Designing the Extranet


As we've discussed, building an extranet isn't significantly different from developing an intranet or public Internet site. If you have had the opportunity to develop either a public web site or an intranet for your company in recent years, you're probably familiar at least to some degree with the technologies, processes, and resources that you'll need to effectively bring an extranet together. But just in case you haven't been exposed to 'net development projects in the past, never fear! We'll touch on some of the high points here, and you can always flip back to the earlier chapters for more in-depth discussions of specific topics.

"...building an extranet isn't significantly different from developing an intranet or public Internet site"

Now, way back in Chapter 1, we spent some time discussing the type of teams you'll want to assemble when building an intranet. Not surprisingly, you'll use very similar resources when designing your extranet.

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It isn't realistic to expect to find one or two employees who can handle the entire range of development tasks for an enterprise-class extranet - after all, it's no longer 1995, when a single "webmaster" was all that was required to develop and manage basic web sites. However, it is reasonable to expect to control headcount and costs by hiring staff whose expertise bridges multiple, related disciplines.

For example, your graphic designer will probably have a good amount of experience with usability (AKA "human factors") design, while your project manager may be adept in developing internal marketing plans for promoting your extranet. And of course, there's always significant overlap among the technical disciplines. The key is to ensure that your core needs are met (or better yet, exceeded) with the smallest team possible.

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  • Project Manager - The project manager serves as the point-person for the development of the extranet and will oversee all tasks performed by the technology, creative, and other staffers assigned to implement the extranet. The project manager ensures that the project adheres to budget, timeline, and other constraints, and acts as the liaison between management and all partner companies to make certain that the business requirements and unique needs of each business unit are addressed in the development of the extranet.

  • Usability Expert / Information Architect - The usability expert, a specialist whose skills often also encompass the role of information architect, is responsible for ensuring that the visual presentation (user interface - Ul) and the segmentation of data throughout the site (information architecture - IA) are optimized for your target audience(s) based on a number of factors. The usability expert will take into consideration a number of variables, including the types of data that will be presented, the tasks which your users will complete via the extranet, and the methods through which your users will access the extranet - all of which can impact tremendously both UI and IA concerns.

  • Graphic Designer - The graphic designer or art director will work in concert with the project manager and other stakeholders to determine the visual identity of the extranet (colors, logos, typefaces, style, and so on), drawing upon branding and related identity work from the various companies within the enterprise. With an identity in mind, the designer will then work with the usability expert to apply a finished visual treatment, or "look & feel" to the user interface.

  • Database Administrator - The database administrator will be responsible for recommending the appropriate database solution for your extranet, as well as for architecting the initial design, or schema, of the database itself. This staff member will also work closely with partner companies to establish standards and practices for ongoing data exchange between companies, and will monitor this exchange on a continuing basis.

  • Network Architect - The network architect will be responsible for planning the physical technology infrastructure that enables your extranet. Working in close contact with the project manager and security and systems specialists, the network architect will develop a plan for the layout of your network (routers & switches, firewalls, servers, etc.) to ensure the highest levels of reliability (uptime), security, and efficiency.

  • Security Guru - The security specialist is charged with one of the most important roles relative to your extranet project, overseeing the one key technology area in which extranets rise to a new level of complexity, far beyond intranet and public Internet sites. Unlike when dealing with an intranet or a public Internet site, which (respectively and generally) allow either NO external traffic or ALL external traffic into a site, an extranet requires a much more rigorous and delicately tuned security apparatus. With an extranet, the trick is to find a perfect balance between access and security, providing just enough access to allow only trusted partners into the site, but also putting into place stringent security systems that prevent both malicious as well as accidental damage to the system from either unauthorized users or even trusted partners.

  • Systems Administrator - The system administrator is responsible for the operational health of the software and hardware (servers, application software, etc.) that power your extranet. This person (or a team if your extranet and business requirements so require) will be on call 24/7 to support users, troubleshoot problems, and perform ongoing maintenance.

  • System Developers - These developers are responsible for the creation of all custom software that will comprise your extranet, including developing programs to integrate legacy systems into the extranet, or in developing the front-end interface (HTML coding) that will be visible to users.

  • Marketing Manager - The marketing manager is responsible for effectively promoting the extranet to all target audiences throughout the enterprise through both offline (newsletters, presentations, etc.) and online (targeted email, intranet articles, etc.) channels. Additionally, the marketing manager keeps an "ear to the ground" in order to collect feedback from users concerning the extranet, requests for changes/enhancements, etc.

The same holds true for the many technology concerns that we've addressed in Chapters 3 to 8. You guessed it - the fundamental building blocks are essentially interchangeable. As you begin to discuss the implementation of the underlying technology plan for your extranet, it's important that you consult with the groups charged with managing your public Internet and intranet properties. You'll often find numerous efficiencies in aligning as many of your technology decisions as are practicable with the systems that are already deployed for your corporate intranet and Internet sites. Be certain to discuss:

  • Web hosting solutions (Is there space available on current servers, and if so, do the extranet's security, functional, or technical demands prohibit us from sharing space on servers providing intranet or Internet sites? Is there a Hosting Solutions Provider that is approved by the corporation?)

