Endorsed by the eRA Project Team and Steering Committee, and enthusiastically received at the May 10 workshop, portal technology presents exciting new paradigms for the way we use computers in the workplace. With development planned in conjunction with the redesign of the IMPAC II and Commons systems, you can expect to see the benefits in 2003-2004. Portals will enable NIH staff and our partners to access all authorized extramural information and services from a single personalized screen.

Concurrent with the eRA initiative, CIT is developing an NIH "umbrella" portal to provide access to general NIH-wide applications. The CIT portal demonstration was also very well received at the May 10 workshop. The eRA and CIT portal implementations will function together to provide web consistency across the NIH as well as an entry site for extramural staff. eRA is working on the vertical integration for IMPAC II applications and, at the same time, collaborating with CIT to ensure that vertical portals will integrate with the horizontal portals being developed for the entire NIH enterprise.

The upgrade to Oracle 9iAS will provide the foundation and tools for creating a portal environment for eRA. Instead of logging on to multiple systems to perform their tasks, users will be able to access all systems with a single logon. Instead of selecting the appropriate application, database or document to accomplish a specific objective, users will interact with information in user-friendly portlets never seeing or caring about the underlying application or technology. By extension, action and alert systems can be constructed that present a personalized "to do" list with links to the appropriate transaction system.

There is no single definition of portal technology. It is best understood as a collection of capabilities used to present an integrated, role-based view of each user's business world. Oracle 9iAS Portal is completely web-based, requiring only a standard browser. A single log on brings the user to his pre-defined initial screen (often called a "launch pad"). Depending on the user's role (e.g., Help Desk staff, Program Official, SRA), the system delivers different content, different views, different applications and different links from self-contained components (called "portlets"). Authentications are based on network security and directory services such as the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED), which contains a unique ID for each user and identifies the services and facilities authorized for use.

In his presentation on May 10, Mr. Kalpesh Patel of the Oracle Corporation presented, as proof of concept, sample web pages proposed for Program Officials. On the My Home page, one portlet contains favorite links to external web sites; another displays the NIH People Search form. From the collaborative calendar portlet, the user can view a list of meetings by clicking on a particular day. On the My PO Home page, there are several action and alert portlets with personalized lists of items requiring the user's attention (e.g., grants awaiting sign-off). These portlets are tied to the real-time transaction system, enabling the user to extract details, modify the view and perform updates.

The eRA Project Team welcomes feedback on portals. Please email your comments to NIH eRA Support at nihera@od.nih.gov.