Creating the Intranet “Classifieds” Feature using IBM WCM 8 – Part 2

In this blog series on WCM Based “Classifieds” intranet solution, we covered the Site Area, Authoring and Presentation Templates so far. In this blog we will look at the HTML & Menu Components, Categories, Authoring Tools Component, Workflow and Permissions and finally Creating the Page and Portlet.

HTML and Menu Components:

• Menu Components
• To list the three types of content items under respective sections of the rendered Marketplace, we use three menu components: menu_MktplcVehicles, menu_MktplcElectronic, and menu_MktplcOther. Each of these menu components pulls content based on the category that distinguishes each type of content. Each menu also contains the HTML markup to render the list of respective items.

• HTML Component
• This component is the main presentation component of Marketplace. The above three categories are put together using a jquery tab construct, and the markup for that resides in an html component called html_Marketplace. This html component is the top level component that is configured in the “Web Content Viewer(JSR 286) portlet”, and it calls the three menu components to render each tab view.

Rendered View of Marketplace:

Categories:
We use three categories under the Taxonomy - WCM/Marketplace - Vehicles, Electronics and Others - to categorize the three kinds of content items.

Authoring Tools Component:
This is the most important aspect of the whole solution. This is how “create” and “edit” features are exposed to the end users. An authoring tools component allows users with appropriate permissions to create new items, edit items, delete items or approve items inline on the live site. That means the users don’t need to access the authoring UI to author content.

We use two authoring tools components as part of our solution:
a) atcomp_ItemPost: This component allows users to create new items and is rendered as a button. The way we use this component is quite interesting, as we configured the component to use the Authoring templates defined in the rendering portlet. In the rendering portlet we add our three authoring templates. Refer to “Pages and Portlet section” for portlet configuration.

Since there is more than one authoring template in rendering portlet configuration, invoking this control displays a list of authoring templates to choose from (see below).

An inline interface displays the authoring template to create new content once the template is selected (see below).

b) atcomp_ItemEditDelete: This component allows users to edit or delete an item. In the Marketplace listing page, each item has an edit and delete option next to it if it was created by the current logged in user. Essentially, only the creator of the content item can edit or delete the content item. This can be setup by assigning a “Manager” role to “[Creators]” group in the Published workflow stage.

So far in this blog series focused on a WCM Based “Classifieds” intranet solution, we have covered the Site Area, Authoring and Presentation Templates, HTML & Menu Components, Categories, Authoring Tools Component. In the next and final part of this series, we will look at the Workflow and Permissions and finally creating the Page and Portlet.

Manmeet Gill is a Senior Consultant at Prolifics, an IBM Bravo Award Winner and a key member of specialized teams working on IBM WebSphere Portal, Content Management, IBM Forms and Collaboration technologies. He is certified in IBM WebSphere Portal and IBM Web Content Manager and has over 8 years of IT experience. Besides specializing in IBM technologies he is a double black snowboarder, an advanced windsurfer and a superbike enthusiast. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Engineering from MSR Institute of technology, Bangalore.

Creating the Intranet “Classifieds” Feature using IBM WCM 8 – Part 1

A feature that most organizations can provide as a benefit to their associates using their intranet is by implementing a company classified ads feature. This concept is by no means new, and some of us can reminisce of the physical cork bulletin board prominently displayed in a break room or around the office walls. A human resources department may choose to champion the intranet version of this concept as a "soft benefit" to employees or associates. For the associates there is a convenience of posting ads within the organization as opposed to posting out in public forums such as Craig's List. The associate is transacting with a more 'trusted' party. Many times an item can be exchanged at their work location.

Organizations that leverage IBM Web Content Manager and WebSphere Portal for their intranet site can quickly and easily build and deploy such a feature. We recently developed and deployed a large intranet redesign using WebSphere Portal with WCM version 8. This 3-part blog series provides an overview of the design and implementation of this classified ads feature. With the tools provided by IBM WCM and WebSphere Portal, a robust classifieds system can be created. We use a workflow to provide governance, WCM authoring templates for structured content capture and inline authoring tools to place content creation in context and in the hands of end users.

We called the classifieds feature “Marketplace”; it consists of three kinds of items (using three different authoring templates) that can be posted by users. The items are submitted by the users from the live site using the inline Authoring Tools component. The submitted items are sent to a workflow that has a scheduled move action to push it to the next stage where it gets published. Once published, the items appear live on Marketplace.

