Electronic Business: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (4-Volumes) P83 pptx

754
Collaborative Real-Time Information Services via Portals
sources such as mobile devices and desktops.
These requests are received via the portal and
after processing results are returned to the clients
via the portal. Thus, the portal plays the front-end
role in receiving clients’ requests across the Web
via interface agents (Dai & Abrahams, 2005) and
delivering results to the clients. Having received a
client query via the portal, the INDEX component,
which provide the system’s coordination services
invokes and executes the business logic modules
%/0UHTXLUHGLQVROYLQJWKHVSHFL¿HGSUREOHP
INDEX is deployed on multiple application servers
each interacting with a Web server hosting a com-
mercial portal product for which the University
has license agreements with the relevant vendor.
The two main commercial products are SAP
Enterprise Portal and IBM WebSphere Portal.
The consequence of executing business rules on
BLM is a dynamic integration process binding
different applications together behind a screen.
In such a scenario, collaborative solutions are
eventually delivered via portals.
Figure 2 presents a technical view of our ap-
plication integration framework using SAP and
IBM packages. INDEX integrates knowledge
management and data management in one system.
The main role of the data management module is
to provide the required information via a dynamic
problem solving process. Goal-directed inference

(GDI) and event-driven inference (EDI), as well
as the knowledge editing (back-end) facilities
form the knowledge management module, which
is powered by a plan generator and a plan execu-
tor. The plan generator produces solution plans
Figure 2. Collaborative information delivery
Authentication
Aggregation
Navigation
Browsers
SOAP
Web Services for Remote
Portlets (WSRP) Wrapper
SOAP
Sales and Distribution
WBI Adapter
for SAP XI
Web Services
Adapter
Web Services
MVS Adapter
BLM
BLM
BLM
GDI
EDI
WebSphere
Portal
Server
IBM WebSphere

Application Server
INDEX
Application
SAP XI
SAP
R/3
SAP
MVS
JMS
Adapter
IDoc
Adapter
ALE
EAI Tool Kit
Supplier
Manufacturing
Merchandise
755
Collaborative Real-Time Information Services via Portals
for incoming tasks, and the plan executor applies
the generated plans. GDI and EDI are deployed
as Web services. These Web services are located
on an IBM application server.
The data management module is based on a
database virtual schema and offers services that
include user request transformation, mapping and
TXHU\JHQHUDWLRQV7KHWHFKQLFDOFRQ¿JXUDWLRQRI
this module is shown in Figure 3.
Our PHEONIX framework is comparable to
an architecture proposed by Firestone (2003) in

his book on enterprise information portals and
knowledge management. Our INDEX system
SOD\VDVLPLODUUROHWRWKDWSOD\HGE\WKHDUWL¿FLDO
information manager (AIM) layer in Firestone’s
Portal for Application Integration (PAI) frame-
work. However, we believe that the INDEX Web
services as currently deployed through GDI and
(',DUHPRUHVFDODEOHDQGÀH[LEOHWKDQ)LUHVWRQH¶V
framework. This is because INDEX technologies
have specially been designed to work collab-
oratively with existing technologies (e.g., third
party applications via connectors and adaptors)
and practices. That is, our research project aims
to deliver collaborative Web-based applications
that work effectively with existing applications
including commercial products and tools.
FUTURE TRENDS
The increased use of online information services
will see Web-based client programs gradually
replace traditional application user interface pro-
grams. Development standards will also become
P R U H X Q L ¿H G  3R U W D O V GXHW R W KHL U X Q LTXHIHDW X U HV  
will play an increasingly important role in of-
fering user interface services. Portals’ successes
Figure 3. Collaborative information services
Third Party Applications
Web Services
XML/DDT
ESB
WSDL, UDDI, SOAP

ESB
ESB
Owners
Business
Logic
Module
Business
Logic
Module
Business
Logic
Module
Business
Database
Business
Database
Business
Database
RESPONSE
REQUEST
RESPONSE
REQUEST
USER
USER
Portal
Service Requester
Adaptors
Service Provider
Knowledge Manager
Data Manager

