If your current intranet is running on a single Microsoft IIS or Apache Web Server then it's time to think bigger. And by the way, here's where the costs begin to come into play. Planning for an enterprise portal deployment is going to take time, technical knowledge of web servers, databases and software, as well as potential consultant and vendor time and investment.

Two key questions to focus on:

Which solution best fits the need of your end-users and their work environment?

Scenario 1: My company has 400 employees who work at the corporate office, 300 that work in our manufacturing facility, 40 salesman who work remotely, 20 or so employees in various countries, and has business partnerships with other companies throughout the world.

Scenario 2: My company has 100 employees at it's main office, 10 sales people who work remotely, and 4 consultants who need limited access to our systems.

Are you looking at scalability to allow for future expansion into an extranet?

Two very different scenarios. There will be some similarity in how these architectures will be configured, but for the most part, leave it to the experts. Microsoft's Share Point Server and Oracle's Portal architectures will have similarities, but in the long run, choose a solution that integrates with your current and future IT systems and databases. This will make integration easier and give your end-users a sense of familiarity.

Most web portal vendors provide whitepapers or online examples of the server hardware and software you will need to support your company.

Be prepared answer:

Be sure to look far enough (3-5 years) ahead when planning your enterprise portal infrastructure. Times change. People change. Business changes. Make the investment to accomidate the changes to the best of your knowledge.

<< back to Step 2: Determine Use / Audience >>

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