Corporate Portal Framework for Transforming Content Chaos on Intranets

In this paper, we describe a strategy for managing information overload on corporate Intranets. We define a corporate portal and describe the framework and components that are essential to providing the capability to organize content using categorization; to provide a Web-based interface to information; to personalize the portal, allowing employees to tailor information for their individual requirements; to search multiple repositories such as e-mail, file and data stores, and the World Wide Web; and to access different sources of information through a universal client interface. INTRODUCTION In the last few years, information technology and the Internet have exponentially increased the amount of information that Intel employees must process every day. Information is delivered at an astonishing pace and from a dizzying array of sources such as e-mail, news, documents, reports, articles, digital files, video and audio files, and transactional data. Yet, it is difficult to take advantage of this wealth of information because it is buried in separate, often disconnected and disorganized repositories. In addition, the volume of data leads to information overload for our employees. Herbert Simon, an economist, describes information overload as follows: What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention effectively among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. We must confront the problem of information overload at many different levels, using a combination of approaches. A corporate portal will help transform some of the chaos existing today on Intel’s Intranet. INFORMATION OVERLOAD E-mail is a key cause of information overload at Intel. But it isn’t e-mail alone that creates this problem. We have more than one million URLs on our Intranet, with more than 100 new Web sites introduced every month. Much of this information is stored in a disorganized fashion resulting in some business decisions being based on incomplete or out-of-date information. The following is a short list of key issues that make it difficult to access information in a timely manner: • Information is scattered throughout Intel in personal documents, e-mails, transcripts of discussions, etc. • Finding relevant, accurate information is timeconsuming, difficult (if not impossible), and often requires searching multiple systems. • Information is accessed through different methods such as Web browsers, e-mail clients, and applications. These combined issues result in the loss of productive time spent searching for information, the increased likelihood of making decisions based on incomplete and inaccurate data, and the failure to effectively respond to important messages and information. Our research on these issues suggests a corporate portal (sometimes referred to as an enterprise portal) as a potential solution. Intel Technology Journal Q1, 2000 Corporate Portal Framework for Transforming Content Chaos on Intranets 2 THE CORPORATE PORTAL CONCEPT Corporate portals are a relatively new business concept. A corporate portal is an Intranet site that is similar in design to popular Internet sites such as My Yahoo . It offers a single point of access for the pooling, interaction, and distribution of organizational information [4]. This browser-based system provides universal access to business-related information in the same way that an Internet portal acts as a gateway to the wealth of content on the Web [1]. A corporate portal enables a company to provide users with a single gateway to the personalized information they need to make informed business decisions [1]. Thus, a corporate portal can increase employee productivity by addressing many of the issues described in the previous section [1,2,3,4]. Figure 1 shows the corporate portal adoption rate based on a Delphi Group survey of Fortune 500 companies [4]. About 35% of these companies have implemented a corporate portal and another 30% are in the pilot/experimental stage of development. Figure 1: Corporate portal adoption rate CORPORATE PORTAL STRATEGY The key steps to Intel’s corporate portal strategy include the following: • Identify the content that is or will be available, and identify where this content resides. ∗ Other brands and names are the property of their respective owners. • Leverage existing systems, resources, and repositories. • Include both structured and unstructured information. • Organize content into categories that can be browsed and searched. • Integrate search functionality across multiple information repositories. • Build a platform for publishing and subscribing to content. • Deliver personalized content and services to users based on their preferences and roles. • Develop the corporate portal in phases. • Create online “communities” to connect people and enable collaborative work. • Develop an extensible architecture that allows for extended functionality. • Sustain a collaborative portal by “ institutionalizing” it within daily business operations and weaving it into long-term strategies. • Purchase an integrated portal product rather than building custom portal functionality. Business Benefits The main benefit of a corporate portal is the increased employee productivity that results from the following improvements: • organized and structured information, which is easier to navigate • quick access to relevant personalized news, information, services, applications, and documents • a highly interactive and personalized interface that provides targeted information based on employees’ roles and preferences • enhanced search capabilities that reduce the amount of time necessary to find sought after information • filtered, targeted, and categorized information so users receive just what they need CORPORATE PORTAL FRAMEWORK AND CAPABILITIES After an extensive R&D project the team identified an appropriate set of capabilities and infrastructure elements for a corporate portal (see Figure 2). Intel Technology Journal Q1, 2000 Corporate Portal Framework for Transforming Content Chaos on Intranets 3 (Due to the breadth of corporate portal functional possibilities, focusing on the key requirements is critical. This framework could be adapted to fit different business requirements.)