Plan Generator
Plan Executor
Service Invocation
Request Transformation
Mapping
Query Generation
Dynamic Business Models
On-Demand Data Models
756
Collaborative Real-Time Information Services via Portals
will also ultimately depend on the progress of
application integration across the Internet using
Web services. In future research, we will extend
existing plug-in concepts and scope to allow ap-
plication modules and data sources to be integrated
dynamically on demand.
CONCLUSION
This article discussed the relevance of Web-based
technologies, in particular, portal technologies, to
e-business. It reviewed background technologies
relevant to portal operations and deployment,
and emphasised the importance of application
integration, especially with traditional existing
technologies. We discussed the role of portals
as both a front-end interface with users and as
a vehicle for back-end integration with different
applications. We presented the PHEONIX solu-
tion framework to demonstrate the use of portals.
Related work has also been discussed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank members of
PHOENIX research teams who have contributed
to various aspects of this work, particularly,
Ram Subramanian, Keithroy Andrade Prabhu,
Jonathan Liu, Rajadhi Wickramatunga, David
Kang, Jenny Pham, Leng Be, Paul Moynihan,
and Vuong Long. The author is also grateful to
Dr. Sam Kaspi for proof reading the article and
anonymous referees who provided valuable com-
ments in sharpening the focus of the article.
REFERENCES
Britton, C. (2001). Architectures and middleware:
Strategies for building large, integrated systems.
Boston: Addison Wesley.
Christensen, E., Curbera, F., Meredith, G., &
Weerawarana, S. (2001). WSDL 1.1. http://www.
w3.org/TR/wsdl
Dai, W., & Abrahams, B. (2005). A multiagent
architecture for semantic Web resources. In
Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE/WIC/ACM In-
ternational Conference on Intelligence Agent
Technology. IAT 2005 (pp. 289 -292). France:
IEEE Computer Society Press. Retrieved from
/>Dai, W., & Wright, S. L. (1996). Strategies for
integrating knowledge-based system techniques
within conventional software environments.
International Journal of Intelligent Systems,
11(11), 989-1011.
Firestone, J. M. (2003). Enterprise information
portals and knowledge management. Burlinton,

MA: Butterworth Heinemann; Elsevier Sci-
ence.
Gartner Group. (2001). The need for Web services
standards—Research note. Retrieved from http://
www3.gartner.com/Init
KEY TERMS
Application Server: R efer s t o s o f t w a r e r e sid -
ing beneath the Web server to handle the special
designated tasks received by the Web server from
end-users according to business logic.
Event-Driven Inference (EDI): An inference
component of INDEX knowledge management
system, which is deployed as a Web service.
Goal-Directed Inference (GDI): An inference
component of INDEX knowledge management
system, which is deployed as a Web service.
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP):
'H¿QHVKRZPHVVDJHVVKRXOGEHIRUPDWWHGDQG
transmitted across Internet.
757
Collaborative Real-Time Information Services via Portals
Portlets: These are Web components that
process requests and generate dynamic content
for portals. Portals use portlets as pluggable user
interface components that provide a presentation
layer to information systems.
Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP):
Used for invoking Web services. It provides an
envelope for sending and receiving XML data
and documents.

Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP):
A standard for portals to access and display port-
lets that are hosted on a remote server.
This work was previously published in Encyclopedia of Portal Technologies and Applications, edited by A. Tatnall, pp. 140-145,
copyright 2007 by Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global).
758
Copyright © 2009, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Chapter 3.6
Web-Enabled Portals for
E-Business Workplace
Wita Wojtkowski
Boise State University, USA
INTRODUCTION
Portals are information systems that support the
user in his or her individual process with infor-
mation production and communication. The term
portal, in information technology terms, appeared
in late 1990s at a time of the widespread use of
the Internet by individuals and organizations
(Finkelstein & Aiken, 1999; Dias, 2001; Bristow,
Dickinson, Duke, Henry, & Makey, 2001; Col-
lins, 2001, 2003).
There are many types of portals on the Internet:
portals for general consumer use and entertain-
ment (my.yahoo.com), for specialized informa-
WLRQZZZEULQWFRPIRUVSHFL¿FFRPPXQLWLHV
(Austrian Academic Portal at www.portal.ac.at/),
for business enterprises (NEC global portal at
www.nec.com, NEC US portal at www.necus.
com/, NEC European portal at www.neceurope.

com). In general, portals can be divided into two
categories: public and enterprise (Goodman &
Kleinschmidt, 2003; Forrester, 2003).
Public portals started as Internet directories
(Yahoo!) or search engines (Excite, Lycos, Alta-
Vista, and InfoSeek). Services that require user
registration such as free e-mail, customization
features, and chat rooms were added to allow
repeated use, and to make users stay longer at
the site.
Enterprise portals started as intranets and ex-
WUDQHWVWKH³HQWHUSULVHZHEV´WKDWZHUHLQWHQGHGWR
provide easy-to-use, secure, and personalized sites
that may extend to an organization’s employees
as well as to its customers and business partners.
Enterprise portals evolved to include collabora-
tion tools so that customers, business partners,
and employees are empowered to maximize their
value to the organization. Portals that combine
Web communications and thinking inside large
enterprises are considered as both a labor-saving
and a cost-saving technology. Enterprise portals
are also referred to as corporate portals. Some
corporate analysts predict that portals spending
759
Web-Enabled Portals for E-Business Workplace
ZLOOEHRQHRIWKHWRS¿YHDUHDVIRUJURZWKLQWKH
Internet technologies sector.
BACKGROUND
While there are multitudes of enterprise portal

