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Table of Contents Introduction At the beginning of the application software era a quarter of a century ago, neither users nor administrators needed to worry about where data was stored, which applications were being run, and which desktop operating systems and clients were installed. Centralised computing was the order of the day. Applications were designed and created to be run on a single, central host � the mainframe � and these applications were designed to support specific business functions, such as accounting or payroll. Desktop access was provided by dumb terminal, each with a direct connection to the central host which would actually run the applications for the user. All processing was done, and all data stored, on the mainframe, and the whole infrastructure was easily managed and controlled by the IT department. The introduction of the PC into the work place triggered a steady erosion of this centralised control. Users demanded more freedom and flexibility, and the provision of stand alone word processing, spreadsheet and database applications provided this. Users were finally in control of their own computing environment without having to rely totally on the IT department. The growth of networking allowed workgroup and departmental systems to evolve slowly from these early �personal� applications. The marketing department created marketing-related databases and apps, whilst the sales department customised things for their own use. These applications developed with little regard to the needs of other users in the organisation, and so little �knowledge islands� were created. Over time, these islands grew bigger and bigger, creating a huge number of highly-compartmentalised, segregated information stores. Of course, as the importance of the corporate network became apparent, there was an increased need to make this data an enterprise-wide resource. In order to achieve this, however, users required multiple applications on their desktop, each operating in a completely different way and each with its own unique user interface. Sometimes they even needed multiple access devices, as the new data was accessed via a standard PC whilst the legacy data remained available via a dumb, green screen terminal only. One of the biggest problems was that those �islands� of information were all stored in different formats and in different places. It was extremely difficult and time consuming for a single user to access data from multiple departments and pull it all together into a single, coherent report. One analogy might be the situation where you were forced to use a different type of telephone depending on who you wanted to call. Less experienced users were bewildered by the plethora of user interfaces and data stores and found themselves completely unable to bring up related data sets onto a single screen. Key users were being starved of that most vital corporate asset � information. The advent of the Internet and the widespread deployment of Internet standard technology is now changing the information environment in which this fragmentation has been the unavoidable ruling condition. With every desktop including a standard Web browser, and with Internet access almost mandatory these days, the basic infrastructure is in place to provide the unified desktop. More and more applications are being Web-enabled out of the box, and the new breed of corporate portal software provides the means to �Webify� those remote islands of data. The intranet applied Internet technology to our internal networks to allow Web publishing of all our data � now the portal extends that to allow different types of data in multiple locations to be unified in a single view. By converting existing data stores into HTML content we can bring them all together in a single user interface via the Web browser. Occasional and experienced users alike need learn only one desktop client interface, and access to all data � no matter where it resides and in what format � is achieved in the same way. Anyone who has browsed the Internet will be familiar with the portal sites there � sites like Yahoo!, Lycos, Infoseek and Excite � that provide a means of pulling together a wide range of information in a single place. The advantage they offer the casual browser is not only their ability to provide a single point of entry to the Internet, but also the ability to personalise that entry point, so that at each visit the user is presented with the latest news and information that is directly relevant to him or her. As it stands today, the corporate portal is straddling the fence between the data processing era of computing and the knew �knowledge era� heralded by the emergence of the Internet. On one side of the fence is the old application-centric view of the business, where every user or workgroup is defined by the applications and data they use, and it is not possible to tell from looking at a user�s desktop what his or her function is within the organisation. On the other side is the new task-centric view, where the user�s desktop is defined by, and reflects, the job they are doing. In its current incarnation as information kiosk, the portal is clearly an example of a large publishing database. However, as interactive applications � from collaboration platforms to vertically-focussed professional desktops � begin to emerge, the portal will become the platform for tomorrow�s function-centred computing. The aim of the corporate portal is very similar to that of its Internet-based predecessor � to provide added value for its customers. It has to make life simpler than the current model with is array of incompatible applications and data stores in order to improve user efficiency. Internet portals started off as little more than search engines, attempting to provide a means to filter and search the vast repository that is the Internet. Navigation sites moved on from simple full text indexing to categorisation of documents, allowing users to narrow down their search to a particular group of documents that may be of interest. Sites were thus filtered