Deployment guidelines

Successful deployment of the Collaboration Center, especially the People Finder portlet, requires planning and attention to your corporate culture, your portal strategy, and the use of corporate directories. Special attention is needed to the configuration of LDAP servers that host collaboration products.

As you deploy the Collaboration Center, you will discover and codify your own best practices for effective portal design and development.

  • Plan the roll out, first use, and subsequent cycles of Collaboration Center capabilities.

    • Adopt an evolutionary, incremental approach that engages users in the planning process.

    • Identify specific groups to pilot features. After successful pilot testing, widen implementation to other groups within the organization. Maintain open channels of information exchange between users and managers throughout this process.

    • Orient general users about trust, privacy, control, and flexibility, particularly with regard to the People Finder portlet and the directory model that is the information source for the portlet.

    • Establish feedback mechanisms between portal administrators and general users.

  • Communicate the information that's required, user privacy controls, and the timelines for implementation.

  • Be clear about why and how person records and organizational context are exposed in the People Finder. Emphasize that users maintain control of their personal information and that corporate directory information is public information.

  • Manage cultural change by emphasizing the following values:

    • Collaboration - working with and helping others - is the principal objective for boosting individual and group productivity.

    • Privacy is protected and user control of personal information is supported.

    • Teamwork during all phases of deployment (piloting, roll out, daily use, and enhancement) is critical to success.


 

See also