• Illustration: Business Solutions Data in Portal

A new release of the Microsoft Business Portal (MBP), which provides browser-based access to Great Plains and Solomon data, adopts Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) as its technology platform. The technology shift aligns MBP with Microsoft’s corporate portal strategy, which is based on WSS, and could help drive MBP adoption. Great Plains and Solomon customers who were concerned about future migration headaches and reluctant to adopt MBP because the first two releases used older technology may want to reconsider the product.

Aside from the change to its underlying platform, MBP 2.0 is little changed from earlier versions. Nonetheless, MBP’s self-service features received several useful updates: Great Plains human resource management capabilities have been improved, and Solomon customers can have employees enter time and attendance information via the portal.

Aligning Portal Strategies

Introduced in Apr. 2003, MBP provides low-cost Web browser access to Great Plains and Solomon data and applications. In the past, access to Great Plains and Solomon was provided by a client application or with Windows Terminal Services and was limited to back-office workers. MBP uses modular components called Web Parts to format and display information tailored to particular employees and roles, allowing a manager to use a browser to view only the sales reports relevant to his region, for example. (For an illustration of this new customization capability, see "Business Solutions Data in Portal".)

Initial versions of MBP were built on the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit, an early Microsoft platform for creating modular Web sites that used Web Parts based on Active Server Pages (ASP).

Microsoft shifted portal strategies when it introduced Windows Server 2003, which included WSS, a portal platform based on ASP.NET, which promises improved security, performance, and stability for Web Parts and Web sites. (For more information on WSS, see "Windows SharePoint Services Supports Office Collaboration" on page 3 of the June 2003 Update.) The move to WSS as its core platform aligns MBP with this strategy and will interest any Great Plains and Solomon customers who deferred adoption of MBP because of its reliance on an aging technology.

Aligning MBP with WSS affords several other advantages to Microsoft and its customers. First, it helps Microsoft focus its portal efforts on a single platform rather than having to support both an obsolete technology and a new portal platform. Second, MBP customers can take advantage of WSS features, such as document management, in their Great Plains or Solomon portals. Finally, because future third-party Web Parts development will target WSS rather than the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit, MBP customers will have access to growing galleries of third-party WSS Web Parts for use in their Great Plains or Solomon portals.

Self-Service Features Updated

MBP 2.0 also updates features in its Human Resources Management (HRM) self-service suite, a set of five modules available to Great Plains customers that lets workers directly view and update employment-related data, such as pay–and-benefit and time-and-attendance information. Managers using the portal now have greater visibility of employee information in a multilevel reporting structure. Another new feature aids in tracking and reviewing employee performance history.

Even though the HRM self-service suite is not available to Solomon customers, MBP 2.0 will expose some human resource capabilities to Solomon users. Specifically, the new Payroll Time and Attendance module allows employees to enter timecards into Solomon via the portal.

Availability and Resources

MBP 2.0 is available free to Great Plains and Solomon customers; Solomon Standard (a lower-priced, reduced-feature edition of Solomon) customers will have to pay US$1,500. MBP is not available for Great Plains Standard customers. Customers must buy licenses for MBP users which range from US$20 to US$40 per user, depending on volume, a reduction from previous versions. Alternatively, customers can purchase a site license for US$40,000 that allows unlimited numbers of users to access MBP.

The HRM suite's five modules are priced starting at US$500 each or US$5,000 for the entire suite. The HRM suite is available for Great Plains only, and only in the United States. The new Solomon time and attendance module is priced at US$2,500.

MBP base features are described in "Portal for Business Solutions Applications" on page 13 in the July 2003 Update.

Microsoft's MBP pages are at www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions/business%20portal/default.mspx and www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions/business%20portal/solomon/default.mspx.

The HRM suite is covered in "HR, Business Metrics for Portal" on page 11 of the Oct. 2003 Update.