Web Portal: an integration and

personalization of web based information

servicesPresented By:1. Rajib Hossain Khan (Group Leader)2. Lupu Rahman3. Dilruba Rahman4. Nuzhat Nahian5. Shahidullah6. Md. Monirul Islam

Outlines of the Presentation [1]

Topic Slide No.

Evolution of Web Portal 1Definition of Web Portal 2Objectives of Web Portal 3Functions of Web Portal 4-6Types of Web Portal 6Common Architecture 7-8Models of Portal Organization 8-13Portal Development Life Cycle

14-15Design & Implementation

16-19

Library Portal 19

Outlines of the Presentation [2]

Topic Slide No.

Characteristics of Library Portal 20-21MetaLib Library Portal 22-23National Web Portal of Bangladesh 24-25Benefits of Web Portal 26-28Drawbacks of Web Portal 29Web Portal vs. Web Site 30Concluding Remarks 31

Evolution In the late 1990s the web portal was a web IT

buzzword. After the proliferation of web browsers in

the late-1990s many companies tried to build or acquire portals in order to establish themselves in the Internet market.

The web portal gained special attention because it was, for many users, the starting point of their web browsing if it was set as their home page.

Many portals started as either subject directories (e.g. Yahoo) or search engines (e.g. Excite, Lycos, Alta Vista, infoseek and Hotbot).

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Definitions Tatnall (2005) defined a web portal as a

special internet or intranet site designed to act as a gateway to other sites. It aggregates information from multiple sources and makes that information available to various users.

Rogalski (2006) defines portals as an ‘aggregation point for content, functions and features, using web-based technology and dynamic channels to access existing applications in order to create an interface between any particular user and the information he or she needs or wants for the day ahead or the task at hand.

In view of the above definitions, we can say that a portal is a website that offers personalized information and services to its visitors.

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Objectives Providing users with a single point of access

to information systems; Aggregating corporate information into a

single location; Providing users with a single user experience

that crosses information systems and technologies;

Tailoring (customizing or personalizing) information to the needs of individual users (or groups of user);

Reducing (or eliminating) the need for multiple logins;

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FunctionsAccording to the analyst and consulting company Ovum - as described in their study "Enterprise Portals: New Strategies for Information Delivery", 2000 - the ideal portal is based on eight functionality areas: Search and Navigation: This functionality

forms the basis for most of the successful public web portals meaning that a successful portal should support its users in an efficient search for contents.

Information Integration: A portal should warrant the integration of information from disparate sources.

Personalization: Personalization is vital to the delivery of appropriate information to portal users: each user gets only the information which is specifically tailored to his/her needs.

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Notification: Notification (push technology) is referred to as a system in which a user receives information automatically from a network server.

Task Management and Workflow: Portals providing task management services can help users take part in and/or manage formally defined business processes. The workflow functionality allows the automation of business processes.

Collaboration and Groupware: Knowledge management and groupware ensure that the required information is stored in the right place and in the right mode.

Integration of Applications/Business Intelligence: In addition to the already mentioned functionalities, a portal can integrate and support a specific application type, for example: an application service provider (ASP) application , business intelligence (BI) functionality , support for e-commerce.

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Types

Infrastructure Functionality: The infrastructure functionality constitutes the fundament for the work environment - the other 7 functionalities mentioned above build up on this one.

Horizontal Portal: These portals target the entire Internet community. These sites, often referred to as mega portals. Yahoo! and Lycos constitute mega portals.

Vertical Portal: Most of the times, vertical portals offer information and services customized to niche audiences about a particular area of interest. Harvard Library Portal is a vertical portal. 6

Common Architecture

Figure-1: Basic Architecture of Portals

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Models of Portal Organizations

The upper part corresponds to the user interface which enables the presentation of all data and applications.

The middle part encompasses all the functionalities and services of an ideal portal. These functionalities should at least in part be fulfilled by any portal, no matter how narrow its focus.

The bottom part - connectivity services - should be able to integrate any data type that comes into question.

Hierarchical Organization: The hierarchical organization model is built on a pyramid structure with starting place or homepage containing links to other major sections, each of which has subsequent subsections.

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Figure-2: Hierarchical Organization

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The advantages of the hierarchical model include that it:

Presents patrons with a logical starting place that makes their search for internet-based information as logical as using an online catalogue to locate a book in library stacks.

Provides the facilities to find the information that one needs very quickly.

Provides an easy means to create and maintain the portal because it reflects the way libraries already arrange information.

