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Websphere Portal Server 6 Live day. Quick run through of the new features

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Just completed presenting a demo of the Portal V6 product and thought I would run through some of the newer features that are available.

Navigation improvements:
Heavy emphasis has been made to ensure that the environment requires less clicks to navigate, and it shows.  User interaction is cleaner and neater, with breadcrumbs available and a new navigation pop-out bar on the left.  People finder and the portlet pallette have been improved.  Skins have a more modern feel and the product just seems more inviting.
Messaging improvements:
V6 has improved on the CPP (Common PIM Portlet) which enables the portal user to check his mail regardless of the mail source, with a  standard interface, which is quite functional and good.  It does not matter if this is Outlook or Notes, the interface works.  The iNotes portlet is still there, of course.
Customisation improvements:
Heavy emphasis is placed on customisation of portals and roles.  At this stage, pages/portlets can be displayed to users based on almost any attribute, including any LDAP entry (e.g. department number) or browser, location, version etc.  Not only that, but it is easy to implement, and works immediately.
Dashboard:
Composite applications can be created using many tools, not least of which is Websphere Portlet Factory, and implemented in portal.  Not only this, but applications written can be saved and reused in the template library but users with permission.  These can be easily customised and portlets can be added via the customisation interface or even drag and drop from the portlet palette.
Domino Integration:
Much improved.  Direct integration with sametime and AV meetings.  In addition, the Domino application portlet is better, with a document viewer available that allows you to open the Notes document from within the portal view.
Document Library:
This was available in earlier versions but looks smoother/better in V6.  Users can access the library and interact with documents, including locking, versioning, editing, restricting and uploading.  There are also hooks directly to the OS and office productivity suite.  Users can drag and drop into the document library from windows explorer, or just save directly to the library from MS Word.  Native viewers also exist allowing users to view documents through the browser even if they don't have the application locally.
Workplace Forms Designer:
This is just sooo sweet.  Consider a paper form.  Import it into the forms designer and turn into a web based form in minutes... and I mean minutes.  Digital signature support aswell to ensure that forms submitted cannot be altered afterwards.

Just a few snippets.  There is more and I will blog it when I have time

Comments

1 - From all the rumours going around about workplace... and the branding change. I anticipate some serious investment in the document library. Its good, it works well and integrates with some cool features. At this stage its quite mature as a product, but interface etc. would not match the Notes ones yet.
My thoughts are that domino.doc will not get much more future investment (or quickplace), but I am open to correction

2 - Hi Greg

I am doing a "deep dive" on Portlet Factory next week in London. I will find out the answer for you and post.

3 - Paul, I can always count on you to have the most fun toys . Just curious about the Document Library piece...how mature is it as compared to Domino.Doc or DocLogic (from DLI Tools http://www.dlitools.com/dlitools/dlitoolshome.nsf/0/34992e0473f026f785256fd10015a768?OpenDocument )? Considering the rather dated underpinnings of Dom.Doc, I'm wondering if this is where IBM's document management investment is going. BTW, if you haven't seen a demo of DocLogic, I'd recommend it. Rockin' UI.

4 - One thing that's been confusing me about the information is the disposition of the old Bowstreet Portlet Factory. Is that going to be included with WPS6, or is it still separately licensed?

5 - Hi,

You have written the features in very short and precise manner.

Waiting for your detailed article on the same with the examples.

Thanks and Regards,

6 - Hi,
<br />
<br />You have written the features in very short and precise manner.
<br />
<br />Waiting for your detailed article on the same with the examples.
<br />
<br />Thanks and Regards,