Notes on Productivity www.NotesOnProductivity.com http://www.notesonproductivity.com/ica/nop.nsf/ en-us Mon, 8 Mar 2010 16:15:00 -0700 Move Notes/Domino Apps into the cloud with Phase2 SaaS Mon, 8 Mar 2010 16:15:00 -0700 Phase2 - a recent Lotus Business Partner with big plans. Apparently, they are a company that hosts Notes and Domino apps on a SaaS Model. They contacted me because they had a customer (apparently an Exchange shop) that wanted to talk about using hosted Lotus Notes with our productivity software. That got my attention. I'm always delighted when I can give folks a new outlook on their productivity tools and I love it when folks decide to exchange what they are currently using for Lotus Notes/Domino. I'm all for anything that can be done to make this process easier. I had hoped that LotusLive iNotes or LotusLive Notes might be that solution but it's not ready for SMBs yet and, from what I understand, they don't yet allow the use of custom mail templates, like eProductivity which is a deal killer for our clients that want to be more productive with Notes. I've always wanted to see someone offer Notes in a SaaS model without the heavy toll of a large startup fee or a high minimum number of users. It looks like Phase2 might fit that bill.

There's another reason why I'm interested in learning how well Notes as SaaS works: As a result of my public speaking on productivity and knowledge management, I'm frequently in a position to show how I use Lotus Notes to get things done, this invariably leads to a number of discussions with people that have never used Notes/Domino before and who want to know how to get started. Unfortunately, I can't help these people and I hesitate to encourage them because I don't want to inundate our support desk with calls from first-time Notes users that can't find the download link from the IBM site or who have questions about instal
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=move-notesdomino-apps-into-the-cloud-with-phase2-saas http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/move-notesdomino-apps-into-the-cloud-with-phase2-saas Lotus Notes Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/move-notesdomino-apps-into-the-cloud-with-phase2-saas?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/move-notesdomino-apps-into-the-cloud-with-phase2-saas Phase2 - a recent Lotus Business Partner with big plans. Apparently, they are a company that hosts Notes and Domino apps on a SaaS Model. They contacted me because they had a customer (apparently an Exchange shop) that wanted to talk about using hosted Lotus Notes with our productivity software. That got my attention. I'm always delighted when I can give folks a new outlook on their productivity tools and I love it when folks decide to exchange what they are currently using for Lotus Notes/Domino.  I'm all for anything that can be done to make this process easier. I had hoped that LotusLive iNotes or LotusLive Notes might be that solution but it's not ready for SMBs yet and, from what I understand, they don't yet allow the use of custom mail templates, like eProductivity which is a deal killer for our clients that want to be more productive with Notes. I've always wanted to see someone offer Notes in a SaaS model without the heavy toll of a large startup fee or a high minimum number of users. It looks like Phase2 might fit that bill.

There's another reason why I'm interested in learning how well Notes as SaaS works: As a result of my public speaking on productivity and knowledge management, I'm frequently in a position to show how I use Lotus Notes to get things done, this invariably leads to a number of discussions with people that have never used Notes/Domino before and who want to know how to get started. Unfortunately, I can't help these people and I hesitate to encourage them because I don't want to inundate our support desk with calls from first-time Notes users that can't find the download link from the IBM site or who have questions about installation. The best I've been able to do so far is to point them to this page I wrote for first-time Notes users and then offer to refer them to any of a number of respected Lotus Business Partners that I know. For Domino hosting, I often refer people to Prominic. Clients that have used them tell me they have been pleased with the result.,

Sometimes, however, a company doesn't want to deal with the  licensing issues involved in managing their own or even a hosted Notes/Domino solution. Even with the reduced complexity of licensing (thank you Lotus!), it can take a lot of time and money to stand up a Lotus software suite with Notes, Domino, Quickr, Connections and Sametime. if someone can get this right as a turn-key operation, I think it would lower the cost (and hesitation) of doing pilots with the Lotus software suite. This is where it looks like Phase2 may comes in with their Lotus as SaaS model -- at least if I understand their web site right. They will set up the environment and provide the licensing for one monthly fee. (See update below)

This afternoon, I spoke with the folks at Phase2.com again. Apparently, one of their clients asked if it was possible to connect our eProductivity suite with their hosted Notes account. Absolutely - it's just a mail template that can be installed by end-user or administrator. I told them I was interested to see how the Phase2 customer experience worked. I wanted to know just how easy it is for a new user to request, provision, and deploy hosted Lotus Notes in order to experience the power of Notes. Well, it looks like I will soon have my answer. the folks at Phase2 are going to set me up with a few test accounts so that I can test the process. I’ll plan to write a follow-up post to report on how things went after I've had a few weeks experience with their offering.

