Rating: 
Summary: Don't judge the book by the cover.
Review: I read the first 4 chapters, find the book to be ridiculously repetitious and it appeared to me that the author's message was constantly and repeatedly "Corporate Portals are Good for You!".
It is generally an acceptable concept that people who buy a book are already of the belief that the subject matter is either good, or good for them and are sold on the concept looking for supporting facts, strategies, tactics and implementation methods based on the authors expertise. Although this is not a negative review for Heidi's knowledge and ability in the field but it is definitely a very poor review of her writing style for a technical book. I abandoned reading the book after the first four chapters and put my time to better use.
Rating: 
Summary: Corporate portal knowledge! No hype!
Review: I wanted to know more about Corporate Portals so I bought this book. I am not dissapointed.Heidi Collins has written, a well constructed, informative and comprehensive introduction to Corporate Portals that is worth much more than it's cover price to anyone who is thinking of implementing a corporate portal. Heidi Collins abviously knows her subjects, and also how to transfer what she knows, in an easy style, to the reader. Only one word of caution, don't be put off by the marketing blurbs on the book cover -- which in general and frequently seems to be an exaggerated marketing ploy used to sell content-free trash -- this is very much a content-rich book, with practical advice and sensible guidance for business oriented technologists and technology oriented business people. Every corporate CIO should have one. Want to really know about Corporate Portals? Then this is the book for you. Regards, martyn_jones@iniciativas.com
Rating:
Summary: A Comprehensive Overview of Portals - A MUST Read
Review: I've read Corporate Portals twice and think it's a thorough overview of the subject of centralizing a knowledge desktop for employees. The book shows the different features and software functions that need to be included in the final Web solution to help give their business a competitive advantage -- as opposed to simply finding out what the weather is outside. Many technology books today take a single view of the organization and talk only about one part of a company -- doing supply chain, customer relationship management, sales force automation, etc. What I like about this book is that it is well rounded. It shows how us of these pieces fit together. I specifically like the last chapter that presents a complete business case for implementing a corporate portal. The case studies are not highly detailed, but they do provide enough detail to illustrate each example, and they do stimulate the reader into thinking of new ways that can be used to exploit the information that is currently available in their information systems. I think it's a must-read for business executives who are trying to get a handle on what is possible with today's technology and for information technology staff trying to get the business perspective on the corporate portal.
Rating:
Summary: An important work on a misunderstood technology
Review: Let's play stump the consultant. Here's how it's played: read this book first, then ask your consultant or consulting company to define portal. I am willing to bet that he, she or they will devolve from the smooth-talking, jargon-dropping demigods to a mumbling characters who drop into doubletalk. Why? Everyone is talking about portals, but few understand what they are, or for what purpose they can be used. This book, Corporate Portals, will explain not only what a portal is, but how this technology can leverage corporate knowledge across all lines of business. This book does an excellent job of explaining portals as a technology and a corporate tool. It also gives you all of the information you need to develop a compelling business case to invest in a portal implementation. The book's focus is on leveraging knowledge and creating business value. Strong points are the sections on IT analysis and how it is linked to business processes and business requirements. The section on financial metrics analysis reinforces this focus. Specific parts of the book that I particularly liked are: identification management, how to develop and implement a portal strategy, and the example portal project plan. I strongly recommend this book to business process owners or executives having to deal with consultants who are recommending a portal as the end-all solution to problems. This book will arm that audience with enough information to ask intelligent questions at the very least, and possibly control the conversations and negotiations. If you are a consultant, get this book so you are not blind-sided by a savvy client. Regardless of which side of the fence you are on, client or consultant, this book will provide invaluable information that may lead to significant competitive advantages and a more intelligent workplace.
