DrillO May 26, 2005   11:51 AM GMT

I have worked on several versions of portals for communities. One thing that has been a recurring theme throughout is planning. It is possible to have the best of both worlds (internal and external). You need good solid servers and software. Plan out at least five years and define what information will be made available and to whom. Partnering is of great importance both internally and external to the organization. You might look for a consultant....there are several multi-nationals out there to contact. Be prepared to do a lot of work and spend money....these projects are not cheap. You will also have to move beyond the standard WEB site mentallity. Content management is very important as is deciding who gets to post information. Managing a portal is a large undertaking. Remember, no matter who is driving this, they must understand that this will take time.....this is not an overnight experience, not is it a one shot deal. Best of luck to you......let us know how you are progressing.

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Macgvr May 26, 2005   2:37 PM GMT

I would suggest as a starting point checking out what Novell has to offer. They have a complete package that would provide everything you need to create and manage a portal site. I don't know if you have a server already or not but even if you do it might help you figure out what you would would like to do. Here is a link that you might like to check out. Good luck http://www.novell.com/industries/government/citizen_portal.html

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Andesh May 27, 2005   1:20 AM GMT

thank you all for your valuable suggestions. my company is into BPO services, offering Customer Relationship Management, and Customized Application Development based Business Solutions We offer Multi Channel Customer Relationship Management on Voice and Non-Voice (email, chat, fax, sms) with a focus on Mobile Data Services. Our clients include some of the largest telecom operators. Our Software division expertise in mobile data technologies, ASP.net, IVR Applications. So, the infrastructure / qualified manpower required for hosting the portal and maintaining it, is already there. The City portal we want to indulge is the top industrial city of the region. However, as most of the other city based portals offer Business Directory, Chat, free email, Jobs , Matrimonial, List of businesses like jewellery, hospitals, Doctors and Travel Information on Hotels Restaurants Trains Flights and allow sending gifts online, Flowers, Sweets, pizza etc. I wanted your suggestions on the type of content which may work for an industrial city. Thanks again.

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Meesha May 27, 2005   8:29 AM GMT

Hi andesh. All the responses to your question had good info to offer. I personally know of one portal that is aimed at only a City's industrial audience (see below). However, one of the best portals for citizens, businesses and staffs is the one for the Region and City of Windsor, Canada: http://www.windsor-essex.info/wps/portal As I direct my own team to design our intra- extra-net portal for both front facing and staffs, we refer to this site as a model. The other one is the Federal government site which has good links to busnesses such as industry and trade: http://www.gc.ca/main_e.html Your focus on "industrial" may be too tight unless you are not really looking at a "portal" but an extranet for the various industries in your city to commune and share info with - who? city offices, i.e. business permits, licensing, environmental, health & safety? Maybe the state or federal government? Or eve each other? Is it really a "city portal" or a "business portal"? Take a look a the City of Toronto's site: http://www.toronto.ca/ It may also provide you with some clues as to how the "city" and the "businesses" work together. The only other suggestion I have is in your own backyard. Take a look at India Mart's "Indian Industry Portal" that has links to various items of industrial interest - trade shows, Tenders, B2B Auctions, etc. http://industries.indiamart.com/ Hope some of this helps . . .

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DrillO May 27, 2005   12:21 AM GMT

I can attest to the value of the sites suggested by meesha. Just remember that while you are looking at an industrial city, things such as culture and recreation can't be ignored. One of the things we industrial communities are looking for is future investment......everything that will attract people and companies to the area are important. Best, Paul

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Andesh May 28, 2005   4:16 AM GMT

I want to include everything a city portal has but keeping it targetted on business oriented services; still i havent found any thing worth getting inspired from. initially i am putting upa survey form for poeple visiting the site - to advise the content they want to see there. after doing some further research atleast i have started working on the template. the link is www.ludhiana.com (ludhiana is name of the city) once i do create something worthy, wud post it and keep u informed. thanks to all you buddies.

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Ve3ofa May 29, 2005   4:34 AM GMT

Isn't the actual webpage http://www.ludhianacorp.com/ ??? Since you are using IIS 5.0 with ASP you probaly should consider using the open source from http://www.dotnetnuke.com as this is excellent portal/CMS software and is a great starting point.. The biggest problem is making sure you have all the 5W's convered.. WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY both for your locals and also for others that might be interested in relocating to your area.

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THINSIA123 May 29, 2005   3:35 PM GMT

Hello Andesh, like everywhere in information technologie, security is the most important issue for your portal. Identity managment gives you and the user of your portal his / her portal-view with access to programs and data. Use biometrics for access ( the best is HEARTBEAT-ID, wich is fault-proof), let your portal-user login to a dircetory (the best is e-directory from Novell) and give access to programms and data with thin client technologies (use Tarantella, and combine it with RDP from Windows for Windows apps. The combination of thin client access and access to apps we call THINSIA thin secure internet access. Of course you can outsource the actual web-access-servers. kind regards, Roland Sassen

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TScannell Jun 8, 2005   8:39 AM GMT

Good question..and probably one that only you and time can answer. The ida is to develop a portal that will appeal to the widest variety of people as possibe, and perhaps eventually launch sub-portals that will focus on specific 'communities' of people. Soem of the best portals contains local news and events, content provided by local writers, and cover the most popular subject areas like sports, music and classified advertising (jobs). Remember, that the majority of people accessing these portals are most likely to be young people (ages 16-32) and older people (55-70, since they have the available time to surf). If there are RSS feeds available from other grops, by all means include them in the portal, and also build in a lot of interactivity or your subscribers (chat rooms, message exchanges, etc.). Check out Boston.com as a good example (www.boston.com).

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