Abstract: User provisioning manages the entire life cycle of user access to IT resources. Traditionally, the connection between provisioning and IT security administration has been unreliable, with too many processes connected to too many systems. A better approach is to leverage a single application for user administration across the IT infrastructure. This model reduces complexity, enhances reliability, and lowers costs.

Abstract: Now that everyone understands the importance of tuning websites to maximize the user experience, the industry is scrambling to figure out how to measure it. WebCriteria has ridden into town with its latest silver bullet.

Abstract: End-user companies should track the financial health of their vendors to see if the vendor will be a collector or one of the collected. If the end-user company has a focused vendor, think of that vendor's health and help them become even better in your type of business. If your vendor is acquired, meet the new owners. The new owners motivation in buying your product and vendor was the install base and that's you. Showing interest is your part in keeping the relationship the way you want it.

Abstract: User training is a key aspect of the software implementation process. But it’s also the most overlooked, as companies often think more about software functionality than about how well their employees are adapting to using it. Don’t assume that your employees are too busy, or that software training costs too much. Find out how user software training can save you money and increase your return on investment (ROI).

Abstract: The Internet is having an identity crisis. Long regarded as a powerful tool for cost reduction and service enhancement, the Internet is falling short of its promise because of the real and perceived threat of identity theft. Financial losses and insurance costs are mounting, as organizations struggle to protect their information perimeters and improve the strength of their authentication systems to ensure that the authorized user is present during the sign-in process. The widespread use and misuse of passwords as authentication tokens is generally cited as a cause of the accelerating erosion of user confidence and the increasing incidence of identity theft. It is generally agreed that passwords are not enough. Much has been lost, however, in the race toward person-present authentication systems. While the application of passwords is fraught with risk, the introduction of complex authentication infrastructures and cumbersome end user technology has eroded usability and increased the cost of security dramatically. This paper describes a new authentication approach that retains the simplicity and low cost of passwords, while gracefully introducing as much person-present assurance as is required by the application.

Abstract: Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) announced the availability of Microsoft Business Solutions Solomon 5.5, which includes several new features and enhancements in the product's Foundation Series, Financial Series, Project Series and Service Series of modules. This part covers the vendor’s challenges and makes user recommendations.

Abstract: Product architecture is going to do much more than simply provide the technical functionality, the user interface, and the platform support. It is going to determine whether a product is going to be able to accommodate increasingly evolving user requirements.

Abstract: Once the user defines compliance case boundaries and establishes the data criteria in Phases I and II, the HIPPA-Watch for Security tool begins Phase III by launching the risk analysis engine, and concludes with Phase IV, which generates the report. Using the HIPPA-Watch for Security tool can help an organization comply with the Final Security Rule and help companies understand which safeguards can generate a greater return on investment.

Abstract: After years of power struggle with its independent applications user group (OAUG), Oracle Corporation is to host its own application user group conference early next year.

Abstract: Product architecture is going to do much more than simply provide the technical functionality, the user interface (UI)/presentation, and the platform support. It is going to determine whether a product is going to endure, whether it will scale to a large number of users, and whether it will be able to incorporate emerging technologies, all in order to accommodate increasingly evolving user requirements.

Abstract: Despite the user preference for a single, 'one-stop shop' vendor, componentized software products, interoperability standards and Internet technology will lead to fewer large-scale projects and an ongoing stream of smaller ones, all with tangible return on investment (ROI) rationale. Although not necessarily a panacea, what makes Model Based Architecture different is that it is practical approach, which is changing some of the basic rules and paradigms of software development.

Abstract: Using the SAP ERP Chemicals Packaged Solution may represent a significant advantage—but only if SAP is the right enterprise resource planning system for the prospective user company, and if the prepackaged business processes are a suitable fit.

Abstract: The SCT User Conference featured industry analysts from Gartner Group, AMR Research and Meta Group each sharing its vision for the future of enterprise systems with the audience. Customers, in special interest groups and in presentations discussed their success with SCT’s products. SCT showed both their existing product set plus their vision for the future with a series of product announcements and prototypes of future products.

Abstract: Once a user has logged onto his/her home page he/she will be able to gain instant access to Calendaring, Address Books, Instant Messaging and access to user specific account information

Abstract: This final note discusses how Application Service Providers (ASPs) have arisen on the Internet in response to such ERP woes as support expenses, misbehaving applications, and server downtime, and how as the nature of ERP software evolves into services and/or hosted models, the market might be experiencing the beginning of the end of user-based licensing. There are also User Recommendations.

Abstract: SAP and Microsoft have finally realized that their products will increasingly be evaluated by how well they interconnect, how flexible they are, and how intuitive their user interfaces are. However, these trends have already been incorporated by lesser-known vendors.

Abstract: SAP's focus on delivering a portal as an overlaying personalized user interface may proved to be a crucial bet, as an intuitive portal might prove to be a simple an effective way to integrate information from disparate systems.

Abstract: User companies will need serious convincing that SSA GT will not 'stabilize' or even discontinue some brands. Moreover, even in the cases where the company has been showing close attention to its customers’ wish lists, its crucial tenet of operation is profitability and setting realistic goals (the ROI justification works for the vendor as well). It does not appear very realistic to expect the equitably due attention to over a dozen products.