ALCOAST 128/09 COMDTNOTE 2800 SUBJ: CG PORTAL UPDATE 1. CG PORTAL WILL BE THE ONE-STOP SHOPPING PLATFORM FOR MEETING CG INTERNET, INTRANET, AND EXTRANET NEEDS. CG PORTAL WILL REPLACE CG CENTRAL STARTING EARLY APRIL 2009 AND FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE INTRODUCED IN PHASES. PHASE I WILL REPLACE CG CENTRAL MICROSITES AND COMMUNITIES. PHASE II WILL REPLACE THE REMAINDER OF CG CENTRAL CONTENT. SUBSEQUENT PHASES WILL REPLACE OUR WWW.USCG.MIL INTERNET PRESENCE AND ADD NEW CAPABILITIES. 2. IN EARLY 2010, BOTH CG CENTRAL (INTRANET) AND WWW.USCG.MIL (INTERNET) WILL BE RETIRED. CG PORTAL, WITH ITS NEW FUNCTIONALITY, WILL PROVIDE EXCITING NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMUNICATIONS USING ADVANCED WEB PORTAL TECHNOLOGIES. ALL EXISTING FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS WILL BE REPLACED IN CG PORTAL PRIOR TO RETIRING THE LEGACY SYSTEMS. 3. THE DECISION TO DEPLOY IN PHASES IS BASED ON TWO CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS: DATA TRANSFER AND USER FAMILIARIZATION. FIRST, A PHASED RELEASE FACILITATES CONTENT MIGRATION. THERE ARE 1,300 CG CENTRAL MICROSITES, 13,000 CG CENTRAL CONTENT AREAS, AND 800 WWW.USCG.MIL WEB SITES THAT NEED TO BE MANUALLY MIGRATED TO CG PORTAL. IN ADDITION TO MANAGING THE LOGISTICS OF MOVING SUCH A LARGE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION, ACCURATELY MIGRATING INFORMATION TO A NEW PORTAL IS PARAMOUNT. SECOND, A PHASED RELEASE ALLOWS END USERS AND WEB PUBLISHERS TIME TO FAMILIARIZE THEMSELVES WITH THE NEW PORTAL. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE HOW IT FUNCTIONS, PROVIDE FEEDBACK AND ASK QUESTIONS, RECEIVE TRAINING, AND BEGIN TO INTEGRATE THE PRODUCT INTO YOUR DAILY ROUTINE. 4. THE PHASE I RELEASE OF CG PORTAL IS TARGETED FOR EARLY APRIL 2009. THE PRIMARY PRODUCT BEING DEPLOYED IS QUICKR, SERVING AS A MUCH ANTICIPATED REPLACEMENT TO CG CENTRAL MICROSITES AND COMMUNITIES. WHEN PHASE I OF CG PORTAL IS DEPLOYED, QUICKR WILL BE FULLY FUNCTIONAL AND THE AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE OF INTERNAL COAST GUARD COLLABORATION CAPABILITY. CG CENTRAL MICROSITES AND COMMUNITIES WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION. QUICKR OFFERS A DIVERSE SUITE OF WEB 2.0 FUNCTIONALITY THAT INCLUDES BOTH BLOG AND WIKI CAPABILITY. WE ANTICIPATE QUICKR TO BE HEAVILY USED FOR TEAM DISCUSSIONS, PROJECT TASK MANAGEMENT, AND INTERNAL COAST GUARD COLLABORATION. ACCESS TO QUICKR WILL INITIALLY BE AVAILABLE AS A LINK FROM CG CENTRAL. 5. QUICKR PROVIDES COLLABORATION AREAS KNOWN AS CG PLACES. ALL OF THE CONTENT FROM CG CENTRAL COMMUNITIES WILL BE AVAILABLE UNDER THE SAME COMMUNITY HEADINGS. EVERYONE THAT ACCESSES QUICKR WILL SEE THESE COMMUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THEIR LIST OF (PUBLIC PLACES) AND HAVE PERMISSION TO VIEW THE CONTENT. A CORRESPONDING CG PLACE WILL BE CREATED FOR EVERY MICROSITE. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY A MEMBER OF A CG CENTRAL MICROSITE THEN WHEN YOU ACCESS CG PLACES YOU WILL SEE AN EXACT REPLICA OF THOSE SAME MICROSITES UNDER (MY PLACES). WHILE EACH PLACE WILL BE AVAILABLE AND WILL ALREADY BE POPULATED WITH ALL OF THE SAME MEMBERS THAT CURRENTLY EXIST IN THE MICROSITE THERE MAY BE NO CONTENT IN THE NEW PLACE. CONTENT MIGRATION FOR CG CENTRAL MICROSITES WILL OCCUR AUTOMATICALLY AS PHASE I IS IMPLEMENTED AND IS DUE TO BE COMPLETED BY MID-APRIL. 