Overview
Background
The online experience of University members is currently highly fragmented. The two most important fragments are the University Website (UWS) and MyEd.
- The University Website (UWS)
- Unauthenticated end-users
- Hosts a large amount of support information for University services
- The University Portal (MyEd)
- Authenticated users – University members
- Access to online services, personalised information, and notifications
A clear vision for online student experience has been set out in a recent report on the Student Experience Project by Sheila Green
Students have easy access to consistently high quality online information and services, which meet or exceed their expectations at a place, time and in a way that meets their individual needs. There is a major opportunity to create a consistent user experience between the UWS and MyEd, because:
- The University now has Global Experience Language (GEL) including
- Recommended approaches to a range of common UI patterns
- A reference implementation in Twitter Bootstrap
- The theme of the new UWS applies the GEL implementation of Bootstrap
- The latest version of uPortal, the platform MyEd is based-on, has a responsive theme based on Bootstrap
Grasping this opportunity would address the problem of the current mismatch between the user interfaces of the UWS and MyEd:
Scope
The scope of this project: is to replace the MyEd hardware on DEV, TEST and LIVE and to upgrade Portal to the latest version and make available the responsive features in the upgraded version.
- Replace hardware on DEV, TEST and LIVE that is reaching end of life in July 2016
- Upgrade BETA Operating System
- Upgrade MyEd Portal to the latest version
- Designing and implementing a shared information architecture
- Showing key information in MyEd to authenticated users of the UWS
- Providing an unauthenticated view of MyEd, using uPortal “guest” layout
The ultimate aim is making MyEd into “the part of University Website you log-in to”.
Objectives, Deliverables, Success Criteria
| Description | Work Steam | Priority | Success Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| O0 | Allow MyEd to run on supported infrastructure | |||
| D0 | Create and configure virtual environments for DEV, TEST and LIVE | Infrastructure | Must | Obsolete hardware is replaced |
| D0.1 | Move current MyEd DEV, TEST and LIVE instances over to new virtual environments | Infrastructure | MyEd runs on a supported infrastructure | |
| O1 | Create a consistent user experience through enhanced integration between MyEd and the University Website removing the mis-match between the two. | |||
| D0 | Upgrade to Java and Tomcat to latest versions | uPortal (DevTech) | Must | All environments are updated to the latest version of Java and Tomcat |
| D1 | Upgrade uPortal to version 4.2.x (Apps) | uPortal | Must | All environments are updated to latest uPortal version 4.2.x |
| D1.1 | Update Simple Content Management Portlet (Apps) | Must | ||
| D1.1.1 | Add options to disable CKEDITOR' content filtering | uPortal | Must | Java script code can be optionally included in portlets |
| D1.2 | Enable Marketplace and Favourites Portlets (Apps) | uPortal | Must | Marketplace and favourites are enabled |
| D1.3 | Convert PAGS definitions from XML to new stored format (Apps) | uPortal | Must | Existing definitions are migrated and editable my portlet admin. |
| D1.4 | uPortal Search (WIT) | Back End | Could | Search is enabled to allow investigation into functionality |
| D1.5 | Load test upgraded version | Back End | Must | Load testing passed successfully |
| D2 | Deliver a responsive theme to MyEd, that is aligned to the University GEL (Apps/WIT) | Theming | Must | Channels display |
| D2.1 | High priority channels (10) | Channel/Theming | Must | The mobile channels display correctly on a range of devices |
| D2.1.1 | Convert channels using jQuery Mobile to Respondr/Bootstrap (Apps/WIT) | Channel/Theming | Must | Highest priority channels are converted to respondr/bootstrap |
| D2.1.2 | Convert channels using Fluid theme to Respondr/Bootstrap (Apps/WIT) | Channel/Theming | Must | Highest priority channels are converted to using the GEL |
| D2.2 | Other channels | Channel/Theming | Should | Remaining channels are converted in priority to use respondr theme |
| D2.2.1 | Convert channels using jQuery Mobile to Respondr/Bootstrap (Apps/WIT) | Channel/Theming | Should | Remaining channels are converted in priority to respondr/bootstrap |
| D2.2.2 | Convert channels using Fluid theme to Respondr/Bootstrap (Apps/WIT) | Channel/Theming | Should | Remaining channels are converted to using the GEL |
| D3 | Updated log-in solution (one of the following) | |||
| D3.1 | Guest Layout (Apps) | Back End | Should | Non authenticated users can view guest layout |
D3.2 | Pre-login (WIT) | Back End | Should | If 3.1 is not possible then implement 3.2 Existing log in page has been updated to new look and feel |
| D4 | User Experience Improvements (WIT) | Should | ||
| D4.1 | Review default layouts (WIT) | Theming | Should | Investigation into UI improvements has been completed and possible quick wins implemented. |
| D4.2 | Replace customise drawer with Marketplace and Favourites? (WIT) | Theming | Could | |
| D5 | Grouper Integration (Apps) | Back End | Could | Grouper groups can be reused in MyEd configuration |
| D5.1 | Implementation of Moodle course groups | Back End | Could | Ability to target content to individual Moodle groups |
D6 | Analytics (WIT) | Back End | Must | |
| D6.1 | Investigate analytics options in uPortal 4.2 (Apps), and either: | Back End | Must | Investigation into capability of built in analystics |
| D6.1.1 | Rework existing analytics code for Respondr theme (WIT) | Back End | Should | Depending on out come of 6.1 implement new analytics features |
| D6.1.2 | Apply built-in analytics (Apps) | Back End | Should | Depending on out come of 6.1 implement new analytics features |
| D6.2 | Remove user attribute meta tags (Apps) | Back End | Should | Meta tags are removed from UI layer |
| D7 | Maintenance mode text, "errorportlet.maintenance.text" should be configurable at the portlet level (Apps) | Back End | Should | Ability to set maintenance message for individual channels through the admin UI. |
| D8 | Closer alignment between MyEd and University Website IA and UI | Theming | Should | More consistent user journey between the two environments/systems |
| D8.1 | Gather feedback from users on new platform | Theming | Could | Feedback informs future work |
| D8.2 | Tidy up tasks | Back End | Should |
Milestone Sign Off
The follwoing people will sign off each milestone
| Milestone | Sign Off |
|---|---|
| Planning |
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| Phase 1: Build Review |
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| Phase 1: Integration Review |
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| Phase 1:: Acceptance Review |
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| Phase 1: Delivery |
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| Phase 1: Deployment Review |
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| Phase 2: BETA Review |
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| Phase 2: Build Review |
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| Phase 2: Integration Review |
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| Phase 2: Acceptance Review |
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| Phase 2: Delivery |
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| Phase 2: Deployment Review |
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| Closure: |
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