A one-stop shop for all major online student systems is now available for all Troy University students.
The information technology department released the “Portal System” yesterday, Sept. 23, that allows students to gain access to major systems such as Blackboard, student financial planning, student registration, Trojan email, Web Express and more, all in one location.
The Portal reduces the amount of sites students must visit to engage in online services, according to Greg Price, the chief technology officer for Troy University’s IT department.
The IT department began working with the Student Government Association at the end of August, in order to recruit participants for group testing to best fit students’ needs. Through a series of tests and student focus groups, it was determined that a central login was needed.
“We want to offer better quality interaction with our products and to the students,” Price said. “A common theme of the focus group was a desire to pull the services under one umbrella to the greatest extent possible.”
Rather than the use of multiple passwords and logins for students, the use of a student’s web express credentials will be used to access all the services from one site at https://my.troy.edu.
“The Trojan Web Express credentials will become the unified access to control all of the major systems, including email, Office 365, Student Portal, and Blackboard,” Price said.
According to him, the Portal System enhances the quality and efficiency of Troy’s online presence for students by assisting in multiple areas from a single interface.
“The solution will present many useful tools that will assist with communications among student organization and the administration—interactive calendars, learning management system access, registration, degree mapping, financial services interaction, email review, to name the major components,” Price said.
The testing of the software for the Portal System is complete, and adjustments will be made based on student feedback.
Furthermore, a mobile app will also be launched that will have a similar function as the Portal System, allowing access to administrative activities of Troy University.
“Students will be able to register, pay bills, and view scores of interactive data with the new mobile app,” Price said.
Students are encouraged to provide their feedback to the IT department as refinements and enhancements continue to be made to the Portal and mobile app.
“We encourage students to interact with the IT department,” he added. “We welcome feedback and enjoy involving students in the product design and testing.”
Other changes are also expected to be made to Troy’s online experience.
“Troy IT began a review in summer of 2014, seeking a modern email communications product for all students,” Price said in an email sent to all Troy users on Monday, Sept 21.
According to Price, the IT team had been working on creating a new design for the Troy email platform for the last six months. The new email platform will be launched on the evening of Friday, Sept. 25.
IT has advised users to check the various notices sent out by IT in the coming days to ease the transition to the new design swiftly and by minimizing confusion.
An effort to reduce duplication between the troy.edu site and the trojan.troy.edu website is also underway.
According to Price, while the first website serves to promote Troy to external website, the second website is meant for internal constituents.
“We work to seek a balance among the content and intuitive navigation,” Price said. The Portal System will play a role in providing concise content and easily accessible material.
“The Portal will offer great assistance in presentation of aggregated content to the student, reducing frustration with ‘seeking’ information across multiple web presences,” Price said.
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