A method of automatically creating portlets for a portal system can include identifying a location of structured data described by a data model specification and automatically determining, from the data model specification, relationships between a plurality of objects within the structured data. The method further can include automatically generating a plurality of portlets, wherein each portlet is configured to query the structured data according to the relationships specified within the data model specification. One or more communication links between at least two of the portlets can be automatically created according to the relationships specified within the data model specification.