deployments, e ach can be assig ned to on e of t h ree
distinct groups. These groups, in increasing order
RIFRPSOH[LW\DUHFODVVL¿HGDVIXQGDPHQWDOLQ-
tegrated, or collaborative (Strauss, 1999; Terra &
Gordon, 2002; Moore, 2002; Plumtree Software,
2005; Portals Magazine, 2005).
Fundamental Portals
Fundamental portals are those that offer a frame-
ZRUNZKHUHXVHUVFDQ¿QG:HEDSSOLFDWLRQVIURP
a single entry point. They provide very little func-
tionality and are essentially a means to connect
legacy applications. Portals of this type do not
attempt any type of enterprise process integration
and typically function as a list of links.
Integrated Portals
Integrated portals integrate the applications and
the delivery of customized, role-based content,
while providing access to information across the
organization.
Integrated portal initiatives in organizations
focus on providing access to information and to
streamlining information technology and business
operations. However, these types of solutions
are not able to integrate fully people, processes,
content, and applications.
Collaborative Portals
Collaborative portals integrate users, content, and
collaborative tools. Collaboration services such
as presence awareness, instant messaging, Web
conferencing, and third-party applications in the

context of business processes are integrated into
the portal. The user of the collaborative portal
can tap into different resources throughout the
enterprise, leveraging various collaborative tools
through a consistent interface.
A collaborative portal requires that an enter-
prise looks at itself as a collection of business
SURFHVVHV¿QDQFLDOPDQDJHPHQWSURGXFWGHYHO-
opment, etc.) rather than functional departments
(marketing, manufacturing, or human resources)
RU VLPSOL¿HG VHJPHQWV EXVLQHVVWRHPSOR\HH
or business-to-customer). Collaborative portals
offer more than just access to applications and
content. The most evolved collaborative portals
enable key business processes, appear integrated
and personalized for each individual’s roles in the
organization, and allow access to people and ex-
pertise through collaboration (Plumtree, 2005).
FEATURES OF ENTERPRISE
PORTALS
The features of enterprise portals include (Sribar
& Lynn, 2003; Pushmann & Alt, 2004):
•
Single Touch Point: The portal is the deliv-
ery mechanism for all business information
services.
•
Collaboration: Portal users can communi-
cate synchronously, through chat or messag-
ing, or asynchronously, through e-mail and

blogs.
•
Content and Document Management:
Services that support the full lifecycle of
document creation and provide mechanisms
for authoring, approval, version control,
scheduled publishing, indexing, and search-
ing.
•
Personalization: The ability for portal
PHPEHUVWRVXEVFULEHWRVSHFL¿FW\SHVRI
content and services. Users can customize
the look and feel of their environments.
760
Web-Enabled Portals for E-Business Workplace
• Integration: The connection of functions
and data from multiple systems into new
components.
Figure 1 shows an example of the customized
and personalized component of an enterprise
portal from Plumtree Software (2005). Through
a personalized portal page such as this one, the
user is able to access services and content (both
static and dynamic), as well as aggregate disparate
DSSOLFDWLRQVWKHVHDUHLGHQWL¿HGLQ)LJXUHZLWK
heavy arrows and boxes containing explanatory
text).
Since the enterprise portals are now designed
to allow collaboration, a portal’s content (or part
of it) should be accessible on multiple platforms

such as personal computers, personal digital as-
sistants, and cell phones (Portals Community,
2005). Generic portal ecosystem components are
shown in Figure 2.
The Working of a Portal
When a user requests actions, such as searches
or information retrieval, the portal server locates
and initiates the appropriate gadget. These gadgets
perform the requested task and send the results
back to the portal server, which formats and
sends the reply back to the client. Gadgets can be
a simple pass-through to an HTML page or they
can be complex applications. Both the portal itself
and the gadgets run on a servlet engine inside
an HTTP Web server. An HTTP Web server is
software that renders and presents HTML pages
to browser applications.
A servlet engine is a computer program that
U X Q V Z LW K L Q D Q + 7 7 3 :H E V HU YHU D QGW D NH V V SH F L ¿F 
requests from the Web server, processes them,
and then hands them back to the Web server in
HTML format for it to render.
The open source Apache HTTP Web server
( is an example of a Web
Figure 1. Plumtree portal page example
761
Web-Enabled Portals for E-Business Workplace
server. The servlet engine could be the Tomcat
(
which is written in Java ().