into pre-configured groups according to their content � sport, finance, news, and so on. The final stage was the full-blown portal site, which provides search functionality and categorisation as before, but adds personalisation of content by the user. This can include real time chat, access to communities of interest, and links to specialised functions such as on-line trading of stocks and shares, shopping networks, and so on. Through these new sites, users have a single point of access from which they can make connections to all their Web-based information feeds, whether they are going shopping, reading the news, checking their stock portfolios, or just browsing. The needs of the corporate user are not that different. They require the same single point of access to external sites, but they want this to be combined with equal ease of access to all their internal information feeds too. The birth of the Internet raised expectations of being able to search for all types of information outside corporate information networks. Intranets promised the same type of access to internal data too, but have moved quickly from being the answer for information sharing, to creating an array of unorganised data across the enterprise. More often than not, the most valuable and useful information is locked away in a myriad of applications that are either off-limits for most users or don't provide any means of getting an overall picture. Hard copy reports still circulate. As business moves faster, organisations need to be more dynamic and flexible. Getting the right information to the right people in the organisation is critical to making timely decisions. The biggest challenge faced by the corporate portal today is that very fragmentation of data, poorly organised and stored in many different formats across multiple platforms. Traditionally employees spend too much time searching for information in order to do their jobs. The successful portal will provide the means to re-integrate and publish this data in a function-centric manner, thus helping users to do their individual tasks that much better. Corporate portals unlock hard-to-reach data and present it to users in a personalised Web page, offering a more efficient way to communicate corporate information. It takes little imagination to determine just how a corporate portal could benefit the average organisation. Even a reasonably well-organised network directory structure can be a nightmare to navigate when you are trying to find a particular document or spreadsheet. New sub-directories appear every day as users struggle to categorise their output in the only way they know how, and this presents serious navigation problems to those users outside a specific workgroup when they need access to that information. The portal would allow corporate data in all its forms to be fully indexed and categorised in a number of ways. This would allow clients to execute comprehensive search and find operations across a range of document formats and workgroup boundaries, as well as navigate through a logical tree structure of relevant categories to zero in on the data they require. Nor would the user need to worry about the native format of the data they were accessing. The portal would simply present them with the data requested by converting to HTML on the fly, allowing data from any location and any application to be presented in a standard Web browser without any input from either administrator or user. In short, the portal provides a mechanism to support and simplify the otherwise complex process of publishing material to the Web. Even those organisations with well-developed intranet services will find that the portal will save many hours of converting source data into a format suitable for publishing on a Web site. And when that source data changes, the Webmaster usually has to start all over again with the conversion and publishing process. This is not necessary with the portal, which can provide an interface both to relatively static data (such as Word documents) and dynamic data (such as outstanding debtor values) for immediate conversion and publication on the fly. Even the smallest organisation can benefit from the ability to access all their corporate literature, documents, spreadsheets, and product databases � not to mention the integration of their favourite applications and Internet information feeds � from a single unified desktop: the Web browser. The biggest problem with the corporate portal as a concept is that there are two possible extremes, and rarely do either of them live up to expectations. The first extreme � the idea of a low-end, shrink-wrapped panacea to the problems of enterprise-wide data retrieval � simply does not stand up to scrutiny, since a standard integration into common desktop tools with a templated intranet home page does not offer enough real benefits to persuade the increasingly sceptical board of directors to invest. On the other hand, if we want to build a true enterprise-wide portal, it needs to be built from more than just a portal server. Instead, it needs to integrate and aggregate a number of application servers, workflow engines, security systems and data stores � in short, it becomes a major architecture problem, and is clearly never going to be offered as a shrink-wrapped solution. The problem with offering an off-the-shelf portal solution, of course, is that every organisation is different. They all have different applications, different procedures, and different data stores. Or do they? Solution 6 has extensive experience of providing computer solutions to time-based professionals � particularly accountancy practices and, more recently, solicitors. They realised that � apart from �cosmetic� differences in day to day operations � most accountancy practices actually do things in much the same way. For example, they are constricted by severe rules and regulations that ensure they produce the same types of documents in the same format, and rules covering retention of data also ensure that even the filing systems look remarkably similar across different practices too. Because of this, they are also restricted in the software that they can use to support their professional services. For example, there are only a handful accountancy practice management software packages on the market, making any form of integration task that much more straightforward. So it is on this premise that Solution 6 offers Singleview � a corporate portal for time-based professionals such as accountants and solicitors � and on this basis that it appears to succeed where the majority of shrink-wrapped corporate portal products fail. Singleview is modular in construction, allowing the individual selection and installation of those parts of the system that will provide the most benefit. The main modules are:
