About Infonet
The University is about to launch a new website for staff and students. The site will be called Infonet
and will only be accessible to staff and students, not the general public. Infonet will eventually
replace our existing Resources website, and will provide a whole host of extra functionality not seen
on Resources — document collaboration, integration with Microsoft Office, blogs, announcements
etc.
The following Q&A has been prepared to give you an overview of the coming changes.
What is Infonet?
Infonet is a password-protected internal website built using Microsoft SharePoint. The site will
contain information for staff and students, who will log in to use it.
What is SharePoint?
SharePoint, the software used to build Infonet, is a web content management and document
management system developed by Microsoft. SharePoint can be quite broadly customised and
therefore also acts as a web application development platform.
What are the benefits of SharePoint?
The primary benefit will lie in document management, allowing teams to collaborate in the
development and maintenance of information. The ability to secure documents, lists and web sites
will allow departments to determine what access their own staff and people elsewhere in the
University will have to departmental information. Individuals will be able to set alerts, enabling
them to be notified when there are changes to information of interest.
Will everyone have access to Infonet?
Only people who have an active University network account will be able to log in. Infonet will be
password protected, so all content will be locked away from general public view. Within Infonet it
will be possible to secure specific content so it can only be viewed or edited by specific audiences
and groups. Current students will have access to the site just as they do to other systems, although
some areas will be visible only to staff.
Can the site be viewed by prospective students?
No. Prospective students will not be able to access the site because they will not have a University
network account.
Why should I use Infonet?
Infonet will contain general internal information such as procedure and policy documents, University
news and events and also more targeted news and information depending on which department you
work in. The site will also contain collaborative facilities that you can use for your everyday work:
shared Microsoft Office documents, team calendars, reports, task lists, blogs, wikis, messages from
your line manager, etc.
How will I log in to Infonet?
If you are using a PC within the University then you will be automatically authenticated and logged
in. If you are accessing Infonet from outside the university you will be prompted for your username
and password.
Can I access Infonet from home?
Yes. You will be able to log in and browse the site from home using any modern web browser. If you
have editing permissions on Infonet then some of the more advanced editing and document
management functions in SharePoint will require you to have Internet Explorer 7 and Microsoft
Office 2007 (or later versions) installed on your home PC.
What are the differences between Infonet and the current Resources site?
Infonet will utilise all of the functionality that Microsoft SharePoint has to offer. This will include
things like document management and collaboration, Microsoft Office integration, blogs, wikis,
calendars, announcements, interactive forms, workflows, reports, tasks, alerts and so on. There will
be a move away from displaying simple static web pages to the use of more dynamic content.
Why are there several University websites?
The University currently has three main websites:
 www.glos.ac.uk
 insight.glos.ac.uk
 resources.glos.ac.uk
Soon there will be four, with the addition of infonet.glos.ac.uk.
The plan is to transfer content from Resources to Infonet (although some will go to Insight, where
appropriate) and inevitably there will be new content as well. The Resources site will be switched off
once this transfer has taken place. Unfortunately the results of this process will appear messy at
times, as Resources and Infonet may in places link to each other until the transfers are complete.
What we will end up with will be three main University websites:
 www.glos.ac.uk
This site is the main University website viewable by the general public. Its main purpose is
to advertise the University, its courses, location, business links, etc. The content for this site
is maintained by the Marketing department.
 insight.glos.ac.uk
This site is an extension of www.glos.ac.uk. It is viewable by the general public and contains
more detailed information about the University. The content for this site is maintained by
trained web content editors based in the faculties and departments.
 infonet.glos.ac.uk
This site will be password protected and will contain information for the University internal
audience only. Staff will be trained to maintain content depending upon their department’s
requirements.
How often will Infonet be updated?
Staff will be responsible for updating content for their own department. One strength of SharePoint
is that content will only need to be updated at source and wherever else that content is used on the
site, it will automatically be updated there.
Can I contribute to Infonet?
Trained staff will have access to create all types of content within their department’s site and
regarding their everyday work. Students will have limited contributor access where allowed (eg.
posting to discussion boards or commenting on blog posts).
Will we be able to post comments?
Yes, staff will be able to comment on Staff News stories, for example, but please keep it clean,
sensible and professional! In addition, SharePoint enables users to easily create blog sites which also
have commenting facilities.
Will there be classifieds on Infonet?
Yes. Initially a SharePoint discussion board will be set up for classified ads. Staff will take individual
responsibility for adding and deleting their ads.
Will I be able to link to my academic blog?
You will be able to either create an academic blog on Infonet or link to your existing blog. If your
existing blog has an RSS feed it is relatively easy to display that feed on the new site.
How easy will it be to navigate around the site?
We will try to keep the navigation as easy as possible, but ultimately it depends on people organising
and describing their content sensibly. SharePoint has its own built-in navigation system in which any
new content will be listed automatically, with the convenience that someone who does not have
permission to read a particular item will not even see the link. It also has a facility for flagging
content by category, along with its own search engine (which will be updated hourly).
What will happen to Staff and Student News?
Currently, Staff News on Resources is past its sell-by date and has become overly complicated with
information. A new set of Staff and Student News pages will be developed on Infonet which will
offer staff and students a clearer picture of internal messages, events and activities and provide a
more sophisticated and professional internal communications tool.
What is the time schedule for the implementation of Infonet?
Relevant information on Resources will be transferred over to the new SharePoint site during the
academic year (2011/12).
Will there be SharePoint training?
Yes. Jane Robinson, the ICT Trainer, will provide training once it is established which elements of
SharePoint you will be using in your department.
This all sounds great but what should I do to find out more?
Please contact the Web Development team to discuss how you could use SharePoint in your area.
The Web Development Team can also provide more details about the process of transferring your
existing Resources content to the new site.
We also plan to provide SharePoint awareness sessions, where staff will be able to see
demonstrations of the capabilities of SharePoint. More details will follow.
If you have any further questions, please email communications@glos.ac.uk.