A New Intranet for BIDMC

Today, BIDMC replaced its intranet with a modern, secure, content managed application (pictured above), enabling us to retire our original intranet from 1998.

It's been a joint effort of Corporate Communications and Information Systems.

The process started by gathering requirements from hundreds of stakeholders.

The requirements were turned into a site specification and information architecture (the site's organization and navigation).

From there we developed wireframes, then graphical mock ups.

We coded and tested the site then migrated thousands of pages, documents, and applications.

The end result includes numerous personalization and social networking features (favorites, tag clouds, departmental intranets), single signon, and secure remote access via an Imperva appliance that is invisible to the users, who have the same experience on and off the network. Here's the announcement we sent out, which highlights our change management strategy - the old and new intranets run in parallel for 60 days to enable mastery of the new before retirement of the old.

"Welcome to Your New BIDMC Portal

Tuesday, June 8, marks the beginning of a new era for staff as BIDMC launches its new Portal – portal.bidmc.org. The new Portal offers significant improvements for completing work-related tasks, as well as a host of new communications tools and opportunities.

“We’re excited to launch the new Portal and believe it will provide staff with a much more enjoyable web-based working experience,” said Judy Glasser, Senior Vice President, Communications. “Whether you are a clinician, researcher or administrative staff member, you will find the new Portal much easier to navigate. And, with the new Search function, you’ll be able to find everything you’re looking for much more quickly. You can also customize your ‘My Links’ on the homepage so you have immediate access to your most-used pages and forms. Set aside some time and explore all it has to offer.”

New security requirements mean that all staff now need to sign-in using their ITS username and password. The bonus for those who use multiple applications is that single sign-on means that once you sign-in you can use all the ITS-based applications you are authorized to use without having to repeatedly re-enter. “For physicians and nurses, especially, the new single sign-on function is a major time-saver,” said John Halamka, Chief Information Officer. “Clinicians have been asking for this for years, so it’s nice to finally be able to offer single sign-on for most applications.”

Note that just about every application is available remotely from home or while you're traveling. The Policies, Procedures, Guidelines and Directives (PPGD) and Paging links are not yet available remotely but will be soon, said Halamka.

The new Portal offers consistent, easy-to-follow navigation across all pages, such as:

Section Tabs – At the top of each page you’ll find tabs for the new Portal’s main sections; Applications, Clinical, Research, and Employee Central.

The top right corner of each page contains quick-links to a variety of important programs, including: Web Outlook E-mail, Phone Directory, Pager, PPGD, BIDMC Today and the Events Calendar.

The “Portal Help” button at the top of each page links to a help section that contains video tutorials, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and more.

Text Size can be changed on any page by clicking on the A’s at the top of each page.

The countdown clock at the top of each page shows how much time you have left in your Portal session. You can work in the Portal for an unlimited amount of time, as long as you are actively working. Your Portal session will automatically expire if you stop working (clicking on a link or hitting “enter”) for 20 minutes. The 20-minute time-out clock automatically resets to 20-minutes after each mouse-click or “enter” stroke.

The “My Links” module on the homepage allows you to add customized links to Portal pages and forms, or external websites. The Clinical, Research, Education, and Employee Central also display your “5 Most Used Links” in those sections. (Note: IS is developing a “My Apps” module that will allow you to add your most-used applications that will be available for use by this fall.)

Since January, the Communications Web Team has trained more than 200 Portal Editors who are responsible for the publishing and upkeep of content on departmental pages, forms and Intranets. Click here to view a list of all Portal editors and their departments.

If you are having trouble finding something on the new Portal that you used on the old Portal, please use the new Search function, which includes a drop-down menu to narrow your search. If you still can’t find it, please e-mail the Communications team at portalhelp@bidmc.harvard.edu .

The old Portal is no longer being updated so it may contain documents and policies that are out of date or no longer in compliance. It will be retired in 60 days. As of June 8, we ask that you use the old Portal only when you can’t find an old document or access something you need on the new Portal."