Kangaroo Software Use of Portlet Technology for Dynamic Generation of User Interfaces Jon Ferry Chris Helmeset Greg McGraw Jonathan Peffer

Outline ► Introduction ► Process / Plan ► Accomplishments ► Findings ► Pitfalls ► Demos ► Objectives Revisited ► Future Goals ► Conclusion

Introduction ► Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield  450 CSRs answer 30,000 calls daily  Example: Customer Makes Claim ► Membership Validation ► Edit Claim ► Evaluation ► Pay/Deny ► TIGRESS  Visual Basic 6  Mainframe Core  Legacy Software ► Need for Modular Design ► Adaptability

Introduction ► 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 Portal Technology ► IBM WebSphere Software  Findings Feed into New Architecture

Process / Plan ► Our Approach  2 Phases of Technology Feasibility Exploration ► Phase 1 Objectives  Defined at the beginning of Winter quarter ► Phase 2 Objectives  To be defined by the beginning of Spring quarter

Process / Plan ► Phase 1 Objectives  Is portal technology a feasible solution? ► Complexity  Inter-portlet communication  User based roles (permissions)  Compatibility with existing databases ► LDAP ► Performance ► Efficiency ► Knowledge  Tool Support  Procedures  Learning Curve

Process / Plan ► Phase 1 (Winter Quarter) Activities  WebSphere Software ► Installation ► Configuration  Portlet Development ► Research (Proof-of-Concept) ► Prototype development  TIGRESS Research ► Source inspection

Process / Plan ► Roles  Team / Project Manager – Jon Ferry ► Plan, Track, and Manage Activities ► Interface with Client  Technical Manager – Greg McGraw ► Configuration and Support Specialist  Research Documentation Manager – Jonathan Peffer ► Manage Main Deliverable ► Ensure Cohesiveness  Development Manager – Chris Helmeset ► Ensure High Quality Designs and Applications

Process / Plan ► Excellus Contacts  Mr. Mike Cardillo ► Head, Architecture Group  Mr. Robert D’Alimonte ► Architect ► Project Contact  Dr. Jeff Lasky ► Excellus Liaison ► Project Contact ► Faculty Advisors  Dr. Swaminathan Natarajan ► Primary Advisor  Dr. J Fernando Naveda ► Secondary Advisor

Process / Plan ► Projected Plan

Process / Plan ► Actual Progress

Process / Plan ► Phase 1 Deliverables  Portlet Technology Analysis Report ► Overview of Technology ► Learning Curve ► Reference Information ► Click Here Click Here Click Here  Prototypes ► Deployment Files ► Source Files ► Click Here  Project Website ► Availability of All Documentation ► Click Here Click Here Click Here

Accomplishments ► WebSphere Environment Installed & Configured ► 2 Portlet Prototypes Operational:  Simple Form Handling  Inter-portlet message passing ► Interim Portlet Technology Analysis Report

Findings ► What are portals?  Presentation Layer to Info Systems  Contains Portlets ► What are Portlets?  “Pluggable” Components  Modes  States

Findings ► J2EE Application Design ► Portlet Application Design

Findings ► Architecture  Portlets  Container  Portal

Findings ► WebSphere Configuration  Client ► Intel Pentium 4 running at 1.8GHz ► 768Mb of RAM ► Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 1 ► Studio Application Developer, V.5.1 ► Portal Toolkit, V  Server ► Intel Pentium 4 running at 1.8GHz ► 1024Mb of RAM ► Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Edition, Service Pack 4 ► Application Server Enterprise Edition, V.5.0 ► Portal Server Express, V.5.0 ► DB2 V.8.1

Findings ► Application Developer  In-line Error Checking  Type Checking  Application Templates & Wizards ► Straightforward Application Creation  Server Integration  Debugging & Test Environment  Enhanced User Interface ► XML, HTML, JSP

Findings ► Toolkit Analysis  Ease of Development ► Create Default Portlet Application ► Tune to Our Application ► Edit JSPs, Servlets, JavaBeans, etc. ► Export to.war ► Portal Console Analysis  Ease of Deployment (Portal Server) ► Install.war ► Add to Page

Pitfalls ► WebSphere Configuration  Resolved: ► Difficulty Meeting Hardware Requirements  Server Mb of RAM ► SE Systems Administrator Transition ► IBM license agreement recreated  Open: ► Client’s Local Test Environment  Lack of Technical Documentation  Contact IBM Technical Rep.

Demos ► Simple Portlet Application  Goal: ► Create and deploy simple portlet to server  Technologies: ► Portlet Servlets ► Java Server Pages (JSP) ► Java Beans  View: ► erPortlet erPortlet

Demos ► Messaging Portlet Application  Goal: ► Communicate between portlets via message passing  Technologies: ► Portlet Servlets w/ Events ► Java Server Pages (JSP) ► Java Beans  View: ► MessageSenderPortlet MessageSenderPortlet

Objectives Revisited ► Phase 1 Objectives  Is portal technology a feasible solution? ► Complexity  Inter-portlet communication – Message Passing!  User based roles (permissions) – Featured In Portal Server!  Compatibility with existing databases ► LDAP ► Performance ► Efficiency ► Knowledge – Conceptual Overview, Tutorials  Tool Support  Procedures  Learning Curve

Future Plans ► Continued Objectives:  Complexity ► Inter-portlet communication  Performance Analysis  Knowledge ► Learning Curve ► New Objectives:  Excellus Architectural Prototype ► Exploring Key Concerns

Conclusion ► Introduction ► Process / Plan ► Accomplishments ► Findings ► Pitfalls ► Demos ► Objectives Revisited ► Future Goals ► Questions?