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PRESENTED BY

BRIAN M. OSBOURN & CORY FALLDINE

THE EVOLUTION OF A TECHNICAL SERVICES PORTAL

PortalSoftware

InformationCloudSupport

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WHAT IS TECHSITE?

• A central portal for delivery of technical services

• Uses SharePoint and basic webpages

• Combination of Public & Authenticated Sites

• Employees & Students

• IT Staff

• Starting point for every core service

• Does not replace our campus portal

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WHERE DOES IT FIT IN?

Cloud & Core Services

Server Infrastructure Applications

TECHSITE

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WHERE DOES IT FIT IN?

User Support & Helpdesk

Cloud & Core Services

Server Infrastructure Applications

TECHSITE

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IN THE BEGINNING

• PC Installation difficulty

• Basic Web Page with links to installers (IE 3.0)

• Only used internal to IT Department

• Core concept still used today

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VERSION 2-4: WE’RE ON TO SOMETHING

• Useful for public, too

• Additional features

• New browser capabilities

• Flash

• No Code

• Hosted on NetWare

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VERSION 7 & 9: INTRODUCING THE PORTAL

• All features of previous versions

• Authentication to eDirectory

• Written in PHP

• Custom content based on role (Employee or Student)

• Customized software install options

• Printer installer (iPrint)

• File Access (NetStorage)

• First to target students (StudentAccess)

• Asset Tracking

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PROBLEMS AHEAD

• Continuous Improvement

• Broke My Own Rule

• Lost entire staff of developers

• The start of Novell’s Open Source Folly

• Where Do We Go From Here?

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VERSION 10: SHAREPOINT

• Foundation

• Active Directory authentication

• Back to “No Code” Mentality

• Complete rebuild

• Current Features – Asset tracking, software installation, printer installation, Student web page and file access

• New Features - IT Departmental teams, Project Teams, Project Information Sites, license management and a Training Registration module

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VERSION 11: ROLE-BASED SITES

• Sites customized to status and location (Employee vs. Student, On-Campus vs. At Home)

• No technical restriction (installers not available off campus)

• URL’s customized for single sign-on on campus

• Split architecture to have static introductory html public web pages

• Content split between 2 SharePoint servers, and 1 web server

• Completely virtual

• Team-based, projects wrapped up, IT Department moved to SharePoint Enterprise on its own server

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VERSION 12: THE FEEDBACK EDITION

• Teams started working much closer together on changes, new features

• Feedback from technical staff and customers

• 11.5 was to include a few fixes from v.11, huge number of requests

• Architecture stayed the same

• Content and delivery, user experience

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THE FEATURES OF V.12

• InstallPoint

• TechDocs

• Forms Server

• Project & Team Sites

• PrintCenter

• Information Security Policies

• Windows 7 Support

• MacSite

• Helpdesk (informational)

• LaunchPoint

• Anti-Virus at Home

• Downloads for Home

• MyFiles 2.0

• Communicator

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MORE FEATURES OF V.12

• PCInfo

• PrinterInfo

• ServerSite and ServerInfo

• LicenseCommander

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THE ARCHITECTURE OF V. 12

• Web Server – Windows Server 2008 R2 x64

• 2 x SharePoint Services 2007– Windows Server 2008 R2 x64

• Authenticates to AD

• Backed up with Data Protection Manager

• All virtual using Hyper-V R2

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LESSONS LEARNED

• Control technologies used

• Feedback & Collaboration are key

• Adapt

• Don’t go overboard

• Continuous Improvement

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TECHSITE.NEXT

• SharePoint 2010

• Fewer servers

• Content Management

• MySite

• Team and Collaboration focus

• Social Networking

• Office Web Apps

• More focus on Internet functionality

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QUESTIONS?

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CONTACT INFO & DOWNLOAD

• Full PowerPoint is available to download from TechSite (http://techsite.emporia.edu),

• Brian Osbourn, bosbourn@emporia.edu

• Cory Falldine, cfalldin@emporia.edu