A new purple sign-in page now greets students and faculty members when they log on to their PAWS accounts.The launch of the purple introductory page is the first step in a long-term process to revamp the outdated PAWS system in exchange for what will be known as “myLSU” accounts, according to Sheri Thompson, IT communications and planning officer.PAWS will eventually be replaced with the new myLSU portal. The new portal will allow students and staff members to access all their University-related information in one spot.Users will also be able to customize their myLSU accounts to display the campus news that is relevant to them, similar to an iGoogle page, according to Thomspon.”PAWS is a very antiquated portal at this point,” Thompson said. “But we’re in a new century, so we need new technology.”Thompson said the purple web page is just the first step in the process, and nothing else has been changed on users’ PAWS accounts yet.”We’re still in the procurement phase,” she said. “We’re still seeing where we are with development.PAWS was developed in the ’90s, when it was considered fresh, innovative technology, Thompson said.Email was new when PAWS was created, and since its inception, several highly accessed elements have been outsourced from PAWS, including TigerMail — which is outsourced to Google — and Moodle. “We need a new environment for outsources,” Thompson said. “This will basically be a new homepage for the internal LSU audience.”The myLSU page is expected to launch in the spring of 2011.PAWS users will be able to test drive myLSU in the fall when pilot myLSU pages are released, according to Thompson.”We’re going to work on rebranding things slowly from the PAWS vernacular to myLSU,” she said.Thompson said IT is working with offices like Undergraduate Admissions to plan for the upcoming changes to PAWS.”When students come through Admissions, they get a PAWS account,” she said. “Eventually that’ll have to be changed. The degree audits will have to shift to myLSU, also.”Thompson said top-of-the-line research is being done to fortify plans for the new portal, and students and faculty members interested in participating in focus groups can contact the University’s Information Technology Services.–
Contact Matthew Jacobs at mjacobs@lsureveille.com