Disadvantages of the model are that it: Incorrectly assumes that all patrons search

from the same starting point-although many people use an online catalogue to start their search, others choose CD indexes, while others just browse the shelves.

Incorrectly assumes that patrons always start their search from the homepage-patron can bookmark and return to any number of web pages that are not the homepages.

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Does not allow approaches to finding information to be easily customized.

Linear organization: The linear type of organization assumes that patrons start from the webpage and then proceed from one page to another in a set progression. This is an easy web structure to organize because it moves logically from page to page. However, it is not easy to create in reality because it covers a lot of information that is needed by patrons.

The advantages of this model is that It can be used effectively within either a hierarchical or interconnected web structure. Moreover, it leads patrons through a series of instructions or steps in a process. However, the model does not allow people to make choices.

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Interconnected Model: assumes that there are multiple starting points for exploring the website. Patrons can move freely through pages and find information based on their own needs.

Figure-3: Linear Organization

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Advantages: Improves customer involvement through online

review of products; Improve customer service through the use of

tools such as an online helpdesk, company website and e-mail;

Improve relationship with suppliers as information is exchanged on a timely basis and with minimum costs;

Increases flexibility and ease of shopping, as the customer does not leave their home and struggle to find parking;

Product and service customization, as it is possible to get extensive information about many customers.

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Portal Development and the Portal Life Cycle

The creation and management of a portal flows through a portal life cycle. The portal life cycle contains four phases: Architecture: During the architecture phase,

you design and plan the configuration of your portal.

Development: Developers use Workspace Studio to create portals, portlets, pages, and books. During development, you can implement data transfer and interportlet communication strategies and consider the security of the components.

Staging: BEA recommends that you deploy your portal to a staging environment where it can be assembled and tested before going live.

Production: A production portal is live and available to end users.

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Figure-4: Portals and the Four Phases of the Portal Life Cycle

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Design and Implementation of Portals

As with the design of websites, portal should follow well-defined principle to meet certain quality criteria. These criteria, as defined by Neilson (2000), include: Currency: The portal is by nature

intermediate, so websites must be kept up to date and regularly reviewed and redesigned.

Credibility: Portals say much about one’s organization. Consequently, in designing portals, it is important to avoid textured backgrounds, bordered tables, large fonts ,peculiar fonts, large areas very bright harsh colors, and twitching and twiddling gifs.

Clarity: The font page or homepage should indicate the information being communicated clearly.

Identity: The identity of the organization should be clearly visible. This should be followed by directory or menu, or main contents, summary of important news promotions or major features of the sites and search facility.

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Design: The layout should be kept very simple, preferably in a rectangular grid. Similarly, for simple effective design, choose good contrast. Black on white is most legible; avoid text written in capital letters, as this is hard to read.

Speed: To enhance speed, limit the amount of content, avoid nested tables and absolute references for links within the portal.

File structure: Design the information architecture first. If the site is large, make a directory structure that mirrors the information architecture.

Navigation and link: These should enable the visitors to determine where they are, where they have been and where they are going.

Text and content: These should be succinct and scannable. Use plain language and avoid scrolls.

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In designing portals (Metz and Junion-Metz, 1996) take note that: The most important item is information; Each design element should be relevant to the

page’s purpose; The message that one wants to convey should

be easily understandable; Clarity and simplicity are critical in web

resource organization; Consistency between document design elements

should be observed; Good design creates interesting documents

that invite people to interact with them; Appropriate words for the readers should be

chosen; Contrast of colors creates visual excitement

and encourage one to read or look further; Lines are useful in separating text with

different purposes;

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Library Portal

Borders and lines should be used sparingly and consistently throughout the series of documents;

Pictures must be completely relevant to the text around them;

Library portals typically provide a gateway to an institution’s resources by listing them for users and creating a direct link to the native interface of each resource (Sadeh & Walker, 2003).

According to Mary Jackson, of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in the USA, the integrated, cross-database searching through a wide range of resources will be the core feature of library portals as they become more entrenched ( Jackson,2002).

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Characteristics of Library Portal

As defined by the LCPAIG, portals may be characterized by their ability to: Assist users in identifying and selecting

appropriate target resources; Help users determine the target resources

most useful to their research by providing effective search interfaces and an architecture that supports groupings and rich descriptions of resources;

Provide federated searching and information retrieval from diverse target resources: The portal provides federated searching and information retrieval of descriptive metadata from multiple, diverse target resources, including but not limited to commercial or licensed electronic resources, databases, web pages, and library catalogs.

