1. A system for integrating groupware functionality into a portal, comprising: a collaboration server that contains information and provides groupware functionality to one or more end users; a groupware portlet deployable on the portal, the groupware portlet adapted to enable the users to access the groupware functionality on the collaboration server by providing an abstracted user interface that is common to the groupware functionality provided by one or more other collaboration servers; and an application programming interface that enables the groupware portlet to access the collaboration server by defining a schema and implementing the schema with a provider associated with the collaboration server.