Abstract:
A user can log into an organization portal. An organizational role can be determined for the user. For a decision maker, a set of metric driven portlets can be graphically presented within the organization portal. The metrics driven portlets can include at least one scorecard and at least one dashboard, each tailored for the determined organizational role. The scorecard and the dashboard can be dynamically updated based upon metrics provided by a plurality of discrete services. The discrete services can obtain the metrics from a set of geographically distributed data sources. The discrete services can be functionally independent of each other and can be responsible for federating data in a portlet and role specific manner. Online collaboration capabilities can be provided through collaboration and alerting portlets of the organization portal, and which can be tailored for the determined organizational role. The collaboration and alerting portlets provide the ability for action takers and decision makers to effectively share information. The organizational role based portal, providing users with appropriate metrics, near real time and/or cumulative data, and collaboration capabilities to trigger effective sharing of information and decision making is the overarching theme and embodiment of this invention, which enables action takers with the ability to raise awareness of potential issues to appropriate decision makers. With such awareness, decision makers can leverage scorecard metrics to determine appropriate courses of action and to communicate directives back to action takers.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to the field of Web portal technologies and, more particularly, to role tailored dashboards and scorecards in a portal solution that integrates retrieved metrics across an enterprise. 
         [0002]    Many geographically dispersed organizations capture performance metrics, which can be significant to organization functions. These metrics typically have a normal operational range within which no actions are required. When an operational range of one or more metrics exceeds established boundaries, however, decisive and rapid action is often demanded. In a large and/or distributed organization, response actions can involve numerous decisions of human agents at different management levels. Coordination among these human agents can be difficult, which can lengthen a situation response time, result in costly miscommunications, result in divergent understandings of a situation and/or a situation response, cause improper reporting/documentation of a response, or the like. 
         [0003]    Further, any tactical decisions made in response to operational metrics should be made with strategic objectives and goals of the organization in mind. Historically, strategic goals have been the purview and concern of upper level management. However, it can take a significant time period for strategic goals to be conveyed throughout an organization&#39;s decision making hierarchy. Often, tactical decisions based upon tactical data are made without an awareness of which, if any, strategic concerns are involved. 
         [0004]    No single information mechanism/system exists that can provide metric driven, time sensitive information to decision makers and action takers within a large distributed organization in a unified, easy to consume manner. Preexisting software tools fall short of the industry need to detect when operational metrics exceed safe boundaries and to facilitate timely, coordinated responses among key organizational decision makers and action takers. Further, preexisting software tools separate strategic and tactical concerns from one another, which results in non-optimal decisions being made with a lack of all available information of concern to the organization for which the decisions are being made. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    In one embodiment, a user can log into an organizational Web portal. An organizational role can be determined for the user. For a decision maker, a set of metric driven portlets can be graphically presented, and come from a larger set of metric driven portlets available within the organizational Web portal. The metric driven portlets can include at least one scorecard and at least one dashboard, each tailored for the determined organizational role. The scorecard and the dashboard can be dynamically updated based upon retrieved metrics provided by a plurality of discrete services. The discrete services can obtain the metrics from a set of geographically distributed data sources. The discrete services can be functionally independent of each other and can be responsible for federating data in a portlet and role specific manner. The scorecard can show how at least one strategic business concern is measured against at least one of the retrieved metrics from the set of geographically distributed data sources. The dashboard can show how at least one tactical business concern is measured against at least one metric retrieved from the set of geographically distributed data sources. Online collaboration capabilities can be provided through collaboration and alerting portlets within the organizational Web portal, which can be tailored for the determined organizational role. The collaboration and alerting portlets provide the ability for action takers and decision makers to effectively share information. The organizational role based portal, providing users with appropriate metrics, near real time and/or cumulative data, and collaboration capabilities to trigger effective sharing of information and decision making is the overarching theme and embodiment of this invention, which enables action takers with the ability to raise awareness of potential issues to appropriate decision makers. With such awareness, decision makers can leverage scorecard metrics to determine appropriate courses of action and to communicate directives back to action takers. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system for a role tailored portal having multiple integrated portlets. 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a service oriented architecture (SOA) implementation of a role tailored portal in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements shown herein. 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a system showing a specific implementation of SOA  200  in a context of an emissions dashboard solution. 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart of a method for customizing portal content based upon metric values, such as when an out-of-bounds event occurs. 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  shows a sample role tailored Web browser or portal interface for integrating retrieved metrics, business measures, online collaboration, and Web 2.0 content in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  illustrates a role tailored emissions dashboard portal configured for a plant unit level operator role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  illustrates a role tailored emissions dashboard portal configured for a plant manager role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  illustrates a role tailored emissions portal configured for a policy maker user role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. 
