Ability connects with Microsoft`s SharePoint Portal Server

Newly formed e-commerce fulfilment and supply chain optimisation inventory software company, Ability Solutions, has deployed Microsoft`s SharePoint Portal Server, a rich, customisable Web portal that provides users with fast access to business-critical information.

The portal solution has equipped Ability to form a new corporate culture teaming 200 individuals across two offices on two continents, by sharing information and best practice skills.

Built on Internet and industry standards such as XML, organisations are able to build and extend intranet portals enabling employees around the world to quickly access a single source of accurate information provided from a wide variety of content sources, and maintain confidential information.

"Companies are increasingly leveraging the investment of their corporate portals to enable employees to respond to the needs of their customers by unlocking knowledge stored within the organisation and on the Internet," says Vanessa Edwards, account manager at Microsoft South Africa.

Microsoft`s SharePoint Portal Server is a flexible portal solution that allows companies to easily find, share and publish information. The new server is designed to integrate seamlessly with the Microsoft Office and Windows productivity desktop environment, allowing enterprise customers to integrate robust document management, search, subscriptions and online discussions into their document collaboration process.

"Portals have become a critical component of companies and will play a big role in the emerging Web services market," says Tracey Newman, vice president marketing at Ability. "Two important portal functions are content aggregation and data and application integration. Microsoft`s Web portal solution facilitates these functions by providing a powerful search function that is able to index the most important enterprise content sources across an organisation and make the information available to anyone in the company via a familiar user interface."

"Many companies spend thousands of dollars and months on planning, installation and integration of custom-developed intranet and document management systems," says Andre Scheepers, IT manager at Ability Solutions. "Ability developed a system that links together all information through a single browser-based interface, regardless of where it resides, be it an Exchange public folder, Web content or a file server in two days."

Knowledge workers are able to create their own personal dashboards to view the information they use regularly, such as their inbox, calendar and important files made viewable through Web Parts.

Future developments include developing and supporting multiple portal types for Ability`s partners and customers.