The document discusses a customer's need for a common portal solution to replace their ad-hoc implementation of portals across different business units. It recommends adopting an "Überportal" strategy to provide a single access point for both internal and external users, and integrating multiple existing portal solutions like mySAP and a common portal. Standards for integration between portals and for publishing content to multiple portals are also discussed.

1. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 1
Portal Technology
Strategy and Architecture
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2. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 2
Contents
• Scenario
• Background
• What is a Portal
– Look and Feel
– Multiple Devices
– Roles
• Architecture
– Multi-tier
– ÜberPortal (OverPortal)
– Vortel
• Deployment
• Recommendations
• Further Work
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3. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 3
Background
• Applications and web based content distributed
to both internal and external users to the
organisation.
• Delivery can by a variety of means including
browser and thick and thin client applications
• There are various ways of delivering content
through Portals.
• This presentation defines the strategy and the
principles that are needed to avoid the
unfettered promulgation of product sets and
implementations.
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4. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 4
Scenario
• Customer had been implementing portals
to service different business units in an
ad-hoc fashion.
• Content was being duplicated and there
was not consistency in how it was being
presented.
• A common portal solution that could be
reused was being sought.
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5. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 5
What is a Portal?
• A framework for presenting varied content types and applications to
users.
• Content presented is aggregated from multiple sources
• Is a single touch point, or One Stop Shop, for services and
information.
• Content is recast to suit the display characteristics of multiple
devices types (PDA, mobile phone or PC).
• Provides framework for Authentication Services and Managed Sign-
on integrated with Corporate Identity Management solutions.
• Provides mandated Personalised Content appropriate to the role
filled.
• Provides Personalisation Services permitting modification of
presentation of accessible content to support individual
requirements.
• A Portal neither provides a web development environment nor
Content Management Services.
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6. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 6
Overview
• Portal users are provided
with access to web
content through the
Portal infrastructure.
• Web content is presented
via a browser (suited to
the display device)
• Multiple content sources,
both internal and external
to Business.
• Content presentation to
suit the class of viewing
device.
• Users presented only
with content for which
they are authorised to
see for their needs
• Content authors are able
to create content and
have it deployed via the
Portal to targeted
audiences.
Portal
Mobile
Fixed
Customers Partners
External Employees
Content
Author
Managed
Content Store
Internal
Employees
Contractors
Internal Web
Sites
Internal
Information
Stores
Internal
Application
Servers
External Web
Sites
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7. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 7
Look and Feel
• The ‘Look and Feel’ of a
Portal can be tailored to
suit the user community..
• The User experience of a
Portal can be dependent
on what role the user fills
or to which community
they belong.
• Content can be delivered
to multiple device types.
• The User interface can be
automatically varied by
the Portal to suit the
device display
characteristics.
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8. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 8
Roles
• The content with
which a Portal user
is provided is
dictated by where
they sit within a role
hierarchy.
• Content can be
distributed to
organisations, roles
or individuals.
• An individual can
belong to multiple
roles within a single
organisation.
Sub
Organisation3
Sub
Organisation2
Role 1 Role1 Role 2
Organisation
Sub
Organisation1
User 1 User 2
Anonymous
(Generic User)
User 4 User 5
Sub
Organisation4
Sub
Organisation5
Role 1
User 3
Sub
Organisation3
Sub
Organisation2
Role 1 Role1 Role 2
Organisation
Sub
Organisation1
User 1 User 2
Anonymous
(Generic User)
User 4 User 5
Sub
Organisation4
Sub
Organisation5
Role 1
User 3
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9. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 9
Multi-tier Deployment
UberPortal
InternalExternal
HR BI CRMMeta Directory SensisContent Mgt
SAP
Application
Servers
TIBCO BUS
Data Warehouse Backend Systems
Wireless
Gateway
• Content required to be
distributed to different
organisational
communities.
• To provide a single touch
point to users an
ÜberPortal should be
deployed passing users,
transparently, to the
actual portal on which
their content resides
• The mySAP Enterprise
Portal provides ready
access to SAP backend
systems.
• Common Portal will be
used to provide Online
Services.
• ISM currently provides
‘Portal like’ services on
the intranet
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10. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 10
ÜberPortal
• Gartner coined the term
“Überportal” whereby a single
portal sits on top of the all
other portals.
• Provides users a single touch
point with all systems and
information that the user is
authourised to access sitting
underneath.
• Provides a single location for
a user to present their
credentials.
• An Überportal, where
properly implemented, can
increase the level of
satisfaction a user can
experience when visiting a
Portal environment.
• A Vortel (Vertical Portal) is a
specialised Portal that has a
narrow focus (ie presenting
HR content to users)
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11. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 11
Integration of Content
• Multiple portals are deployed in
business
• The content created within a
Content Management Solution
will more than likely need to be
published across multiple portal
environments.
