The Australian ERP industry has matched global trends in ERP usage and in 2001/2002 SAP has made moves to introduce a "second and third wave" of functionality in ERP systems. Research up to date has been limited especially in the relation to market penetration and effectiveness of these new "second wave" products in the Australian region. Companies around the world are exploring various Internet business models, mostly B2B & B2C, to evaluate their potential and business implications. A number of Australian companies have realised the relative quick gains with low associated risks that can be achieved through the business to employee (B2E) model. Employee Self Service (ESS) is a solution based on the B2E model that enables employee's access to the corporate human resource information system. This paper looks at the development of the human resources (HR) portal and presents the findings of a case study of a leading Australian telecommunications company that has implemented a "second wave" ESS portal. A model depicting portal maturity is presented and analysis shows that the ESS portal can be categorised as first generation with an "Access Rich" focus. Planned developments for moving the portal to second generation with a collaboration focus are proceeding.