Users also have the option to edit their own items again using the Authoring Tools component on the live site. The changed items are sent to the same workflow and appear on Marketplace after they have moved to the published stage.

The actual library artifacts cannot be included in this article as those are client assets, but we have included snippets and concepts wherever applicable. The idea is to share the concepts and the solution approach so anyone needing a similar setup can use this as a starting point.

This blog is broken down into a 3-part series covering various assets that will need to be created as part of the overall solution followed by a conclusion section.

In this first part we will look at the Site Areas, Authoring & Presentation templates required for this solution.

The Site Areas:
We use a single Site Area to store all Marketplace content items. Create a Site Area; in our example, we use DEMO_Lib\Marketplace.

We use categories in Authoring templates to distinguish between different types of content items posted by users.

The Authoring Templates:
We use three authoring templates to post three different kinds of content items. These are exposed to end users through the Authoring Tools component. In our example, we use the following authoring templates:
i. Post New Vehicle
ii. Post New Electronic
iii. Post Other The “Post New Vehicle” template has the elements listed below. This is requirement specific and could contain any number and type of elements.

The “Post New Vehicle” template has the elements listed below. This is requirement specific and could contain any number and type of elements.

Attach a category to content by specifying a category in the “Default Content Properties->Profile” section of the authoring template. Each authoring template will have a different category that will be used to differentiate between various content items.

Finally, the workflow is attached to the content items created by authoring templates; simply select a pre-defined workflow in “Default Content Properties->Workflow” section.

The Presentation Templates:
We do not directly use the presentation templates to render individual items; using HTML and menu components, the listing page meets the rendering requirements. However, a presentation template for each type of content item maybe useful if search is to be supported.

When using Portal search to search WCM content, the respective presentation template is used to render the content item. So, since search did not need to be supported, no presentation templates were needed in our example.

As a part of this WCM Based “Classifieds” intranet solution, we covered the Site Area, Authoring and Presentation Templates so far. In the remaining two parts of this blog series, we will look at the HTML & Menu Components, Categories, Authoring Tools Component, Workflow and Permissions and finally creating the Page and Portlet. In the meantime, feel free to email me with any questions or comments you may have and visit www.prolifics.com for more information about Prolifics' WCM solutions.

Manmeet Gill is a Senior Consultant at Prolifics, an IBM Bravo Award Winner and a key member of specialized teams working on IBM WebSphere Portal, Content Management, IBM Forms and Collaboration technologies. He is certified in IBM WebSphere Portal and IBM Web Content Manager and has over 8 years of IT experience. Besides specializing in IBM technologies he is a double black snowboarder, an advanced windsurfer and a superbike enthusiast. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Engineering from MSR Institute of technology, Bangalore.

Prolifics Mobile and Portal Demos at IBM Connect

Attending IBM Connect? Prolifics will be showcasing demos of IBM Worklight, IBM WebSphere Portal, IBM Web Content Manager, IBM Connections and more! Get a preview into these demos by visiting our YouTube page for IBM Connect.


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Interested in scheduling a one-on-one session with a Prolifics expert to walk through these demos? Email solutions@prolifics.com today to schedule a session at IBM Connect!

To learn more about Prolifics at IBM Connect, visit: www.prolifics.com/connect-2013.htm

Portal at the Speed of Light: Techniques for Worklight integration at IBM Connect

IBM Connect 2013 is now less than two weeks away! This is my eighth visit to the conference, but the first time as a full session speaker. Along with my colleague and fellow IBM Champion, Laks Sundararajan, I will be presenting on Wednesday morning about techniques for using IBM WebSphere Portal and IBM Worklight together to build mobile applications.

Here is our agenda:

IBM Worklight Portal
Servers Diagram

• The need for multi-channel applications
• A quick overview of Worklight
• When to use just use Portal or Worklight by themselves
• How to build hybrid apps using Portal and Worklight together
• Use WCM to let your business authors drive application content
• Leveraging Cast Iron and WebSphere MQ
• Best Practices Speed Round

Our goal is to help you understand options for designing a mobile application integrated with your existing web and back end systems. We will show you the system architecture, a few live demos, and provide some tips on how to implement the solution for yourself.