6. CG CENTRAL STATIC CONTENT WILL APPEAR ON BOTH CG CENTRAL AND CG PORTAL FOR A PERIOD OF THREE WEEKS AT THE BEGINNING OF PHASE II IN LATE AUGUST 2009. MORE IMPORTANTLY, CG CENTRAL WILL REMAIN THE AUTHORITATIVE SOURCE OF INFORMATION DURING THIS PERIOD. AS A RESULT, ANY CHANGES TO CG CENTRAL STATIC CONTENT WILL NOT BE AUTOMATICALLY UPDATED ON CG PORTAL DURING THIS THREE WEEK PERIOD. DURING THIS TIME, UPDATES TO CG PORTAL MUST BE COMPLETED MANUALLY BY THE END USER OR WEB PUBLISHER. MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON THIS PROCESS WILL BE RELEASED AS WE DRAW CLOSER TO AUGUST. 7. FOR PHASES I AND II OF CG PORTAL DEPLOYMENT THERE WILL BE NO IMPACT ON INTERNET SITES SUCH AS WWW.USCG.MIL. PHASE III WILL BEGIN THE TRANSITION OF CONTENT FROM WWW.USCG.MIL. WE ANTICIPATE THIS PHASE TO BE COMPLETED IN EARLY 2010. 8. THE HOMEPORT INTERNET PORTAL WILL REMAIN IN PLACE AND CONTINUE TO SERVE AS THE CG COLLABORATION, COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SHARING PORTAL FOR THE MARITIME INDUSTRY AND PORT PARTNERS. HOMEPORT USERS SHALL CONTINUE TO USE HOMEPORT AS BEFORE. 9. WEBMASTERS SUPPORTING INTRANET WEB SITES HOSTED ON CG WEB SERVERS INSTEAD OF CG CENTRAL SHALL MIGRATE THEIR STATIC CONTENT TO CG PORTAL BEGINNING IN PHASE II. ANY CONTENT THAT CANNOT TECHNICALLY BE MIGRATED DUE TO FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE ADDRESSED IN A FUTURE ALCOAST. 10. LOW BANDWIDTH TESTING HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CG PORTAL. WE WILL BE WORKING WITH A FEW OF OUR LOW BANDWIDTH UNITS TO ENSURE THAT THE CG PORTAL APPLICATION PROPERLY SERVES THIS AUDIENCE. WHILE WE WILL ENSURE COMPATIBILITY WITH THE APPLICATION IT WILL BE NECESSARY FOR THE PUBLISHERS IN THE FIELD TO USE THE TOOLS PROVIDED PROPERLY WHEN ADDING CONTENT. AS WE EXPAND THE USE OF WEB 2.0 TOOLS IT WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR PUBLISHERS TO ADD A LARGE VOLUME OF CONTENT THAT CAN MAKE VIEWING DIFFICULT FOR SOME OF OUR AUDIENCE. IT WILL BE AN ON-GOING EFFORT TO STRIKE A BALANCE BETWEEN PERFORMANCE AND USABILITY. 11. TRAINING REMAINS A TOP CONCERN FOR ALL OF US. CG PORTAL IS COMPRISED OF INDUSTRY BEST PRODUCTS THAT ARE BOTH EASY TO USE AND FLEXIBLE. CG PORTAL WILL RELY ON WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGIES AND TRADITIONAL MULTIMEDIA FORMATS TO DELIVER HELP GUIDES, JOB AIDS, VIDEO DEMONSTRATIONS, AUDIO INSTRUCTIONS, FAQS, AND POTENTIALLY MICROSOFT LIVE MEETING WEB CONFERENCES. CLASSROOM TRAINING WILL BE DEVELOPED AS NEEDED AND COORDINATED WITH REGIONAL TRAINING CONTACTS. INFORMATION ABOUT CG PORTAL CAN BE FOUND IN THE CG CENTRAL - FEATURED ITEMS - NEW CG PORTAL INFORMATION CONTENT AREA. THIS INFORMATIVE BLOCK CONTAINS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ), A RECENT ARTICLE FEATURED IN ENGINEERING, ELECTRONICS, AND LOGISTICS QUARTERLY, AND A VIDEO DEMONSTRATION. AS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION FOR CG PORTAL IS DEVELOPED IT WILL BE POSTED TO CG CENTRAL. 12. THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF KEY DATES AS WE LOOK AHEAD TO THE FIRST TO PHASES OF CG PORTAL: A. 13MAR09 - NEW CG CENTRAL MICROSITE CREATION REQUEST NO LONGER ACCEPTED B. 13MAR09 - NEW CG CENTRAL COMMUNITY REQUEST NO LONGER ACCEPTED C. 27MAR09 - CG CENTRAL MICROSITE AND COMMUNITIES ENTER READ-ONLY STATUS D. APR09 - PHASE I DEPLOYMENT E. AUG 09 - PHASE II DEPLOYMENT 13. THE COAST GUARD WEB PRESENCE IS RAPIDLY MOVING TOWARDS AN EXCITING FUTURE AND EACH OF YOU PLAY A ROLE IN ITS SUCCESS. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE SYSTEM, QUESTION ITS CAPABILITIES, AND PROVIDE FEEDBACK. TOGETHER WE CAN DEVELOP A PREMIER WEB PORTAL. 14. CG-6 POC FOR THIS PROJECT IS: LT FELTNER AT 202-475-3580 OR BY EMAIL AT KERRY.A.FELTNER2(AT)USCG.MIL. 15. RADM D. T. GLENN, ASSISTANT COMMANDANT FOR COMMAND, CONTROL, COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, SENDS. 16. INTERNET RELEASE IS AUTHORIZED.