University of Lodz is diverse in many areas – science, students or beliefs, but we do not forget that we are one University, one community. That is why it is so important to find a common denominator in the enormous wealth of forms of activity and to maintain communication consistency also in the digital space. The new website of the University makes it possible thanks to consistent graphics, a new content management system and well-thought-out solutions, such as: user zones, individual employee pages, a contextual multi-search engine, one news stream or a common calendar for all the University events. 

 

Multiportal, just like the University of Lodz, changes over time and adapts to the user. Currently, the main website is being launched, in subsequent stages the websites of individual Faculties as well as other University units and inter-Faculty units will be launched. Faculty pages visible on the multiportal are business cards that link to the websites of individual Faculties. In practice, this means that some information may not be visible after searching. It is a temporary state, we make every effort to ensure that all UL websites find their place in the structure of the multiportal. The scope of the project is huge, the change must continue, please be understanding. 

Business card pages of units and employees that are visible on the multiportal present data from the Employee Service. 

Nowadays, more than ever, we appreciate well-designed websites that make it possible for you to find the information you are looking for in the shortest possible time in an intuitive way. What are the features of good websites? The following come to mind: clarity, intuitive navigation, modernity, power of communication. These values guided the work on the University multiportal, thanks to which the University of Lodz, using the EU funds obtained under the Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development, has refreshed the digital face of the University. 

User-friendly 

One of the main assumptions of the new website is: Information is to follow the user. That is why the content for a specific group of users is published in the zone intended for it, e.g., for an employee, student or doctoral student, and it is administered by the units substantively responsible for the prepared messages. Thanks to this, everyone should find information important for them in one place without having to visit the websites of a dozen or so units of the University of Lodz. Due to the fact that the information functions are taken over by the user zones, the main pages (University of Lodz, Faculty-related, etc.) are mainly image-related, supporting building of the University of Lodz brand.  

Functional

The multi-search engine will also help in the search for the desired information. It allows users to search through all the pages of the multiportal and first display information assigned to the zone from which it was used (e.g., in the student zone, information published in the zone will be displayed first and then university-wide content, Faculty-related etc.). The search engine will also search through the websites of units and employees, facilitating quick and effective access to the unit or an employee who deals with specific tasks (e.g., settlement of invoices, Erasmus+ trips, scholarships, etc.).  

Integrated with the UL systems

The website cooperates and uses data from the University of Lodz IT systems. Thanks to the new module of the Employee Service [Portal Pracowniczy], information on the management personnel, contact, working hours, staff and scope of duties is supplemented by the employees of the unit via the Employee Service panel, and then sent to the multiportal, without the need to log into the new system or send requests to change data, which makes it possible to update the content quickly.  

Connecting the community - individual employee business card pages 

In the multiportal, in order to improve communication between the lecturers and students, as well as between the employees of various Faculties, each UL employee will have an individual business card page, which can be edited from the Employee Service [Portal Pracowniczy] level. The employee's website contains information about the employee along with contact details, assignment to an organisational unit of the University of Lodz and the scope of duties. The works are underway to expand the functionality of profiles, including, among others, the possibility of publishing files and posts on the employees' websites. 

Designed with the needs in mind

Another change that we have decided to make with the users in mind is the common news stream. News of all units can be presented in one common stream of information, so that there is no need to check the news separately on the home pages of the University or Faculty of interest to us. This mechanism will give users quick and convenient access to all the news posted on the website of the University of Lodz. The system also enables administrators, e.g., Faculty administrators, to send requests for publication of information on the websites administered by other units, e.g., to the home page of the University of Lodz, bypassing the e-mail route, which shortens and simplifies the entire process. 

The news stream can be filtered and narrowed down to a specific Faculty or category, e.g., science, student, sport, employee. This will make it possible to filter news in such a way so that in one place only the topics that we are interested in are presented. Additionally, information created with specific user groups in mind is published in the relevant zones.  

 

CONTACT

Do you have a question? Would like to suggest something, share your opinion about the service or report an error? Feel free to contact us via e-mail at: multiportal@uni.lodz.pl

In case of questions or errors associated with operation of other IT systems, please contact the UL helpdesk via Helpdesk ITManager (lodz.pl) website.