I would like to pose the question

Love the idea and the function is great - thank you for allowing hyperlinks / email links etc.. I would like to pose the question - is there any thought to getting to more of a portal thought for members that are signed in similar to lds.org/leader - basically similar in thought to the classic LUWS but in new lds.org technology. Landing on lds.org > signing in > then clicking on tools link for a list that is longer than the screen will allow is not the easiest thing for non-technical people. For me personally I have no problem, however it does get annoying at times to be moving between all the applications that I use. As ICS comes out with more applications, this to me means more 'in and out' navigation for apps. As most of you already know because of how I see other websites in the church work (especially /leader) you guys get the portal thought. Wondering what the thinking is to possibly giving a link to lds.org after a member logs in that takes them to their ward/stake portal page with all the goodness behind apps / functionality they can access on one page rather then going through a list of tools and navigating back and forth between apps.

For example (use case thinking) - user logs into lds.org > after logging in there is a new link right under their signon (next to menu and tools) 'Ward/Stake Website' > clicking that takes them to a portal page similar in format to lds.org/leader with a message from stake/ward leaders - communications of things members need to be aware of like in the upper right of /leader - calendar event window - list of tools - then what would even be incredibly more effective as I know you have this information, is to bubble up context specific content based on the user/calling like access to handbook content / specific website resources based on calling - like YM or YW standard calling etc...

jbowne wrote:Love the idea and the function is great - thank you for allowing hyperlinks / email links etc.. I would like to pose the question - is there any thought to getting to more of a portal thought for members that are signed in similar to lds.org/leader - basically similar in thought to the classic LUWS but in new lds.org technology. Landing on lds.org > signing in > then clicking on tools link for a list that is longer than the screen will allow is not the easiest thing for non-technical people. For me personally I have no problem, however it does get annoying at times to be moving between all the applications that I use. As ICS comes out with more applications, this to me means more 'in and out' navigation for apps. As most of you already know because of how I see other websites in the church work (especially /leader) you guys get the portal thought. Wondering what the thinking is to possibly giving a link to lds.org after a member logs in that takes them to their ward/stake portal page with all the goodness behind apps / functionality they can access on one page rather then going through a list of tools and navigating back and forth between apps.

For example (use case thinking) - user logs into lds.org > after logging in there is a new link right under their signon (next to menu and tools) 'Ward/Stake Website' > clicking that takes them to a portal page similar in format to lds.org/leader with a message from stake/ward leaders - communications of things members need to be aware of like in the upper right of /leader - calendar event window - list of tools - then what would even be incredibly more effective as I know you have this information, is to bubble up context specific content based on the user/calling like access to handbook content / specific website resources based on calling - like YM or YW standard calling etc...

This was discussed previously here and one of the developers indicated that plans do include such a page but it was (at that point at least) still very conceptual and not actually in development yet.

Moderator note: This thread was moved from the Beta Newsletter Now Available thread as it addresses a different topic.

This is absolutely vital, as jbowne points out --> end user adoption will increase exponentially if members of the church start using a 'my.lds.org' webpage as their start-up page each day. relevant content to their callings displayed prominently, links to the available apps, the myStudy Notebook right there, some kind of trending on Mormon.org, mormonchannel, lds.org, familysearch.org etc... And the most important of all pieces of the portal.... the ability to share a document, stored on a church server, safe, following all the rules of 'confidential information' access based on role.... lastly, effective workflow app.. (I can Sign in and see that oh, ya, I have an Audit waiting for me to review, a missionary has turned in their papers, a disciplinary document waiting, Callings I need to extend, individuals that need to be set apart, awaiting stake Pres approval, awaiting HC approval, etc....

The description of the current 'bulky' process of rolling out apps individually goes against the very 'ahead-of-its-time' LUWS portal page when it rolled out (IMHO). I am quite surprised that it was not a starting place to build from, because the ICS team has nailed it OVER and OVER when it comes to online presence, while functionality may not have been perfect each time, what has rolled out has been fantastic. There have been struggles along the way, and from an End User perspective (Adam and Eve member, not the internal department), the priorities for rolling out applications have seemed 'odd' at times - of course, that is an opinion of an outside observer, There are reasons, they are just not published to this particularly interested community, so we are left to wonder at the interesting pace that the Maps team seems to be moving vs something like leader.lds.org.

+1000000000000 for a portal page

The my.lds.org idea sounds like a neat idea. I especially like the idea of tasks awaiting. That sounds like a good future state to work towards.

Although in the near-term for members that were already familiar with the old ward home page (LUWS) at lds.org\units, most of these new applications can be (are) integrated into that right now. If the stake website administrator configures it, the following links that were on the left side of the LUWS home page will automatically direct you to the lds.org application:

Ward Calendar
Membership Directory
Leadership Directory
Resources (e.g. Buildings)

There was also a "Lesson Schedules" link on the old LUWS site. Hopefully they will allow stake website administrators to redirect that to the new Lesson Schedules that is being officially released out of beta in a few days. The "News and Information" link could also link to the new Newsletter application when it is released out of beta too. I didn't realized until just recently that the stake website administrator could redirect those links to the new apps, so I was telling people to stop using the old lds.org\units LUWS site, because the data there wasn't being maintained. But with the newly found integration of the LUWS ward home page with the new lds.org apps through those links, I am thinking of encouraging its use again.

When the future my.lds.org is finally up and running, maybe that would make the lds.org\units LUWS site obsolete at that point. But for now it has new life for a while longer, IMO.