Federated Portal Strategies

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Federated Portal Strategies

• Case Study  mySchool!  - How to improve
  Collaboration and Share Services in Education

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CTE About us

• Teacher Technical Training
• School Network Operations
• School Network Security
• AV Production
• Multimedia

CTE is a Department of the Ministry of Education
and Vocational Training
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What you may expect here

• starts with a Vision
• deals with Knowledge
• focuses on Collaboration
• aggregates Applications
• ends with a Life Demo

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Agenda
1. Needs and Goals
2. The Concepts
3. What we have learnt
4. Questions and Answers
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The Vision

• Building a Virtual Digital Working and Learning
  Place for the entire Education Community

• Accessible anytime, anywhere and with any device
• Personalized information,from Web Content to
  traditional Applications
• Secure single sign-on (Authorization)and
  progressive Authentification
• Integrated Security
• Searching and finding reliable information from
  disparate sources
• Aggregating multiple media into a single Web
  interface
• Providing Collaboration and Communication Tools
  and intelligent Alerting
• Providing template based Publishing facilities
• Integrating eLearning facilities
• Safer Surfing

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The Goal

• One Single Entry Point
• Single Sign-on to Web-based Applications and
  Content
• Centralized Technology

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The Challenge Choosing a Solution

• Our Requests
• Web based
• Open
• Secure
• Flexible
• Scalable
• Extensible
• Standards based

Standards-based Development and Portal Framework
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Short Overview of Portal classes

• Horizontal Portals
• All users access the same homepage
• Sometimes personalizable (via cookies)
• Authentification rare
• No access to enterprise data
• Vertical Portals
• Built for a specific audience
• Enterprise Portals
• User-centric
• Authentification required
• Single sign-on
• Configuration, personalization adaptation
• Examples Portals B2B, B2E, B2C,

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Why an Enterprise Portal?

• A Gateway into Classrooms through a Web Browser
• Delivering focused, and pertinent information and
  applications to the entitled end-user through any
  device
• Additional rich features
• Collaboration,
• Content Management,
• Integration,
• Business Process Management
• Search
• The market
• Valued between US2.5 billion and US3.1 billion
  in 2006 (source Butler Group)

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The right Choice!
An Enterprise Portal is the most strategic
ITinvestment that an organisation can
make.(Source Butler Group)
"It offered a vehicle to save money, to
consolidate Web resources, and to minimize the
resources required to maintain fat-client
components for traditional client-server or
mainframe applications" 
"In the last couple of years, when IT budgets
were flat or down, one of the projects that was
still being pursued was the B2E portal."
(Gene Phifer, vice president and distinguished
analyst at Gartner)
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So whats that Portal ?

• A Web Site with the word  Portal  on it?
• Excite, Yahoo, Wine.com, etc. ?
• A Gateway to Web Access?
• A Hub from which users can locate all the Web
  Content they commonly use?
• A user-centric Web Page?

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Integrating with the Desktop
What Application Do You Want To Start?Please
click the corresponding icon!
What Do You NeedTo Do Today?Here are Your
Applications and Content!
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Agenda
1. Needs and Goals
2. The Concepts
3. What we have learnt
4. Questions and Answers
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Portal Architecture
S S O
Teachers
Pupils Students
Employess
Virtual Webtop
Search
Communities
My Pages
UserSettings
KnowledgeDirectory
Portal
Authentification Portlets User
Settings Crawler Search
Web Services Level
Content (CMS)
Collaboration
eLearning (LMS) (Scorm, LOs)
Applications
J2EE
.net
etc.
Internet
Host
LDAP
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The Webtop makes Your Portal!
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The Webtop Tomorrows Desktop

• Integrating with your Desktop.
• Hiding Operating Systems.
• Accessing from everywhere through one SSO
  experience
• File Services,
• Content Clusters,
• Applications,
• The Internet
• E-mail Instant Messaging
• LANs WANs
• Everything You commonly access from your
  Computer.

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The Webtop is customized!

• Done by the Portal when You authenticate.
• The more the Portal knows about You, the better
  it can do.
• Determines how the Portal looks the first time
  You log in.
• Changes every time your Roles, and Functions
  change.
• Customizes differently for different devices
  Desktops, Laptops, PDAs,Net Appliances,i-Watche
  s, etc.

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The Webtop may be personalized!

• Change the Portal according to Your Personal
  Needs
• Define Your Personal View
• Subscribe/unsubscribe to Portlets and Communities
• Define Your Portlets Settings
• Design Your Portal/Community Pages Branding,
  Layout, Content, Applications

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The Webtop is adaptable!