I'm glad to see there’s someone hosting Lotus products in the cloud using a SaaS model for small numbers of users and I look forward to testing their solution.

Meanwhile, you can learn more at Phase2.com.

Update 3/8/2010: According to Phase2, they have negotiated a special license agreement with IBM which allows them to do this. I will try to share more details as I learn them.

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/move-notesdomino-apps-into-the-cloud-with-phase2-saas http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/move-notesdomino-apps-into-the-cloud-with-phase2-saas?opendocument&comments Lotus Knows value creation begins with me Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:49:16 -0700 Related Information:
ICA announces eProductivity 2.0 for Lotus Notes 8.51
ICA announces the upcoming release of eProductivity for IBM Lotus Foundations
Lotus Notes and Me: Maximizing personal productivity with IBM Lotus Notes
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=lotus-knows-value-creation-begins-with-me http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-value-creation-begins-with-me Lotusphere Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-value-creation-begins-with-me?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-value-creation-begins-with-me Related Information:
ICA announces eProductivity 2.0 for Lotus Notes 8.51
ICA announces the upcoming release of eProductivity for IBM Lotus Foundations
Lotus Notes and Me: Maximizing personal productivity with IBM Lotus Notes

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/lotus-knows-value-creation-begins-with-me http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-value-creation-begins-with-me?opendocument&comments Why is my Lotus Notes so slow? (how to improve your personal productivity by sharpening the saw) Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:39:05 -0700
For the past 17 years, I've been serving organizations and individuals that use Lotus Notes to get things done. My focus is on high performance knowledge work and I teach the importance of having the right tools for the job and knowing how to use them to be productive. Unfortunately, many people don't give a thought to their systems and what makes them work well.
Instead of using tools that are optimized for the job, users often struggle and are less productive than they could be. That's like using a dull saw to cut a tree down -- you can do it, but it's going to take a lot more work to get the job done.
As I work with and coach clients around the world that use Lotus Notes, I'm often asked why Notes and their systems in general seem to get slower and slower. While there are many parts to the answer, the good news is that there is much you can do to improve the user experience in terms of performance.

First, let me provide some context: for purposes of this discussion I'll be referring to the Lotus Notes Mail file; however, the concepts I describe can be applied equally to any Lotus Notes database or application.

Before we can talk about the things that can be done to speed up Lotus Notes, we must first understand what aspects of your system and Notes affect performance. I have broken these down into three areas: System, Lotus Notes, and User Data. Elements in each of these areas will affect end-user performance. Some are things you can change easily; some are not. Let's take a look:

[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=why-is-my-lotus-notes-so-slow-how-to-improve-your-personal-productivity-by-sharpening-the-saw http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-is-my-lotus-notes-so-slow-how-to-improve-your-personal-productivity-by-sharpening-the-saw Lotus Notes Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-is-my-lotus-notes-so-slow-how-to-improve-your-personal-productivity-by-sharpening-the-saw?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-is-my-lotus-notes-so-slow-how-to-improve-your-personal-productivity-by-sharpening-the-saw
For the past 17 years, I've been serving organizations and individuals that use Lotus Notes to get things done. My focus is on high performance knowledge work and I teach the importance of having the right tools for the job and knowing how to use them to be productive. Unfortunately, many people don't give a thought to their systems and what makes them work well.
Instead of using tools that are optimized for the job, users often struggle and are less productive than they could be. That's like using a dull saw to cut a tree down -- you can do it, but it's going to take a lot more work to get the job done.
As I work with and coach clients around the world that use Lotus Notes, I'm often asked why Notes and their systems in general seem to get slower and slower. While there are many parts to the answer, the good news is that there is much you can do to improve the user experience in terms of performance.

First, let me provide some context: for purposes of this discussion I'll be referring to the Lotus Notes Mail file; however, the concepts I describe can be applied equally to any Lotus Notes database or application.

Before we can talk about the things that can be done to speed up Lotus Notes, we must first understand what aspects of your system and Notes affect performance. I have broken these down into three areas: System, Lotus Notes, and User Data. Elements in each of these areas will affect end-user performance. Some are things you can change easily; some are not. Let's take a look:

I. SYSTEM
There's no question that better and faster hardware will [usually] lead to better overall performance at the desktop. But, not everyone can run out and replace their hardware. Still, it's valuable to understand the system elements that will affect your performance. these include:

CPU and RAM Memory - the speed of the processor and amount of available memory will always play a huge part in determining overall performance. Often, big leaps in performance can be gained simply be adding additional memory to the system. An $80 investment in memory chips can save hours each week. Bottom line: the more memory your system has available, the less time it will spend swapping memory to disk.

