1. A method for communicating business information, comprising: causing, by at least one computer, simultaneous browser-based display of a plurality of portlets, the plurality of portlets being selected and arranged according to a user profile customizable by a user of a business information system, said plurality of portlets including: a first portlet displaying first information derived from at least one enterprise resource planning module of the business information system; and a second portlet displaying second information derived from said at least one enterprise resource planning module; causing, by said at least one computer, the browser-based display of the first information in the first portlet to be updated at first regular time intervals in accordance with a first setting in the user profile; and causing, by said at least one computer, the browser-based display of the second information in the second portlet to be updated at second regular time intervals in accordance with a second setting in the user profile.
1. A method for communicating business information, comprising: causing, by at least one computer, simultaneous browser-based display of a plurality of portlets, the plurality of portlets being selected and arranged according to a user profile customizable by a user of a business information system, said plurality of portlets including: a first portlet displaying first information derived from at least one enterprise resource planning module of the business information system; and a second portlet displaying second information derived from said at least one enterprise resource planning module; causing, by said at least one computer, the browser-based display of the first information in the first portlet to be updated at first regular time intervals in accordance with a first setting in the user profile; and causing, by said at least one computer, the browser-based display of the second information in the second portlet to be updated at second regular time intervals in accordance with a second setting in the user profile. 4. A method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the user is assigned a predefined business role selected from a plurality of predefined business roles each associated with one of a plurality of default user profiles pre-customized for the predefined business role, and the user profile of the user is initially set to the default user profile associated with the user's assigned predefined business role.