What would a good uPortal sample user experience include?
Role Scenarios
General
Receive alerts
Read news and announcements (on- & off-campus news)
Check university email
Check today's schedule
Access information on upcoming events
Bookmarks
Campus maps and buildings
Bus and shuttle schedules
Parking and transportation
Personal information
"We plan to continue hiding a lot of detail until requested by the user... (i.e. we might show a quick "you have 8 new email messages in your university box, 15 new g-mail messages, 2 facebook messages, 3 myspace messages" – and then click on one of those to see the headers/previews)."
Student
Check status of social networking websites
Check balances on accounts (dining plans, flexible spending accounts, printing, etc)
Course offerings and registration
Check class schedule
Check official grades when they come out
Register personal computer with the university network
Financial information
Dining menu
"Increasingly, students are using the portal as their home page, and logging in frequently. They now expect it to be the place where they'll see any breaking/important information - and in return we've promised to keep the noise as low as possible."
Faculty
Access resources related to the courses they are teaching (CMS, web sites, library reserves, class lists)
Access grading system
Look up advisees
Staff
Links/integration to administrative applications
Find HR documents
Vacation & sick leave balances
View their own open Help Desk cases
Resultant Sample uPortal layout ideas
Guest Layout
Tab Name 1
Content 1
Content 2
Tab Name 2
Content 1
Content 2
Personalized Layout
Tab Name 1
Content 1
Content 2
Tab Name 2
Content 1
Content 2