           [0014]      FIG. 9  illustrates a role tailored emissions portal configured for an executive level user role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    The disclosed solution provides a tailored user experience available through a Web portal that addresses the multiple-view, multiple-data needs of operations, supervisory, policy making, and executive personnel of an organization. Tactical and strategic concerns are represented within the Web portal, using dashboards and scorecards respectively, for example. The various roles can all be concerned with measurement/assessment of an organization&#39;s compliance with performance targets, for which metrics are gathered. The metrics can be presented in a role tailored fashion to the portal users in a near real time and/or cumulative (scorecard) manner, along with federation of analysis and trend calculation output. Business logic can be applied to the federated data and metrics to automatically initiate actions and/or suggest responses when received metrics exceed previously established boundaries, such as the safe operating range for a key performance indicator. 
         [0016]    Collaboration tools and Web 2.0 information sharing technologies can be integrated in the portal to facilitate rapid coordinated responses and to share information across the organization. For example, online collaboration tools (e.g., instant messaging, online meeting tools, etc.) can automatically identify and/or suggest personnel to assist with a situation where metrics exceed safe operational boundaries. Web 2.0 tools can institutionalize data at many different levels, which can be searched and applied to assist with handling a metrics driven situation. 
         [0017]    No known conventional tool leverages collaboration tools and/or Web 2.0 technologies within a portal to assist with responding to metrics driven situations having both tactical and strategic aspects. These situations can often require rapid corrective actions to ensure organizational assets are restored to a safe operating range as soon as possible. Gains achieved through integrated use of the collaboration tools and Web 2.0 technologies can be particularly valuable, as the severity of necessary corrective adjustments to restore assets to a safe operating range can geometrically expand as time from an incident causing a deviation increases. That is, continuously increasing adjustments can be required over time as a situation worsens (increasingly deviating from a safe operating range), which makes rapid and coordinated responses of critical import. 
         [0018]    It should be noted that the coupling of scorecards with Web portal dashboards in a common environment providing additional role tailored tools results in combinative gains greater than the sum of individual component contributions. For example, portal users would potentially have access to one or both of the dashboard and scorecard layouts, data, and controls, most likely driven by their organizational roles. Operational users may find themselves in a dashboard, with dial gauges and low level, limited timeframe trending charts, along with Web 2.0 style collaborative tools and online content. Such a portal environment would help support job functions of a tactical nature, dealing with monitoring and reaction to the here and now. Managerial or executive users could in turn be sent to a scorecard environment organized along company hierarchy lines and focused on compiled measures of status, performance, and high level trends, all in service of the strategic view of a company. Still other users may find themselves with both the dashboard and scorecard environments available as “tabs” or the like on the same portal desktop. 
         [0019]    A prime and timely opportunity for the application of such user role based multiple portal desktop options could come from the needs of electric power generating companies, which represent one contemplated embodiment of the invention. Electric power generating companies are facing increasing pressures on both their business and public stewardship fronts. The disclosed solution addresses the federation of near real time monitoring portlets together with historical data trend displays, scorecards and collaboration tools to provide an environment for proactive management of a business, with electric power generation as a non exclusive example. For that case, measurements associated with anything from plant output to safety to greenhouse gas emissions could fit into the monitored categories, and Web 2.0 collaborative tooling present in the portal environment could assist with leveraging those to make tactical and strategic decisions. 
         [0020]    Potentially within the same example business, higher level users charged with management and strategic job functions could employ a portal based balanced scorecard environment to assess attainment of objectives and indicators relating to the same measures as before (output, safety, emissions) plus many others, but on a higher, aggregated, holistic level. The marriage of a dashboard approach such as that previously disclosed with a scorecard facility, all available within the same user role based Web portal environment and leveraging Web 2.0 style collaboration and content availability provides an integrated environment that is scalable, efficient, and capable of being rapidly adapted to organizational changes. 
         [0021]    As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium. In a preferred embodiment, the invention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc. 
