Brain imaging researchers execute complex multistep workflows in their computational analysis. Those workflows often include applications that have very different user interfaces and sometimes use different data formats. A good example is the brain perfusion quantification workflow used at the BRIC (Brain Research Imaging Centre) in Edinburgh.
Rapid provides an easy method for creating portlets for computational jobs, and at the same it is extensible.
We have exploited this extensibility with additions that stretch the functionality beyond the original limits. These changes can be used by other projects to create their own portals, but it should be noted that the development of such portals involve a greater effort than the required in the regular use of Rapid for creating portlets. In our case it has been used to provide a user-friendly interface for perfusion analysis that covers from volume reconstruction to results visualisation.