University of Maryland Launches an App Store Platform that Transforms Campus Service Delivery
College Park, Maryland (PRWEB) March 12, 2015 -- The University of Maryland partnered with rSmart and Internet2 to provide access to approximately 130 campus services in one location, from any computer or mobile device. With search and app store-like features, rSmart’s OneCampus platform simplifies access to services ranging from class registration to email and replicates the communication capabilities and online shopping experiences people are accustomed to using.
The central question of the cloud-based solution is “What would you like to do?,” and it offers UMD’s more than 37,000 students and 9,000 faculty and staff one-stop shopping for Web apps and services, the ability to personalize their view by picking favorites, opportunities to provide service feedback, including the option to rank UMD services with stars, and more.
The new platform, One.UMD, replaces MyUMD portal and enhances access to university services provided by the Office of the Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost, the Division of Student Affairs, the Division of Information Technology, and others.
“We are partnering throughout the university to give Maryland students, faculty, and staff a central location where they can quickly search and connect with university services ranging from making transcript requests to getting the campus map in an online marketplace format,” said University of Maryland Vice President and CIO Eric Denna.
UMD’s Division of Information Technology will continue to work with UMD partners to include additional university services on the new platform. OneCampus is available to the University of Maryland and to all of Internet2’s higher education members as part of Internet2’s NET+ initiative.
As smartphone and tablet use continues to rise, the University of Maryland needed an efficient way to organize its Web-based services. OneCampus offers UMD the ability to collect valuable user feedback to help further strengthen university service offerings and the ways those services are delivered.
Maryland was first introduced to the OneCampus solution in its role as a participant in Internet2 NET+. UMD joined technology leaders from Indiana University, the University of Utah, the University of Pittsburgh, Clemson University, the University of Nebraska Omaha, and Brigham Young University-Idaho to collaboratively guide and shape the Internet2 NET+ OneCampus offering for higher education institutions.
“After completing the Internet2 NET+ service validation process, we recognized that OneCampus has the potential to transform how we deliver application services to our stakeholders,” said Dr. Denna. “The modern platform and search functionality will allow our campus community to quickly find and access a wide range of services and applications from any device,” Dr. Denna said.
Representatives from the seven Internet2 NET+ service validation participant institutions will serve as OneCampus advisory board members to provide input on market trends and the product roadmap to Internet2 and rSmart. This collaboration will ensure that OneCampus meets the needs of higher education institutions today and into the future.
rSmart CEO Tony Potts added, “For many years, Maryland has been recognized as an innovator and leader in higher education. rSmart gained valuable feedback from UMD during the Internet2 NET+ service validation process, and we look forward to working closely with their team to develop best practices and enhancements for OneCampus in the future.”
About the University of Maryland
The University of Maryland is the state’s flagship university and one of the nation’s preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship, and innovation, the university is home to more than 37,000 students, 9,000 faculty and staff, and 250 academic programs. Its faculty includes three Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, 47 members of the national academies, and scores of Fulbright scholars. The institution has a $1.8 billion operating budget, secures $500 million annually in external research funding, and recently completed a $1 billion fundraising campaign. For more information about the University of Maryland, visit http://www.umd.edu.
About rSmart
rSmart delivers innovative solutions for higher education that reduce costs, improve productivity, and simplify the user experience. Born in the cloud, OneCampus provides students, faculty, and staff one place to find and access campus services from any computer or mobile device. Unlike cluttered campus portals, OneCampus offers a modern approach that is quick to deploy, easy to update, and allows users to spend more time on the task at hand and less time trying to find it. rSmart is privately held and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Learn more at http://www.rsmart.com.
About Internet2
Internet2® is a member-owned advanced technology community founded by the nation’s leading higher education institutions in 1996. Internet2 provides a collaborative environment for U.S. research and education organizations to solve common technology challenges, and to develop innovative solutions in support of their educational, research, and community service missions. Internet2 also operates the nation’s largest and fastest coast-to-coast research and education network, in which the Internet2 Network Operations Center is powered by Indiana University. Internet2 serves more than 90,000 community anchor institutions, 260 U.S. universities, 65 government agencies, 40 regional and state education networks, 85 leading corporations working with the research community, and 65 national research and education networking partners representing more than 100 countries. Internet2 offices are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Denver, Colorado; Emeryville, California; Washington, D.C.; and West Hartford, Connecticut. For more information, visit http://www.internet2.edu or follow @Internet2 on Twitter.
Tiffani Nichols, rSmart, http://www.rsmart.com, +1 (602) 490-0494, [email protected]
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