To experience the functions and benefits of an enterprise portal.

Log on to Dynamic Intranet (www.dynamicintranet.com) and try the demo site to see what an enterprise portal can do and how it can help businesses and their employees. (Click through the demo to get a general idea of the benefits of enterprise portals; don't try to understand the technical descriptions—you can save that for another course.) Business-to-employee (B2E) portals are not accessible to outsiders, but you can see what one looks like and experiment using some of its tools.

1. Using the calendar feature in the demo portal, schedule a meeting with three other employees. (Hint: Click "Calendar" and then "Search Public Calendar" to get started.) What are the benefits of using this tool rather than calling a meeting personally?

2. Suppose you want to work from home one day a week, but you aren't sure what Toasters' policy is on telecommuting. Find the policy in the human resources directory.

3. You're a team leader for Project 996. What's your reward if your team meets its goal?

4. Some of the folks in marketing have a sick sense of humor. See whether you can find why office humor isn't reserved for the water cooler anymore. Obviously, Toasters Inc. allows individual employees to post information to the portal without supervisor approval. What are the advantages and disadvantages of unmoderated postings?