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Usage Monitor is a great tool for tracking database activity.  But this means it can also be used to prove lack of activity.  Usage Monitor uses a top down filter scheme to determine what to watch.  So the configuration shown below says to ignore anything I do to my own mail file, because I am supposed to be reading that.  It also says to ignore anything any of the admins do in the tech Support mail file, because we are also supposed to be reading that.  The last entry says for all other mail databases, track what admins do in these files.  An empty log file will show that there was no unauthorized access of your users mail files.  Note that you would need to add a specific reference for every member of the admin team to ignore activity to their own mail file.
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Posted by Karen Frasca At 1:32 PM | Location Beverly MA | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category Lotus Notes Migration

Last week, Google announced its tool to aid migration from Lotus Notes to Google Apps, and they dropped a few respectable names of people/organizations used as case studies to prove how smoothly this all went.

Upon further investigation, it’s apparent that the migration from Lotus Notes currently includes only mail, contacts and calendar. While these are undoubtedly the most used applications in any Notes/Domino -based organization, they are far from the only applications used. If they were, the organization in all likelihood would have moved away from Notes years ago. So what about all the other mission-critical applications and data stored within them?

Well, a whitepaper from Google states:

“Based on where the targets are for various applications, different tools can be used for importing data into Google Apps . Import APIs for Google Spreadsheets and Google Sites are the two primary mechanisms for moving data into Google Apps.”

I searched on Google’s site, and on the web using Google, for more information on these API’s and found nothing. Even a similar question, submitted on Google’s Help Forum on July 16^th, hasn’t been answered, at the time of this post, by Google or anyone else.

Posted by Richard Sharpe At 9:59 AM | Location Beverly, MA | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category Coding Practices
Due to circumstances I will not go into here (except to say that none of them were any fun), I had the opportunity to drive several different vehicles than my normal transportation. I was on my way home and it started to rain, Now how do you turn on the wipers? Is it that dial or on that stick thing? No, that's the rear wiper. Oops, that's the sun roof, not what I wanted on a rainy day. I finally got that thing working.

Now it is getting dark - how do I turn on the lights? It's dark outside and now it's dark inside and I can't even see where a switch might be. But I know if I open the door a light will go on inside - better pull over first before opening that door. Fortunately, the turn signal is one of those things that is consistent for every car (it's the stick on the left side of the steering wheel - you push it down to tell people you are turning left and push it up to tell people you are turning right. I say that because evidence suggests not many people know this.) And you know the other thing that is consistent between cars? The ever intuitive push-and-hold to set your pre-sets on the radio.

The point, is, if your controls are consistent between your applications, it is easier for your users when switching from one to another. And it doesn't really matter that the icon for save is a floppy disk (at least it is a 3.5 inch disc, not a 5 1/4 one!) - people just know what it means. And don't worry - the terminology will eventually catch up (who knows what a Return key did?).

Posted by John Kingsley At 4:56 PM | Location Beverly, MA USA | Permalink | Comments (3) |      

Category Application Development Best Practices Coding Practices
While there can be many contributing factors to data integrity errors, making sure you understand the true cause of your data integrity issues has to be the first step. Failing to do this will cause you to be continuously fixing symptoms and never have a complete solution. To help prevent data integrity problems from occurring in the first place, you need to look at your data security and database usage statistics to determine where data is actively being compromised or has potential to be compromised. The only way to do this is by knowing exactly what your users are doing. You should design your application data management policy so you can answer the following questions:

• Question: Do you know who is accessing and changing vital or sensitive data?
• Comment: Collect the access logs for all critical applications and documents. Design all applications to support document change histories.
  

• Question: Are you confident you know who has access to your high impact production applications?
• Comment: Make sure all application access is regularly audited. Preventing abuse by unauthorized users is the foundation of any data integrity policy. This is outlined in the Security Management policy.

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Posted by Scott Johnsen At 9:49 AM | Location Beverly, MA | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category Data Management Risk
Where applications replicate or update data with external sources such as relational database systems, changes to applications must be tested extensively with realistic data. If done incorrectly, small changes to applications can have catastrophic effects on data integrity. Such situations require:

• Defined processes for analyzing and assessing whether data integrity requirements have been met
• Detailed rollback plans including plans for how to restore integrity of existing data and new data created post-deployment
• Coded and tested rollback functionality, if applicable
• Documented process for determining if the planned rollback can successfully restore data integrity
• Identification of parties responsible for decision making in the event that roll-backs or other drastic actions are required

Upgrades to applications that require data transformations pose similar risks and should be handled with the same level of care.

