Portal Technology
Feasibility Study
Kangaroo Software
Jon Ferry
Chris Helmeset
Greg McGraw
Jonathan Peffer
Agenda
► Introduction
► Motivation
► Objectives
► Process
and Planning
► Findings
► Deliverables
► Reflection
► Conclusion
Introduction
► Sponsor
 Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
 Mike Cardillo, Robert D’Alimonte, Chris Ryan
► Customer
Liaison
 Dr. Jeff Lasky
► Faculty
Coaches
 Dr. Swaminathan Natarajan
 Dr. J Fernando Naveda
Motivation
► Excellus
BlueCross BlueShield
 450 CSRs answer 30,000 calls daily
 Example
► TIGRESS
 Visual Basic 6
 Mainframe Core
 Legacy Software
►Need
for Modular Design
►Adaptability
Motivation Cont.
► jTIGRESS
 JAVA based solution
 Modular Approach
► User
Interface
► Objects
► Heterogeneous Systems and Databases
► Our
Scope
 Presentation Layer of jTIGRESS
 Provide a Proof-of-Concept of IBM WebSphere Portal
Technology
 Findings Feed into New Architecture
Objectives (Requirements)
► Is
Portal technology a feasible solution for
the proposed jTIGRESS application?
► Phase
1 (Winter Quarter)
 Familiarity with WebSphere
 Discover Feasibility of inter-Portlet
Communication
Objectives Cont.
► Phase
2 (Spring Quarter)
 Application Design
►Inter-Portlet
limitations
Communication capabilities and
 Enterprise-Wide Authentication
►Single
Sign-On (SSO)
►Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
 Family of Portlets
 Interface Design
Phase 1 Process
►
Software/Hardware
Configuration
Software Configuration
 WebSphere Portal Server
 WebSphere Application Server
 WebSphere Application
Developer
 WebSphere Portal Toolkit
►
Technology Research
Research
Portal Technology
WebSphere Technology
 JAVA Portal Standard (JSR168)
 WebSphere Portal Development
►
►
Documentation
Prototype
 Inter-Portlet Communication
Documentation
Proof of Concept Prototype
Phase 2 Process
► Agile
Methodology
 Prototyping Lifecycle Model (3 iterations)
 Emphasis on Feedback
1. Iteration Objectives
2. Planning and Design
5. Feedback
4. Release
3. Implementation
and Research
Planning
Findings
Project Status
 Familiarity with WebSphere and Portlets
 Application Design
 Inter-Portlet Communication
 Database Connectivity
 Enterprise-Wide Authentication
 Single Sign-On (SSO)
 Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
 Interface Design – Customization
 Basic layout aspects
 Family of Portlets – Personalization
Portal Technology
► What
are Portals?
 Presentation Layer to
Info Systems
 Contains Portlets
► What
are Portlets?
 “Pluggable”
Components
 Modes
 States
Portal Architecture
To database, files, ...
► J2EE
Application
Design
► Portlet
Application
Design
Application / WebServer
Portal
Portlet Application
XML
JSP
Beans
Portlet (Servlet)
HTML
...
HTML
Inter-Portlet Communication
► Types




of Portlets:
Portlets that do not communicate
Source Portlets
Target Portlets
Hybrid Portlets
Portlet A
message
Portlet B
Portal Server
action
update
WebUser
One Way Communication
‘Lookup’
Pressed
Sends Form Info.
Member ID
Portlet
(ActionListener)
Sends ID
Member Info
Portlet
(MessageListener)
Two Way Communication
Claim ID
Clicked
Sends Form Info.
Claim Search
Portlet
(ActionListener,
MessageListener)
Sends ID
Send New ID
Claim Info Portlet
(ActionListener,
MessageListener)
Sends Form Info.
‘Next claim’
Clicked
Personalization
► Personalization
provides the ability to
restrict content displayed within portlets
► Types
 User Profile-Based
 Rules-Based
 Collaborative Filtering
► Used
to achieve Family of Portlets
Rules Personalization
► Classifiers
► Actions
► Binding
Customization
► Support
multiple user configurations
 Internet Explorer and Netscape, as well as
supporting localization issues
► Look
and Feel
 Themes and Skins
 Pages and Portlets
Themes
Skins
Single Sign-On (SSO)
► What
is SSO?
 SSO technology provides the capability for a
user to authenticate once while simultaneously
gaining access to multiple secure applications.
► WebSphere
Models of Authentication
 Web SSO
 Extended SSO
Web SSO
► Centralized
Authentication Model
 Once authenticated to the first application you
are authenticated to all
► Web
SSO allows a user to log-in to one
application, the application then generates a
token with the aid of some LTPA
authentication proxy.
Extended SSO
► User
Level Authentication
 Secrets stored at user level across Portlets
► System
Level Authentication
 Secrets shared across all users
► Setting
this up is a complex task that
involves possibly modifying the applications
which require SSO access.
Credential Vault
►
The Vault is broken into Vault Segments
 Vault Segments are broken into Vault Slots
 Vault Slots contain a Credential Object
LDAP
► Types
of Connection:
 Unsecured
 Secured (extension using SSL)
► Supports:
 IBM Directory Server, IBM Secure Way for IBM
Directory Server, iPlanet Directory Server, MS
Active Directory, Lotus Domino
► Other
LDAP directories can be used
Deliverables
► Primary
Deliverable
 Portlet Technology Research Report
 Excellus Workshop
► Supplemental
Deliverables
 Prototypes (w/ source code)
Reflections
What Worked Well?
► Adapted
to R&D Style Project
► Process Selection
► Client Iteration
 Timely Feedback
 Effective Feedback
► Well
Defined Scope
 Objectives
 Challenging
What Didn’t Work Well?
► WebSphere
Installation and Configuration
► WebSphere Documentation
 Hard to Find
►Version
Mismatch
►Tutorials
 …Leads to Trial and Error
► Ramp-up
Times
 Domain Knowledge Requirements
 Phase 2 Elicitation
Areas for Improvement
► Written
Objectives for Phase 1
► Internal Reviews
 Research
 Prototypes
 Documentation
Acknowledgements
► Excellus
Staff
► Customer Liaison
 Dr. Jeff Lasky
► Software
Engineering Faculty
 Dr. Swaminathan Natarajan
 Kurt Mosiejczuk
 All other RIT Faculty/Staff
Conclusion
► Introduction
► Motivation
► Objectives
► Process
and Planning
► Findings
► Deliverables
► Reflection
► Questions?