IPI sites eliminate excessive searching and clutter
Not being able to find what you’re looking for is one of life’s biggest headaches, especially in the electronic world. Meandering through pages of information that don’t concern you needlessly consumes precious minutes. So, to keep this from being a problem at Lee, IT Systems has crafted IPI sites.
“We created IPI sites so that we wouldn’t have so much information on the Lee university webpage,” said business analyst LeAnn McElrath.
In the past, Lee’s university old website served as the information hub for current and prospective students alike. But since the advent of the new website, IT Systems has been working hard to keep clutter from its pages.
According to McElrath, IT wants the website to be more “bare bones” as far as information goes, so it can function primarily as a marketing tool for beckoning prospective students and faculty to Lee.
The way for IT Systems to make this happen, while still keeping current students up-to-date with everything they need to know, has been the creation of the IPI sites.
IPI stands for Internal Public Information, a phrase that explains exactly what these sites do. They act as tools for users who actually work for or attend Lee to grab the information they need in just a few clicks, without having to sift through all the material on the website that isn’t meant for them.
Sites exist for all university departments, from Academics and Admissions to Payroll and Student Life, and they can be accessed by students and employees through Portico under the “University Services” tab.
The sites contain information that each department wants users to have, such as forms, documents, contact information and schedules. They aren’t very graphic-heavy, since the focus of the sites is informational rather than visual.
McElrath said that another reason IT Systems created the sites is that they want to make Portico more of a central location for students: a one-stop shop for everything they need. Students will hopefully only have to visit the university webpage rarely, if at all.
Essentially, the goal of this project is to make things more convenient for both those affiliated with Lee, and those who are not (yet). Each party will have its own place to go for information so that the two do not intertwine and create confusion.
“People who don’t go here or work here don’t want to know ‘interview tips for getting a job,’” McElrath said, referring to information the Center for Calling and Career now provides on its IPI site. “Well, maybe they do, but they aren’t going to look for it on Lee’s webpage.”
Keep an eye out for other pain relievers IT Systems is prescribing for technology-related headaches.