Saving Time With Custom Navigation Collection And Pagelet

When we are working on PIA we often feel that we are visiting the same areas within the system regularly.
So to make our life easier we can create a Pagelet based on a custom Navigation Collection containing our often used components. This greatly reduces the number of clicks required for day-to-day work and could be really useful for end users.

Point to be noted : Nothing shown here requires the Enterprise Portal product.

I will just explain this with an example -

Creating the Navigation Collection

First, let’s create the Navigation Collection. You can have whatever menus/components you want in your collection.

Go to PeopleTools > Portal > Portal Utilities > Navigation Collections Add a Collection with an appropriate Name and Description Click Add Folder Select Menu Folder, from the Employee Portal. Use the prompt to locate the folder to add, click the plus folder next to a high level menu to expand it and choose a child menu. Highlight the top level, and click Add Folder again. Repeat the process until you have added all your folders.
We can also add links directly to the Components we used most often, like Process Monitor, and moved them to the top of the list. Click Save (and remember the name of your new Collection). Publishing the Navigation Collection as a Pagelet Go to PeopleTools > Portal > Pagelet Wizard > Pagelet Wizard Add a New Pagelet and fill out the Title etc Choose a Data Type of Navigation Collection Choose a Portal of Employee and prompt to find your Navigation Collection. We normally reduce the Max Child Links to 5. I choose the Menu layout. I set the ‘Parent Images’ = Small, Turn off ‘Parent Descriptions’ and set the ‘Child Display Type’ = Simple List.

On the final page, check HomePage Pagelet, choose a folder, and set the security required.

That’s your Pagelet done. Now add it to your Homepage.
Adding a Pagelet to your Homepage From the PIA Homepage, select the ‘Personalize Content’ link. Place a Check in the Checkbox next to the Pagelet you want, then click Save. Click the Personalize Layout link. Select whether you want a 2 or 3 column layout, and move the new Pagelet to the column you wish it to appear in, click Save.

Thats how you can create your own Custom Navigation Collection and Pagelet.