# of applications running - Each time you open an application, additional system memory is required. If your system does not have enough memory (RAM) it will swap to disk and you will be constrained by the speed of your disk. (See below). If you have lots of memory available, great - go ahead and open 20 applications. If not, consider closing a few windows.

Hard Drive Disk Speed - It goes without saying that the faster the disk the better overall performance. But every disk will run faster when the files are defragmented. Defragmenting optimizes the information on the disk so thet it can be located and retrieved as quickly as possible. This is something anyone can do and it doesn't cost a penny. I recommend running your disk defragmenter at least once a month. I run mine once a week and sometimes more often when I want higher performance. The less time the disk has to spend locating all of the parts of a file, the faster the response.

Disk Encryption - If you are running software that encrypts the contents of your disk, know that you are trading security for speed. Big time. Each time you read or write data it has to be encrypted/decrypted and you pay a penalty in speed. I usually recommend encrypting only a portion of the disk drive where sensitive documents are stored and, when possible, use hardware encryption. IF you do encrypt your hard drive, be sure to disable encryption in your Lotus Notes databases as you will pay a steep price for double encryption. (More on that later.)

Disk Space Available - it's important that you have sufficient disk space for swap files, temporary files, indexes, etc. I try not to exceed 60% of usable disk space.

OK, we've covered the system elements. Your key takeaway should be to use memory wisely and defragment your disks regularly. Now, let's take a look at Lotus Notes...

II. LOTUS NOTES

Basic or Standard Mode? - Lotus Notes 8.x provides many powerful and productive new features but if you are running on an older system it may slow to a crawl. If you are running Notes 8.x and your system does not meet IBM's recommended minimum requirements , consider running in "Basic" mode instead of "Standard" mode. This will speed things up until you can get faster hardware.

Database Encryption - Lotus Notes databases can be encrypted. The good news is that the encryption is hidden from the user and the entire process is transparent to the user. Well, mostly. When you enable encryption on a Notes database, every read or write needs to be processed by the encryption software and this can slow down performance. For laptops, I recommend using medium encryption; for desktops, I usually turn off encryption. In any case, if you encrypt your Notes data, do not also encrypt the disk drive that it's stored on. if you do, your system will be come painfully slow, as every read or write must be encrypted not once but twice. Did I mention that encryption will slow down your system? It's a tradeoff between security and performance.

Local or Server Replica? - The IBM recommended best practice for Lotus Notes & Domino performance is to use Local replicas. With few exceptions, my experience has been shown a local replica will almost always outperform a server replica. When you use a local replica you are not constrained by the speed or congestion of your network or internet connection. This becomes even more relevant if you are using WiFi, a wireless WAN card, or a VPN connection. Bottom line, for maximum performance, I always recommend using a local replica. The good news is that you can set this up in 2 minutes and then forget about it while Lotus Notes handles the details. It is also possible for the Notes administrator to enable this via a policy setting for all users.

Network Compression Enabled? - Current versions of Lotus Notes support network compression. If you do not have this turned on, DO IT NOW. It will greatly boost your overall Lotus Notes performance. In my experience, it doubled the performance of databases that I access on my server. It also dramatically reduced my replication time.

Full-Text Index, or Not? - Lotus Notes can build a full-text index of all of the information in a Notes database, including information contained inside most file attachments. This is an easy way to speed up performance. When full-text indexing is enabled, Notes has less work to do to find the information you seek. Bottom line: for faster performance, always turn on full-text indexing, especially on your mail file.

OK, we've covered the Lotus Notes elements. Your key takeaway should be to use a local replica, with full-text indexing enabled, and the lowest level of encryption needed. Now, let's look at your data...

III. USER DATA

There are several elements of user data that work together to determine the performance you will receive when using Lotus Notes. This is especially true when using your mail file (which, as I explained, also contains calendar and tasks and more...). Let's look at these in greater detail:

File Size - In Lotus Notes, all of the data and applications are stored in a file on disk, often known as an .NSF file. While there's no practical limit to the size of this file, there are some things you need to know - especially when it comes to the size of your mail file. The first thing to know is that your Lotus Notes mail file doesn't contain just mail. It also contains your calendar and tasks. Also, it may contain contacts and journal/notebook entries if you sync these to your mail file. The point is, there's a lot going on in your mail file and it is constantly accessed during the course of the day. The smaller you can keep your file sizes, the better. I like to keep current information in my mail file and I archive old information when possible. This helps me keep my mail file size down and my system running as fast as possible.

