The term "Departmental Portal" (DP) has several meanings. It is the central initiative to provide a generic authentication mechanism to facilitate e-business within the Government. It is also the computer software for user log on to information systems. To the Force, it means a new foundation of information system accessibility, information security and new applications.

The Force's DP promotes single sign-on (SSO) authentication in the Force. Users will therefore not be required to remember a lot of passwords to access different information systems.

This May the first stage of DP rollout in the Force will take place to work with the Force's web services and the e-government services of other departments. It will be housed under the familiar e-Services on POINT with the same logon name and password. Users may need to change their password when they logon for the first time for enhanced password security.

Sample Logon Screen

When the user has obtained the appropriate authorisation, it will be just an easy "click" on the applications through POINT in the office or, for some applications, through POINT-from-HOME for home access.

Sample Menu Screen

The rollout of DP will take place over several stages. In the next article of this series, we will talk more about the e-Payroll & Benefits services of the first stage.