Internet Services

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WebWeek: Lots of Data Types, One Front End (cont)

The goal at Imation, which makes floppy disks, tape backup systems, medical laser imagers, and other information processing, storage and imaging systems, is to double the number of employees on its intranet, from today's 5,000 intranet users to all 10,000 employees at the company. For manufacturing workers not necessarily equipped with desktop computers, the Web access might come through kiosks, Mallin said. For now, the company is using Netscape Navigator as the front end to its intranet, though Mallin said that isn't necessarily a long-term commitment.

Among the applications already in use or about to be launched at Imation are:

A human resources application, to be fully up and running in six months. It will allow all employees to look up and modify data on an Oracle database--changes of address, for example--directly from their browser.
A Notes-driven and database-connected (but browser-accessed) workflow application that removes paper from the process of filing expense reports, including the electronic transfer of funds to the worker's bank account.
A database-driven application that will keep workers posted on how Imation's newly issued public stock is doing. In about three months this application will also post from a database more sophisticated indicators of how Imation is doing against its competition.
A marketing suite of tools, now in prototype, that should be operational in about six months. Based on Oracle database tools, these would allow end users using a browser to do predictive modeling and other analyses useful in evaluating marketing programs.

Because of the early start they had in building their intranet, Mallin's team had to put together critical pieces of it themselves.

"The tools improve daily, but they weren't there when we wanted them," he said. He estimated that while Imation has bought 80 percent of the technology it needed for its intranet, it has had to build the other 20 percent.

Analysts point out that creating dynamic intranets that allow for the use of live information isn't something to be undertaken lightly.

"People [sometimes] get too ambitious with the amount of data that they're going to put up," said Ed Schaider, an analyst with the Standish Group, a consulting firm specializing in the database and data warehouse market. "I would caution anyone developing an intranet to think about what it is they're doing today and what additional responsibilities they want to take on."

The battle-worn Mallin disagrees: "I'd encourage people to jump off the bridge and get started."

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