Portal Environment
The elements of the portal environment are
these:
•
Application Server: An application server
provides the underlying development and
runtime infrastructure for the portal. Ex-
amples of J2EE application servers include
Sun ONE, BEA WebLogic, IBM Websphere,
Oracle 9iAS, and JBoss. Many of the appli-
cation server vendors incorporate portals as
add-ons to their base product. For example,
IBM Websphere Portal Server, Oracle Portal,
and BEA Portal are all built on top of the
corresponding application server and in
some cases are sold as one package. Several
of the stand-alone portal products, such as
Plumtree, Epicentric, and Corechange, have
Java components or are Java based and take
advantage of an application server.
•
Web Server: A Web server works in con-
junction with an application server to provide
the runtime environment for client requests.
The HTTP Web servers used with portals
include Microsoft Internet Information
Server (IIS), Apache, and so on. When a
customer brings up the portal page, the Web
browser makes a request of the Web server.
The Web server then passes the request to

the application server. The portal (and its
associated gadgets) runs on top of the ap-
plication server.
•
Database: Most portals have an underlying
database (such as Oracle, DB2, Sybase, or
SQL Server) that they use to keep track of
LQIRUPDWLRQVSHFL¿FWRWKHSRUWDO²VXFKDV
users, personalization settings, available
Web services/gadgets, and security. This
use of the database is in addition to the use
of the database by a transactional system
(for example, ERP, CRM, or SCM system)
Figure 2. Generic portal ecosystem components
762
Web-Enabled Portals for E-Business Workplace
that a portal might query in order to present
DSSOLFDWLRQVSHFL¿FGDWDWRFXVWRPHUV
•
Taxonomy: $WD[RQRP\LVDFODVVL¿FDWLRQ
scheme to organize a collection of informa-
tion. Ideally, a taxonomy would take a set
of documents and make it easy to browse,
search, or otherwise navigate information
in which the user is interested. A taxonomy
is analogous to a folder structure, with the
additional functional components of meta-
GDWDIRUGRFXPHQWFODVVL¿FDWLRQDVZHOODV
the rules for categorization. Most enterprise
portals have a taxonomy for this purpose;

some may have automatically generated tax-
onomies based on the metadata provided.
•
Crawler:A crawler is an automated process
W K DWU H D G V  L QGH[HV D Q GFODV VL ¿ H VGR F X PH Q W V
at a predetermined interval. A Web crawler,
for instance, would crawl target Web pages
periodically to determine if the content has
changed. The content is then indexed into
the taxonomy so that customers can easily
¿QG LW 7KH FUDZOHU GRHV QRW QHFHVVDULO\
make another copy of the crawled document;
rather, it indexes it by creating a virtual card
that describes the document. The card then
lives in the portal index.
•
Metadata Repository: A metadata reposi-
tory contains metadata about the content
within the portal and the structure of that
content. This includes metadata about the
taxonomy, as well as metadata for the indi-
vidual documents. For example, each docu-
ment placed in a folder called Clients might
KDYHDPHWDGDWD¿HOGFDOOHG³&OLHQW´ZKLFK
would have one or more values. The value
RIWKH&OLHQW¿HOGIRUDSDUWLFXODUGRFXPHQW
is metadata about that document.
•
Gadget: This is a user interface for present-
ing data and functionality from multiple

applications on a single Web page. Gadgets
encompass the presentation layer and busi-
ness logic. They also tie into back-end data
sources and are given different names by
vendors (portlets, blocks, Web modules, Web
parts). Many portal vendors have gadgets
for connecting to enterprise systems (such
as SAP) as well as for collaboration, news,
and other functions.
•
Categorization Engine: A categorization
engine is used for sorting documents into
the folders of taxonomy. The categorization
engine may do this based on metadata in
the documents, business rules, the content
RIWKHGRFXPHQWVHDUFKFULWHULDRU¿OWHUV
or some other scheme.
•
Filters: $¿OWHULVJHQHUDOO\DYDLODEOHLQ
a taxonomy to restrict the documents that
are admitted into a particular folder or that
DUHUHWXUQHGDVSDUWRIDVHDUFK$¿OWHUFDQ
be word based (for example, if a document
KDVWKHZRUG³,%0´FRQFHSWEDVHGIRU
example, if the document is like another
document), or rule based (for example, if
WKH¿HOGFDOOHG&OLHQWKDVDYDOXHRI,%0
•
Index: An index is a collection of informa-
tion that allows for fast query and retrieval of