• The Portal is Your Guide
• The Portal Knows your Schedule and Workflow
• The Portal saves common things You do.
• The Portal delivers applications you need

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Portlets The Bricks for Your Webtop
Window-like Areasthat containApplicationsand
Content
Self-Service
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The Web Page You always use first!

• Your Portal is the Engine
• Federating all the Content and Applications You
  need to do Your Work, Teaching, Research,
  Approved Recreation and Outside interests.
• Accessing all your Projects and Administrative
  Systems.
• Accessing, Deleting, and Updating everything You
  are authorized to do.

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Services Features Summary

• Advanced Federated Search
• eLearning Tools
• Decentralized Administration
• Knowledge Directory
• Library Management System
• Online Library
• Room Asset Reservation System
• Personal Webtop
• Personal Space
• Smart Website Generator
• Subject Rooms
• Thematic Rooms
• Working Communities

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Shared Architecture
S S O
Teachers
Pupils Students
Employees
Virtual Webtop
Search
Communities
My Pages
UserSettings
KnowledgeDirectory
Intranets(Portals inside Portals)
Portal

• Dedicated Platform
• Shared Technology
• Local Administration
• Individual Branding
• Collaborative Working
• Aggregating Apps
• Content

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New Responsibilities Tasks

• Community Managers build Community
  Infrastructures according to their members
  needs
• Design of Community Pages Layout, Content and
  Applications
• Definition of Community Groups and Security
• Developping Community Portlets
• Defining Sub-Communities

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A Framework for your Applications
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Behind the scenes
mySchool! Executive BoardMinister of
EducationDepartmental DirectorsPortal Managers
Portal Management1 General Project Manager1
General Content Manager1 General Community
Manager1 Public Relations Manager
CTE2 System Engineers1 Developper (Engineer)
Content36 ContentMaintainers
Maintenance Development1 Portal Architect1
Developper
OperationsSecurity
Helpdesk Servicedesk
LocalAdministration30 Local Admins
End Users
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Agenda
1. Needs and Goals
2. The Concepts
3. What we have learnt
4. Questions and Answers
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Portal Planning

• Get Leadership
• Ask for Budget
• Reserve enough Time
• Understand your Users Needs
• Create a Demand for your Portal
• Cooperate with all Key People
• Think about Roles and Hierarchies
• Look what others have done

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Portal Deployment

• Establish the Portal
• Integrate servers and platforms using Web
  Services
• Create a flexible Experience combining Resources
  from these Systems
• Serve the user
• Capture the users attributes
• Connect users based on shared affinities
• Enable the delivery of services based on those
  attributes
• Empower the Community
• Create sub-communities owned and managed by
  schools, teams,
• Embed interactive workspace products in the
  community experience
• Scale the portals infrastructure to manage more
  resources
• Involve users into the portal building process

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Benefits and ROI

• Continuously increasing acceptance through making
  technology transparent by delivering focused, and
  pertinent information and applications to
  entitled end users through one SSO experience.
• Dramatically reducing the burden on the mySchool!
  Central Management through Delegation
• Reducing Costs through Centralized Delivery of
  high quality Content and Applications

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Portal Success Factors

• Centralize and Federatewhatever you can!
• Stop other Departments tryingto reinvent the
  wheel!
• Position your Portal on Topof your
  Organization!
• Make your Portal a Must!

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Multiple Portal Experiences The Key to Success
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Support Awareness

• Supporting programs
• Training
• Content Development and Validation
• Incorporation of new user Applications
• Content Indexing
• Hardware/Software upgrading and support
• Awareness Programs
• Developments Strategy
• Automate processes
• Reduce central Management burden
• Devolve ownership of content

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TO DO and NOT TO DO

• KISS Keep it simple!
• Explain that a Portal is not a Web Site!
• Train Users according to their Profiles!
• Listen to User Feedback!
• Delegate Responsibilities!
• Involve Dedicated Users in the Building Process!
• Measure Success and Acceptance!
• Ignore Users rejecting anything new!
• BE PATIENT!
• Never stop innovating!

• Do not force people!

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Some Figures

• 10.000 Faculty
• 36.000 up to 75.000 Students
• gt 20.000 Document References
• gt 160 Reference Works (Encyclopedias,
  Dictionaries a.o.)
• gt 1000 Working Communities
• gt 1200 Portlets (modules)

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Our Portal Wisdom
You cant just build Your Portal You have to
sell it.
Thank You for Your Attention
All Art Works by Fernand BertemesWall Paintings
at CTE Building