The extension of a company’s intranet[1] out onto the Internet, most often to allow selected customers, suppliers and mobile workers to access the company’s private data[2] and applications via the Web. Portions of an ESS[3] solution are sometimes run on an Extranet, allowing separated and retired employees to access benefits data that may apply to them after termination of employment.
A private computer network that uses Internet technologies to securely share any part of an organization's information or operational systems with its employees. The data on an intranet is behind the company’s firewall, meaning that it cannot be accessed by individuals or other computers that are not part of the organization. Sometimes the term refers only to the organization's internal website, but often it is a more extensive part of the organization's computer infrastructure and private websites are an important component and focal point of internal communication and collaboration.
Numbers, characters, or images in a form which can be assessed by a human or (especially) input into a computer, stored and processed.
Employee self-service allows an employee to handle many job-related tasks (such as applications for reimbursement, updates to personal information, and access to company information) over the company's intranet or portal, via mobile device, or through specialized kiosks, and may be confined to a company's private network or may be part of a Web self-service solution. ESS software is available as a stand-alone product or as a component of some larger application, such as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) product.