Some practices may not wish to install all of these at once (perhaps omitting scanning capabilities initially, for example), or may elect to use only the Contact Management module. Undoubtedly the biggest benefit, however, is to be gained by installing all the above modules. Beneath the Singleview modules, are a number of required operating system and application components:
Singleview uses existing data directories on one or more file servers, simply providing an intranet-enabled view of the directory structure, overlaying it with user-definable �cabinet� definitions. In this way, Singleview achieves the aim of document management without falling into the trap suffered by many document management products � that of requiring the user to categorise and identify every pre-existing document on the system in order to store document details (and sometimes duplicate the entire document itself) in some form of internal database. Singleview requires nothing more than for the administrator to describe the existing directory structure and then allow Index Server to do its job before the entire range of existing documents is available for access via the portal home page. It also means that documents continue to be accessible outside of Singleview for those who wish to access them directly from the network drive. There is an installation document included with the system, but Singleview is one of those packages that is always sold with a minimum of 2 days installation and consultancy (Solution 6 typically recommends a minimum of 4-5 days in total, including installation, planning, configuration and training). In practice, this is a smart move, since installation is an extremely labour intensive procedure, taking about half a day even for those who are well versed in it. Installation time is reduced slightly where the required Microsoft components � IIS, Index Server, SQL Server, Office � are already installed and working. Solution 6 recommends a dedicated server for Singleview, though all of the main processor- and memory-intensive modules � such as the Index Server, SQL Server, OCR server, and so on � can be distributed across multiple servers in order to improve scalability in large deployments. Once installation is complete, limited customisation of the look and feel of the package is provided via Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in order to alter colour schemes and font appearances, and the ability to include a corporate logo in the portal menu pages. Singleview presents a consistent view of practice data to all users through the standard Web browser. This means that users have access to all the information stored in the Practice Management system � as well as a unified view of all documents in the practice independent of where they are physically stored � without having to install or learn to use proprietary client software. Access to portal pages is controlled by the normal Windows login name and password, which is matched to a Singleview user name for single sign-on purposes. Each Singleview user can be designated as a Guest, User, Contributor, Reviewer or Administrator, each of which provides different (and increasing) levels of access and capabilities on a page-by-page and menu-by-menu basis throughout the portal. All users are presented with an identical set of pages, but different menu options will be available depending on the access level granted to the user account. All Singleview configuration details are held within the SQL Server database, and the portal Web pages are built on the fly from these details. It is thus possible to quickly alter the information that is presented to the end user via the intranet by simply altering the central parameters in the SQL repository. The heart of the Singleview system is the Cabinet. The reality is almost as straightforward as the analogy here, since the Cabinet is simply a logical view of a physical data store on the network. Defining the Cabinet structure requires careful consideration and planning, and this is where much of the consultancy from Solution 6 will be focused. Once the plan is complete, however, creating and maintaining the Cabinets is a simple process. Every organisation will store its documents in a different place and a different directory structure on the network. Some companies will have multiple file servers with multiple drives, some will have just one disk for their data storage. Without a doubt, no two organisations will use the same naming conventions for their directories and file names, but Solution 6 maintains that whatever the individual idiosyncrasies from organisation to organisation, accountancy practices are basically storing very similar data in very similar ways. For example, they all have similar types of correspondence � covering corporate tax matters, personal tax matters, bank matters, accounts production, and so on � which are created on a per-client basis. These documents are generally categorised and filed in a directory structure that reflects those distinctions, and it is those similarities that allows Singleview to be all things to all men � or at least all things to all accountants. Cabinets are defined through the Administration menu in Singleview, where they are given a descriptive name, a type (Contact, Knowledge, Office, Inbox or Template, depending on which document type will be stored within the cabinet) an owner, and a location.
