Lotus Notes Application Components

• Uses Lotus Notes version 7
• Recently migrated email messaging to Microsoft Exchange/Outlook platform
• Next step is to migrate Lotus Notes applications to the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server - MOSS 2007
• Thousands of Lotus Notes applications
• Multiple databases use Standard Lotus Notes templates for:

• Discussion
• Mail
• Logs
• Documents Sharing

• Different custom templates
• Different databases also implement workflow functionality
• Some does not use any template
• Initial scope of the project may be to select 100-150 databases for conversion to MOSS 2007

 

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) – Architecture

 

MOSS Architecture Components relevant to the Applications are:

• Libraries (unstructured information) and Lists (Structured/Data)

• Libraries support folders and versioning
• Lists can be standard (tasks, calendar) or custom (business entities)

• Communication

• Announcements
• Discussions

• Workflow

• To manage life-cycle of an item
• Driven through business rules
• User Roles based

• Feature Framework

• Packaging of SharePoint Elements into Business Process Functions

• Events Processing

• Changes, Addition, Removal of List items, schema changes

 

MOSS Application & Lotus Notes Database Site

• Site contains all of the above SharePoint Elements

• Centralized Site Columns collection defines all entities for the Sites Collection

 

SharePoint Application – Recommended Pattern
Lotus Notes to SharePoint Migration

• Application Workspace

• Lists, Site Columns, Document Libraries, Static Content

• Custom Forms

• ASP.NET web-pages designed for better presentation and Customer branded look and feel (Master pages and CSS)
• Web-parts for common business objects and functions – reusable in other applications

• Workflows configured for within and cross-application tasks orchestration
• Site Columns for common data definition and records storage

• Develop data relationships for within and cross-site lookups
• Reference data can be managed using standard list forms – saves time and cost

• Views – to view lists ordered according to the business function
• Dashboards – to aggregate Status from multiple sources
• Event Handlers for business processes
• Security – using SharePoint Roles based security integrated with Active Directory
• Package SharePoint solutions for ease of deployment

 

Benefits of Migrating from Lotus Notes to SharePoint

• Reduces the Need for Business to have their own IT shops

SharePoint is user self service driven so Business will not wait on scarce development resources for common informationsharing applications or tasks.

 

Provides a supported environment for the business to build collaborative environments and applications.

• Reduces the need for Custom Software Development

Being an end user tool will need fewer custom development resources compared to Lotus Notes.

 

Reduces the development effort typical information sharing, collaboration, search and forms applications by at least 50%.

• Enterprise wide adoption could potentially lead to cost savings

80% solution for Content Management, Document Management, Reporting, and Collaboration for the Enterprise.

 

Reduces cost of licensing for more expensive platforms like Business Objects, Documentum, FileNet, among others

• Improves collaboration nationwide including overseas and outside entities:

SharePoint being a web based platform – allows for easier collaboration and integration with nationwide and overseas resources.

 

Allows for the traditional “network drives” and email to be replaced with better sharing, versioning and document control functionality.

 

Faster response times for users from any location due to web based architecture.

• Reduces support and dependency on Notes client with a web based platform.

Uses Web technologies, XML and Web Services

• The only Microsoft product that provides the integration and collaboration    features with Outlook, Active Directory and Microsoft Office.

Conference Room Reservation System Case Study

 

 

Our client was using a Lotus based application to manage a Conference Room Reservation business process that was required to be converted into an attractive portal. Inefficient work flows and scattered communication processes were a source of major frustration. When the company needed help to transform the system quickly, the answer came in the form of SharePoint Portal. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 was a good fit given the functional requirements of the project.

 

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VisiMigrate

 

VisiMigrate proficiently migrates data from Lotus Notes into Share Point without loss. During migration, you can convert application data as per your convenience before transferring to SharePoint. The system allows you to map a single Lotus view to multiple Share Point lists and vise versa. Multithreaded application implementation dramatically reduces migration process time when compared with other data migration tools.

 

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