My UW-Madison key features
My UW–Madison is a “portal” that allows users to access and customize many online tools and services. Students can use My UW–Madison, for example, reserve a library book, get a weather forecast, or check the status of their financial aid applications.
Each area of the portal provides a default set of information, and students can add or delete these “modules” from each area according to their needs. The resources are grouped in seven general categories:
- My Front Page, which includes Web-based e-mail, announcements, campus phone book, and other features.
- Academic resources, including class list, advising information, and course information.
- Calendar, which includes an academic calendar and the student’s personal calendar.
- Library resources, including the campus online library catalog.
- Campus Life resources, including campus news, events and other information.
- Financial resources, including account balances and financial aid information.
- Records, including the student’s course grid, grades, preferred e-mail address, information on fines and holds, and other data for the student.
My UW–Madison also provides electronic mail accessible through the Web. Users may enter ID and password from an Internet connection anywhere in the world to read their e-mail stored on campus servers. One feature of the mail system enables students to specify a preferred e-mail address and have their campus mail forwarded to that address. UW–Madison technologists developed this dynamic addressing capability. Sun Microsystems, Inc., whose iPlanet servers form the basis of My UW–Madison’s e-mail system, is considering adopting UW–Madison’s paradigm for dynamic addressing.
Ensuring the privacy of portal users is a major concern for developers of My UW–Madison. With so much information in electronic form, it was critical that users be properly identified and able to see only the information for which they are authorized. The NetID that users furnish to gain access to My UW–Madison is fully encrypted, and users go through a detailed process when setting their passwords. The result is a system that is more secure than the paper-based processes on which the campus has long relied.