information. Within the context of a portal,
an index is usually a combination of a full-
text index and a metadata repository for the
documents/content that are included within
the portal.
•
Virtual Card: Within an index or metadata
repository, a virtual card is a description of
a single document or piece of content within
the portal. The card usually contains infor-
mation about where the content physically
resides and contains the values of one or
PRUHPHWDGDWD¿HOGVDERXWWKDWGRFXPHQW
7KHFDUGLVWKH³SODFHKROGHU´IRUWKHGRFX-
ment within the portal.
•
Web Service: A Web service is a program
that accepts and responds to requests over
the Internet. Typically, a Web service accepts
requests in an XML-based format. The ac-
tual format of the request and the response
depends on the XML standards that are being
used. One such standard is SOAP. There are
763
Web-Enabled Portals for E-Business Workplace
public registries and languages—such as
UDDI, WSDL—which are used to catalog
the different available Web services. A call-
ing program can query the UDDI registry
WR ¿QG DQ DSSURSULDWH :HE VHUYLFH WKHQ

use WSDL to determine which parameters
WKHVHUYLFHQHHGVDQG¿QDOO\XVHDFDOOLQJ
protocol and XML standard like SOAP to
make the call to the Web service.
•
8VHU3UR¿OHV ( D F K S R U W D O F R Q W D L Q V D S U R¿OH
IRUHDFKRILWVXVHUV7KLVSUR¿OHLVXVHGIRU
customization and personalization. Each
of the gadgets in a portal has access to this
XVHUSUR¿OHDQGFDQXVHLWWRVWRUHSUHIHU-
ence information about a user or a class of
XVHUV7KLVSUR¿OHGHWHUPLQHVKRZWKHXVHU
FRQ¿JXUHVWKHKRPHSDJHRIDSRUWDODQG
chooses which gadgets show up and what
information they show.
•
Content Management System: Most enter-
prise portals contain a content management
system, which allows approved users to
submit information into the portal. There is
typically an approval process that eventually
results in the content becoming available in
the correct part of the portal’s taxonomy. A
content management system can deal with
documents in their original formats (for
example, Microsoft Word or PDF) or might
contain Web editing features to allow users
to author Web pages.
•
Enterprise Application Integration

(EAI): EAI is an umbrella term for all
software and services meant to integrate
enterprise applications with one another.
An EAI layer is needed so that queries can
be coordinated, and results consolidated.
Given the complexities of each type of ap-
plication (for example, sales, manufacturing,
VHUYLFHSXUFKDVLQJWKLVFDQEHDGLI¿FXOW
and expensive process. A number of vendors
have released software that makes this pro-
cess much simpler, including Crossworlds,
WebMethods, Tibco, NEON, and IBM. EAI
impacts the portal because the portal ideally
will show consolidated information from
multiple back-end systems.
On Portal Vendors
Portal technology is both infrastructure and a
software application. Those who want to imple-
ment portals in organizations are faced with
various levels of vendor, technology, and budget
risk. Moreover, portals, like any information
technology purchase in an organization, are re-
quired to prove their value. Valuation of portals
LVHVSHFLDOO\GLI¿FXOWEHFDXVHWKHSRUWDOPDUNHWLV
DOZD\VLQDVWDWHRIÀX[$QH[FHOOHQWVLWHZZZ
portalscommunity. com/ (Portals Community,
2005), is highly recommended for those interested
i n a n u n b i a s e d v i e w c o n c e r n i n g p o r t a l t e c h n olog y
and the portal market.
FUTURE TRENDS

P o r t a l s o f t w a r e i s m a t u r i n g f r o m a s i m ple i n t e r f a c e
for accessing multiple systems to a powerful plat-
form for delivering new, composite applications.
The survivors in the portal market have grown by
incorporating new technologies for content man-
agement, collaboration, search, and single sign-on.
The result is the emergence of an enterprise-wide
working environment on the Web (Plumtree,
2005). This environment may remain open, or
may yet become part of application servers, which
have begun to offer functionality beyond the Java 2
Platform Enterprise Edition standard (Pushmann
& Alt, 2004). At stake is whether the portal, and
the entire enterprise Web, is merely an extension
of client-server infrastructure, based on a single
type of application server, or an environment that
is open in a fundamentally new way. This open-
ness is in the interests of any organization that
anticipates having to support multiple application
servers. For this reason openness will triumph