1 Principal Aims

1. The launch of a pilot portal service to students.
2. The delivery through the pilot portal of the online enrolment project.
3. The development of a staff facing portal scoped initially to allow access to lists of students and their photographs piloted in a faculty which timetables at the student level in Syllabus Plus.

2 Secondary Aims

1. To evaluate the suitability of the uPortal framework as an appropriate vehicle for the delivery of a University-wide portal.
2. To identify the appropriate technical architecture to support a University-wide portal service.
3. To identify which services are appropriate to delivery through a University-wide portal.
4. To establish means of supporting secure single-sign-on to a range of University resources through the web.

3 Objectives

1. Understand the information requirements of students.
2. Understand and support the processes and requirements of faculty administration and academic staff.
3. Consider external research of student requirements (e.g. the JISC PORTAL project survey).
4. Discuss requirements (and results of workshops/meetings) with staff from other faculties and understand their working practices.
5. Develop the web application in line with agreed requirements and design.
6. Focus on teamwork (involving individuals from ITS, HSC and BBS), to ensure joint ownership of outcomes.
7. Ensure that the appropriate individuals are involved during the requirements analysis stage.
8. Ensure that requirements are documented and agreed.
9. Achieve flexibility throughout the design and development stages, to provide users of the portal with preferences/options.
10. Utilise 'prototyping' throughout the design and development stages to facilitate user involvement and ensure fitness for purpose.