# Documents - It almost goes without saying that the more documents (emails/calendar/tasks/attachments, etc) that you have in your database the more that needs to be processed. I'm a pack rat and I like to keep lots of history, but I don't keep it all in my mail file. (That's what archives are for.) For faster performance, store all you need to (or are permitted to) and no more. Don't be afraid to use the delete key.

# Folders & Views - Folders and Views are powerful features of Lotus Notes that allow you to organize and view the contents of a Notes database in different way. Used appropriately, these can greatly boost your productivity. At the same time, it's important to create only the folders and views that you need. Creating custom views is beyond the reach of most users so I will talk about folders instead. A folder is a collection of documents in a Notes database. Each time you open a folder, it must review and collect the documents it needs to show you. The more folders and documents to process the longer it can take. I'm just say'n. One more thing: if you sync your mail file to a PDA or smartphone, some of these devices may have limits on the number of folders that will sync. For example, some BlackBerry devices/software will not sync more than 255 folders.

Heavy Tasks or Calendar user? - The inbox folder in the Lotus Notes mail file shows all newly received email. There's no processing for Notes to do. On the other hand, if you are someone that actually processes your mail into calendar or tasks (and I hope you do) you will need to switch between the inbox and other views. These other views make use of a SELECT statement in Notes to filter the information that you see. The benefit is that you see only what you need; however, there's a small performance hit for that SELECT statement. If you have a Notes mail file or a system that is already slow and you suddenly start using Calendar, tasks, or even eProductivity in a big way, it may feel like Notes has suddenly slowed down. It probably hasn't. Rather, your usage pattern has shifted from living in your inbox to using other views. The good news is that many/any of the tips in this blog post can be applied to help improve performance.

eProductivity Enabled? - If you are using eProductivity for IBM Lotus Notes, then several additional views will be added to your mail file. These views allow eProductivity to filter and present only the relevant information to you when you need to see it. This productivity comes at a small price in terms of system performance, as eProductivity needs to scan through your mail file to find the relevant information. If you are running on a local replica and your Lotus Notes is already running fast, then this will be barely noticeable. On the other hand, if you are running on a server replica or if your Lotus Notes is already running slow for any of the reasons mentioned above, your performance could slow dramatically. The good news, is that there are many things that you can do to easily and quickly boost your performance and productivity.

File Attachments  - Email is an easy way to exchange files with others, but it's not the best place to store them. I won't lecture you on what you should/should not store in your mail file here, but I will remind you that large file attachments will slow down your system. For most Notes databases, this is barely noticeable, but in your mail file, where performance is important, I recommend deleting or archiving any file attachments that you do not need to have in your mail file.

CONCLUSION
I hope you find that this blog post helpful and that you are able to use some of the information I have provided to improve your system performance and your personal productivity. This information comes from my experience building systems and from my 17 years of consulting and coaching clients that use Lotus Notes. If you have feedback or experience to share, I hope you will take the time to post your comments so that we can all learn.

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/why-is-my-lotus-notes-so-slow-how-to-improve-your-personal-productivity-by-sharpening-the-saw http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-is-my-lotus-notes-so-slow-how-to-improve-your-personal-productivity-by-sharpening-the-saw?opendocument&comments Lotusphere - transforming the way we do business Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:21:22 -0400
For the latest information, PlanetLotus is a great aggregator site for all things Lotus. You can also follow the real-time twitter feeds at hash tag #LS10 or #LotusKnows.

Meanwhile, I will be presenting my session in Dolphin Southern II at 4:45 PM Today.
BP302 Lotus Notes & Me: Maximizing Personal Productivity with IBM Lotus Notes

I hope to see you there.
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=lotusphere-monday-recap http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotusphere-monday-recap Lotusphere Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotusphere-monday-recap?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotusphere-monday-recap
For the latest information, PlanetLotus is a great aggregator site for all things Lotus. You can also follow the real-time twitter feeds at hash tag #LS10 or #LotusKnows.

Meanwhile, I will be presenting my session in Dolphin Southern II at 4:45 PM Today.
        BP302 Lotus Notes & Me: Maximizing Personal Productivity with IBM Lotus Notes

I hope to see you there.

