Practical Portals
Practical Portals
Corporate portals are increasingly becoming an intrinsic part of large enterprises and government organisations across Australia. Here, we look at a few practical examples of what some of the leading portal vendors have to offer.
Vendor-Computer AssociatesCustomer-Suncorp
IDM: Why have you chosen to highlight this particular implementation?
Cooper:I've chosen Suncorp's portal as it was one of the first corporate information portals to be implemented in Australia and it's still one of the largest. It's a solid example of how well portals can work if formulated and managed correctly.
IDM: What were the particular demands of this implementation?
Cooper: Suncorp's original business requirement was for a portal to aggregate and distribute management and financial reports in a timely way to 20 senior managers.† Previously, this information had been circulated by email or fax, but as the range and diversity of data became more complex, this approach led to version problems and data management difficulties.
However, the most demanding aspect of the implementation involved integrating external information systems as a result of Suncorp's acquisition of insurance company GIO. Using information collaboration functionality in CA's CleverPath portal software, Suncorp was able to provide employees from both organisations with direct access to data stored across disparate systems, regardless of whether staff or data servers were located in Suncorp or GIO premises.
Using the portal, Suncorp was able to consolidate information from two separate financial systems administered from several data sources at various locations across the two organisations and rapidly distribute a single set of reports to both Suncorp and GIO employees.
For the GIO staff, the portal's customisable screen appearance and ease of navigation helped them to quickly familiarise themselves with the new system. Suncorp was also careful to monitor cultural acceptance of the system and address issues as they arose.
IDM: What sort of impact has the portal made?
Cooper: Although originally intended as a management reporting tool, the Suncorp portal, known internally as EBIS, now has more than 3,000 users across multiple locations. This growth in users from just 20 occurred over a two-year period.
According to Suncorp's Information Systems Manager, Damian Trad, the portal has transformed the way the company aggregate, organises, distributes and accesses corporate information. Employee productivity has increased significantly in the area of business intelligence and the improved availability of information within the organisation means that Suncorp can respond much more quickly and efficiently to business enquiries than before. Trad says the portal is now essential for the majority of managers and business intelligence users.
"CleverPath Portal has so far been equal to any demands we have made of it. We now plan to add further analytical functionality that will allow managers to track and analyse key performance indicators, monitor strategic initiatives and develop relevant queries accordingly," says Trad.
IDM: How long did it take to implement?
Cooper: The implementation became a phased project over two years, while the original project specification changed with the acquisition of GIO. However the initial implementation was successfully completed in three months.
IDM: What other applications does the portal link to?
Cooper: EBIS is linked to Suncorp's financial management, sales leads and performance, cross-sales and balanced scorecard applications.
Vendor-Verity
Customer-NSW Department of Education and Training (DET)
Stephen Cottrell, director, Pacific Rim, Verity, outlines how Verity's portal implementation helped NSW's DET overcome their specific challenges.
IDM: Why did you choose this as an example?
Cottrell: We chose this as it will be the largest portal in the country. (It already has) approximately 1.6 million registered users, including students, TAFE college and corporate staff, and other interested parties.
IDM: What were the specific demands of this project?
Cottrell: Indexing, classifying, and searching of various repositories across the network. Verity is providing a three-tiered architecture which allow users to discover, organise and connect information between users. Verity discovers through full text advanced search, organises through the most accurate classification available, and connects by providing social networks which allow communities of experts to be identified within the portal.
IDM: How has the customer benefited from the introduction of the portal?Cottrell: It has helped NSW DET by decreasing the time to find information, increasing the accuracy of what the users look for and creating one single point of access for finding all information. The search and portal infrastructure provided by Verity has allowed aggregation of information from such sources as the State Library of NSW and the TAFE NSW library network catalogue, which contains over 530,000 bibliographic records alone.
Vendor-IBM
Customer-National Australian Bank (the National)
Banks: Our client, National Australian Bank (the National) has implemented IBM portal technology to support their internal staff operations. The portal, which, until recently, was serving 25,000 users across 900 outlets in Australia, has recently been deployed globally, extending the reach of the portal from London to New Zealand. Ultimately, the aim of the portal implementation for the National was to save their staff time and make them more productive.
The National is a major Australian icon company and it has a range of requirements similar to many Australian companies. It also tells a great story of a company that has seen success in their portal implementation and therefore has extended its use to now service their entire global operations out of Australia.
IDM: What requirements did IBM have to fulfil with the portal?
Banks: The main requirement was to have the portal integrate to a wide number and variety of applications that are critical to the day-to-day operations of the National's staff across a variety of roles. It was also important that the portal was easy of use and supported existing corporate display (Style Sheet) standards. Other important considerations included the need for the portal to provide immediate support for the investment that had been made in their existing intranet and the ability of the portal to integrate with corporate security solutions to ultimately give users a single sign-on.
IDM: How has the portal helped the organisation?
Banks: With the portal, the National now has a web-enabled, self-service environment. From the technology perspective, the IBM portal solution was implemented mostly by the National's own team. This is important as it demonstrates 'self-support', which is a key element of portal implementations. The National's ability to reuse the implementation has also been a great benefit, from a return on investment perspective.
IDM: How long did the project take to complete and what other applications does it link to?
Banks: The initial phases of the project were implemented in just under three months. However, the National has moved beyond this and is now deploying more sophisticated functions. The nature of a good portal implementation is that it becomes a critical piece of presentation middleware and therefore, if successful, is never "finished". It will continue to be reused in different ways thereby maximising the initial investment. The National portal currently interfaces to FAQ (from Domino applications), staff directory search, the enterprise content management system (DB2 Content manager), the existing Intranet (HTTP) and in the near future, SAP is slated for inclusion as well.
Vendor-Hummingbird
Customer-Aircraft Research and Defence Unit (ARDU)
IDM: What was ARDU looking for when it decided to acquire a portal?
Manser: The desire to have a central repository for knowledge and applications was the primary reason for the Hummingbird adoption.
IDM: What particular feature of the implementation has really stood out for you?
Manser: Seamless search access to our Documents and Records Management system. This is a powerful feature accessing the largest knowledge management repository within the organisation.
Related Article: