Building the Next Generation Enterprise Application Portal John

Building the “Next Generation” Enterprise Application Portal John (Barry) F. Walsh James Thomas Director, University Information Systems Manager, Systems Integration Team Copyright, James Thomas & John F. Walsh, 2001. This work is the intellectual property of the authors. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement 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.

Attribution • • Jim Gorman, University at Buffalo Michael Handberg, Pw. C Bob Kvavik, U. of Minnesota Carl Jacobson, U. of Delaware Randy Ebeling, U. Texas, Austin Ed Lightfoot, U. Washington Howard Strauss & Dave Koehler, Princeton Lev Gonick, California State Univ. - Monterey Bay

Outline • • • Why an enterprise portal? Getting started “Next Generation” portals One. Start demo Q&A

Why do we need a portal? What are the problems we are trying to solve? • Broadening base of information “consumers” – Students, faculty, staff and service providers • Aging and disparate information systems that lack integration and flexibility • Lack of a “global” vision for the institution • Systems too complex for majority of end-users • Expectations in the Age of Dis-intermediation • Dealing with non-traditional campus communities in traditional ways

Why do we need a portal? May 1998 - IT Strategic Plan for IU http: //www. indiana. edu/~ovpit/strategic/ • Action 37: Common Interface to administrative systems • Action 38: Thin client and multi-tiered architectures • Action 44: User-centered design

Why do we need a portal? March 2000 JAD Session • • Sticky Authentication 24 X 7 and remote availability Role-based “one stop” shopping Emphasis on self-service User-centered design Enterprise Application Integration Personalized desktop

Why do we need a portal? It’s all about better service for…. Students • Improved communication with faculty • Online access to course offerings, registration, grades, financial aid, bursar bill, class schedules, etc • Online access to groups of interest – sports, social, community service, etc • A virtual campus community • Integrate personal life with academic life

Why do we need a portal? It’s all about better service for…. Faculty • Improved communication with students • Course management tools • Online advising • Research tools and services • Collaboration tools

Why do we need a portal? It’s all about better service for…. Staff • Improved efficiency and business processes • Better decision-making – access to better information, collaborative, and interactive • Remote access and extended hours to work desktop • Portal provides self-service for simple repetitive tasks allowing staff to focus on more value-added functions resolving “real” problems

What is an enterprise portal? • A web-based application consisting of a unified frontend to an integrated set of services which together provide easy access to information, applications, and people. • The end-user community may consist of anyone with business or activities to conduct with your institution – faculty, staff, students, alums, prospective students, vendors, etc. • A completely user-centered environment offering a broad set of services with the intent of developing lifelong campus citizens. (“Cradle to Endowment” – Bob Kvavik, Univ. of Minnesota)

Getting started • • • Communicate vision across the enterprise Establish clear and detailed plan of action Engage students, faculty, and staff Create process for prioritization Plan for iterative development to avoid “analysis paralysis” and to allow application to evolve over time. • In short, get started!

Best Practices 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Identify and address policy issues with regard to privacy, advertising, E-commerce, and ownership Develop a comprehensive content management strategy Implement an integrated workflow solution Conduct frequent usability and accessibility testing Define interoperability standards Plan and develop an institutional directory Assume an iterative development process Have only one enterprise portal Obtain a shared vision across the enterprise including your students HAVE FUN!!

Why call it “next generation”? • Not just an information portal • Flexible and responsive to change • Distributed model for service and content providers • Component-based design (CBD) approach • Shared component/service infrastructure (including Workflow) – EDEN

One. Start Desktop Adaptable Personalized Customized User Interface One. Start & EDEN Application Delivered Channels Applications Other IUIE FIS SIS HRMS Other Content Services Infrastructure Users Security Workflow Record Keeping EDEN Application Services

CBD Benefits A CBD approach gives you. . . • agility • a repository • layered replacement • rapid development • reduced complexity • improved quality

Development Evolution “We’re no longer developers, we’re integrators”, Dave Koehler, Princeton

One. Start Environment • DBMS - Oracle 8. 1. 7 Enterprise Edition • OS - AIX 4. 3. 3 on IBM RS 6000 • App Server – Currently evaluating IBM Websphere 4. 0 (J 2 EE) and others • Web Servers - Apache: 10 IBM B 50’s • LDAP Server for Directory Service • Kerberos Servers for Authentication

Demo Guest Login available at http: //onestart. iu. edu Visit our project site for more info http: //www. indiana. edu/~onestart/project/

One. Start. iu. edu Want to talk portals? jthomas@indiana. edu walsh@indiana. edu

Portal References • • • Looney and Lyman, “Portals in Higher Education”, Educause Review, July/August 2000, http: //www. educause. edu/pub/er/erm 00/articles 004/looney. pdf Phifer, G, “Best Practices in Deploying Enterprise Portals”, Gartner Group Report, 24 July 2000, http: //gartner 3. gartnerweb. com/public/static/hotc/hc 00091248. html Eisler, David L, “The Portal’s Progress: A Gateway for Access, Information, and Learning Communities, Syllabus Magazine, September 2000, http: //www. syllabus. com/syllabusmagazine/sept 00_fea. html Frazee, James P, “Charting a Smooth Course for Portal Development”, Educause Quarterly, Number 3, 2001, http: //www. educause. edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM 0134. pdf Steinbrenner, Karin, “Unlocking ERP’s with Portals”, Educause Quarterly, Number 3, 2001, http: //www. educause. edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM 0137. pdf

Portal References • • • “A Business Person’s Guide to Enterprise Portal Terms and Business Impacts”, CIO, http: //www. cio. com/sponsors/portalswhitepaper. pdf Comparison of Vendor Features – http: //wcts. whitman. edu/portals/vendorcomparison. htm JA – SIG Consortium – http: //www. ja-sig-org/