Summary

Intranet Web sites can be expensive to create, difficult to update and maintain, and inefficient for finding information quickly. SharePoint Portal Server offers solutions for how organizations find, share, and publish information. With RapPort, the process of creating and customizing a corporate portal that uses SharePoint Portal Server takes only a few days.

Microsoft Products and Technologies Used

• Microsoft Windows^® 2000, Server, Advanced Server Service Pack 1
• SharePoint Portal Server 2001
• RapPort

Benefits

RapPort and SharePoint Portal Server brought significant benefits to Microsoft's internal groups:

• For the IT group, it automates site creation. This reduces labor, and speeds implementation. RapPort creates sites on Datacenter servers, making them easier to manage.
• For the business, creating a template once and replicating it many times, saves enormous costs. Consistent sites in terms of look, functionality, and taxonomy across groups, improve collaboration and speeds communications.
• For internal customers, it provides a rich set of features including document management, a dashboard site, and powerful search capabilities. The templates provide business-specific, useful applications and a one-stop location for users to work.

For more information about how to deploy SharePoint Portal Server by using RapPort, see Chapter 14, Deploying SharePoint Portal Server across Multiple Sites Using RapPort.