HPH NOW, Sept 15, 2006, Four Portals Launched to Provide Customized Materials to HSPH Staff, Faculty, Students, and Researchers

HSPH has launched four portals-a new way of organizing a first view of HSPH website information for special audiences, as opposed to visiting the School's home page-for the following groups: staff, faculty, students, and researchers. The portals may be accessed from the School's home page. Click "MyHSPH" and choose "Log On to MyHSPH Portal." The system will ask for a Harvard PIN, which will then determine which of the four portals the viewer sees.

All of the portals offer access to some of the same information. For example, they share buttons for GroupWise, HSPH online calendar, and 'My Files', which provides users with a way to save files on the Internet so that the files can be downloaded anywhere there is an Internet connection. All of the portals display the same "HSPH Announcements" box that features School-wide items of interest, and they will share an "HSPH Features" box that provides information from the HSPH home page.

But the point of the portal system is to provide targeted material for each intended audience, so students, for example, can access to their course listings. Staff can visit an online career resource center. Faculty can download their course evaluations and faculty meeting materials, and researchers can access the postdoctoral website.

Each portal also offers an announcement box just for the intended audience. For example, students can read a posting about an informational meeting on WinterSession Field Trips. Staff can complete a survey on their experiences with GroupWise. Faculty may learn the date of the next faculty luncheon.

All of the portals offer a personalization tool, so that users can customize some of the pages to give information that they need. For example, one individual may want to feature a link to the Weather Channel website prominently, while another may choose CNN headlines.

The new portal system resulted from a committee of representatives of IT, Human Resources, Office of Communications, Office of the Dean, Office for Student Affairs, and Academic Affairs. A student portal has run actively since September 2005; the new student portal replaces that existing one.

To add a listing to one of the HSPH portals, log on to "MyHSPH Portal" from the "MyHSPH" link on the School's home page. Choose "Submit an Announcement" in the announcement box, and complete the form.