What's under the threshold? Portals and portal infrastructures

Nathan Bailey, Manager, Development+Integration, Flexible Learning and Teaching Program, Information Technology Services , PO Box 3A, Monash University, Victoria, 3800. Nathan.Bailey@its.monash.edu

Dr Andrew Treloar, Manager Web and Internet, Infrastructure Services, Information Technology Services, PO Box 28C, Monash University, Victoria, 3800. Andrew.Treloar@its.monash.edu

Keywords

Customisation, personalisation, portal, enterprise, university, directory.

Abstract

Enterprise portals are rapidly becoming an essential part of the organisation, and the rationale is simple - an organisation's most valuable resource is its people and their knowledge and experience. An enterprise portal is a means to collating and disseminating this information in a automated, specific and relevant way.

There are two key elements that make up a portal -- that it is customisable, and that it is constantly and automatically updated with new information. An enterprise portal adds the element of personalisation, wherein information from other corporate systems is used to automatically tailor the portal's settings to individual users.

This paper describes how to build a portal from scratch, using industry-standard, open source technologies. Whilst the view is somewhat technical, it is mostly a strategic blueprint for action, rather than specific in-depth instructions. The example portal used is my.monash

The paper concludes by considering future developments for the my.monash portal in particular and portals in general.