Enterprise portals: addressing the organisational and individual perspectives of information systems

Enterprise portals are being viewed as the next generation application platform of choice, offering benefits over both client/server and thin client arrangements. By providing a mediating layer between the information applications and resources of the organisation and the individuals using them, enterprise portals appear to provide a unique context to allow both the organisational and individual perspectives of information systems to be addressed. This study seeks to examine these often competing perspectives of information systems by using an exploratory empirical survey to investigate the actual deployment of enterprise portals within a range of different organisations. It is found that both the individual and organisational benefits that enterprise portals can offer appear to have been recognised, and coherent sets of services addressing each of these perspectives are being developed. Consistent with diffusion and acceptance of technology models, organisations appear to be commencing their portal developments with services that will ensure utilisation by individuals, and are subsequently seeking to realise organisational level benefits

A QUESTION OF METHODOLOGY – CREATING A CUSTOMIZED ROLLOUT-METHOD FOR A COLLABORATION PORTAL IN A DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENT

Cassidian Electronics, a globally operating business unit of EADS, aimed to implement a collaborative portal for its quality management department. After conducting a successful pilot phase producing a prototype for a small number of users it soon became apparent that a large scale roll-out would not be feasible without proper methodological support. As no methodology was available to be used directly, an evaluation process was started and two champion methodologies (PADEM of Fraunhofer Institut and G&K - Großman and Koschek) were identified. A framework was developed to transparently compare the merits of each methodology and G&K selected as the most suitable. This paper presents the selection process as well as the case study describing the adaption mechanism and subsequent application of G&K for the roll-out of a large scale distributed collaboration portal in a high quality environment. A key lesson learned is the strong benefit of an agile method for portal implementations and roll-outs to ensure high user satisfaction and technology acceptance leading to measurable financial benefits

Multicriteria Analysis for Evaluating Knowledge Management Effectiveness in University’s Administration

This paper presents a multicriteria analysis approach for evaluating knowledge management (KM) effectiveness in the university’s administration. A framework is presented for identifying important properties to be considered in the KM evaluation process. A fuzzy multicriteria analysis algorithm is developed for evaluating KM effectiveness in the university’s administration. As a result, the KM effectiveness can be properly assessed in a simple manner and effective decisions can be made for improving the KM implementation in the university. An example is presented for demonstrating the applicability of the proposed multicriteria analysis approach for effectively addressing the KM problem in real world settings

Factors Influencing the Implementation and Use of a Portal for Knowledge Management in Higher Education

This study investigates the factors affecting the implementation and use of a portal to assist knowledge management objectives in higher education. The study explored factors influencing knowledge distribution by deriving a conceptual framework consisting of four (4) dimensions: knowledge volume, knowledge quality, knowledge dissemination, and information system management. This study found that there are many factors influencing the selection and structure of information and knowledge. The importance of information quality was also addressed and the study found that while it is imperative for a portal to focus on quality information, accountability for quality assurance of information rests with organizational policy imperatives. The study explored knowledge dissemination techniques available via portals and identified that personalisation of knowledge is a high priority. The characteristic of a portal to integrate many systems into one central repository and provide users with their personal view of many systems was acknowledged as a productive means to distribute information within a higher education institution

A user-oriented model for global enterprise portal design

Enterprise portals collect and synthesise information from various systems to deliver personalised and highly relevant information to users. Enterprise portals' design and applications are widely discussed in the literature; however, the implications of portal design in a global networked environment have barely been explored. This paper aims to highlight the challenges of enterprise portals for international, transnational and multinational businesses, paying special attention to the influence of national culture on enterprise portal design. A user-oriented model for enterprise portal design is put forward emphasising the relevant cultural characteristics of the portal users influencing portal design. The incorporation of these characteristics to the portal design will support both portal contribution and portal benefits, ultimately leading to improved business processe

A Campus Portal Development Methodology to match Stakeholder Activity

Although introduced less than seven years ago, a Campus Portal (CP) can be considered as an emerging technological innovation within higher education institutions. A large number have already adopted the concept and are currently implementing some type of portal to extend the services of their Web site and information systems to support the activities of institutional stakeholders, especially students. There is some literature recommending sets of characteristics and functionality for successful CPs, in particular personalisation and customisation. However there is a lack of evidence on which aspects of core attributes lead to the failure of a portal to satisfy user requirements in regard to their personalisation and customisation functionality. This paper reports the findings of a CP study and discusses the importance of personalisation and customisation as part of the core set of portal functionalities. These should therefore be considered in the process of CP design and development and be included in any proposed CP Development Methodology (CPDM)

Developing an e-Collaboration Framework for Knowledge Sharing in the Australian Wine-Making Industry: Research in Progress

The Australian wine-making industry has undergone remarkable changes which have transformed it into a leading world innovator, producer and exporter of table wine. However, while Australia has been a leader in wine R&D, globalisation had led to the rapid proliferation and adoption of new technologies by new suppliers and wine-makers in various countries. To counter increasingly intense competition from emerging foreign suppliers, Australian wine-makers need to enhance their distinctiveness and innovation. One possible way for doing so involves knowledge sharing via electronic collaboration or e-collaboration. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by developing an e-collaboration framework for the Australian wine-making industry. It focuses on how e-collaboration technologies are used for the purpose of innovation and knowledge sharing and how the Australian wine-making industry can benefit from it