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive portal approach
Review: Thank you, Heidi!! I feel like I have a much better understanding of what to ask when looking at portal solutions. If you are focused on search and taxonomy features as a first step into portals,the questions Heidi provides will enable you to drill into what each vendor's search and taxonomy offerings are and how they implement them. There are a lot of differences and you will not been able to make the right choices early in the process without Corporate Portals. If you need a portal, this is a great place to learn and get started.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent portal overview
Review: Thank you, Heidi!! I feel like I have a much better understanding of what to ask when looking at portal solutions. If you are focused on search and taxonomy features as a first step into portals,the questions Heidi provides will enable you to drill into what each vendor's search and taxonomy offerings are and how they implement them. There are a lot of differences and you will not been able to make the right choices early in the process without Corporate Portals. If you need a portal, this is a great place to learn and get started.
Rating:
Summary: Corporate Portals clarified - this book was great!
Review: The corporate portal market has evolved into a broad industry segment that is difficult to navigate. I was very pleased to find a clear and concise introduction to the features and functions that compose a corporate portal. Anyone thinking of buying or building one should read this book first! Thank you Ms. Collins.
Rating:
Summary: Collins provides a clear picture of Portals
Review: This book gives the reader a clear picture of Corporate Portals: what they are and why they are powerful business tools. I would recommend this from anyone who is just learning about portals to someone ready to roll one out.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written, badly organised, repetitive
Review: This book is a one-of-a-kind in that it provides equal coverage ofo the business and technical aspects of corporate portals. Further, it gives a very succinct description of what a portal is, and how portals can provide measurable benefits to a business. With respect to what value a portal brings the author sums it up with an illustration early in the book that shows the many different types of portals, and the sub-categories of corporate portals. As a consultant who needs to be able to explain what a portal is in the clearest possible terms I found this one graphic worth the price of the book. Let me cut to the chase: this book is valuable and has many strengths. It also has some shortcomings. I'll address its strengths first. The first four chapters were gold mines. They start with a business problem statement, define portal types and their fit to specific business goals, and step you through building a business case for a portal. This is excellent information that is not only well written, but shows Ms. Collins as a seasoned expert who has done this many times before. Some of the final chapters were equally as valuable - in particular chapter 13 that addresses financial metrics analysis, and chapter 15, which is an example business case that nicely augments chapter 4. Of great value are the checklists that are sprinkled throughout the book. They reflect the author's experience and will make your life simpler if you use them during the business analysis and implementation phases of a portal project. I liked the author's treatment of knowledge management, which is one of the main business reasons to implement a portal. Ms. Collins demonstrates a deep understanding of this subject and it is one of the key strengths of the book. If you want to go deeper into knowledge management I recommend building upon the excellent foundation that Ms. Collins provides with Knowledge Management Toolkit by Amrit Tiwana. There are a few weaknesses as well. Ms. Collin's approach to making direct links to reports, analysis and queries is "brute force" in my opinion and misses one of the key features all portal software provides: the ability to interface with data using SQL queries to stuff an XML defined document type (in correct terms, "Document Type Definition") template and displaying the result using XSL (extended stylesheet language) for presentation. All or the major portals come with mechanisms called "portlets", "gadgets" and other catchy names depending on the vendor, that facilitate this method. XML and XSL are each mentioned once in the book and only in passing. I strongly use readers who are developing a portal solution that will draw from data sources to read Building Corporate Portals With XML by Finkelstein, Aiken and Zachman. Another potential shortcoming, depending on your industry and objectives, is the treatment of identity management. While identity management is an extremely important consideration, the entity-relationship approach proposed in the book will not be effective in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, the author did not offer alternative methods. For example, if you are in health care your identification requirements are going to be governed by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which means that you need to consider role-based access controls (RBAC) as a key component of your identification and access strategy. Determining to whom to grant rights to what is a lot more complex than relatively simple E-R modeling. The design of an effective and provable RBAC strategy is through set theory. Energy is another industry that requires identification and access methods that are a lot more stringent that those recommended in this book because of the requirement to keep all regulated and unregulated business functions and data separate. Another key element of RBAC-schemes is directory-enabled