You can visit the IBM Connect conference site to connect with us and add the session to your schedule: http://www.socialbizonline.com

Session Details:
Title: BP407: Portal at the Speed of Light: Techniques for IBM Worklight Integration
Date & Time: Jan 30, 10:00am - 11:00am
Location: Dolphin S. Hem III
Abstract: In this session, you'll learn techniques for extending your IBM Websphere Portal to mobile applications across iOS and Android devices. Experts from our User Experience team will demonstrate how to easily build IBM Worklight applications that integrate with personalization and web content features provided by Portal. You'll see how to use tools such as IBM Web Experience Factory and IBM Web Content Manager and how to leverage capabilities such as Portlet Services and mobile themes to develop a mobile application running on IBM Worklight in both online and offline modes. At the end of this session, you will be ready to take advantage of the IBM Worklight entitlement provided by IBM to take your Portal to the mobile world!

Prolifics is a Bronze Sponsor at IBM Connect 2013 and will be showcasing our solutions and offerings at Booth #C18-19. To see what else Prolifics has planned for the conference, please visit: www.prolifics.com/connect-2013.htm.

If you would like to meet me at Connect or set up a one-on-one workshop session with a Prolifics subject matter expert, please reach out in one of the following ways:
Tweet @Handly
Tweet @Prolifics
Email solutions@prolifics.com

Handly Cameron is an IBM Champion and a Technology Manager leading Mobile and Social solutions at Prolifics. He has 20 years of experience in enterprise collaboration and application development and loves to help companies leverage social and collaboration technologies to drive business value. Handly is the leader of the Atlanta WebSphere Users Group, recently finished 5 years as the president of Agile Atlanta, and holds 25+ industry technical certifications. He blogs at http://handly.org and is on Twitter as @Handly.

Reinventing the Intranet with WebSphere Portal 8 & WCM 8

IBM Connect is less than 1 month away and Prolifics is sharing a sneak peek into our presence at the conference! Our experts will be showcasing a number of recent success stories, implemented across a variety of industry with a range of IBM software. One of these projects involved IBM WebSphere Portal 8 and Web Content Manager 8, leveraged to enhance our customer's intranet.

Our customer is a group of 450 companies conducting business-to-business wholesale distribution of plumbing and heating supplies; industrial pipes, valves and fittings; heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment; electrical equipment; industrial and commercial fastening hardware; waterworks and utility supplies; and domestic, commercial and industrial pumps. With over 4,000 employees, it was important to update their intranet to get a “face lift” and be more user-friendly, remove the dependency on IT, and encourage collaboration across divisions. Prolifics, known for our deep Portal skills, was brought in to implement the intranet using IBM WebSphere Portal 8 and Web Content Manager 8. By leveraging these two products, the customer is able to empower its business users from HR to Marketing to Sales to add and edit their own content without relying on IT. This keeps content such as news, announcement and reports up to date and accurate. Portal 8 also provides a personalized experience based on roles and department, with dynamic page rendering. Web Content Manager is assisting with content creation and management, offering a complete repository of newly created content with its metadata Ultimately, the customer has provided its users greater ease of use, has improved the overall user experience, and has empowered their intranet audience with the latest tools and access to knowledge and applications – all with cutting edge technology.

To learn more about this story, email solutions@prolifics.com or stop by booth #C18-19 at IBM Connect, where we will be showcasing this story as well as other recent implementations. Want a more in-depth look into this project? One of our experts would be happy to take you through a deeper dive during a one-on-one session!

BPM on the Go with IBM Worklight - Part 3

In the previous entry, we discussed how IBM Worklight addresses each of the 3 capabilities needed to achieve efficiencies for business process, namely:

• Send prompt notifications as a process waits for decision
• Connect to processes on the move
• Access the decision data in a secure disconnected mode for review and approval

In this third and final entry, I will showcase a real world example: a simple claims processing mobile application built using IBM Worklight. If you are just joining us, here are the links to Parts 1 and 2 of this series:

BPM on the Go with IBM Worklight: Part 1
BPM on the Go with IBM Worklight: Part 2

Claim Process:
An Insurance company initiates a claim process and one of its specialists receives notifications on the phone regarding pending claims. Once the claims are downloaded to the mobile device, a claims specialist could be work on them in an offline (disconnected) mode. All changes are saved locally in an encrypted cache and downloaded claims could be worked on seamlessly. Once connection is re-established, claims processed locally are synced back to the server.