         [0022]    Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer usable or computer readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer usable medium may include a propagated data signal with the computer-usable program code embodied therewith, either in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. The computer usable program code may be transmitted using any appropriate medium including, but not limited to the Internet, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc. 
         [0023]    Any suitable computer usable or computer readable medium may be utilized. The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disc-Read/Write (CD-R/W) and Digital Video Discs (DVDs). Other computer readable media can include a transmission medium, such as those supporting the Internet, an intranet, a personal area network (PAN), or a magnetic storage device. Transmission media can include an electrical connection having one or more wires, an optical fiber, an optical storage device, and a defined segment of the electromagnet spectrum through which digitally encoded content is wirelessly conveyed using a carrier wave. 
         [0024]    Note that the computer-usable or computer-readable medium can even include paper or another suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as the program can be electronically captured, via, for instance, optical scanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, or otherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then stored in a computer memory. 
         [0025]    Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the C programming language or similar. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on a user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on a remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made via an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
         [0026]    A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. 
         [0027]    Input/output or I/O devices (including, but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. 
         [0028]    Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters. 
         [0029]    The present invention is described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0030]    These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0031]    The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. 
         [0032]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a system  100  for a role tailored portal  110 - 114  having multiple integrated portlets  120 - 128 . Different portals  110 - 114  can be served by portal server  150  to different clients  130 - 134  to be rendered within client-side browsers  136 - 138 . Different portal  110 - 114  views and data can be tailored for users  140 - 144  depending upon their roles in an organization. Organizational roles can be based upon a hierarchy of organizational authority, can be based upon functional lines, and/or can be specific to particular positions. In one implementation of system  100 , for example, organizational roles can include ones for operational, supervisory, policy making, and executive functions. Different ones of the users  140 - 144  can be presented with portals  110 - 114  that include one or more scorecards, one or more dashboards, and/or both scorecards and dashboards. 
         [0033]    Each portlet  120 - 128  can present information in a manner that can be interactively drilled down through to various granularity levels for which a user  140 - 144  has authority, which can, again, vary by user role. An example of a drill down operation can come through clicking on a gauge in a metrics reporting portlet  120  to provide more/less detailed information relating to that metric. Content presented in the various portlets  120 - 128  can be dynamically adjusted based upon the content of other portlets  120 - 128  in accordance with established programmatic rules. These programmatic rules can incorporate business logic of the organization that the portals  110 - 114  support. 
         [0034]    Portlets  120 - 128  can include a metrics portlet  120  and/or  126 , a Web 2.0 portlet  122 , a collaboration portlet  124 , a (not shown) trends portlet, a (not shown) forecasting portlet, an alert portlet  128 , and the like. Metrics portlet  120  can be a dashboard portlet, while portlet  126  can be a scorecard portlet. Additional portlets (not shown) can include, for example, a people finder portlet, a context navigator portlet, a portlet for external data streams (from resources  167  or  168  for example) customized by role, and a media presentation portlet. Different portals  110 - 114  can be configured to present different portlets based upon user  140 - 144  configured settings and/or user  140 - 144  role. 
         [0035]    The business logic can be driven by current values of the metrics presented in portlet  120  and/or  126  and how these current values compare against configurable boundaries and ranges of operations. For example, when the metrics deviate from a safe operational range, business logic can trigger an out-of-bounds event. This event can cause alerts to be established in the alert portlet  128 , can result in a search of documents relevant to the out-of-bounds event through the Web 2.0 portlet  122 , can cause important contact information for available people needed to resolve the out-of-bounds event to appear in the collaboration portlet  124 , and the like. In other words, the portals  110 - 114  can serve as focal points for notifying users  140 - 144  of out-of-bounds events, for providing necessary information to ensure a quick response, to coordinate this response across organizational personnel, and to record an organizational response in a reviewable and systematic manner. 
         [0036]    Metrics driving this process can be based upon values captured by sensors  153  linked to organizational assets  152 . These metrics can be stored in near real time and/or in an accumulative manner by organizational IT resources  162 . A set of services  181  can execute, which provide the portal server  150  updates based upon the metrics handled by the organizational IT resources  162 . Additional services  181  can link other resources  160 , such as collaboration resources  164 , Web 2.0 resources  166 , public resources  167 , and third party resources  168  to the portal server  150 , where obtained/processed information from all of these resources  160  can be selectively presented within the portals  110 - 114 . Collaboration resources  164  can include instant messaging resources, chat resources, online meeting resources, co-browsing resources, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony resources, video conferencing resources, and the like used to permit users  140 - 144  to communicate. The Web 2.0 resources  166  can include, but are not limited to content management libraries or repositories, WIKIs, BLOGS, syndication feeds, folksonomies, mashups, and the like, which users  140 - 144  can utilize to share information with other organizational users. 