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Integrate and manage search results: The portal presents retrieved information in an understandable format and allows the users to interpret and manipulate their search results.

Save and export search results: The portal offers users appropriate options for saving and exporting search results (such as printing, email, and file downloads).

Link search results to full-text or other content delivery options: Where possible, the portal links users from search result citations to full-text digital content or provides other options for content delivery.

Manage access to target resources and portal functionalities for authenticated users: The portal configures access to target resources and portal functionalities for authenticated user communities based on various user classes and roles.

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MetaLib, the Library Portal from

Ex LibrisFigure-5: The MetaLib Universal Gateway

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The MetaLib Universal Gateway does not depend on any specific resource.

The repository – the MetaLib Knowledge Base – provides the necessary information about the entire interaction with the target resource and enables the Universal Gateway to follow the rules and understand the structures that were set by that specific resource.

Two types of information are stored in the Knowledge Base, descriptive and functional.

The descriptive information enables the portal, through an additional layer of resource metadata, to help users locate relevant resources.

The functional information permits interaction between the Universal Gateway and the resources for search and retrieval functions.

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National Web Portal of Bangladesh

The previous (in 2006) government website of Bangladesh was a static HTML based website with many outdated contents.

The sitemap was not easy to follow and it was quite cumbersome to update contents in that static web site.

The Access to Information project of Prime Minister Office (known as A2I, funded by UNDP) initiated a project that replaced the old web site.

The prime goal of the project was to replace the static HTML web pages with dynamic, robust and multilingual web portal, which would be very easy to maintain.

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Figure-6: National Web Portal of Bangladesh

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Benefits of Web PortalsIn general, portals provide personalization and search facilities to their users. Moreover, they provide web applications such as discussion forums and surveys, collaboration and business intelligence, integration framework and security. Additionally, portals offer benefits to both individuals and organizations, as they: Provide a single point of access to

information stored in a variety of repositories so that it may be used to support informed decision making.

Offer an opportunity to enhance marketing as clients actively visit the accounts via the web portals and firms can subtly reach out to offer valuable services.

Enable organizations to retire redundant hardware, simplify the operating model and staff support.

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Enhance the organization’s performance by efficiently and cost-effectively providing the information necessary to perform critical operations, improve customer and employee self-service and fulfill the organization’s mission.

Portals also provide the following benefits to the user: Aggregation – The user can go to a single

place for all content and applications. Customization – The preferences for a user

determine how the portal looks and feels. Personalization – The user can obtain content

that is specific to their interests and needs.

Organization – The user can arrange the content and applications to make better sense of the information.

Integration – The user can work with multiple applications and content sources in a unified fashion.

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Portals typically include the following features and benefits: Search – Enterprise and web-based search facilities;

Content Management – Creation, management, and delivery of content;

Content Repurposing – Including content from multiple disparate data sources;

Portals optionally include the following features and benefits:Workflow – Business process management;Single Sign-On – Allows users to log on once for all applications within the portal; 28

Drawbacks of Web PortalWhile portals provide a range of benefits as outlined above, they are not without limitations (like any technology). These includes:Inflexible in design and appearance;Default user interface is not usable;Users don't personalize;Integration is often only one click deep; Development needed for some integration; Doesn't manage content;Relies on the quality of source information; Can lead projects to be driven by technology;

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Web Portal vs. Web SiteWeb Portal Web Site

A web portal finds the information for the user.

On a website the user has to search for information.

A web portal displays all thecontent in one place.

Information is usually dispersed across a website.

A web portal uses a consistent framework for presenting the information in a standard way. This consistency makes it easier to learn and use these services.

On the other hand, there is a learning curve for users of typical website to get familiar with all the browsing capabilities.

The information presented in a typical web portal may be general or personalized and intended for a wider or particular audience.

The information presented in a typical web site is usually general and intended for a wider audience.

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Concluding Remarks From an end user perspective, a portal is a

web site with pages that are organized by tabs or some other form of navigation.

Technically speaking, a portal is a container of resources and functionality that can be made available to end users.

These portal views, provide the uniform resource location (URL) that users access.

A portal presents diverse content and applications to users through a consistent, unified web-based interface.

Portal administrators and users can customize portals, and content can be presented based on user preferences or rule-based personalization.

Each portal is associated with a web application that contains all of the resources required to run portals on the web.

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Thank you very much for your kind attention and patience!!!

Questions or Comments Please.