UAH Insight

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New in the neighborhood: Campus ChargerNet web portal

It’s not Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, but there is something new in the UAH community. The Intranet web portal, ChargerNet offers faculty, staff and students a single point of entry to UAH’s numerous web-based resources.

"ChargerNet is really a separate computer communication system that functions solely inside the UAH community," said Donald Halverstadt, assistant vice president for Computer and Network Services (CNS). "Unlike computer networks built-from-scratch for nationally known schools such as such as MIT or Standford, UAH’s web portal is a customized extension of the Banner software package," he said.

"ChargerNet is a connecting software system that offers a more efficient and faster way to access university information. If you are able to point and click, you will be able to easily navigate ChargerNet. A large number of faculty and staff have been working on the portal since April, and we will have the first release out this fall. I say first release because ChargerNet will never be finished …. we will always be modifying, adding, dropping, changing and enhancing."

Halverstadt said there is one major difference between the Internet and Intranet: the Internet is open and considered a more public domain, while the Intranet is internal to the university. "ChargerNet will be used exclusively for distributing university information, community news, and the Internet is more directed at selling UAH."

He said there are different levels of training on the Intranet and about one-fifth of his staff has been involved with the advanced technology project. "We hope that everybody (campus wide) will buy into this project …. And make ChargerNet something special," Halvestadt said. "A representative from each of the university’s colleges and departments will be responsible for design and maintenance of their channels (information area). There will also be a section for faculty, staff and student clubs and organizations. We will monitor the sites and if they get too far out of bounds with their content or fail to keep them updated we will remove them from the portal."

The features and benefits of ChargerNet include:

single sign-on to Banner systems, email, webCT, and other systems
improved communication and collaboration among faculty, staff and students
personal announcements and email
security information for appropriate personnel
faculty can quickly access class information
unified, real-time access to information held in numerous campus systems
rapid, easy alteration and maintenance of the portal presentation
UAH staff will share pertinent information, such as campus wide alerts and calendar systems
specific informative tabs and announcements for numerous university departments such as public relations and engineering