Managing Branded Gateways and Customized User Experiences

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Managing Branded Gateways and Customized User
Experiences

• Presented By Jon Hope
• Blackboard Training

April 12, 2005
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Introductions

• Jon Hope
• Senior Consultant, Blackboard Training
• Professional Experience
• Instructional Designer/Trainer, Manugistics Inc.
• Seventh Grade Social Studies Teacher, Prince
  Georges County Public Schools, MD

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Branding
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Branding

• Branding allows for the look and feel of the
  Community System to change for different sets of
  users
• The following features can vary by brand
• The Top Frame image
• Tab color, shape, and alignment
• Sponsorship or Hotlinks
• Set Frame Size
• Direct Access Tab and Module Content

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Branding

• There are two different types of Branding, Role
  Based and Hostname Branding
• When Direct Access is enabled a brand can be
  presented to users before logging in

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Branding Examples

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Login Information

• http//conf1.blackboard.com

USERNAME brand101 brand102 brand103 PASSWORD
baseball case-sensitive
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Who Can Manage a Brand?

• System Administrator
• Community System Administrator
• System Support

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System Administrator

• Typically assigned to a very small number of
  individuals
• Administers all Blackboard applications (Courses,
  Organizations, Content System, and Community
  System)
• Provides full access to the System Control Panel

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System Role System Administrator

• Access to all administrative functions on the
  System Admin tab as well as every individual
  Course Control Panel

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Community System Administrator

• Typically assigned to a small number of
  individuals
• Performs functions that pertain specifically to
  the institutions Community System (Branding,
  Module creation/management, Tab
  creation/management)
• Provides limited access to the System Control
  Panel

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System Role Community Administrator

• Access to the Portal System - Management area and
  Gateway Options
• Access to Manage Institution Roles and
  List/Modify Users
• No access to Course Control Panels

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System Role System Support

• Access to all administrative functions but NOT to
  individual Course Control Panels.

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Institution Roles and Branding
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Institution Roles

• Institution Roles provide access to information
  and services in the Community System
• Institution Roles also control access to the
  various Brands on the system
• The Community System allows for the creation of
  unlimited Institution Roles and unlimited Brands
• Users that do not have the Community System have
  the ability to modify a brand but they cannot
  create new brands.

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Institution Roles

• System default roles include
• Student, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, Prospective
  Student, Guest, Observer
• These default roles may be renamed and reused
• Each role may be used to display an unlimited
  number of Tabs or Modules
• Each Role may also be assigned to a Brand

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Primary Institution Roles

• Each user must be assigned a Primary Institution
  Role
• Primary Institution Roles can be used to control
  what Brand a users sees after logging in

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Secondary Institution Roles

• Users may be assigned an unlimited number of
  Secondary Roles
• Tabs and modules are presented to users based on
  the combination of Primary and Secondary
  Institution Roles that have been assigned

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Manage Institution Roles
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Create a Brand
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Manage Brands

• The Manage Brands page lists the brands on the
  system
• Each brand is listed along with the hostname and
  required primary institution role for the brand

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Add Brand

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Add Brand

• Brand Name the name of the brand. This name
  will not be seen by users
• Host Name Select an existing hostname for this
  brand. If Host Name branding is not being used
  select DEFAULT
• Specify a new host name enter a unique URL that
  will be used to access the system. If this
  feature is used be sure that the hostname is
  resolved on the DNS server
• Institution Role Specify the Primary
  Institution role for this brand. If no role is
  selected, the brand will display to all users
  that use the brand's hostname to access the system

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Customize a Brand

• After a brand has been created it can be
  customized
• The Manage button will allow for the
  customization of a specific brand
• A brand may contain a unique Banner Image,
  Background Image, tab color, tab style, tab
  position, support links and icons, and top frame
  size

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Managing a Brand

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Settings
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Manage Hot Links

• Hot Links can appear in the top right corner of
  the header frame
• Hot Links can allow access to Tools or External
  Links from the header frame
• Hot Link content is defined at the system level
  but enabled on a brand by brand basis
• Hot Links will not appear on the header frame if
  the Administrator selects to display Hot Spots

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Manage Hot Spot

• A Hot Spot is an image that appears on the right
  side of the top frame
• Hot Spot content is defined at the system level
  but enabled on a brand by brand basis e
• The Hot Spot image can also be a link to a
  specific URL
• Hot Spots will not appear on the header frame if
  the Administrator selects to display Hot Links

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Manage Hot Spots

• Hot Spots can be used to display a system image
  in place of Hot Links
• Hot Spot content is defined at the system level
  but enabled on a brand by brand basis
• Hot Spot images can be loaded directly into the
  Community System as a local image or as
  outsourced HTML code that is provided by the
  sponsor
• A Hot Spot can include an image link

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Customize Module Theme

• Module Themes determine the colors of modules
• When a module theme is customized here it is
  available for the administrator to select from
  the Default Layout page
• The customized theme will also be available for
  users to select when they change the layout of a
  tab

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Customize Module Theme
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