Preparing for Portals Paul Dempsey Director of Electronic Communication Dickinson College Introduction Portal content How/where do you get information for portal content? Not components of MIS Who is involved? Communications staff IT/technical staff Status of your portal Presentation Overview Dickinson College environment Why prepare? Sources of information Strategies for collecting Using prior to the portal Using with the portal Dickinson College Residential, liberal arts college Administrative organization Recent Banner conversion Implementing Luminis portal Web infrastructure ColdFusion application server Why prepare for portals? Goal of the portal Why prepare for portals? Goal of the portal Central point of contact Useful or required services Content, content, content Why prepare for portals? Goal of the portal Central point of contact Useful or required services Content, content, content Implementation challenges Technical issues Configuration, customization User behavior Why prepare for portals? Addressing in advance: One less thing to worry about Behavior of information providers Range of content available for launch Benefits for portal users Downside? Duplicating portal features Our motto: Sources of information Who is communicating? What are they communicating? How are they communicating? Sources of information Events listings Announcements News releases Sports information Menus and specials Publications Sources of information Events listings Types of events Submitted by sponsors Reviewed and published Announcements Submitted by offices Reviewed and published Sources of information News releases & sports information Media relations/SID Menus and specials Dining services Publications In-house newsletters Student newspaper Strategies for collecting In general: Ease of use Avoid duplicate efforts Replace inefficient processes Provide incentives Focus on institutional needs Strategies for collecting Example: events & announcements Previous systems: Printed newsletters,s Haphazard collection Now: The Compass Web forms to submit Reviewed and edited Distributed by web and Strategies for collecting Compass assessment In use since fall 2003 About 1,000 announcements/year Issues Appropriate items Editing submissions Length of time Strategies for collecting Dining services Manual system for posting Custom web forms to manage Other systems News releases Sports schedules and results Publications Using prior to the portal Displaying on the web Printing Distributing via Feeds available as RSS Add events to calendar Using prior to the portal Using with the portal Future for Dickinson Standard formats (RSS/XML) Adapt output for portal Impact on current systems Future development Conclusion Evaluation of current efforts Opportunities for improvement Requires cooperation between communications and IT staff Adapting to new environment with the portal Thoughts? Questions?