关于企业门户网的功能与特点【外文翻译】

1 外文翻译 An identification and classification of enterprise portal functions and features

Material Source: Industrial Management &Data Systems Author：Jaydip M.Raol，Kai S. Koong，Lai C. Liu，Chun S. Yu， Abstract

Enterprise portal is a type of new information system that can help companies and their employees to manage, share, and use previously disparate information. The primary objective of this research is to identify and evaluate the functions and features in enterprise portal products. In particular, this study develops a simplified model that can be used for identifying and classifying the functions and features in corporate portal software. The results of this study may be useful to information technology managers, educators, and students involved in knowledge management, business intelligence, information systems resources management, and data management. System developers, software engineers, project managers, financial managers, and data architects can use the functions and features identified in this study as benchmarking tools for evaluating portals capabilities. Introduction

Information technology and the Internet have drastically increased the amount of information that companies must process everyday. One solution for managing large and complex amounts of data is the use of enterprise portals. This innovative technology can be used to gather, manage, share, and utilize information that has been stored in disparate databases throughout the company (Aneja et al., 2000; Bock, 2001;Brabston and McNamara, 1998; McManiset al., 2001; Yu et al., 2001). An example of a success story about how enterprise portals have provided users with competitive advantage is Herman Miller Inc(Flash, 2000). Prior to 1995, suppliers were transmitting business transactions to Herman Miller Inc over facsimile machines. In a quest to use technology to improve its bottom line, Herman Miller elected to use enterprise portal software to bring all of its supply chain data onto a single screen and make it accessible over the Internet to its suppliers. As a result of this investment, shipments to customers have improved because of the immediate cross communication capabilities between the suppliers and Herman Miller. Five 2

years ago, about 75 per cent of their manufactured shipments were classified to be on-time. With the enterprise portal, they are attaining an improved on-time shipment rate of over 95per cent. This success is contagious; more than 50 per cent of Herman Miller's main suppliers are now accessing their enterprise portal system regularly through the Internet. Other organizations that are successful with the use of this software technology include mid-size and large conglomerates and public as well as private institutions. They are also from diverse industry sectors.AT&T, for example, is a leader in the area of telecommunication. Corporate portal solutions were used for improving the performance of their international sales force. This software technology is credited with helping to reduce the time necessary to close business deals (Johnson, 2000). J.D.Edwards&Co. On the other hand, is an example of a company that offers a variety of financial services. Corporate portal software was estimated to have provided them with a 1,080 per cent return on the investment. Employees claimed that the software provided them with the capabilities to respond to complex requests for proposals quicker because the information was readily available (Rapoza, 2000). Institutions of higher learning are reporting similar success stories. With over 60 per cent of faculty electing to use the portal's online grade-input system the first time it was made available, Pepperdine University was able to eliminate the need for a full-time employee who normally takes about two weeks to process grading forms. Okanagan University College in Canada saved $30,000 a year when it began distributing grades through its portal instead of mailing them out (Moskowitz, 2001). Knowledge management companies are particularly optimistic about the future of the corporate portal software market. The Delphi Group, for example, estimated that the corporate portal market would grow from $178m in 1998 to $740m by 2001 (Flash, 2000). Their study further predicted that nearly 90 per cent of large organizations would be developing portals by the beginning of the next year. The Connecticut-based Gartner Group was less optimistic (Schroeder, 2000). They surveyed Fortune 1,000 companies and found that about 50 per cent of them are planning to implement some form of knowledge management portals by 2003. In a similar study on portal usage among institutions of higher education, the Garner Group predicted that some 80 per cent of US colleges with enrollments of more than 1,000 will have campus portals by 2005 (Moskowitz,2001).