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What a remarkable coincidence. We are in a very similar position. I have unofficially looked at uPortal and found it too disgusting for words yet it seems to be the portal of choice at present. We have started to use another free portal (IBuySpy.com) for ASP.Net and have found it much easier to understand, enhance, install and maintain, but of course, it doesn't come with hooks for any of our current systems (Peoplesoft HR, Oracle Financials, WebCT, in house Student system etc). We use LDAP & Active Directory for authentication of students and staff which I have managed to integrate into the portal easily enough. We currently have a large web app written in Forte 4GL which we need to replace. Most of the functionality of this can be easily re-created in the new portal but I'm not sure how we could get PeopleSoft to work within it - if at all. Maybe it's better just to have links to the external system or to duplicate some of the functionality with our own code. ------------------------------- Peter G Jones Senior Analyst/Programmer University of Canterbury New Zealand ------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: Patrick J Daly [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2002 11:20 p.m. To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Queen's University Belfast Hello, I have been looking at the Portals list and it is interesting to see that most institutions are being faced with the same questions as ourselves here at Queen's University, Belfast: Do we need a portal system? Which portal system should we use or do we build our own? What is the role of a CMS? What are other institutions using? How do these technologies integrate with existing systems? Are these technologies better implemented as a new 'connected' layer rather than being fully integrated? .. etc. We have started to answer these questions for ourselves and have already gone some way in developing our own internal systems that support customised user areas, it is not a portal system 'yet'. Our main concern are the integration issues, we want one University wide authentication system, user profiles held centrally with information available for such things as QAA reporting and we need customisable desktops relating to learning, research and administration for both staff and students. We have already started developing web applications that support these goals: - all applications rely on core University databases held by our MIS section, - we have one University wide authentication facility for students and we hope to expand this for all staff, - we have developed an internal VLE (currently in its 2 year of use), which we are currently working on to expand into an MLE - we have secure areas online for staff and students containing personal details and other sensitive information e.g. examination results. These web applications/systems have been primarily developed using PHP and have used the SQL Server and Ingres databases. Our systems are still in their infancy and we are continuing to work on the integration issues. We are happy to buy commercial products but we must be convinced on the integration issues, it would be interesting to hear from those who have already explored these areas or anyone doing similar work. Regards Paddy ---------------------- Patrick Daly Information Services The Queen's University of Belfast Belfast, BT7 1NN TEL/FAX: 02890 335051 Email: [log in to unmask]