Transforming Portals from Gateways <br>to Enablers of Institutional Goals
For some institutions, the term “portal” brings to mind a gateway
to an institution’s online resources and services. Sophisticated portals
and integration technology enable much more than just a unified gateway. Portals
have the potential to become the ultimate point of organizational integration,
where the university community can access electronic services and resources
in support of quality teaching and learning.
Like most institutions, Webster University has been doing a pretty good job
of delivering basic Web services. We now offer students complete degree programs
online. Yet, the students can’t conduct all of their university business
electronically. Currently, Webster University’s Web services have more
to do than meet isolated functional needs—they must be woven together
to serve the university’s overall goal of providing increased access and
convenience in support of teaching and learning.
We determined that we must implement new portal technology that would achieve
the following three objectives:
• Distribute the capability for Web content management throughout the
institution while maintaining consistent presentation and navigation.
• Provide centralized and customized access from a single sign on.
• Integrate all underlying data and applications.
We are currently in the process of implementing SCT’s Luminis software
to achieve these objectives. We expect the implementation to be complete at
the end of 2004.
Maintaining Consistent Presentation and Navigation of Web Content
Like other institutions, we place an emphasis on allowing easy and flexible
access to our resources and curricula. We have 100 educational centers throughout
the U.S. and seven international sites including Switzerland, China, and Thailand.
Each of our extended sites has a unique identity and message to convey to the
students. Individual departments want Web pages and a Web presence, but not
every location has access to a knowledgeable graphic designer or a good writer.
It is impossible for our IT staff to reach and train individuals at all our
sites on how to develop good content for the Web and link it well. Our challenge
is to provide authors in this distributed environment with the tools they need
to get their content out on the Web while maintaining a consistent and user-friendly
Web presence.
To address this issue, we licensed content management software that will give
non-tech users throughout the world the tools needed to easily publish their
unique content within an attractive and navigable framework. In addition, these
tools will allow our various sites to keep their Web content up-to-date, which
is essential to the success of our Web efforts. We’ve learned the hard
way that creating Web pages is only the beginning. Those pages must be kept
current, otherwise, the effort is wasted.
When implemented, this content management model will allow our staff worldwide
to manage content within a framework that provides ease of use, accessibility,
and a consistent presentation of the university’s image online.
Providing Centralized and Customized Access from a Single Sign On
Once the information is up on the Web, it needs to be readily accessible to
users. Webster University's current online information is not accessible from
a single point of access, and the onus is on the student to figure out which
department handles what function. The process is frustrating and time-consuming.
In the past, students have accepted the difficulties and complexities of conducting
business with the university. But, now, we’re dealing with undergraduates
who have interacted with the Internet since they were 12 years old, and sophisticated
adults who have a much higher expectation for online services.
To tackle this challenge, we implemented technology that will provide centralized
and customized Web access to campus information, services, and communities from
a single sign on within the portal. Users will be able to read only the announcements
targeted specifically to them, check their e-mail, collaborate, and of course,
attend classes—all from within one portal, with one sign on. At the same
time, the portal will provide intuitive navigation to orient users as to where
they are within the framework of Web services, whether they are paying bills
or taking a course online.
The portal we will offer students will have advanced messaging tools like forums,
a chat interface, and message boards. Having those community elements available
within the portal—rather than only within a course management system—will
allow extensive access for instructors to create a cyberspace where students
can chat and collaborate, as well as provide a discussion forum for student
groups, faculty projects, and other communities.
Integrating Underlying Data and Applications
A final challenge is integrating the back-end databases and applications throughout
our university. This challenge grows almost every day as different departments
and colleges request that access to their information or services be made available
online. For example, development offices want to communicate with alumni via
the Internet; Career Services, the Registrar, and many other stakeholders have
unique online communications needs. Of course, online education presents a challenge
all its own.
Many resourceful students and faculty at our university have found ways to get
their services or information online. The result is a myriad of subsystems that
are not integrated. We currently collect data through various Web-based sources,
then reconcile the information into our administrative system—by hand.
This process is time consuming and inefficient.
We need to make all of our current and emerging online services available to
users through a single point-of-access, and we need to integrate all the corresponding
data that flows from multiple sources. This type of technology provides for
integration of services and applications that underlie the portal. In the future,
we will have data integration and sharing among our diversified campus systems,
applications, and databases.
For Webster University, this means that information
and services from our Jenzabar CX administrative system, our WebCT course management
system, e-mail system, calendar, other applications and databases will be integrated
and available from within a single portal. The benefits of the movement of data
between these systems will be significant, including automatic creation of e-mail
accounts, online courses, calendars and forums. The resulting digital campus
will be open, interoperable, and extensible, allowing us to continue to bring
new applications online, as they become available.
Admittedly, the integration will present some challenges internally. It will
force a cultural change, bringing together departments and people that seldom
interacted in the past and who will have concerns about losing control of their
data and business processes. In order to gain consensus on a solution, we will
need to collaborate with, and get buy-in from, people in various departments,
on the other side of the country, and even on the other side of ocean. But the
integration, as well as the other tools and enhancements we are bringing to
our portal, is essential.
Ultimately, the integration consolidation, and availability of self-service
applications from a single sign-on, will prove beneficial to our user-base,
resulting in an increased use of important back-end systems, increased communication
between constituents, and decreased administrative burden. As a result, our
portal will be more than a point of entry to the university; it will be an essential
enabler of the institution’s goals.
