1. Wearable Computers Get Web Content Management
2. JavaScript FAQ
3. VBScript Tutorial
4. Dreamweaver Tutorial
5. Putting Your Intranet to Work: 50 Ideas for Department-Specific Applications
6. P.G. Daly's Intranet Talk: Basic Intranet Guidelines and Standards
7. The Intranet FAQ
8. Are You Ready for the Next-Generation Intranet: Making Your Intranet a Dynamic Knowledge Base
9. Intranet Corner Knowledge Management 101
10. Content Management Made Easy with ASP
11. JavaScript Forms and Frames
12. Untangling Web Content Management
13. Working Together, Apart: The Web as Project Infrastructure
14. Cascading Style Sheets Tutorial Part II
15. A FrontPage Tutorial
16. Free PDA Content Syncing Hits the Airports
17. Introducing Microsoft DotNet
18. The Elements of Intranet Style
19. The Rise of Web Services: Completing the Picture
20. The five-step process to implement Intranet to Manage your Strategic Information

Normally this column is written by an IDM reader generous enough to share his or her intranet experiences with the web community. This issue is a bit different. Here we describe two significant intranet deployments -- Prudential HealthCare and Roadway Express -- as emblematic of the state of the practice. We'll return to our usual format next ish. As always, feel free to comment on the stories below, as well as on the relative merits of reader vs. researched case studies.

Prudential HealthCare today announced the launch of a private Extranet web site technology, designed in consultation with Netscape Communications Corporation and Sun Microsystems Inc., that provides individuals with easy access to their medical and dental benefits information via the Word Wide Web.

The new web site is based on Netscape SuiteSpot^® server software and Netscape Communicator client software that also incorporates Sun's Java^TM Computing platform. It will be piloted with Netscape employees.

"This is the first Web-based benefits management system of its kind that offers members a simple tool to look up personal information on their health benefits and allows them to interact with our claims and member services departments through the Internet," said Myles Trachtenberg, vice president and chief information officer for Prudential HealthCare. "This product launch demonstrates our commitment as a company to deliver state-of-the-art technologies to our customers and clients, as well as to enhance the services provided to our members."

Through this interactive web service, individuals are able to do the following:

• Change primary care physicians.
• Look up participating doctors or dentists in the network to find out their specialties, medical background, hospital affiliation, and the languages they speak.
• Assess the status of a particular claim, or review claim history.
• Download claim forms.
• Request ID cards.
• Review benefits summaries and other information about the health plan, such as plan type, co-pays or reimbursement rates.
• Send questions or comments directly to member services.

As a private Extranet web site, only Netscape employees provided with an ID and Password will have access to the system to view their personal information. Benefits managers also can log onto the system at a level which enables them to create a personal message for employees on the welcome page as well as run activity reports to track site visits.

"As mutual customers, we were excited by the opportunity to work with Prudential HealthCare to design a cutting-edge service to improve their health benefits administration capabilities," said Mike Homer, senior vice president of Marketing at Netscape. "Prudential's new web service will provide Netscape employees with a great online tool for managing their health benefit information without the paperwork."

Prudential HealthCare will pilot the Netscape site for a period of three to six months, continuing to build and expand the platform and expand its capabilities. Prudential HealthCare is committed to developing innovative customer-driven solutions. The company is planning a large-scale roll-out to additional clients/employer groups by early 1998.

The specific Netscape software that Prudential Healthcare is using for this project includes Netscape Enterprise Server and Netscape Directory Server software, two key components of Netscape SuiteSpot 3.0. Netscape also provided the client software, Netscape Communicator, and the server software, Netscape SuiteSpot 3.0, to develop open, cross-platform applications for Prudential HealthCare's Extranet solution.

The solution will run on Sun's Ultra^TM Enterprise^TM 2 servers and Ultra Enterprise 3000 servers. In addition to hardware, Sun is providing professional assistance with the design of the solution's architecture, including the use of the Java Computing platform. Most of the application code was written by Prudential HealthCare's Information Technology Group on the Java platform.

"The ability to take advantage of Internet and intranet technology in the global healthcare market will significantly help to lower cost and improve efficiency within organizations," said John Ryan, Sun's healthcare industry manager. "By being part of the development and testing of Prudential's new Internet-based benefit solution, we have the opportunity to elevate and improve the administration of health benefits."

About Prudential Healthcare

Headquartered in Roseland, N.J., Prudential Healthcare is a business unit of The Prudential Insurance Company of America. It administers managed healthcare plans in more than 40 major metropolitan areas nationwide, serving approximately 4.7 million members. Prudential HealthCare also offers a variety of other employee benefit products and services, including dental, managed specialty and traditional health. Additional information on Prudential HealthCare is available on the Internet at www.prudential.com/healthcare.

Prudential HealthCare is the primary health benefits provider for Netscape employees. In addition, The Prudential Insurance Company of America recently selected Netscape's Navigator 3.0 as a company-wide standard Internet and intranet browser.

Source: PR Newswire, 21 May 1997
 

Roadway Express (NASDAQ: ROAD) announces the release of Agent-Net, a functional intranet that affords Roadway's off-shore partners (agents) faster, simpler access to shipment information. Using internet technology, agents will have Roadway's computing power at their fingertips, enabling them to perform operational functions and provide detailed information to customers worldwide.

Previously, international agents used a dial-up service to access Roadway's mainframe at the Company's headquarters in Akron. With Agent-Net, the system will be on-line providing agents with quicker and more practical access to advanced information systems.

Agent-Net will allow agents to:

• update mainframe information
• send inquiries to the mainframe
• exchange sales leads
• transmit pricing requests
• request a pick-up
• communicate via e-mail with Roadway employees
• trace a shipment
• view or download sailing schedules.

"We are determined to enhance overseas shipment tracking and other customer information services," stated Bob Carr, vice president - international for Roadway Express. "Providing our international agents with the same precise, real-time information we furnish to our facilities in North America is an important advantage they will have over the competition."

"Agent-Net will allow us to fully leverage Roadway's information systems and provide a level of customer service that the international ocean customer has never experience before," he concluded.

About Roadway

Founded in 1930, Roadway Express, Inc., is one of the nation's leading less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carriers, providing service in two-day and beyond, regional, national and international markets. Roadway is committed to offering the industry's most reliable, responsive and efficient transportation services between all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Japan, plus export services to 65 countries through more than 90 bill of lading ports. For more information, the company can be contacted on the World Wide Web at www.roadway.com or via E-mail: rexmail@roadway.com.

Source: Business Wire, 21 May 1997