Using Portal Technology for Collaborative E-Commerce

Overview

This paper presents one approach to increasing the successful adoption of e-commerce by SMEs. This paper discusses adoption constraints for SME's and focuses on the requirements gathering process relating to the development and implementation of a Web Portal initiative in the local region (Illawarra NSW, Australia). The initiative is a joint promotion by the University of Wollongong and Wollongong City Council to improve the rate of technology adoption in the local region. The paper presents a technical description of portal technology, a proposed architecture for the collaborative Web Portal, then describes the issues and constraints associated with determining system scope and gathering requirements from the non technical SME ness community.