Latest my.harvard Web portal unveiled at FAS

FAS Communications

A new version of the my.harvard Web portal has been unveiled for use by all faculty, staff, and students in the University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). The redesign was a collaborative effort involving FAS Computer Services and Central Administration Information Technology.

The my.harvard site, found at http://my.harvard.edu, allows members of the FAS community to easily access important information online. Intended to consolidate a number of online resources available to Harvard affiliates, the aim of my.harvard is to save users time they might otherwise have spent searching for the right Web page to answer questions or provide online tools. By gathering information and tools from a wide range of Harvard sites, the portal provides access to everything from course Web pages and course shopping to advising modules and personal links.

“The creation of the my.harvard online portal is part of the University’s commitment to create valuable online experiences for students and faculty,” says Dan Moriarty, Harvard’s chief information officer. In addition to the added functionality, Moriarty highlights the collaborative nature of project. “Leveraging technology that was originally developed by the Harvard Business School, a large and diverse group of technical personnel worked together within a tight time frame to deliver the new my.harvard portal.”

Franklin Steen, director of Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services, says that the my.harvard team focused on improving the page interface aesthetically and adding new modules to consolidate online resources into a one-stop-shopping environment.

“We think that we now have a central portal technology platform that can be useful across the campus and that can grow in the future and become even more innovative and exciting,” Steen says. “We hope this will usher in a new, richer online experience for users by providing a comprehensive, intuitive, and useful Web portal.”

One my.harvard improvement is a new course shopping tool, which allows students and advisers to plan shopping lists that incorporate information from the catalog, Courses of Instruction, as well as its supplement. The new tool provides an easily printable schedule of courses with meeting times and locations.

Course Web pages now appear automatically within my.harvard once students have registered, giving students convenient access to all their course Web sites from one central location. Students may also get personalized access including consolidated lists of course announcements and online lecture videos.

The calendar module has also been revamped to combine course schedules with extracurricular activities and FAS events calendars. Student and administrative groups can use the new calendar to easily publish event information via my.harvard or on their own home pages. Students, staff, and faculty can add published group calendars to their personal schedules, as well as add personal events to create their own master schedule.

Other noteworthy features of my.harvard include:

• FAS Webmail, as well as a notification system for new mail messages
• A comprehensive facebook for Harvard College students
• Major news and weather feeds, library access, campus information, and athletics schedules
• Access for students, faculty, and staff to update their official directory information
• Quick access for advisers and students to the FAS registrar’s advising system
• Quick access for researchers to forms and information
• Quick links for employees to review their paychecks
• Quick links for students to see course and grade reports, and to pay their term bills
• A tool for administrators to collect interactive data from departmental Web sites.