         [0037]    As used herein, the portal server  150  can provide data and can function as a communication intermediary between the clients  130 - 134  and resources or data sources  160 . The portal server  150  can provide near real time information to portlets  120 - 128 , which can require constant updating. The portal server  150  can be optionally implemented as a cluster of portal servers (not shown) to provide redundancy and to enable resilient operation of system  100  should one or more portal servers  150  fail. 
         [0038]    Each of the portals  110 - 114  can represent a Web site or service environment that centrally offers a broad array of resources and information for an organization, such as metrics, collaboration resources, contact information, Web  2 . 0  content, and the like. Each portal  110 - 114  can include multiple Web portlets  120 - 128 , which can vary by a role of a user. 
         [0039]    Each portlet  120 - 128  can be a reusable Web component that displays information to portal users from a designated source, which can be different from the back-end resource that provides information for the portal. An arrangement of portlets  120 - 128  within a portal  110 - 114 , a presentation of information within the portal  110 - 114 , the responsiveness of this presentation, and other user perceived factors all contribute to the user experience of the portal  110 - 114 . 
         [0040]    Each of the clients  130 - 134  can be a computing device capable of presenting Web content within a browser  136 - 138 . Each client  130 - 134  can include, for example, a desktop computer, a server, a mobile telephone, a tablet computer, a personal data assistant (PDA), a digital media player, and the like. Each of the resources  160  can represent an information technology resource, such as one or more back-end systems. One of the organizational resources  162  can be sensor  153  equipped organizational assets  152 . The sensors  153  can capture metrics, which can be stored in a data store, which is accessible by a data federation service  182  or other processing component, which ultimately presents the metrics in a metrics portlet  120 ,  126 . 
         [0041]    Each of the engines  180  can be a software program executing within an organizational infrastructure  170  that is able to perform a processing action against data from one or more of the resources  160 . Processing results can be delivered to the portal server  150 . In one embodiment, the engines  180  can be used to implement one or more software services  181 . The services  181  can include, for example, federation services  182 , role services  183 , security services  184 , configuration services  185 , decision services  186 , experience services  187 , or other services  188 . In one embodiment, the services  181  can be SOA services linking resources  160  to the portal server  150 . 
         [0042]    Each of the components of system  100  can be interconnected through a network (not shown). The network can include any hardware, software, and firmware necessary to convey data encoded within carrier waves. Data can be contained within analog or digital signals and conveyed though data or voice channels. The network can include local components and data pathways necessary for communications to be exchanged among computing device components and between integrated device components and peripheral devices. The network can also include network equipment, such as routers, data lines, hubs, and intermediary servers which together form a data network. The networks can further include circuit-based communication components and mobile communication components, such as telephony switches, modems, cellular communication towers, and the like. Additionally, the network can include line based and/or wireless communication pathways. 
         [0043]    Additionally, in system  100  digitally encoded information can be stored in a plurality of data stores (not shown) which are accessible by system components. These data stores can be physical or virtual storage spaces configured to store digital information. The data stores can be physically implemented within any type of hardware including, but not limited to, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a semiconductor memory, a digitally encoded plastic memory, a holographic memory, or any other recording medium. Each data store can be a stand-alone storage unit as well as a storage unit formed from one or more physical devices. Additionally, information can be stored within the data stores in a variety of manners. For example, information can be stored within a database structure or can be stored within one or more files of a file storage system, where each file may or may not be indexed for information searching purposes. Further, the data stores can optionally utilize one or more encryption mechanisms to protect stored information from unauthorized access. 
         [0044]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a service oriented architecture (SOA)  200  implementation of a role tailored portal  250  in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements shown herein. The loosely coupled nature of an SOA  200  can be advantageous in connecting back end resources  240  via a service bus  230  to a service gateway  226  for use by a user experience component  227 . The SOA  200  environment can also make customizing user experiences for different clients  210  easier than would be possible with a more rigid architecture. 
