Architecture for Employee & Manager Self-Service Applications?

“Hi .., By all means you have an aggressive project. The scope makes it very difficult to address all questions with a simple architecture/tool set. Of course big "me too" shops (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, CA etc.) can address all areas when certain consulting hours are included in the scope :) Architecture-wise data stores, directories, messaging, existing application integration tools, security, content/portal management and HR/Finance back office they all matter. As you know, the correct answers lie in your current resources and investment. If you have all-Microsoft IT/HR shop, you may choose SharePoint with plug-ins and BizTalk for SOA (cost effective) . Or if you have SAP for SRM, HR, etc then SAP is the right path, or if you have TIBCO for SOA there is your integration, same for IBM and the WebSphere family, or the Oracle family. Any radical, from the scratch project will require a detailed requirements analysis to say anything that will make sense...The rest is just an educated guess. That being said, on ESS/MSS side, it makes sense to check whitepapers from CA and IBM (Tivoli) identity management solutions with HR systems plug-ins. On integration side TIBCO, webmethods, IBM, Microsoft have good papers I believe search and navigation can be added to your data/metadata deployment solutions and can be added later (autonomy, engenium, google etc) On content management the following ppt is a good start: http://media.skybuilders.com/IASummit/CMfIA/Busch.ppt I believe all change/request/KB systems can be integrated as well. The key is to use the shared common datastore (DB). On sales centric organizations I recommend adding CRM data to these solutions sets as well. regards, - yinal ozkan”