pharmacy)

28. Content Focus • Content • Search • Personal Data • Tools • News • Communications • Events • Product (pharmacy)