A Cluster Analysis of Campus Portal Implementation

This study investigates the status of portal implementation in the academic world. A two-stage cluster analysis was used to divide the sample colleges and universities into three groups (Internal Focus Implementers, External Focus Implementers and Starters) based on the portal features implemented by each school. The differences among the three groups were assessed based on the type of school and their status of portal adoption, implementation and evaluation. The results show that in terms of status of portal adoption and implementation, Internal Focus Implementers are the most advanced group, the External Focus group is in the middle and the Starters are the least advanced one. Most schools in the Internal Focus group are private schools, have the longest use of campus portals, favor Blackboard as the portal software, have widely shared responsibilities for the content of the portals, consider integration and implementation of a single logon as the biggest implementation challenges and are the most satisfied with their portal. In contrast, the Starters lag behind in terms of the adoption and implementation of the portal. For example, they have the shortest history of portal implementation, do not have dominant portal software, and have only one or two departments in charge of the content of the portal. In addition, they are the least satisfied with their portals.