Portal Vision Document

Introduction
An institutional portal is intended to provide a seamless, web-based interface
to a range of university systems and services. Key benefts of an institutional
portal may include:
simplifed sign-on and autentication to a number of di!erent campus "#
systems,
easier navigation of te local web environment,
customised and personalisable view of te local web environment,
better integration of internal web information resources wit e$ternal
resources.

"nstitutional portals are currently under development in a number of %&
institutions in bot te 'K and te '( - primarily student-facing portals. )any
of tese institutions ave developed teir own software in order to implement
a portal and a large community of portal developers as developed an open-
source *free+ repository of portal software. An increasing number of
institutions are loo,ing for tird party support for teir open source portal
implementations wilst te portal software mar,et as matured during te last
- years.
At te 'niversity of .eeds, portal implementation is li,ely to be underta,en by
purcasing a portal solution, or by adopting an open source solution wit
development/support underta,en by a well-establised tird party.
#e 'niversity of .eeds Academic (ervices appointed a Pro0ect )anager, in
1uly -223, to oversee a --year pro0ect to e$plore te development of an
institutional portal solution for te 'niversity. #e Pro0ect )anager will
underta,e a range of activities, including a business analysis of te
'niversity4s re5uirements6 a user needs analysis and evaluation of portal
software.
What is a portal?
7A portal is a personalised and customised gateway designed for useful and
compreensive access to information, people, and processes. 8ile portals
ave a rapidly evolving set of features and caracteristics, tey can be
described as personalised and customised user interfaces providing access to
bot internal and e$ternal information. Portal content can include a wide
variety of features, information, tools, and communication devices7. 9:;
7An 9sic; networ, service tat provides a personalised, single point of access
to a range of eterogeneous networ, services, local and remote, structured
and unstructured. Portal functionality often includes resource discovery, email
access and online discussion fora. Portals are intended for *uman+ end-users
using common 8eb 4standards4 suc as %##P, %#)., 1ava and 1ava(cript. "n
te conte$t of te 1"(< "&, portals interact wit bro,ers, aggregators and
content providers using =3>.?2, te @A"-P)% and A((/%##P.7 9-;
A portal as many caracteristics, but essentially 0ust one concept B tat of
integration. Aelevant information is consolidated togeter into one coesive
page, or set of frames, as a set of cannels. #e user is able to subscribe to
tose tat tey fnd useful and unsubscribe from tose tey donCt consider
important.
What does a portal look like?
#e screen sot sows wat a student portal could loo, li,e on a web page.
What are the advantages of a portal?
As a student :-
(ingle sign on 4one stop sop4 access to many applications, eg log in once
and ten get access to your library record, Dodington, email, online fee
payment etc, witout aving to log in to eac of te applications.
(ecure, personalised environment - giving you up-to-date information
relevant to you, eg your personal details, your module information, careers
information etc.
Access to an electronic library, ie access to electronic databases, 0ournals
and boo,s.
(earc across many resources simultaneously.
<lubs, societies and .'' news/announcements.
Virtual communities and discussion boards.
Eews and language cannels.
As a member of sta! :-
(ingle sign on access to many applications.
(ecure, personalised environment.
Focus on researc communities, processes and opportunities.
"ntegration of online 0ournals, te$tboo,s and bibliograpic data into an
electronic environment to create an electronic library on te des,top.
"t creates an electronic delivery mecanism to support our distance
education courses.
<entral fle store for collective information.
(ervice customisation i.e. te tailoring of information to an individualCs
needs will improve te learning e$perience and create a culture of
personalised support.
Virtual communities.
Outline of the portal project
#e 'niversity of .eeds portal pro0ect as one ,ey aim - to plan for and
develop a 'niversity portal including te following ,ey ob0ectives:
#o underta,e a business analysis of te 'niversity re5uirements for a portal product
and scope a detailed business case for a portal service.
#o identify and consult ,ey sta,eolders on needs and underta,e a user
re5uirements analysis.
#o identify and prioritise te ,ey areas for portal development.
#o review current portal products on te mar,et and ma,e recommendations for a
product tat will meet te needs of te university.
#o underta,e site visits to institutions currently deploying/developing institution-wide
portals.
#o review e$isting systems and pro0ects witin Academic services and elsewere,
and identify potential for synergy, overlap and/or duplication of e!ort.
#o wor, wit "(( teams to evaluate te tecnical options for construction of a portal
arcitecture.
#o consider ow e$isting services could be integrated into te portal framewor,.
#o wor, wit 'niversity sta! to e$plore te role of content management systems in
relation to a portal.
#o ma,e recommendations for staGng re5uirements to establis and run a portal
service.
Develop and implement a portal pilot.
Further information about University of Leeds portal project
VKP site *members of 'niversity of .eeds only+.
ttp://v,p.leeds.ac.u,/Drive/gototeam.0spHteamI:-J2K-
Portal pro0ect website *e$ternal access+.
ttp://www.leeds.ac.u,/leeds/newpages/portpro0/
Portal web survey.
ttp://www.leeds.ac.u,/leeds/newpages/portpro0/portalsurvey.tm
(tudent portal demonstrator.
ttp://www.leeds.ac.u,/leeds/newpages/portpro0/studentLdemoLloginpage.tm
(ta! portal demonstrator.
ttp://www.leeds.ac.u,/leeds/newpages/portpro0/sta!LdemoLloginpage.tm
"f you re5uire any furter information please contact Do )iddleton on $3K3JK
or e-mail Do )iddleton
References
9:;. Provosts on Portals: A web seminar developed for American Association of
(tate <olleges and 'niversities provosts.
9-;. 1"(< "& Arcitecture Mlossary. ttp://www.u,oln.ac.u,/distributed-systems/0isc-
ie/arc/glossary/