  • Internal development resources (infrastructure issues, development platforms)

  • Web servers, database systems, etc

  • Technology, creative, and other staff that can be shared across projects.

  • Contracts with outside vendors, contractors, etc., that may be of use during extranet development.

Note

Be sure to take full advantage of any technologies for which your company has site licenses. As long as the technology meets your needs, this is an excellent way to control costs!

What does change, however, when developing an extranet, is how you apply these technologies to the needs of your enterprise, your industry, and the specific business challenges faced by your organization on a daily basis. Which is why we can't give you specific recommendations for how to design an extranet that's custom-tailored to your situation. You need to first understand the real-world needs of your enterprise, then look for ways to apply Internet technology to reap some specific advantage, be it added efficiency, incremental revenue, cost savings, or something else entirely. In just a few minutes we'll share some of the ways extranets can be developed in order to address some common, but rather generic, business situations.

In the meantime, here are a handful of questions you can consider that will assist you in identifying areas in which extranet services may benefit your organization, as well as how to position your extranet for success.

  • What are the high-level corporate goals or objectives for your extranet? Are you trying to control costs, increase revenue, enhance efficiency, or counter a direct threat from a competitor? Perhaps a little of each?

  • What are the three top business goals for this initiative? Such goals could include reducing in-person meetings that consume valuable time and capital, containing costs from video- and tele-conferencing, enhancing the timeliness of cross-enterprise communication, retiring expensive and inflexible client/server infrastructure or EDI systems.

  • What are the top three functional goals for the site? (Move paper documentation online, establish e-communication queues for partner support, or enable e-commerce for transactions within the enterprise).

  • Who are your primary and secondary audiences? How comfortable is each audience/segment with varying levels of technology? How will they access the site - wireless, desktop, PDA? And keep in mind that before you start adding or killing off various pieces of content or functionality, it just takes your boss (or your boss's boss's boss) reading one article in the Financial Times to start demanding that certain extranet features be cut because of some columnist's advice or that you have to start providing right now wireless access via PDAs. Think forward.

  • What is the budget and timeline for this project? (Is the budget reasonable given the scope, or vision, of the project? Are there any specific timelines or functional requirements that will drive the implementation schedule?)

  • What cultural or institutional issues will need to be addressed in order to ensure user acceptance of the extranet? (Push-back from people who are used to traditional processes, changes to roles and responsibilities, eztc.)

  • Which enterprise partners will be affected by the development of an extranet? Enterprise partners should be intimately involved in the development process to ensure emotional acceptance as well as successful technology and process integration.

  • Who owns each area of content or functionality that will be included as part of the extranet? (How will updates be handled, where does responsibility lie for timely and accurate updates of data?)

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One sure way to prevent feature creep - your boss or coworkers demanding random new features in order to curry favor or embrace the latest techno-trend - is to develop a well-reasoned project specification before you begin work. This spec will lay out in black and white a variety of important information: target audiences, hardware and software platform requirements, core content and functionality, etc. Draft your document, then make sure it's circulated and approved in writing by all the crucial stakeholders, and you've got all the cover you need when deciding whether (or not) to embrace the Marketing VP's wacky wish list of extranet development projects.

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However, even though much of the fundamental work in establishing an extranet may be familiar to you, there are a handful of issues that can trip up even the most experienced Internet strategist, and it's important to keep these issues in mind while crafting your extranet plans.

An Extranet is a Consumer Product!

This cannot be stressed enough! It's incredibly easy to forget that your extranet is, in fact, a consumer product, and should be designed as such. Though intranets are sometimes sloppily engineered by a few technology staff members(though hopefully the other chapters in this book will have changed that!), intranets generate value primarily in the cost savings they facilitate. Extranets, however, not only contribute to savings through operational efficiency, but also directly impact the operation of core business functions as well as commerce and other transactions within the enterprise, influencing the productivity and profitability of the business. As such, the extranet must be designed to satisfy the needs of all the anticipated user groups. This should be accomplished by frequent meetings (see below) with representatives from throughout your enterprise, and should be overseen by senior members of the business group(s) contributing to the extranet.

Collaborative Design

Developing any web property in a vacuum is generally a bad idea, but it's an even worse idea when developing an extranet that will facilitate business communication and transactions to outside an enterprise - especially in cases where the extranet will impact the ability to conduct business. Cutting partners out of the design loop during an extranet project can have a number of unpleasant side-effects, including:

  • Incompatibility between your extranet and the web browsers (or other technologies) at one or more of your partners' facilities, preventing them from utilizing some or all of your extranet. This can't be resolved simply by choosing to support one or more of the most popular browsers, as it's often the case that browser developers will implement non-standard tags or other functionality that will diverge slightly from published specs - and may in fact change from one release to another. It's more important to focus on strict adherence to published, current web/HTML standards, then test rigorously on your target platforms.