         [0045]    As shown, for example, a portal  250  workplace and its portlets can map to layer  210  of the SOA  200 . Multiple user roles and their associated Web browsers can access the presentation and application services  220 . The presentation and application services  220  can include a user experience portal server and various support applications, such as an organizational directory, instant messaging, and content management (library) systems. The SOA  200  can bifurcate presentation services from application services in zone  220 , which can foster configurable end-user experiences, while ensuring consistent handling of organizational information. 
         [0046]    The resources  240  portion of the SOA can be involved with the provisioning of data required to drive the measurement, historical/trending, and marketplace portions of the portal  250  workplace. Various back end, enterprise-level systems can yield direct or to-be-federated (such as by federation service  182 ) data. Resource  240  contributions must be fetched, coordinated, and appropriately transformed. The use of domain  231  and enterprise  232  service providers allows the isolation and insulation of back end systems ( 240 ), while allowing access to their functions via Web Services interfaces. The integration service provider  234  can integrate information from the other service providers  231 - 232 , and can communicate with a service gateway  226 . The service gateway  226  can implement dynamic binding, request/response decomposition/composition, and content based routing of requests generally arriving via Web Services, providing protocol conversion if necessary. 
         [0047]    More specifically, the integration service provider  234  can serve as a reference system for service routing and versioning as well as the handler for complex requests and processes not addressable by the service gateway  226 . All of these “middleware” and service provider components can combine to standardize, normalize, and flexibly implement the loose coupling that is an SOA strength. All serve to optimize the presentation and application services&#39;  220  access to resources  240 ; the middleware components  226 ,  234  may be used to cache retrieved data to preempt full round trips (portal  250  to back end resources  240 ) for data requests where possible. 
         [0048]    Taking the above into account, and for the portal  250  workplace, the presentation and application services  220  can be largely implemented within the portal server and with collaboration technology. The portal server can use client libraries for the conversion of request data formats into ones usable by the middleware  226 ,  234 , firstly by the service gateway  226  for decomposition (many to individuals) and routing. When near real time “dial gauges” are generating requests via AJAX, those end up being transmitted through Web services calls to the service gateway  226 , which enables access to data cached within itself or requested of the appropriate resource  240  through the service providers  231 ,  232 . Responses can be sent back to the service gateway  226 , which will cache appropriate data and compose a total response to match all facets of an original request. Subsequent requests can be matched with cached data before it expires, thereby extending the time before another “full round trip” through a service provider is necessary. 
         [0049]    The same approach as above can be taken for the “marketplace” portion of the portal  250  workplace, as data relating to trading (for example, emissions credits or offsets) and allowance accounts is accessed once again through the user experience portion  227 , the service gateway  226 , possibly the integration service provider  234  and an appropriate service provider  231 - 232 . 
         [0050]    In the cases where multiple service providers  231 - 232  and back end systems  240  must contribute to federated responses or multi step business processes must be run for analysis or aggregation purposes, the integration service provider  234  can be utilized. Possessing business process choreography capabilities, the integration service provider  234  is able to handle requests involving conversions and synthesis the service gateway  226  cannot. As response routing does go back through the service gateway  226 , however, the ability to capture complex results in its cache is still present, and can be leveraged for subsequent requests. An example of a request requiring aggregation of data from various back end resources could be when the portal  250  workplace fetches its past, present, and future information in one request for a historical/trending or scorecard portlet. The integration service provider  234  provides the request breakdown and steps required to access each contributing back end system, and then aggregates the responses to form one “answer.” 
         [0051]    In summary, the “visible” portion of the system represented by the portal  250  workplace leverages the “invisible” portion provided by the SOA infrastructure  220 - 240  in order to access the various pieces of data required to drive its mix of portlets. The employment of client-side components for request composition, coupled with the use of content based routing, dynamic binding, multi step request handling, and Web services enablement of back ends contributes to this goal. 
         [0052]    It should be emphasized that the architecture  200  is shown for illustrative purposes only and that the scope of the invention is not to be limited in this regard. For instance, other SOA arrangements not having an integration service provider  234  component can be used to implement the portal  250  workplace functionality. Other architecture types, such as a RESTful architecture, can also be used to implement portal  250  workplace functionally in different invention embodiments. 