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/lotusphere-monday-recap http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotusphere-monday-recap?opendocument&comments IBM introduces new Lotus Solutions Catalog Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:37:38 -0400 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=ibm-introduces-new-lotus-solutions-catalog http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/ibm-introduces-new-lotus-solutions-catalog Collaborative Technology Ryan Heathers http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/ibm-introduces-new-lotus-solutions-catalog?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/ibm-introduces-new-lotus-solutions-catalog
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/ibm-introduces-new-lotus-solutions-catalog http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/ibm-introduces-new-lotus-solutions-catalog?opendocument&comments Transforming a Senior Executive’s productivity Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:29:01 -0400 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=transforming-a-senior-executives-productivity http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/transforming-a-senior-executives-productivity Getting Things Done Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/transforming-a-senior-executives-productivity?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/transforming-a-senior-executives-productivity
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/transforming-a-senior-executives-productivity http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/transforming-a-senior-executives-productivity?opendocument&comments Elegant GTD- IBM’s new cloud opportunity? Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:13:21 -0400 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=elegant-gtd--ibms-new-cloud-opportunity http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/elegant-gtd--ibms-new-cloud-opportunity Getting Things Done Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/elegant-gtd--ibms-new-cloud-opportunity?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/elegant-gtd--ibms-new-cloud-opportunity
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/elegant-gtd--ibms-new-cloud-opportunity http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/elegant-gtd--ibms-new-cloud-opportunity?opendocument&comments Debunking 5 Lotus Notes Myths Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:56:19 -0400 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=debunking-5-lotus-notes-myths http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/debunking-5-lotus-notes-myths Lotus Notes Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/debunking-5-lotus-notes-myths?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/debunking-5-lotus-notes-myths
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/debunking-5-lotus-notes-myths http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/debunking-5-lotus-notes-myths?opendocument&comments My Lotusphere BOF session: Getting Things Done with IBM Lotus Notes Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:00:00 -0700 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=my-lotusphere-bof-session-getting-things-done-with-ibm-lotus-notes http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-bof-session-getting-things-done-with-ibm-lotus-notes Lotusphere Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-bof-session-getting-things-done-with-ibm-lotus-notes?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-bof-session-getting-things-done-with-ibm-lotus-notes
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/my-lotusphere-bof-session-getting-things-done-with-ibm-lotus-notes http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-bof-session-getting-things-done-with-ibm-lotus-notes?opendocument&comments My Lotusphere session: Maximizing Personal Productivity with Lotus Notes Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:12:00 -0400 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=my-lotusphere-session-maximizing-personal-productivity-with-lotus-notes http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-session-maximizing-personal-productivity-with-lotus-notes Lotusphere Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-session-maximizing-personal-productivity-with-lotus-notes?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-session-maximizing-personal-productivity-with-lotus-notes
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/my-lotusphere-session-maximizing-personal-productivity-with-lotus-notes http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/my-lotusphere-session-maximizing-personal-productivity-with-lotus-notes?opendocument&comments "Wicked Cool" - David Allen Wishing for a Gtd Enabled Blackberry to Use with Lotus Notes Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:06:57 -0700 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=wicked-cool-david-allen-wishing-for-a-gtd-enabled-blackberry-Lotus-Notes http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/wicked-cool-david-allen-wishing-for-a-gtd-enabled-blackberry-Lotus-Notes BlackBerry Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/wicked-cool-david-allen-wishing-for-a-gtd-enabled-blackberry-Lotus-Notes?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/wicked-cool-david-allen-wishing-for-a-gtd-enabled-blackberry-Lotus-Notes
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/wicked-cool-david-allen-wishing-for-a-gtd-enabled-blackberry-Lotus-Notes http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/wicked-cool-david-allen-wishing-for-a-gtd-enabled-blackberry-Lotus-Notes?opendocument&comments David Allen: The combined power of Lotus Notes Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:28:48 -0700 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=david-allen-the-combined-power-of-lotus-notes-and-eproductivity http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/david-allen-the-combined-power-of-lotus-notes-and-eproductivity Collaborative Technology Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/david-allen-the-combined-power-of-lotus-notes-and-eproductivity?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/david-allen-the-combined-power-of-lotus-notes-and-eproductivity
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/david-allen-the-combined-power-of-lotus-notes-and-eproductivity http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/david-allen-the-combined-power-of-lotus-notes-and-eproductivity?opendocument&comments Video: David Allen- GTD and Cloud Computing Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:58:03 -0700 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=video-david-allen-gtd-and-cloud-computing http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/video-david-allen-gtd-and-cloud-computing Collaborative Technology Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/video-david-allen-gtd-and-cloud-computing?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/video-david-allen-gtd-and-cloud-computing
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/video-david-allen-gtd-and-cloud-computing http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/video-david-allen-gtd-and-cloud-computing?opendocument&comments A NOTEable fashion statement for LS10 Wed, 6 Jan 2010 01:30:05 -0700 people wearing yellow shirts on the airplane or old-timer's wearing their vintage Lotus T's, there's plenty of opportunity for the truly yellow to show off their memorabilia. (I was thinking of making a jacket of Notes 2.0 OS/2 3.5" diskettes to wear).