  • Increased risk of error or downtime due to lack of coordination among partners.

  • Causing strife among your long-time partners who may feel slighted or placed at a disadvantage against other vendors, etc. within the new operating paradigm.

  • Missed Opportunities: Your partners understand their segment of your supply chain at least as well as you do, if not more so. It's very possible that they can identify and recommend significant improvements to the extranet systems you've envisioned, thus saving more money and increasing the competitive advantage enjoyed by the enterprise as a whole. And don't forget that it's always easier and cheaper and less stressful to incorporate feedback and insight at the beginning of a project - waiting until your site is in "beta" unnecessarily complicates things and adds additional costs and delays to the project overall.

Standards

We've mentioned the issue of developing based on accepted Internet standards in a variety of places throughout this book, and for a good reason: it's the smart thing to do, and it's often ignored even by the savviest of developers. Why is sticking to a solid standard a good idea when developing your extranet? We reiterate:

It saves money, reduces training costs, increases future development flexibility, allows you to potentially take advantage of other web infrastructure and resources within your organization, and (with the proper planning) ensures that all users within the enterprise have the ability to access the extranet both now and in the future.

Return on Investment

On the business side of things, one of the other many wonderful aspects of an extranet is that there are a good number of ways in which you can justify your request for development and operational resources. In fact, in calculating the ROI, the metrics for determining "success" are limited (within reason) to just about any measurable figures you can point to having been positively impacted by the extranet. Even if you don't choose to work "outside the box" and prefer to be much more traditional in your approach to calculating ROI, you can still assess direct cost savings (printing and distribution costs saved, travel costs eliminated), increases in productivity (jump in widgets produced), or increases in total sales or overall revenue.

Note

Keep in mind that you're not required to solve ALL of your enterprise's extranet issues in one go. You're often constrained by tight budgets, limited management appetite for aggressive growth, a lack of resources, etc, Even if you can't move rapidly on ALL the items on your extranet wishlist, you can selectively implement those items within your grasp that will bring the most benefit to your organization, resulting in real, tangible value that will likely translate into additional resources, funding, and support in the future.

Another important consideration is that because an extranet does not strictly demand that a business completely re-engineer the architecture of their applications OR their business processes in order to enjoy marked benefits, the potential for ROI is much greater than other methods. As many corporations will often dedicate 20% (or more) of their allocated resources toward the integration of existing systems with "band-aid" solutions, an extranet - often a cheaper, more robust intermediary between existing systems - can help companies to save significant financial and human resources.

It's important, though, to understand how you intend to prove the extranet's value as you start out on the project so that you can appropriately set the expectations of all involved - as well as to know what factors to monitor as you move forward. It never hurts when, six months into the project, you identify an unexpected way in which the extranet has benefited the company. However, you'll look foolish if you just jump in feet-first, hoping that something will arise to justify the lavish office and cute assistant you requisitioned for the project!

Extending the Extranet to Future Platforms

Wireless devices, new forms of computing tools (tablet PCs) and other technologies (such as WSDL, a standardized XML grammar for describing network services that you can learn about at http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl) are emerging at a frantic pace, each promising new and useful avenues to access the Internet/extranet. As you follow the guidelines we've established for you - including adopting Internet technology standards (DOM and W3C come immediately to mind) you'll have significant flexibility when it comes to presenting your extranet data across a wide range of devices.

Equally important to making your extranet's content and functionality available to next-generation computing devices is knowing which pieces of content and functionality are best suited to which platforms. Rich multimedia presentations that look stunning on a 21" flat-screen display are poor candidates for display on a PDA. Long, multi-field order forms are ill-suited for use via a cellphone.

The content and services offered via wireless and other emerging devices must not only be useful in and of themselves, but must also take into account how and why your users will be accessing the data. Rely heavily upon your usability specialist to help guide the evolution of your extranet offerings onto these new devices.

Positioning your extranet's content and functionality requires that much though be put both into the back-end systems (how data is stored, segmented, processed for presentation) as well as on the user-interface issues that determine how data is displayed through a variety of devices to distinct, often disparate audiences.

Application Integration

Many corporations have significant amounts of capital and human resources invested in the development and maintenance of internal applications, applications whose content and functionality could easily be of use to others within the greater enterprise. This is especially important when you recognize that one of today's most pressing business issues concerns the integration of existing enterprise resources and legacy applications into one common, extensible, robust, and cost-effective platform. Technology and business executives must immediately begin considering two issues.

First is security. Traditionally, internal applications have been just that, internal, and have required little in the way of application-level security. Should such datastores be made available via the extranet, application-level security becomes essential to simultaneously providing access to the data while ensuring its integrity.

Second, technology managers must consider the portability/accessibility of data. This, of course, ties into many of the usability and standards issues we've raised throughout this chapter. Emerging technology standards such as XML and XHTML, WAP, SMS, and the like are rapidly replacing older forms of data presentation and transmission, and must be factored into any planning relative to system upgrades or new development.




Practical Intranet Development
Practical Intranet Development
ISBN: 190415123X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 124

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