A myPNW app is planning to be released for students, faculty and staff in Fall 2018.

Timothy Winders, vice chancellor of Information Services, said the app will be a hub of information for students and employees.

“We want to create a one-stop place for students and employees to always find the information at their fingertips,” Winders said.

Winders said that one goal is to unify the mobile experience into a single app, including myPNW and Blackboard. Currently, there is a Blackboard app that is supported through the vendor Blackboard.

Heather Zamojski, assistant vice chancellor of Learning Technologies, has been working on the planning and development of the app. She said that they are in the process of looking for a vendor for the app.

“We don’t have the resources within Information Services to create something ourselves,” Zamojski said.

Zamojski said Information Services is considering three vendors: Ex Libris campusM, DubLabs and Modo. She said they like Ex Libris the best because it allows for customization, while the others only focus on basic needs. Ex Libris has the capability to be personalized for different users.

“It would be one app with multiple tiles in it,” Zamojski said. “We can even go as far as customizing it to meet the needs of your program.”

Zamojski also said that Ex Libris allows for students to work on some mobile app development.

“We want to be open to students who want to work on this in class or use in classes that teach how to create an app. We want this to be an option for students,” Zamojski said.

Currently, Information Services is focusing on security reviews with the three apps’ software.

When they receive the security review reports, they plan to choose a vendor by the end of January or the beginning of February.

After that, Zamojski and Winders said Information Services will begin to meet with functional areas such as New Student Orientation, Marketing & Communications and Registrar to see what they would want in the app.

“We’re ultimately focused on what we can get done and not wait to have a perfect product before we release it, but have a product that has information that is correct and continue to add features and updates as it goes on,” Winders said.