This topic contains the following main sections:
The SAS Information Delivery Portal (or simply, the portal) is a Web application that provides a single, easy-to-use interface from which you can access a broad range of enterprise information. This information includes reports, charts, Web applications, documents, and links to internal or external Web pages.
The portal enables an organization to disseminate critical information directly to decision-makers. In this way, the portal is a logical extension of a business intelligence system. The portal gives you access to information that is produced through the analytical capabilities of SAS, and provides a single access point to SAS output.
Using a centralized search tool in the portal, you can efficiently search for information that is appropriate for your role in the organization. The portal's personalization features enable you to organize your desktop so that it contains only the information that you need, in the format that makes the most sense to you. From the portal, you can subscribe to publication channels that deliver continually updated information to your desktop. The portal also provides a secure environment for sharing information with other users.
The portal is built on the SAS Intelligence Platform and implements SAS Web Infrastructure Kit technology. The SAS Web Infrastructure Kit is a set of components that can be used to customize the portal, develop new portlets, or build Web applications. Though your organization can use the SAS Web Infrastructure Kit with or without the portal, the portal provides additional functionality. For example, the portal enables users to create and customize their own Web pages and content. Such personalization is not available if you use only the SAS Web Infrastructure Kit. (The SAS Web Infrastructure Kit documentation contains full details about supported features. See Where to Find More Information.)
The power of the portal is its ability to deliver the right information to the right person at the right time.
While the portal can provide access to enterprise-wide information, all of your users might not need or want to view the exact same information. With the portal, you can organize information and present it to users according to their roles in the organization.
Consider the following sample roles and requirements:
Executives must respond quickly to external market forces, manage internal organizational changes, and develop strategies that improve their business.
Sales managers must understand the problems that prospective clients face in order to provide adequate solutions for those problems.
Customer service representatives must monitor both their customers and their competitors to find the best combination of superior service and low cost.
Engineers require a clear understanding of customer requirements. They must stay informed about technical advances in their field, and be able to measure the relative value of one feature over another in the products that they design.
To make cost-effective purchases, purchase managers and IT administrators require adequate information about suppliers as well as a clear understanding of the infrastructure and tools that employees need to do their jobs.
Managers in the Human Resources department must develop competitive compensation packages in order to attract and retain the best people, while serving the organization's cost-saving strategies.
The roles vary with each organization, but the premise remains the same: different people require different types of information to do their jobs, and they often need different views of this information in order to make good decisions.
The portal provides the following main features:
delivers customized information securely to users within and outside of your organization
enables users to access a range of content, including SAS Information Maps, SAS Stored Processes, SAS publication channels and packages, SAS reports, documents, syndication channels, and links to Web addresses
gives individual users control over the content and organization of information in their personal workspace
provides multiple ways for users to access information, including subscriptions to publication channels, search capability, and the ability to add and customize Web pages
allows sharing of information in a secure environment via e-mail messages, publication channels, and posting to a WebDAV repository
provides single sign-on, so users can launch applications, such as SAS Web Report Studio, from the portal without the need to re-enter their user name and password
provides a portlet API for use in developing Web applications and custom portlets