School of

DentalMedicine

Intranet Project

Neal AltmanHtet Htet AungBill JeromeLeslie JohnsonMaureen O'Toole

The purpose of this project is to design and develop a comprehensive intranet for students, faculty and staff at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine (SDM).

Mission Statement

Primary Design ObjectivesCreate an archive of critical information

• Support the whole community• Allow appropriate access• Ensure currency of knowledge• Permit information sharing

Streamline communication of information• See what you need• Hide what is unnecessary• Leverage existing information system assets

Allow access anywhere and any time• Support the mobile lifestyle• Accessible 24 x 7

• User-aware presentation• Adaptable design that supports different

formats (Web browser, Palm)

• Tight integration with existing tools (Web mail and other Outlook services)

• Fine-grain access control • Data-driven web design • Evolution plan for future development

Unique Features of the Intranet

Final Deliverables1) Working prototype2) Prioritized recommendations for future

development3) Infrastructure that supports role-based

presentation4) Information distribution mechanism and

archive5) Web mail access6) Customizable intranet preferences

(Links, Digest e-Mail)

7) Department page template and indicative samples

8) Detailed documentation • Visual design guidelines• Programming guidelines

Final Deliverables

Card SortingDiscover logical informationgroups and nomenclature

Define the information structure

User Testing

We validated our design with the people who will be using the intranet:

Administrative

Faculty

Student

User Testing: Findings

Limit number of top-level choices“I have to think too much…”

Solution:

User Testing: Findings Most users have a clear mental model of the SDM organizational structure

“If I need to reserve a room, I call Student Affairs”

Solution:

User Testing: Findings Navigation elements require a prominent visual cue

“They don’t look like links.”

User Testing: Findings Left-hand menu detracts from the main content

User Testing: Findings Solution:

User Testing: FindingsCross-navigational support is important

100% of test users clicked on “News & Memos” rather than “Support” to post a memo

User Testing: FindingsSolution:

User Testing: Findings

e-Mail is an important function, requiring a home of it’s own

Screen shot of new design with mail tab

User Testing: Findings

Solution:

User Testing: Findings

Nomenclature is important

• “MyPage” is customizable, so it’s separate from “Home”

• “Support” rather than “Administrative”

• “Informatics” or “IT” rather than “Center for Dental Informatics

Visual Design

Visual DesignIcons 1:Symbols are enclosed in a standard, rounded box to unify them as a set. The discrete objects are representative of each information category

System Design

System Architecture

• Rich authorization system• Actors• Actions• Objects

• Used for authorization as well as dynamic page generation

System Architecture

• Allows flexible integration with future systems and features

• Provides highly customizable concept of user roles

• Pigeon holes are insufficient

• Support various modes of interaction• Web browser, PDA, etc

Controlled Access

Controlled Access

Questions