uPortal – Bristol Fashion

UoB Portal Team

Why uPortal?

• No software budget so needed to be “free” to us• Long list: Blackboard, Zope+CMF, Oracle Portal,

uPortal• Short list: Oracle Portal, uPortal• Extended San Diego State University's

Rubric for Rating Commercial Portal Vendors)• OP & uP scored the same but hardware footprint

& Exit Strategy swung it• Zope will be our CMS

What are we using it for?

• Pilot Institutional Portal by July 2003

• Initial focus – post-graduates

• Now broadened to student administration

• And broadening to integration with VLE

• Ambitions – Library and existing Web apps

Implementation I

• Information Processes & System Plan (From Desktop to Webtop)

• Portal Steering Group (26)

• Portal Team (10)

• Portal Development Team (3)

Portal

Managed Learning Environment (MLE)

Portal = MLE = VLE + CMSfundamentally content-free

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Student Information System (SIS)Digital Library

eToolsContent Management System (CMS)

From Desktop to WebtopAn Information Systems Strategy?

Operationalprocessing

Maintrix

CARB

PIMS

Dolphin

Coda

User

Aleph

Envision

Sports

stellar

DataHub

Corporateinformation

eclipse

DataHaven

Informationdeployment

fsb

WebApplication

server

IRIS

VIOLET

Many readers,some writers

Multiple views,depending on role

Show Room http://www.bris.ac.ukBack Office https://www.bris.ac.uk

HEROProspective employee

The Portal

Prospective studentCasual visitor

HESA

HoDStaff

Student

Implementation II

• Phase 0 – startup

• Phase 1 – user requirements

• Phase 2 – PDT uPortal immersion

• Phase 3 – authentication + authorisation

• Phase 4 – CalPoly Blackboard Access Channel

• Phases n – Channel (n – 4)

• Phase x – migrating a channel to Oracle Portal

Problems & Successes• No Project Board yet• Drifting project definition• New Director not in post until July 2003• The project can’t fix bad processes• Central vs. Local data• Scepticism – track record• Anxiety – cuts across turf• Blackboard• IRIS, Contact Directory, personinfo, Law Intranet,

SOBS Intranet, VetSci Portal, etc

Blackboard issues

• We risked two portals

• Provoked decision about BB Enterprise

• CalPoly BB Access Channel is all or nothing

• Will BB Building Blocks allow us to cherry pick features?

• Looking at open source alternatives

Issues

• Delivering high-performing, resilient and scalable portal– Load balancing

• How does the UK give to, and not just take from, the uPortal/JASIG community?

• “If it's not done in Java it's not worth doing”

Questions

• What methods are available to achieve single sign-on to multiple apps?

• How stable have the pioneering sites found uPortal?• How have sites dealt with developing against

constantly changing uPortal code?• When will Web Services be supported? • What strategies are being used to develop channels?• What about channels being available to existing web

sites?

Suggestions

• Formation of product-based consortia– CMS (Zope)

– VLE (Blackboard)

– SIS (SITS)

– Library (Aleph)

• Formation of technology-based consortia– Authentication (AD, LDAP)

– Load balancing (Cisco, Foundry, Linux Virtual Server)