The process flow for the Claims Process is illustrated below:

A Worklight Mobile Application that demonstrates the Claim process is shown below:

This concludes the 3-part blog series on BPM On the Go with IBM Worklight. We started with capabilities that are needed to achieve efficiencies in business processes, looked at an in-depth detail on how IBM Worklight provides these capabilities and demonstrated the same with a real world example.

Have a question? Interested in a more in-depth look? Feel free to reach out to me:
Email: Laks Sundararajan
Tweet: @LaksSundar
Connect on LinkedIn: Laks Sundararajan

Also, I will be attending IBM Connect 2013 in Orlando at the end of January. If you are attending and would like to meet, I will be happy to schedule a meeting. Or stop by Prolifics' booth #C18-19 in the Solution Showcase to meet me and the rest of the Prolifics team.

For more information about Prolifics, please visit www.prolifics.com.

Laks Sundararajan is a Solution Architect at Prolifics, an IBM Champion for Collaboration Solutions and a key member of highly specialized team working on IBM WebSphere Portal, Content Management and Collaboration technologies. He has led implementations of many global projects using IBM WebSphere Portal and has extensive background in design and development of enterprise portals. He specializes in providing Enterprise SOA solutions leveraging WebSphere Portal, Content Management and Tivoli. He holds a Masters in Information Technology from Carnegie Mellon University and a Graduate Degree in Engineering from BITS, Pilani.

BPM on the Go with IBM Worklight - Part 2

In this part, we will look into how IBM Worklight addresses each of the 3 capabilities needed to achieve efficiencies for business process namely:

• Send prompt notifications as a process waits for decision
• Connect to processes on the move
• Access the decision data in a secure disconnected mode for review and approval

Let’s look at one at a time:

1. Send prompt notifications as a process waits for decision:

Today’s Businesses require prompt notifications for processes and IBM Worklight accomplishes the same through Unified Push Notifications API. The key here is that Worklight acts as a cross platform push notification service and allows developers on the back to just be concerned with the messaging and polling of your enterprise systems. Currently Worklight’s Unified Push Notification API supports iOS and Android with support for Blackberry and Windows Mobile coming soon.

2. Connect to processes on the move:

Connecting to processes on the move refers to providing multi-channel access to existing applications. IBM Worklight accomplishes the same by extending existing applications to Mobile World. It follows well-known phenomenon ‘Write once run everywhere’ and the ‘80/20 principal’ by providing a Hybrid approach to building Mobile applications. Worklight can help develop device independent HTML5 code that could be wrapped on top of Apache Cordova framework and deployed across Mobile platforms providing connectivity on the go to existing business processes and accelerating go-to market times by increasing productivity.

3. Access the decision data in a secure disconnected mode for review and approval:

Executives are on the move and they would like to have uninterrupted access to information. While it is theoretically impossible to have access to all information on the go, providing access to critical information in a disconnected mode will go a long way in improving process efficiencies. Worklight addresses Offline access by providing access to secure encrypted cache for storing information locally.

The latest version of Worklight went a step further and added embedded mobile database for offline data with robust encryption and data management abilities that include synchronization.

To learn more about IBM Worklight, please visit: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mobile/worklight/getting-started/

To conclude, we now have a fair idea of how IBM Worklight handles each of the capabilities required for achieving efficiencies in business processes. In the next part, we will take a real world example developed using IBM Worklight and walk-through each of the capabilities in detail.

Prolifics will be a sponsor at the upcoming IBM Connect conference, held January 27-31 in Orlando, FL. During this conference, we will be showcasing our end-to-end mobile development solutions and sharing some recent success stories. Want to meet our team? Stop by booth C18-19 in the Solution Showcase or reach out to solutions@prolifics.com. For more information, please visit www.prolifics.com.

Laks Sundararajan is a Solution Architect at Prolifics, an IBM Champion for Collaboration Solutions and a key member of highly specialized team working on IBM WebSphere Portal, Content Management and Collaboration technologies. He has led implementations of many global projects using IBM WebSphere Portal and has extensive background in design and development of enterprise portals. He specializes in providing Enterprise SOA solutions leveraging WebSphere Portal, Content Management and Tivoli. He holds a Masters in Information Technology from Carnegie Mellon University and a Graduate Degree in Engineering from BITS, Pilani.