Project to Acquire a Portal and Content Management System Investing in the JMU Web

At each stage of JMU’s relationship with its learners, the Web becomes an increasingly important tool.

Seventy percent of prospective students form their opinions of a university by visiting its Web site – as early as 10 th grade. —Stamats research JMU alumni prefer online communication. — Recent JMU research The average teenager now spends more time online than watching television. —American Demographics

These trends will only strengthen in the future. JMU’s Web technology has not kept pace: In 1995, JMU launched its first Web site using: UNIX hardware; an open source server; and publishing via FTP. Today, JMU’s main Web site uses: UNIX hardware; an open source server; and publishing via FTP.

Today, Web users are more sophisticated.

They expect Web sites to “know them”… … and provide personalized choices.

They expect to transact business easily … … at any time of the day and from any location online.

Successful Web sites provide these sophisticated services using portal technology. Odds are, you use Web portals nearly every day. If you bank online, make purchases from Amazon.com, shop on eBay or use almost any Web site that asks you to log in, you use portal technology.

Every Web portal serves a different purpose, but there are some common features …

Portal Authentication Users must have an account to use the portal …

Portal Once the user has logged in the portal can ask its databases for information …

Portal And the databases will respond with information about the user’s roles … and personal preferences.

Portal The portal can then use that information to build the user’s personalized screen.

Portal Personalized content is the primary advantage for portal users. For example, a banking portal locates all the user’s accounts with that bank and offers a single access point …

Portal While a general Web portal such as MyYahoo!, might provide information you have specifically requested (such as local weather).

Portal Content aggregation Portals differ from traditional Web sites in that a portal can combine content from multiple sources …

Portal … onto a single screen.

Portal Portals in higher education have been used to provide specialized information for faculty, staff, students, alumni and other constituents. For example …

MyUCLA provides access to course information for registered students …

While the University of Washington’s portal provides a personal calendar for staff …

And Wisconsin offers access for all portal users …

… and access to an advising system for faculty.

Portal Implementing portal technology will not be easy or quick. There will be many phases, each adding new features. Integration of data from other systems, such as PeopleSoft and Blackboard, may be particularly difficult and integration of these systems may be phased as well.

Portal According to Gartner, a technology research firm, JMU should expect at least a five-year rollout for major portal features. Yet, when fully implemented, portal technology can provide a single starting point for JMU’s online relationship with learners at all stages of life …

Portal Using the portal’s ability to know them (authenticate) a returning user, a young learner (or a parent) might sign-up to take advantage of an online education outreach program … beginning a possible lifelong learning relationship with JMU. Services delivered could evolve based on age … better preparing future students … and building strong JMU affinity. Prospective Student (K-12)

Portal The portal’s ability to combine content and services from many systems in an integrated, personalized presentation would serve the learner during the years of enrollment at JMU. Enrolled Student

Portal Important university notices and information based on the learner — membership in an academic program, student organization, geodemographic segment — might be pushed to that learner’s portal … Enrolled Student

Portal and the learner would have tools to define preferences, shape their own views and pull information from sources of interest … Enrolled Student

Portal … all combining to present a single access point for JMU Webmail, e-campus, Blackboard, etc. — a personalized view of the student’s JMU learning program. Enrolled Student

Portal The portal’s ability to share information with other university databases could promote a more lasting relationship between the university and its alumni. Alumni

Portal With the ability to tie Web content to user preferences — academic, professional, personal — online offerings might be created to attract alumni to JMU for training, acquiring new certifications, exploring new interests … Alumni

While a portal will create many new opportunities for users of the Web site, Web publishers will need to create more sophisticated content … That’s why this project also includes the acquisition of a Content Management System (CMS).

So that Web publishers can create and provide more sophisticated content … … without having to acquire advanced technical skills to do it.

Content Management Web pages could be created and edited with standard word processor tools, making it possible to change text and style in a familiar environment. …

Content Management Yet high-end publishers would have access to source code and/or APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to create or link to their own interactive Web applications.

Content Management Publishers could subscribe to shared content from another department’s site, eliminating duplication of information … … changes to the original text would automatically update the subscribing site.

Content Management Publishers could create content and schedule its availability well in advance … … and specify when out-of-date content should be automatically removed or archived.

Content Management Publishers could easily use CMS tools to integrate JMU’s branding/identity system and ensure consistency with JMU Web site navigation and search systems.

Content Management Content prepared for the Web could be automatically re-formatted to be seen on SmartPhones and PDAs …

Content Management … and content could be made more accessible to Internet users with disabilities.

Content Management Since all content would be maintained in a database, search and index creation could reflect the Web site’s offerings much more accurately.

May all your problems be technical. —Jim Gray, Microsoft Corp, 1998 Turing Award winner

Choosing the right software and hardware at this stage may appear to be primarily a technical issue. It is not. Our immediate challenge is to acquire the best portal and CMS for JMU. This will be the tool set upon which future phases will depend.

To understand this best, we need your help. The biggest challenge will be understanding how JMU people will use these new tools — how this project will affect people and relationships.

For example: To offer customized services to different audiences we must know who those users are. What roles distinguish them from each other? How do we manage users who have multiple roles? This requires careful attention to the JMU campus directory …

And just as the portal allows us to customize services, a CMS must support multiple publishing roles. Web authors, editors and reviewers will be needed. What policies will be required to govern JMU Web publishing activities?

This project is truly an activity in which we are “all together one” How can you contribute to this vision?

What challenges do you currently face that this tool set could help answer? How will you relate to learners in the future? How would you envision using this tool set? These tools will allow us to work together like never before. How might we reshape our working relationships with others on campus to serve lifelong learners better?

Timeline September 2004: Develop vision/scope, begin purchasing process (Request for Proposal), begin analysis of user roles and requirements October 2004: Evaluate user input and prioritize desired needs; develop phased rollout plan October 2004: CMS/portal RFP released April 2005: CMS/portal tools acquired

Timeline Spring 2005: On-going planning process developed Fall/Winter 2005: Initial rollout Spring 2006 and beyond: Identification, prioritization, funding, development, integration and implementation of additional services