1. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” - GWEB.GWU.EDU - Francesco de Leo fdl@gwu.edu Copyright Franceso de Leo, 2002. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author. “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 W ELCOME !

2. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 P RESENTATION A GENDA Overview on Portals GW’s Portal Demo Q&A

3. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 W HAT IS A P ORTAL ? A portal is not just a web page! It is an enterprise-wide information technology initiative that incorporates a sophisticated system of software that integrates dynamic web pages, single sign-on security, directories, databases, communications and messaging, links to applications such as email, calendar, search engines, online shopping, news services, bulletins boards, events, and other information resources.

4. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 H ORIZONTAL VS. V ERTICAL P ORTALS Horizontal Portals (Mega portals) Initially, the system does not know the user. It must first learn about the user’s preferences. Usually these are public website which provide services the user might need. These may include features such as shopping, weather, news, search engines, horoscopes, etc. Allow personalization of pages (weather from your city, your financial stock portfolio). Vertical Portals (Vortals) Delivers organization specific information in a user centric way. The system knows the user and therefore presents information and applications that are relevant. The customization engine knows each user’s role responsibility and information that person is authorized to access. GW’s Portal is a diagonal one! Katz & Associates (2002), Web Portals and Higher Education – A publication of EDUCAUSE and NACUBO

5. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 I NGREDIENTS FOR A S UCCESSFUL P ORTAL Measures of success are usage and communication effectiveness. There should be only one portal (no silos!) Single sign-on to popular applications (i.e. email, courseware, etc..) Customizable Entertaining Mix of Academic, Administrative and Personal Services Content Generation and Distribution Easy to use Role based communication Content Syndication

6. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL C HALLANGE Replicate and enhance GW’s sense of community online Enable agile communication Consolidate existing applications and data into an all-in-one comprehensive and integrated enterprise portal Facilitate the University’s operations and academic learning.

7. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 B UILD OR B UY ? GW Decided to build… Developing the University portal independently allowed GW to focus on its specific needs and opportunities distinctive to GW. While the challenge of building a portal may have been greater than using a generic product, the autonomy and independence generated allowed GW to provide solutions responsive to the community’s needs and values. Furthermore, the ability to integrate existing resources into a comprehensive single-sign-on portal allowed for greater application interoperability, extended usage, and enhanced University-wide communication.

8. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL D EVELOPMENT A CTIVITIES Developing the portal required three predominant types of activities occurring almost concurrently: Business Development Technical Development Design and Usability

9. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL S OLUTION SCT B ANNER DB GWEB O RACLE DB GW LDAP M ACROMEDIA C OLD F USION Basic Architecture

10. “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GWEB D ATA S OURCES

11. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL F EATURES Role-based configuration Users are presented with applications and communication that are relevant to their affiliation within the University (i.e. student, staff, faculty, alumni, or guest). Role-based polling, surveys and communication Users are presented with polls and surveys that are relevant to their affiliation with the University. The system allows for generic and custom messaging through window popup and emails. 1/7

12. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL F EATURES (CONT) Content management and distribution Organizations and departments within the University can post news and events on the portal and have the same content syndicated out to their own website on the University’s main web server and any other web server. Online directory Users can search email and campus addresses for faculty and staff. Student and alumni email addresses may also be searched. A comprehensive hierarchical departmental directory is also available. 2/7

13. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL F EATURES (CONT) Access to external applications The portal provides single sign-on to Email, library catalogues, the University’s online courseware application, and instant messaging. Secure distribution Staff and faculty can obtain instant, secure access to their personal identification numbers (PINs) for accessing BANNER, the University’s enterprise system, over the web. 3/7

14. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL F EATURES (CONT) Employment listings and employment applications This application allows users to browse and apply online for GW employment opportunities. The data feeds directly from the BANNER database. Training registration Allows training providers to manage GW employee training. The system feeds data back to the BANNER system to record, track and report on fulfilled employee-training requirements. 4/7

15. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL F EATURES (CONT) Bookmarks and Web Notes Users can bookmark web sites or save the contents of various web pages through GWeb. These bookmarks and notes can then be shared with other GWeb users and accessed from any computer. Instant Messaging Users can send instant messages within the GW network and to other popular networks, including AOL, MSN, Yahoo and ICQ. 5/7

16. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL F EATURES (CONT) Alumni Mentoring Program Students may browse through alumni profiles to select a mentor. Student Elections Students may vote online for their school board representatives. 6/7

17. GWEB “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GW’ S P ORTAL F EATURES (CONT) Entertainment GWeb modules include news from washingtonpost.com, weather from around the world, comics, horoscopes, movie show time listings, live broadcasts of GW’s radio station, real-time robotic cameras from around campus, and classified ads. 7/7

18. “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GWEB GWEB D EMO Let’s go see it…

19. “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GWEB GW’ S P ORTAL S UCCESS Over 18,000 users Has become a major mean of communication and collaboration Powerful tool for strategic planning initiatives (at University and departmental levels) Reduced costs associated with maintaining directory entries Reduced Paper Usage Identified data quality issues in the University enterprise database and LDAP server

20. “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GWEB GW’ S P ORTAL F UTURE Expanding Functionality & Consolidating Information Thanks to its proven infrastructure, more and more applications are being built on top of the GWeb architecture to facilitate the University’s operations and academic learning. Applications in the works currently include: Leave Request and Tracking System Integration with Time Reporting System Centralized Account Management System Staff and Faculty Expertise/Research Interests Database

21. “The George Washington University Enterprise Portal Solution” Presented at EDUCAUSE 2002 By Francesco de Leo On Friday, October 4, 2002 GWEB Q UESTIONS ?