How to surface apps in a portal

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I’ve blogged on how to surface portlets before.  I wanted to hit the topic again because this question comes up time and time again.  When should you link to a site, use WSRP, iframe it, create a custom portlet from scratch, etc.   The answer is it depends.   Before you make a decision, you need some key information:

1. How are you going to achieve SSO?  This question has to be answered because users demand it.
2. How complex is the application?  If it’s really complex, then follow the 80/20 rule.   Leave at least 80% of the UI in the original application and surface no more than 20% of the application on the portal.  That up to 20% should be the high value items that can be complex for novice users in the original application.
3. Does the application have an API?
4. Does it need to be shown in context of other content or information

Once you have the answers to it, you can use a simple decision framework to start down that path.  Dave Jones, a Senior Architect and guru extraordinaire, put this simplified decision model together.

Portlet Decision Framework