Plumtree Software has announced a new business portal package
designed to streamline human resources and employee-focused
business processes.
The Plumtree Portal Solution for Employee Services bundles
connectors - or Gadgets - for PeopleSoft and SAP HR applications.
It includes a collection of 19 Gadgets for employee services, and
integration with a handful of partner companies with the flagship
Plumtree Portal platform.
Plumtree believes there is strong demand for an offering that
combines portal technology with HR-specific functions and content,
according to Hilary Jules, director of alliances at Plumtree. In a
recent customer survey, "80% of our customers said HR was a
sub-portal or community they wanted to deploy. That was the most
often cited community our customers wanted," Jules said.
The Enterprise Class Gadget Suite for SAP HR is comprised of 17
pre-built Gadgets that integrate frequently used SAP HR
transactions into the Plumtree Portal.
The Gadget suite allows portal users to update and view
career-related data, personal information and financial
information. Specific functions range from expense reports and time
off requests to health and insurance benefits transactions.
The Gadget Suite for SAP uses SAP's role-based security to ensure
users edit and view only their own personal information, according
to Plumtree.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise Class Gadget Suite for PeopleSoft pulls
in PeopleSoft data such as employee training history, contact
information and payroll information. The Gadgets allow employees to
update and track the information, while administrators can approve,
update and search.
In addition to the SAP and PeopleSoft integrations, Plumtree is
currently developing an additional 19 Gadgets designed to provide
out-of-the-box services including calendaring, expert location,
training registration, job posting and application, and survey
capabilities.
Partner companies Extensity, PlaceWare, and Workbrain are
developing connectors to the Plumtree Employee Services portal, and
Cedar Consulting and Agency.com are providing deployment support
and services.
Plumtree's move to package a line-of-business portal is designed to
drill down into specific business needs that can be solved by
portal technology, according to Jules.
"Employee services is the most immediate pain point, and [this
solution] is a way to give them portal functionality to solve those
problems quickly," she said.
Furthermore, coupling commonly used application transactions in a
portal can provide a broader context for that functionality by
bundling the functions with related processes and documents, Jules
said.
Plumtree's effort to provide preconfigured, line-of-business
specific functionality can give its enterprise clients a head start
in developing a portal designed around internal employee self
service, according to Paul Hamerman, research director at Giga
Information Group.
"There seems to be quite a bit of adoption of employee portals to
encapsulate a lot of self service functionality that is essential
to HR functions," he said.