SAP Enterprise Portal offers users a single, convenient access point to enterprise applications and documents, and IT teams a centralized infrastructure for handling scalability, redundancy, security, user authentication, external access, and content administration. The pressure to get a portal up and running, however, can yield a landscape you'll likely outgrow in 6 to 12 months. This article, the first in a two-part series on designing a strategic, cost-effective portal landscape, shows you how to identify the applications to run in your portal, their underlying requirements, and user accessibility and availability needs, and points out four critical security areas you need to consider.