         [0053]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram of a system  300  showing a specific implementation of SOA  200  in a context of an emissions dashboard solution. That is, emissions specific metrics can be presented within emissions portlets  303 - 306  in a configurable fashion. An interaction engine  302  can compare current emissions metrics against previously defined boundaries to determine if an out-of-bounds event has occurred. If so, an alert to this effect can be posted to an alert portlet  307 . Additionally, other portlets (not shown) can respond to the out-of-bounds event. The client  308  upon which the portal is associated can optionally utilize an in-memory cache  309  to improve performance, which can be a significant factor since the emission metrics can be presented in near real time. 
         [0054]    For example, each portlet  303 - 307  of client  308  can utilize interaction engine  302  to interface with the portal server  326 . In-memory cache or data store  309  can be used to store information specifying data sources for updating the portlets  303 - 307 , such as URLs for associated Web sites. Data store  309  can also separately store and track foreground (presented) version information for the portlets  303 - 307  and background (hidden) version information. 
         [0055]    The portal server  326  of system  300  can include a user experience framework  321 , a master handler  324 , and emissions and alert data handlers  322 . Caches  323 ,  327  and data store  325  contain information which can also be used by the portal server  326 . The client  308  can communicate with portal server  326  via a network infrastructure (not shown). Authorization engines (not shown) can ensure security of portlet data. 
         [0056]    User experience framework or engines  321  can interface with specific clients  308 . The user experience engines  321  can be communicatively linked to a registration handler (not shown), a master handler  324 , and data handlers  322 , as shown. Each data handler  322  can be associated with a memory cache  323  and/or  327 , which stores frequently updated data and other pertinent update frequency information. Handlers can together ensure that data presented within client  308  portlets and obtained from providers  336  is continuously updated. 
         [0057]    In one embodiment, user experience engines  321  can customize enterprise content for specific user roles or communication channels, such as a customer channel, an employee channel, a management channel, an IT administrator channel, and the like. The communication channels can also be linked to different market channels, such as employee systems, kiosks, self-service Web sites, and the like. Accordingly, the user experience engines  321  can customize streams of enterprise data obtained from an enterprise infrastructure for different front-end systems. Segmenting enterprise data from different front end systems used by clients  308  in such a loosely coupled fashion ensures that enterprise data can be utilized by different separately customizable systems without negatively affecting back-end systems. 
         [0058]    Information can be conveyed as Web service data  328  to the portal server  326  via a service gateway  331 , which can be connected to an integration service provider  333 . Other providers  336  can exist, which communicate with the gateway  331  and/or the integration service provider  333 . A service directory  334  can specify the types of services available to system  300 . Middleware components  331 ,  333  can optionally use one or more memory caches  332  to improve system  300  performance. 
         [0059]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart of a method  400  for customizing portal content based upon metric values, such as when an out-of-bounds event occurs. The method  400  can be performed in the context of system  100 . 
         [0060]    Method  400  can begin in step  405 , where a portal service (e.g., decision service  186 ) can detect that current metrics exceed a safe range defined using previously established boundary values, which can be configured by a user or system. This detection can trigger an out-of-bounds event. In step  410 , a data store (such as cache  323 ) can be updated with the metric data, which ultimately enables this data to potentially be displayed within client portlets in near real time. The client portlets can include a dashboard and/or a scorecard. In step  415 , a set of roles/users that are to be notified of the occurrence of the out-of-bounds event can be determined. In step  420 , alerts can be conveyed to the appropriate users determined in step  415 . Alerts can be presented within an alert portlet (e.g., portlet  128 ) of a portal workplace  110 - 114  or can be automatically conveyed through another means. 
         [0061]    Different contact rules and mechanisms can be established to more aggressively contact key users depending on the severity of the out-of-bounds event and its significance to an organization. For example, when the out-of-bounds event is routine, the alert portlet alone can be a contact mechanism of choice. When an out-of-bounds event is highly significant, email, fax, text messages, voice messages, paging, and the like can be used to contact suitable response personnel and to inform them of the occurrence of the out-of-bounds event. This can enable the contacted personnel to go online and receive more detailed information via a customized portal. 
         [0062]    In step  425 , collaboration service data can be updated to indicate key problem resolving personnel and contact mechanisms for communications. For example, a plant manager can instantly be presented with contact information via a collaboration portal that shows maintenance personnel qualified to resolve the out-of-bounds event. Collaboration services can also indicate availability of key decision makers, who are to be contacted (such as through a group chat session) to ensure a rapid and coordinated response. In step  430 , a Web 2.0 repository of documents can be searched for relevant information relating to the out-of-bounds event. This information can be placed in a data store in step  435 , which can be used to populate Web 2.0 portlets for appropriate personnel. 