Anyway, I wonder how many of you still have one of these buttons to wear?



This was from Lotusphere 1995 - long before it was cool to be yellow.

If you have one of these buttons, I hope you will wear it proudly and say hello!

Read the full story: Managing the flood of e-mail
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=a-noteable-fashion-statement-for-ls10 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/a-noteable-fashion-statement-for-ls10 Lotusphere Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/a-noteable-fashion-statement-for-ls10?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/a-noteable-fashion-statement-for-ls10 people wearing yellow shirts on the airplane or old-timer's wearing their vintage Lotus T's, there's plenty of opportunity for the truly yellow to show off their memorabilia. (I was thinking of making a jacket of Notes 2.0 OS/2 3.5" diskettes to wear).

Anyway, I wonder how many of you still have one of these buttons to wear?

Loyal Notes user button from Lotusphere 1995. (Click for large view)

This was from Lotusphere 1995 - long before it was cool to be yellow.

If you have one of these buttons, I hope you will wear it proudly and say hello!

Read the full story: Managing the flood of e-mail

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/a-noteable-fashion-statement-for-ls10 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/a-noteable-fashion-statement-for-ls10?opendocument&comments Does your SmartPhone Support Nested eMail Folders? Sat, 2 Jan 2010 21:05:31 -0700

This works fine in Notes, on the web (thanks to iNotes) and on my BlackBerry Bold, via BES.



What I want to know is how well nested folders are supported on other SmartPhones

How you can help:

If you are synching a SmartPhone with Lotus Notes

1. Send yourself 5 sample sample emails to play with.

2. From the Notes client, take the first three of these and file them into a NEW folder using these examples:
Test\Folder1
Test\Folder2
Test\Folder3

3. Now, sync your Notes mail with your mobile device and check to see if the folders appear

4. Finally, from your SmartPhone, take the last two sample emails and try to file them into Folder1 and Folder 2 respectively.

5. Post a comment here and let me know how this worked for you. Be sure to indicate the Type of SmartPhone and synchronization tool used. (e.g. BES, Traveler, mNotes, etc.)

Thanks!
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=does-your-smartphone-support-nested-email-folders http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/does-your-smartphone-support-nested-email-folders Mobile Computing Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/does-your-smartphone-support-nested-email-folders?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/does-your-smartphone-support-nested-email-folders
20100102TestFoldersOnLotusNotes.jpg
This works fine in Notes, on the web (thanks to iNotes) and on my BlackBerry Bold, via BES.  

20100102TestFoldersOnBlackBerry.jpg

What I want to know is how well nested folders are supported on other SmartPhones
               
How you can help:

If you are synching a SmartPhone with Lotus Notes

1. Send yourself 5 sample sample emails to play with.

2. From the Notes client, take the first three of these and file them into a NEW folder using these examples:
        Test\Folder1
        Test\Folder2
        Test\Folder3

3. Now, sync your Notes mail with your mobile device and check to see if the folders appear

4. Finally, from your SmartPhone, take the last two sample emails and try to file them into Folder1 and Folder 2 respectively.

5. Post a comment here and let me know how this worked for you. Be sure to indicate the Type of SmartPhone and synchronization tool used. (e.g. BES, Traveler, mNotes, etc.)

Thanks!

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/does-your-smartphone-support-nested-email-folders http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/does-your-smartphone-support-nested-email-folders?opendocument&comments Lotus Knows Santa’s going lean this year Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:53:00 -0700 http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=lotus-knows-santa-is-going-lean-this-year http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-santa-is-going-lean-this-year Lotus Notes Ryan Heathers http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-santa-is-going-lean-this-year?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-santa-is-going-lean-this-year
Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/lotus-knows-santa-is-going-lean-this-year http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/lotus-knows-santa-is-going-lean-this-year?opendocument&comments Why should I use Lotus Notes as opposed to some other e-mail software? Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:47:44 -0700 The short answer is: because Lotus Notes goes beyond traditional e-mail...
I came across this FAQ from the University of Windsor's IT team and I think they've done an outstanding job of describing a few of the reasons that Lotus Notes is more than e-mail:

You probably already know that one of the components of Lotus Notes application takes care of receiving and sending e-mail messages and other documents. But Lotus Notes is more than just another e-mail software. Behind the Notes interface that you see before you is a sophisticated system for storing, managing and transmitting information, backed up by a team of well-informed support people located right here on campus. Notes empowers groups of users by offering them a secure delivery and storage system for exchanging documents and ideas in a fast and convenient manner.