The location is made up of a root path (which is the same for every document in the Cabinet) followed by a path pattern. It is this pattern which is the key to the power and flexibility of the cabinet, since it can consist of fixed text combined with any number of variables or codes which are defined in the central Singleview repository. These codes are substituted at run-time depending on current values such as the client record being viewed, today�s date, the user ID accessing the data, and so on. For example, in the Cabinet in Figure 2, if the user is currently viewing the client record with an ID of AD101, when they attempt to access the documents for that client they will be directed to the following directory: \\nss16\Data\Clients\AD101\Accounts As you can see, the client ID is substituted automatically, and thus when the next client record is viewed and the documents for that client are retrieved, a new client ID is substituted, a new directory path is constructed, and thus an entirely different set of documents are presented to the user through their browser. This means that the end user no longer needs to be aware of the directory structure used across the corporate network in order to find a specific set of documents. Since the same Cabinet is used when creating and storing documents, this also enforces corporate-wide files naming conventions, and ensures that documents are filed consistently according to partner ID, client ID, project ID, date, document type, and so on. Cabinets can also have other parameters associated with them such as whether the Cabinet is the default (i.e. the first choice of cabinet whenever a user creates a new document for that client), or whether all scanned documents targeted at that cabinet should be OCR processed automatically before filing. Once a document is stored in a Cabinet, it is automatically indexed by the Index Server. From that point onwards, it is possible to perform full-text searches across all Cabinets, all clients, all documents types, or to specify criteria to narrow searches down as much as possible. As with most typical Web search engines, the results are returned as a list of documents, in order of importance as defined by the �score� that is returned by Index Server based on the relevance of a particular document to the search criteria entered by the user.
The user can then scroll through the list, and select any document for viewing by simply clicking on the title. Once again, it is not necessary to know where the document is stored in order to retrieve it � the user is thus removed from the technical requirements of document management, and is free to concentrate on his or her job. Three sets of cabinets can be managed from the Singleview portal:
Singleview assumes that there are four main types of document within an organisation, and incorporates a set of features to handle each type: Internally Generated Documents Singleview provides the capability to create numerous �standard� letters feeding from the client database and Cabinet definitions. A Template Cabinet contains the bare document templates comprising the boilerplate text and a number of special codes identified by the bookmark tag. These codes are the same ones that are used throughout Singleview, including in the path pattern of the Cabinet definition, and are substituted for real data at the time the document is created.
Documents are created by first selecting a client record, at which point the user is presented with a number of buttons from where it is possible to search for documents for that particular client, upload a previously created document, create a new document, or view the contents of a particular Cabinet. By clicking on the Create Document button the user is then presented with a new Web page where it is possible to define the various characteristics of that document. This is one of the great benefits of Singleview, since it forces users to file documents in a consistent manner � the document is named automatically, for example (it is not really necessary for the user to ever know the actual document name, since they will always retrieve that document via searches or by picking it directly from a Cabinet), and the user invited to select the appropriate Cabinet and Folder where the document should be stored. Next, the user selects a number of parameters which can be used within the document. For example, in Figure 5 we see that we are creating a standard letter to the bank, and so the user is asked to select who the letter is to, who it is from, the client address, a description of the document contents, and relevant keywords which might assist future document search and retrieval operations. Note, however, that the address of the bank, the name of the person sending the letter, and the name and address of the client are all selected from pick lists, and the details are retrieved directly from the client and staff databases. The client database, for example, not only contains details of the client organisation itself, but also contact details of directors and senior officers, tax inspector, bank manager, and so on. Thus it is a simple matter for these details be incorporated into a form letter. Once the document details have been completed, the variable data is merged with the boilerplate text and the user is left with an open copy of Word containing a partially completed document that requires only the addition of the main body of the text.
This process of automating and standardising the creation and content of documents throughout the practice has numerous benefits:
Inbound correspondence can often pose one of the biggest problems for accountancy practices � physical storage capacity. Paper documents need to be stored on site, easily accessibly to practice staff who may need to refer to them in order to do their jobs. Legislation dictates that much of this paper mountain needs to be stored for a number of years, meaning that expensive office space is often given over to filing cabinets and storage racks. Physically filing the documents in the first place and subsequent retrieval are also time-consuming tasks.
