Introduction to Drake’s Portal

1-22-07, Paul Morris

A portal is a secure, customable environment which provides information, communication and online services. 

Users login and are presented with screens containing information relevant to their particular role.  For example, a student will see information relevant to their being:

• a member of the Drake community  (such as campus events),
• a student in a particular school or college (such as the school/college’s calendar), and
• an individual (such as their courses, grades and financial aid information).

The Drake portal (BlueView) is different from the Drake website in an important way.  The website is available to the public, and presents the same pages to everyone.  The portal, by contrast, is restricted by a login, and during the process of login the portal system identifies what information should be presented to that particular user, depending on their role(s) and on the customization they have done.

One of the advantages of the Drake Content Management System (CMS) is that content entered into the Drake CMS can be sent to the public website or the BlueView portal or both.  Once both systems are fully implemented at Drake, it is expected that the primary role of the website will be for external audiences (particularly prospective students) while the primary role of the portal is to facilitate easy access for members of the Drake community to a variety of targeted university information services and resources.

For more information, click on the "Introduction" link in the Learn More box.