You will soon realize that Lotus Notes Mail is equipped with features that exceed that of any software package of its class used on campus to date. At first, you might be using Notes only for e-mail, but soon you will discover the true power of Notes that will allow you to perform different tasks in a quick and convenient manner . There are many advantages in store for those who choose to unleash the full potential of Lotus Notes. With Notes you can store, sort, organize, respond, spell check, embed, view and attach; all with the simple click of a button. Notes combines all the most advanced features of other e-mail applications. It integrates your e-mail with calendar that is built into your mailbox, address book, "ToDo" list and the Web. It streamlines daily information management. It offers workflow and collaboration applications, such as
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=why-should-i-use-lotus-notes-as-opposed-to-some-other-e-mail-software- http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-should-i-use-lotus-notes-as-opposed-to-some-other-e-mail-software- Lotus Notes Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-should-i-use-lotus-notes-as-opposed-to-some-other-e-mail-software-?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-should-i-use-lotus-notes-as-opposed-to-some-other-e-mail-software- The short answer is: because Lotus Notes goes beyond traditional e-mail...

I came across this FAQ from the University of Windsor's IT team and I think they've done an outstanding job of describing a few of the reasons that Lotus Notes is more than e-mail:
 
You probably already know that one of the components of Lotus Notes application takes care of receiving and sending e-mail messages and other documents. But Lotus Notes is more than just another e-mail software. Behind the Notes interface that you see before you is a sophisticated system for storing, managing and transmitting information, backed up by a team of well-informed support people located right here on campus. Notes empowers groups of users by offering them a secure delivery and storage system for exchanging documents and ideas in a fast and convenient manner.


You will soon realize that Lotus Notes Mail is equipped with features that exceed that of any software package of its class used on campus to date. At first, you might be using Notes only for e-mail, but soon you will discover the true power of Notes that will allow you to perform different tasks in a quick and convenient manner . There are many advantages in store for those who choose to unleash the full potential of Lotus Notes. With Notes you can store, sort, organize, respond, spell check, embed, view and attach; all with the simple click of a button. Notes combines all the most advanced features of other e-mail applications. It integrates your e-mail with calendar that is built into your mailbox, address book, "ToDo" list and the Web. It streamlines daily information management. It offers workflow and collaboration applications, such as TeamRooms, Document Libraries, Discussion Forums. Notes security options insure that shared and private documents will not go public. Room & Resource Reservations application allows you to book rooms and resources, such as data projectors, right from your calendar when you schedule a new meeting. And there is more to come...


These folks appear to get the value of Notes and I'm pleased to see they are making efforts to communicate those benefits to others. They have a large number of Notes tech notes and FAQS that you may find helpful, too.

Well done.

Source: University of Windsor FAQ 24

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/why-should-i-use-lotus-notes-as-opposed-to-some-other-e-mail-software- http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/why-should-i-use-lotus-notes-as-opposed-to-some-other-e-mail-software-?opendocument&comments 20 years of Lotus Notes. Looking Back; Looking Forward Mon, 7 Dec 2009 01:23:46 -0700 Carl and Graham about CMS Watch on SharePoint. I'm also pleased that Michael sets a few things straight about Lotus Notes.

I may get cranky from time to time about the marketing perception of Lotus Notes, it's only because I'm passionate about the Lotus Brand and I want the world to know what people are doing with Lotus software today. I have been working with, selling, and integrating enterprise solutions based on Lotus products since before Lotus Notes came on the scene 20 years ago. Further, I like many other Lotus Business Partners are making significant investment in building solutions around the Lotus Platform. We do this because Lotus works and because customers are solving business problems with Lotus applications. I have lots of respect and praise for Lotus Notes, and despite articles like the now retracted CMS Watch post on the difference between SharePoint and Notes, Lotus Notes isn't going away and IBM's not phasing it out. If anything, Lotus Notes is getting stronger.