Singleview streamlines the entire process by assuming that all inbound communication is scanned and filed in Cabinets together with the pure electronic documents. Singleview will work with a number of scanning devices, but the HP 9100C Digital Sender is preferred for several reasons:
Where documents cannot be coded at the scanner for some reason they are held in a Scan Inbox, where they can be subsequently be selected from a pick list and assigned the appropriate client and project details to allow them to be filed in the correct Cabinet. The scanned documents can be stored as TIF or PDF files, and a check box on the destination Cabinet can force the scanned image to be processed through the OCR engine. Although many documents cannot be successfully OCR processed for a number of reasons � graphical or handwritten content, for example � there is often enough typed or printed data to enable the finished document to be successfully indexed by Index Server for subsequent retrieval via full-text searches. The OCR output is stored �invisibly� in the scanned document so an incorrect OCR translation does not interfere with the original data in any way. Scanned documents such as magazine articles or employee legislation notices can also be scanned for storage in the Knowledge Library or Internal Admin data stores. Scanning of documents for storage in Singleview has a very low overhead in most practices, and can offer a number of significant advantages:
Modern working practices dictate that many documents are produced away from the main network, perhaps on a laptop at a client site, or on a home-based PC.
In addition, many of the documents that are destined for the Knowledge Library and Internal Admin store may well have been downloaded from the Internet. In addition, many of the documents that are destined for the Knowledge Library and Internal Admin store may well have been downloaded from the Internet. Singleview provides a simple means to allow all such electronically produced documents to be accommodated within the appropriate Cabinet via the Upload facility. A menu option allows the user to browse for the document to be stored, at which point he is presented with a familiar dialogue box prompting for the Cabinet, Folder, description and keywords. E-mail correspondence is also used widely in the modern practice, and so it is vital that all such electronic client correspondence is filed along with the more traditional methods of communication.
Singleview provides a plug-in for Outlook that adds a Singleview button to the mail message toolbar. Clicking on this button calls up a dialogue box enabling allocation of client ID, practice contact, Cabinet name, Folder and description. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the Outlook development environment, none of this information can be selected from pick lists, as it would be in the rest of the Singleview system. Thus, this is the one area which might place a significant burden on members of the practice in order to be as accurate as possible in their filing. Outlook messages are saved is their native .MSG format in the target cabinet, and it is possible to file attachments with the message, file them separately, file the attachments only, or discard attachments and file the e-mail message alone. As well as the capability to handle the four main document types, Singleview also provides two additional useful capabilities: All users accumulate a plethora of interesting and useful Web links during their browsing of the Internet, but most of these never make it beyond the Favourites list of the user concerned.
The WebLinks feature of Singleview enables administrators and users to publish professionally relevant URLs in the Singleview portal where they can be categorised and accessed by all members of the practice. News items allows Singleview to act the part of the electronic notice board. Items can be posted by authorised users and are made available to everyone as the first thing they see on the portal home page each time they log on. Although not essential or ground breaking, this is nevertheless a nice feature, and could be made even more useful with the incorporation of some means of notifying interested parties when new items are posted to the home page. Singleview is certainly not for the smallest practices, since they are unlikely to have problems with large volumes of data accessed by many people. It�s narrow and non-customisable approach would also make it unsuitable for the very largest practices, who will often have a need for the true corporate portal offerings and can provide the development and maintenance effort required to support a bespoke implementation. But for the mid-sized practice � say in the region of 40 to 200 staff � Singleview could be ideal. It offers the perfect means of presenting a wealth of diverse electronic and paper-based documents to users at their desktop via a familiar client � the Web browser � as well as offering seamless integration with existing Practice Management and Time & Billing software. Minor criticisms would focus on the lack of an advertisement mechanism for fresh news items, or the inability to track �conversation� threads within Cabinets and Folders (i.e. an original document linked to subsequent replies on screen). But these are certainly minor in the overall scheme of things, because Singleview does it�s job exceedingly well. One of its biggest advantages, and probably the biggest assurance of its successful adoption in any forward-thinking practice, is the fact that it is such a low-maintenance product. In many places, Singleview feeds off existing data which is always updated anyway (i.e. via the Practice Management systems), and so the portal is always current. Since it presents a unified view of existing data, together with a simplified model for adding and categorising new data, it requires almost no additional effort by anyone in order to keep it running on a day to day basis. Even more importantly, the process of managing the corporate intranet is now no longer purely an IT function, instead being spread thinly across everyone in the practice. No longer is it necessary for someone to beg the Webmaster to convert that latest document on new tax legislation for Web publication � it can be done directly through Singleview. No longer is it necessary for someone to track new employees or leavers to maintain the internal telephone list � Singleview publishes that straight to the intranet automatically from the Time and Billing system. In targeting such a narrow vertical market, Solution 6 has ensured that this particular shrink-wrapped corporate portal has a significant chance of success. Singleview 4.15 thus earns the �NSS Approved� award.
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