         [0063]    For example, a plant manager can be presented with a WIKI detailing proper plant-level protocol for responding to the out-of-bounds event. A maintenance worker logging onto the organizational portal can be presented with maintenance manuals, repair BLOG entries, and the like relevant for his/her tasks in resolving the out-of-bounds event. This example shows that information provided in a portal related to the out-of-bounds event can be role tailored to be relevant for a particular user. 
         [0064]      FIG. 5  shows a sample role tailored Web browser or portal interface  510  for integrating metrics, business measures, online collaboration, and Web 2.0 content in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. The interface  510  can be an instance specific example of portal  110 - 114  from system  100 . That is, the portal shown in interface  510  can provide a role based, tailored user experience for ensuring compliance with the previously established boundaries for the metrics. Different roles supported by the Web portal interface  510  can include, for example, operations, supervisory, policy making, and executive roles. Each role can have different data needs that are expressed within the interface  510  in a role specific manner. 
         [0065]    As shown, interface  510  can include a set of metric portlets  512 ,  520 ,  522 ,  524 ,  526 , and  570 , each able to present near real time metrics. Metric portlets  512 ,  520 ,  522 ,  524 ,  526 , and  570  can include graphical widgets that show current values relative to “normal” operational boundary conditions. Data presented in the portlets  512 ,  520 ,  522 ,  524 ,  526 , and  570  can be based upon sensor readings and/or a federation of data from multiple sources. The metric portlets  512 ,  520 ,  522 ,  524 ,  526 , and  570  are not limited to graphical expressions, and tables of data, charts, summaries, and the like can also be presented. In one embodiment, each of the metric portlets  512 ,  520 ,  522 ,  524 ,  526 , and  570  can be configured to drill-down to various levels of detail. 
         [0066]    Metric portlets  512 ,  520 ,  522 ,  524 ,  526 , and  570  within a dashboard portal can be joined by one or more scorecard portlets  514 . Each scorecard can show how at least one strategic business concern or objective is measured over time against at least one metric. Each dashboard can show how at least one tactical business concern is measured against at least one near real time metric. Each portlet  512 - 526 ,  570  can be associated with a portlet specific service, which can be used to customize portlet  512 - 526 ,  570  behavior, data sources, refresh rates, and the like. One or more of the portlets  512 - 526 ,  570  can be synchronized with one or more other portlets  512 - 526 ,  570  to ensure data currency is maintained among the different portlets  512 - 526 ,  570 . Each scorecard portlet can be associated with an objective management service backed by data services that feed the aggregation of long term measures. 
         [0067]    In one embodiment, one of the scorecards  514  can be a balanced scorecard that focuses upon financial, operational, development, internal process performance, market share, market penetration, staff skill level, and other strategic concerns. In such an embodiment, the different concerns can be categorized as relating to customers, finances, operations, and stewardship. The different perspectives and categories can be configured as desired. A balanced scorecard can link critical success factors to key performance indicators, thus translating strategic objectives to operational actions. 
         [0068]    Each scorecard  514  can be associated with a set of objectives. Each objective can have a running total or aggregated total associated with it. Each objective can be tied to or more remote data sources, which uses a service to continuously update values. The various scorecards  514 , objectives, and the like can be selectable by a user, which results in additional related information being presented. 
         [0069]    Within an organization, a set of dependent and consistent objectives can be established. Applicable ones of the objectives within the hierarchy of objectives can depend upon a user&#39;s role within an organization. Thus, different objectives are presentable to different users logging into the portal  510  in a role tailored fashion. In one embodiment, business rules can be programmatically established for different scorecard threshold values, which results in context specific advice being presented. 
         [0070]    Portlet  530  can be a historical measurement and/or trend analysis portlet, which presents historical and/or forecast information related to near real time metrics. Portlet  530  information can quickly permit a user to put current metric values in context, which can facilitate the making of an appropriate and timely response to an out of bounds event or situation likely to result in an out of bounds event. 
         [0071]    The alerts portlet  540  can automatically present notifications to a set of organizationally associated users whenever metrics exceed a set of previously established boundaries. Other organizational personnel can also post alerts directed towards specific users and/or user groups. 