identification and authentication that are independent of applications and services. The modeling for directory-based controls is object based and also cannot be done using the E-R approach. If you fall into any of these categories I strongly recommend augmenting this book with All About Network Directories by Kevin, Tina and Christina Kampman. The above shortcomings do not detract from the value of this book as long as you take them into account. I think the author broke new ground when she wrote this book by tackling some important issues. First, she defines the real business value of a portal, then steps you through building a strategy for enabling business processes using portal technology. She also leads you through building a sound business case for implementing this technology using objective factors and measures. I have recommended this book to numerous colleagues and will continue to do so. It earns a solid five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Despite some shortcomings it's "must reading"
Review: This book is a one-of-a-kind in that it provides equal coverage ofo the business and technical aspects of corporate portals. Further, it gives a very succinct description of what a portal is, and how portals can provide measurable benefits to a business. With respect to what value a portal brings the author sums it up with an illustration early in the book that shows the many different types of portals, and the sub-categories of corporate portals. As a consultant who needs to be able to explain what a portal is in the clearest possible terms I found this one graphic worth the price of the book. Let me cut to the chase: this book is valuable and has many strengths. It also has some shortcomings. I'll address its strengths first. The first four chapters were gold mines. They start with a business problem statement, define portal types and their fit to specific business goals, and step you through building a business case for a portal. This is excellent information that is not only well written, but shows Ms. Collins as a seasoned expert who has done this many times before. Some of the final chapters were equally as valuable - in particular chapter 13 that addresses financial metrics analysis, and chapter 15, which is an example business case that nicely augments chapter 4. Of great value are the checklists that are sprinkled throughout the book. They reflect the author's experience and will make your life simpler if you use them during the business analysis and implementation phases of a portal project. I liked the author's treatment of knowledge management, which is one of the main business reasons to implement a portal. Ms. Collins demonstrates a deep understanding of this subject and it is one of the key strengths of the book. If you want to go deeper into knowledge management I recommend building upon the excellent foundation that Ms. Collins provides with Knowledge Management Toolkit by Amrit Tiwana. There are a few weaknesses as well. Ms. Collin's approach to making direct links to reports, analysis and queries is "brute force" in my opinion and misses one of the key features all portal software provides: the ability to interface with data using SQL queries to stuff an XML defined document type (in correct terms, "Document Type Definition") template and displaying the result using XSL (extended stylesheet language) for presentation. All or the major portals come with mechanisms called "portlets", "gadgets" and other catchy names depending on the vendor, that facilitate this method. XML and XSL are each mentioned once in the book and only in passing. I strongly use readers who are developing a portal solution that will draw from data sources to read Building Corporate Portals With XML by Finkelstein, Aiken and Zachman. Another potential shortcoming, depending on your industry and objectives, is the treatment of identity management. While identity management is an extremely important consideration, the entity-relationship approach proposed in the book will not be effective in certain circumstances. Unfortunately, the author did not offer alternative methods. For example, if you are in health care your identification requirements are going to be governed by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which means that you need to consider role-based access controls (RBAC) as a key component of your identification and access strategy. Determining to whom to grant rights to what is a lot more complex than relatively simple E-R modeling. The design of an effective and provable RBAC strategy is through set theory. Energy is another industry that requires identification and access methods that are a lot more stringent that those recommended in this book because of the requirement to keep all regulated and unregulated business functions and data separate. Another key element of RBAC-schemes is directory-enabled identification and authentication that are independent of applications and services. The modeling for directory-based controls is object based and also cannot be done using the E-R approach. If you fall into any of these categories I strongly recommend augmenting this book with All About Network Directories by Kevin, Tina and Christina Kampman. The above shortcomings do not detract from the value of this book as long as you take them into account. I think the author broke new ground when she wrote this book by tackling some important issues. First, she defines the real business value of a portal, then steps you through building a strategy for enabling business processes using portal technology. She also leads you through building a sound business case for implementing this technology using objective factors and measures. I have recommended this book to numerous colleagues and will continue to do so. It earns a solid five stars.
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