• The Content Management
Solution adopted by business
should have the capability to
publish a single instance of
created content to multiple
destinations.
• Industry standards are being
developed in the Portal space
• A Portlet that has been
designed by a vendor to the
JSR 168 standard will be
able to be deployed to the
complying Portal of another
vendor
• Web Services for Remote
Portals (WSRP) will provide
the capability to expose a
Portlet published by one
vendor’s Portal as a Web
Service in the Portal of
another vendor
• JSR 170 will provide an API
in Content Management
solutions which will directly
expose the stored content to
to other applications
(including Portals).
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12. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 12
Recommendations - General
• All web content that is specifically targeted at either an individual, a role or a
user community is to be presented to users via a Portal.
– Content presented through ISM is to be migrated to a Portal environment
• mySAP Enterprise Portal, with its strong SAP integration capabilities, is
specifically aimed at employees
• Target Common Portal at providing Online Services.
• Adopt the concept of an Überportal (or Overportal) in order to provide users with
the benefit of a single point of entry to access web content and applications.
– Until such time as there is sufficient synergy between the two Portal
solutions Sun ONE should be presented as the initial touch point for
external and partner users with links being established to other internal
facing Vortals as required.
– Until such time as there is sufficient synergy between the two Portal
solutions mySAP should be presented as the initial touch point for internal
users with links being established to other internal facing Vortals as
required.
– Longer term the Common Portal should take on the role of Überportal for
both internal and external facing domains.
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13. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 13
Recommendations - Integration
• Users will need to traverse multiple Portals in order to access the content and
applications
– A Navigation Strategy for Portal deployments that reflects the personalisation
capabilities of the product and the presentation device is to be developed.
– The look and feel for all Portals that are deployed within company under the
ÜberPortal should be consistent with one another so as to present a unified
experience to the user.
• User Profile information will reside within the framework provided by each Portal
Solution
– Novell eDirectory will initially host mySAP Profiles and a Common Directory
Server will host Profiles for the Common Server
– A meta-directory capability to be implemented that will provide both a single point
of administration of all user Profile Stores (LDAP or otherwise) and the capability
to perform bi-directional synchronisation of stores when modified.
• Identity and role underpins the value of a Portal with the issue of Single-Sign-on being
raised. With multiple Portals being deployed the user experience will be improved if
they do not need to re-present credentials when traversing Portal environments.
– Integration with the Telstra Identity Management Services will facilitate this
transfer of identity
• Have a single standards based Content Management framework which provides for
the creation of content and the capability of deploying the single source to multiple
targets.
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14. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 14
Recommendations - Deployment
• To deploy content which is not always Portal aware several techniques
can be utilised:
– Provide links within the Portal to content that cannot readily be recast
for inclusion within a Portlet framework.
– Use RSS (Rich Site Summary)to provide access to News type
content.
– Integrate Web applications deployed through the .Net framework by
exposing them as Web Services
• Deploy out-of the-box Portlets in their target Portal. Where JSR 168 has
been implemented (in Portlet and Portal) then consider the viability of
deployment in the Überportal.
– If WSRP has been implemented consider exposing it as a Web
Service.
• URL Scraping must be avoided when the use of JSP can be provided. If
implemented then only where targeted content is well formed with no
extraneous information that would detract from its useability.
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15. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 15
Recommendations - Deployment
• Leverage the existing infrastructure and expertise to be built up in the deployment of
the SOE to provide non-SAP specific content to internal users.
• Where practical, contain the scope of a Portal solution within a single tier so as to
reduce the ongoing cost of adds, moves or changes to the user interface.
• Restrict Portlets deployed for non-standard Portals to those which are “out of the box”,
and only when there is no equivalent standardised offering.
• The adoption of additional Portal products will only be considered where:
– There is definite business benefit to be realised that cannot be achieved using the
existing Portal product set
– The Total Cost of Ownership can be cost justified
• Where a case can be supported for the use of an additional Portal product the
assessment criteria for adoption must include the following questions relating to
standards under development:
– Does the Portal support (Web Services for Remote Portals) WSRP? If so then the
Sun ONE Portal will subscribe to the required services.
– Do the Portlets satisfying a business requirement and included within the Portal
support JSR 168? If so then it can be deployed on Portal.
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16. © 2009 - artITians
Slide 16
Further Work
• Navigation Strategy
– Develop a strategy that can be deployed across
each Common Portal instance
• Provisioning and Access Control Strategy
– Integrate individual Portal instances with a
Common Identity Management Service.
• Content Management Strategy
– Deploy a single Content Management solution
that provides a single content source that can be
deployed to multiple Portals
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