User Types and Their Project Involvement On Role-Based Enterprise Portal Design: A Case Study

This research investigates the influence of user types (e.g., managers, analysts), project involvement, and gender on the design of role-based enterprise portals. A role-based prototype portal was deployed in a case study company, and user experiences were assessed through surveys with different stakeholders. The results confirm that user types, project involvement, and gender have minimal impact on user experience within a well-designed role-based portal. This is because the portal tailors content and information specifically to user roles, reducing reliance on these other factors. This finding allows developers to focus on other design aspects, such as (1) Aligning portal content with the company's mission, vision, strategy, and objectives and (2) Optimizing the deployment of role-specific content. The survey data suggests that considering these aspects is likely to increase user adoption of the portal. Additionally, the study highlights the importance of organizational charts in determining the structure (taxonomy) of a role-based portal design. Finally, the research identifies factors that favor the use of role-based content delivery in enterprise portals.