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Portals and EAI. Readings Week 12. Portals vs. EAI. EAI – links and stores information between applications (the BACK-END) Portal – lets the user collect, summarize and display the data in a specified format (the FRONT-END). Generations of Portals (Gartner, 2001).
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Portals and EAI Readings Week 12
Portals vs. EAI • EAI – links and stores information between applications (the BACK-END) • Portal – lets the user collect, summarize and display the data in a specified format (the FRONT-END) Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Generations of Portals (Gartner, 2001) • Generation One – delivers content to users • Generation Two – includes application execution and integration features; scaleable and flexible enough to work in an enterprise environment • Generation Three – “…abstraction layer [that] allows you to navigate within contexts from any piece of information to any other piece of information related to it, no matter what application it is coming from.” (Agassi, 2001) • Move towards multiple portals (Friewald, 2001) Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Why Portals? • Organize mass of unstructured information available • Can be managed and maintained by end users rather than IT staff Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Where Do Portals and EAI Meet? • Portal – a presentation manager; what the user sees • Provides some way to gather information from disparate sources and integrate into summary format • Solves the integration problem for users • Combine security, personalization, technology, and access • EAI – integrates and synchronizes information between one or more systems • Partnerships between companies with portal/EAI skill sets are emerging Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
How Much Do Portals Cost? • From $250K to $1.5M (Letson, 2001) • May use ROI to justify investment • Improvements in efficiency and effectiveness • Better customer satisfaction • Viador example (Letson, 2001) • Project with US DOE • Links banks, universities, and students to financial aid information • Greatly reduces paperwork Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Links to e-Business • Creates a more efficient means of communicating between organizations and people • Portals provide access to information that otherwise would not be available Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Current Trends in Portals (Kao, 2001) • Integrates front- and back-office employees • Links information from intranets, extranets, and Internet sites • Ease of access to the Internet Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Choices for e-Business • Custom development • Point solution • Enterprise integration portals (EIPs) • Provide access to data from multiple sources (i.e., different databases, different formats) • Designed for read-only access • Cannot coordinate among multiple application functions • EAI – ties multiple organizations together, but may not have a Web interface Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Enterprise Application Portals (EAPs) • Integrates applications into a unified portal interface • Can tailor to individuals’ needs • Can enable B2B e-commerce, e-Customer service, supply chain management, e-CRM, and e-Procurement (Kao, 2001) Information Systems Integration - IS 8822
Application and vendor-neutral Able to integrate Workflow enabled Flexible Extensible Portable Scalable Native Internet Secure A Good EAP (Kao, 2001) ******** Information Systems Integration - IS 8822