Managing Portals

Can a development manager with experience in other Web technologies easily become a successful portal development manager? Is there anything specific that a portal development manager must know about the technology? Are the best practices in Web development applicable to portlet development? Portal development and other kinds of Web development typically include informational and functional components. The informational components are documents and content (such as hyperlinks, plain textual information, and graphics) that are placed in portlets and that can be equipped with search capabilities. These components may have capabilities for information processing, such as content management, publishing, and document management. The functional components provide access to data processing through functional portlets. Often, the two types of components reside on the same page. A typical but simplistic example would be a portlet that provides access to accounts receivable, with another portlet providing help or training on the subject of receivables. The two portlets are related and reside on the same page.