Personalized Portal A Key Element in a Web Vision

• Personalized Portal: a Critical Element of a Web Strategy

• What is a Personalized Institutional Portal?

• Core Portal Infrastructure

• Killer Portal Applications

• What is a Successful Portal?

• What Yale and Others are Doing to Realize the Vision– Susan Bramhall, ITS Technology and Planning

Philip Long

Yale University ITS, October, 2001

A Personalized Portal is Key toAn Institutional Web Strategy

• The Yale Web is strategic to the University

• The Yale Web will be as complex as the University

• Each Web visitor or client will have unique interests and needs

• The Yale Web must respond with “mass customization”– A web response crafted on individual backgrounds and preferences

• For Visitors whom we do not know: – An attractive front door opening to the public University

– Perhaps with an option to register – become known

• For students, faculty, staff, alumni and others whom we know:– A personalized web portal

• A learning, teaching, research and administrative University on the web

• Which provides a customized and personalized view of the University web

• Appropriate to each client’s particular role and preference

• A personalized, integrated Web portal is a key for a web strategy

Today: A static Portal Across All Roles

– Yale’s Front Door– YaleInfo– Yale School of Medicine: YSMInfo– How did those sites get onto the static menu??!!

• High use across the population• But not consistently high use for any individual!

– Result: the Least Common Denominator» Some critical pages present, some missing

• Not optimal for anyone

– Or, The Business Office Yellow Pages• Comprehensive, but crowded• Hard to find frequently used items among so many

– The Producer’s view of what’s important, not the consumer’s view

The Multi-year Goal for TomorrowA Personalized Institutional Portal

• An anchor web site customized to the client’s role

• Which clients can personalize to their own preferences

• To present a single, integrated view and access to:– Information

– Applications and

– Directed messages, including workflow

• Yale specific links and information but also beyond Yale

Core Personalized Portal Infrastructure

• Sign-in based on NetID and password– Access to other secure services will not require additional sign-in

• Customization based on your role– Students see undergrad regulations, staff HR policies

• Personalization based on your preferences– Add headlines from home town newspaper

• Messaging (more below)

• Portal Applications (more below)

• Standards for publishing information and service access

Messaging

• An authenticated web login can display directed messages

• Official communications from Yale directed to role– E.g., Yale College teaching prizes to undergraduates

• Subscription communications from Yale groups– E.g., Yale Rep announcements

• Workflow announcements– Oracle permission requests waiting for your approval in START

• The link goes directly to the approval page

• No separate sign-in is required

“Killer Portal Application”Event Calendaring

• Self-subscription by individuals to calendars of interest– E.g., course calendars, extracurricular groups, clubs, etc.

• All presented on a personalized, merged event calendar• Same application allows improved event scheduling

– Easier to identify calendar conflicts

• Requires critical mass:– Build the event calendar application or applications

• Multiple local applications OK if use standard for event publishing

– Persuade groups to publish using the calendar standard– Allow self-subscription

• Ultimately integrate the personal calendar – (Meeting Maker or its successor)

Characteristics of a Successful Portal• Faculty, staff and student login to the Portal every day, all day

• User centric, develops a critical mass of users & sense of community

• Single login to most services– (High security applications have additional security)

• To get daily access– Offer all “captive” University applications

– Offer event calendaring, announcements, other value add

– And addition of favorite non-Yale channels, links, news feeds, etc.

– All the pieces contribute to the whole: a classic network effect economy

• All infrastructure must be standards based within an institutional architecture– to play now and into the evolving future

What Other Schools Are DoingAnd What Yale is Doing

• Susan will tell you about these efforts

Achieving The Vision

• Build toward the vision – With small steps here and there

– As we do what we would have done anyway

• We are now beginning to take the first step or two– Looking at a pilot student portal this academic year