         [0072]    The Web 2.0 portlet  550  can be used to access a set of shared documents relevant to an organization. Entries available through portlet  550  can be designed to provide insight required to make tactical and strategic decisions to achieve metric driven value targets, to maintain metrics within safe operational ranges relative to a set of previously established boundaries, and/or to otherwise conduct user specific organizational tasks. 
         [0073]    The collaboration portlet  560  can facilitate communications among organizationally associated users through various online and external communications channels. 
         [0074]    The portlets shown in interface  510  are not intended to be comprehensive. Additionally, design choices for interface  510  are arbitrary and the use of other design choices falls within the scope of the disclosed invention. 
         [0075]      FIGS. 6 ,  7 ,  8 , and  9  show sample portal interfaces for an emissions dashboard portal, which is one of many contemplated/potential uses for the disclosed invention. The portal interfaces of  FIGS. 6 ,  7 ,  8 , and  9  specifically show several renderings of an emissions dashboard portal to correspond to a number of different supported user roles. These roles include a plant-level operator ( FIG. 6 ), a plant manager ( FIG. 7 ), a mid level policy maker ( FIG. 8 ), and an executive ( FIG. 9 ). The elements and concepts expressed for the emissions dashboard example should be broadly interpreted to be applicable to any metrics driven portal. Metrics portlets can include scorecard and/or dashboard portlets, specifics of which can vary by role. 
         [0076]      FIG. 6  illustrates a role tailored emissions dashboard portal  600  configured for a plant operator role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. A plant operator can be concerned with the overall status of units within a plant. Hence, the portal  600  can be configured to provide an overview of unit performance in the context of the local plant. 
         [0077]    Portal  600  can include a set of emissions portlets  610 - 616 , an optional scorecard portlet (not shown), an alert portlet  620 , an instant messaging (collaboration) portlet  622 , a people finder portlet  624 , and a navigation portlet  630 . 
         [0078]      FIG. 7  illustrates a role tailored emissions dashboard portal  700  configured for a plant manager role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. Although portal  700  can be similar to portal  600 , a plant manager can be more concerned with broader details of his/her plant as well as broader organizational matters than a plant operator. 
         [0079]    As shown, portal  700  can include a set of emissions portlets  710 - 716 , an aggregate emission portlet  717 , an alert portlet  720 , an instant messaging (collaboration) portlet  722 , a people finder portlet  724 , a navigation portlet  730 , and a historical emissions portlet  735 . Content contained in each portlet  710 - 735  can vary from content of portlets  610 - 630 , due to different roles. For example, a set of alerts directed towards plant operators can be different than a set of alerts for plant managers. The addition of the aggregate  717  and historical  735  emissions portlets illustrates an increased focus on overall plant details for portal  700  compared to portal  600 . 
         [0080]      FIG. 8  illustrates a role tailored emissions portal configured for a policy maker user role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein. More specifically, the policy maker role can be a financial one concerned with emissions offset trading shown by portlet  840  and with emissions accounts shown by portlet  845 . The remaining portlets  810 - 835  can be identical in nature to analogous ones shown in portal  700 , other than the presented content is tailored for a different user having a different role within the organization. 
         [0081]      FIG. 9  illustrates a role tailored emissions portal  900 ,  940  configured for an executive user role in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive arrangements disclosed herein.  FIG. 9  shows a selection of a portal tab  950 ,  960  other than a home tab ( 902  in this case), which is shown for  FIGS. 6-8 . The home tab  902  for  FIG. 9  can present equivalent portlets to those of the home tab of portlet  800 , other than having content tailored for a different role and user. 
         [0082]    As an example, when a public perception tab  950  of portal  900  is selected by an executive user, interface  900  can be presented. Interface  900  can include a quarterly report portlet  952 , a set of current emissions portlets  953 , a public perception portlet  954 , a new technologies portlet  956 , and a news portlet  958 . 
         [0083]    When a shareholder perception tab  960  of portal  900  is selected, interface  940  can be presented. Interface  940  can show a company stock tracker portlet  962 , an earnings per share portlet  964 , an organization stock report portal  966 , and a user&#39;s stock portfolio portlet  968 . 
         [0084]    The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Furthermore, while the invention has been discussed in the context of a visual system, it is intended that the inventive concepts disclosed and claimed herein apply to other means of perception other than visual perception, allowing the invention to be adapted for use by people who may be visually impaired. 
         [0085]    The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.