Posted by Scott Johnsen At 3:05 PM | Location Beverly, MA USA | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category Snapper
Quick tip allowing you to automatically watch all the db's you are working on in snapper.

In the database path just put an Asterisk (*). This will watch all design change saves in Domino  Designer

Posted by John Coolidge At 11:50 AM | Location Beverly Ma USA | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category Data Management
A contributing factor for many data integrity issues is replication. Though the Notes replication technology speeds application deployment to diverse environments, it can also erode data integrity when remote users attempt to merge conflict documents post-replication. Resolving save/replication conflicts is typically a manual process that is very time-consuming, especially with large database installations, and is often ignored.

Data management policies should include guidelines on how to deal with replication conflicts. This can even be done on a per application basis. There should be clear instructions describing when to merge two conflicts, and when to delete conflicts. Decisions for what action to take regarding replication conflicts should not be left up to the user who discovers it.

Posted by Scott Johnsen At 6:57 AM | Location Beverly, MA USA | Permalink | Comments (1) |      

Category User Groups

I'm sure most of you are aware of the Lotus User Group site, but how up to date is it? I'm not pointing out that I have seen any inaccuracies, far from it as I find the site excellent, but I see for us here in Europe there is no Swedish user group - which I find hard to believe, nor Finnish - though I have heard rumours of one being set up.

As you all know, the community is one of the real strengths of Notes but there are still Notes professionals who don't participate despite a thriving group in their area, and corners of the world that are not covered.

So the point of this post is simple; if you aren't involved in a user group at all then please follow these steps:
Go to http://lotususergroup.org/usergroups.nsf/Rugs#top and see if there is one for your area.
If there is one, go to their website.
Look for the next event, visit the forums, register. Do whatever you can to get involved and feel the Lotus love.

If there isn't, post in the forums about it or post a reply here because if there is a group that isn't listed then someone might point you in the right direction. If there is no user group, the more people there are that would be interested in your area, the more chance that someone (maybe you) will take the initiative and set one up and spread the Lotus love where you are.

Fundamentally, at Teamstudio we want the Notes community to thrive and will do whatever we can to strengthen it. One of these ways is through user groups and we look to support user groups wherever we can, whether it is through sponsorship, speaker slots or something less visible. So if you run a user group, feel free to contact us so that we can work together to make your user group a beacon for the Notes community in your country or region.

Posted by Grant Norman At 10:29 AM | Location Huntingdon, England | Permalink | Comments (0) |      

Category Data Management
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics, Benjamim Disraeli

Earlier this week, I was doing a little market research to determine the market share for operating systems and their various versions. I thought I could do a quick Google search and be done with it. In spite of the fact that there is a lot of information out there on operating system market share, most of it is either too broad to be useful (to me) or too specific.

The difficulty of obtaining the information I want is likely due to a number of things, some intentional and others perhaps not. First, companies such as Gartner Group, IDC and Forrester make a lot of money selling this sort of research. I can’t really blame them for not wanting to give that away.

Second, vendors are often times spinning the data in order to make themselves look better than they might otherwise look. (e.g. HEADLINE: WhackyWhidgets is the leading supplier of widgets! BURIED IN THE SMALL PRINT: WhackyWhidgets is the leading supplier of widgets for businesses in the process manufacturing industry with revenues between $20 million and $23.5 million.)

Third, it is easy to take data that is almost what I want and try to turn it into exactly what I want. The result is misleading or possibly out right wrong. Giving most of us the benefit of the doubt, I don’t think this is intentional really. We might not have asked, or received, all the information really needed. In this case, the information doesn’t exist. Or we might not have organized the data in a way that makes it useful for the current need. Or the data might be stored in different databases and impossible to combine in a meaningful and accurate way.

Obviously there are many more possibilities as to why data might be misleading or wrong. It’s worth reviewing, especially when the data is used to make strategic decisions or it is needed for audits. Reviewing the quality of your data will certainly require less time now then it will when you need to do the analysis. Then, it might also be too late.

Posted by Scott Johnsen At 8:07 AM | Location Beverly, MA USA | Permalink | Comments (0) |