Cap Gemini Ernst & Young counts on Windows 2000 to deliver complete e-knowledge solution
Business-to-employee personalised knowledge sharing and business performance solution delivers value-added services for successful e-business
4 July 2000
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, one of the world’s largest management and IT consulting firms, has brought organisations a step closer to a complete e-knowledge solution with the introduction of an enterprise-scale information management offering built around its new n-Portal product and based on the Microsoft Windows 2000 platform.The solution is designed to enable business-to-employee personalised information sharing, allowing organisations to move beyond e-commerce to a fully integrated e-business strategy that adds value to consumer and supplier online communications. Uniquely, n-Portal not only supports key knowledge workers, but is structured to offer direct benefits to senior business managers and decision makers by putting access to key performance parameters at their fingertips, eliminating the divide between traditional EIS and knowledge systems.
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young’s n-Portal extends the traditional process-based Intranet to deliver personalised, structured content to individuals, creating a true enterprise desktop which offers equal access to both structured and unstructured data. n-Portal allows the individual to exercise a high degree of control over the type of information made available, whilst retaining enterprise-level coherence and consistency. n-Portal can thereby become a proactive, intelligent source of content and significantly reduce the stress of ‘information overload’.
The n-Portal approach is underpinned by Windows 2000 technology. Microsoft SQL Server 2000 provides in-built data-warehousing functionality together with improved web functionality and new data analysis features. Microsoft’s Active Directory Services enables each portal to include a ‘Publish and Subscribe’ facility that tailors menu items to individual user requirements. Additionally, Exchange Server 2000 offers new collaboration features for knowledge workers – integration of web and workflow application design and a single infrastructure and user model for working with messages, documents and applications.
Stephen Filbin, head of business intelligence and data warehousing at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young UK, said: “E-knowledge, or business-to-employee development, together with e-commerce, is a prerequisite for successful e-business. E-knowledge starts with an effective Intranet strategy, but n-Portal extends this to offer personalised, filtered and proactive information sharing to simultaneously put business managers in control and fully empower the knowledge worker. Windows 2000 provides us with exactly the kind of flexible, powerful components we need to support this approach.”
A number of n-Portal templates are available, each based on a real professional role or function within a business. These provide a starting point for developing rapid solutions, helping customers understand what is possible and achievable. Currently six templates are defined, covering needs defined as Executive (for scorecards etc), Functional (e.g. project management), Analysis (e.g. marketing), Relationships (e.g. corporate communications), Innovation (e.g. R&D) and Process (e.g. industrial control). Each of the n-Portal templates provides a common user interface requiring minimal training to use and draws on an appropriate selection of tools and information sources including business intelligence and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing), customer information, document management, collaboration, real-time operational data and tacit knowledge such as expert contact listing.
n-Portal: Microsoft technology solutions employed:
Auto DL
BIZ Talk
Exchange 2000
Excel 2000
Internet Explorer
Microsoft External Feeds
Microsoft Project
NetMeeting
NetShow
Office 2000 Web components
OLAP Services
Site Server
SQL Server
Windows 2000
About Cap Gemini Ernst & Young
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young is one of the largest management and IT consulting firms in the world and is publicly traded on the Paris Bourse. The company offers management and IT consulting services, systems integration, and technology development, design and outsourcing capabilities on a global scale to help traditional businesses and “dot companies” continue to explore growth strategies in the new economy. The newly formed organisation employs more than 57,000 people worldwide and reports global revenues of 7.7 billion euros (1999). More information about individual service lines, offices and research is available at www.capgemini.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