With Notes 8.5.1 IBM has delivered on its promise to deliver a fully functional cross-platform eclipse-based implementation of Notes that will become the foundation for the next generation of Notes applications. I believe this, combined with the new pus
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=20-years-of-lotus-notes.-looking-back-looking-forward http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/20-years-of-lotus-notes.-looking-back-looking-forward Lotus Notes Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/20-years-of-lotus-notes.-looking-back-looking-forward?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/20-years-of-lotus-notes.-looking-back-looking-forward Carl and Graham about CMS Watch on SharePoint. I'm also pleased that Michael sets a few things straight about Lotus Notes.

I may get cranky  from time to time about the marketing perception of Lotus Notes, it's only because I'm passionate about the Lotus Brand and I want the world to know what people are doing with Lotus software today. I have been working with, selling, and integrating enterprise solutions based on Lotus products since before Lotus Notes came on the scene 20 years ago. Further, I  like many other Lotus Business Partners are making significant investment in building solutions around the Lotus Platform. We do this because Lotus works and because customers are solving business problems with Lotus applications. I have lots of respect and praise for Lotus Notes, and despite articles like the now retracted CMS Watch post on the difference between SharePoint and Notes, Lotus Notes isn't going away and IBM's not phasing it out. If anything, Lotus Notes is getting stronger.

With Notes 8.5.1 IBM has delivered on its promise to deliver a fully functional cross-platform eclipse-based implementation of Notes that will become the foundation for the next generation of Notes applications. I believe this, combined with the new push in Lotus marketing, will help convince the world that the next 20 years of Lotus Notes are likely to be even stronger than the first.

I'm getting ready for our first major snow storm of the season, so not much time for blogging today. I'll try to post more thoughts this week. Meanwhile, Michael's post is a worthwhile read, as is Ed's tribute to the first 20 years of Lotus Notes.

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/20-years-of-lotus-notes.-looking-back-looking-forward http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/20-years-of-lotus-notes.-looking-back-looking-forward?opendocument&comments Thoughts on email archiving (Admins: Here’s how to keep your users from hating you or tell you Lotus Notes sucks) Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:09:09 -0700
I received an email from a customer today asking me a question about email archiving:
"My company requires that I archive my mail for anything that is greater than 30 days old. Many of my lists and contexts have disappeared as a result. NOT GOOD. HELP!"

This kind of problem gives Lotus Notes a bad name

Before I describe the problem and a work-around, I'd like to share another more tragic story: Many years ago, I was hired by a large organization to deliver one of my productivity seminars. This organization had over 180,000 Notes users and they wanted to learn how to use Lotus Notes more effectively; they wanted me to teach their people how to really get things done with Notes.

If you are familiar with David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology or if you have follow my blogs for any period of time, you know the importance of having a single "trusted system" in which to store your actionable information. I was delivering an in-house seminar to about 300 people from one organization and I was talking about the benefits of Lotus Notes and how well Notes works as my "trusted" system when a senior manager from the audience interrupted me:
"Sir, what you describe is fine, but I would never use Lotus Notes as my "trusted system" because I can't trust that Notes won't lose my important information!"

After the audience stopped applauding in agreement, I asked him why he felt that he couldn't trust Lotus Notes and he explained that his calendar and task information would automatically disappear after 90 days, convincing them that Lotus Notes is an untrustworthy (and generally despised) application.

The wind blew out of my sails; I had to agree with him. If my tasks and calendar items disappeared from my system, I wouldn't trust Lotus Notes either. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be this way.

[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=thoughts-on-archiving-how-to-keep-your-users-from-hating-you-or-tell-you-lotus-notes-sucks http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/thoughts-on-archiving-how-to-keep-your-users-from-hating-you-or-tell-you-lotus-notes-sucks Lotus Notes Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/thoughts-on-archiving-how-to-keep-your-users-from-hating-you-or-tell-you-lotus-notes-sucks?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/thoughts-on-archiving-how-to-keep-your-users-from-hating-you-or-tell-you-lotus-notes-sucks
I received an email from a customer today asking me a question about email archiving:
"My company requires that I archive my mail for anything that is greater than 30 days old. Many of my lists and contexts have disappeared as a result. NOT GOOD. HELP!"

This kind of problem gives Lotus Notes a bad name

Before I describe the problem and a work-around, I'd like to share another more tragic story: Many years ago, I was hired by a large organization to deliver one of my productivity seminars. This organization had over 180,000 Notes users  and they wanted to learn how to use Lotus Notes more effectively; they wanted me to teach their people how to really get things done with Notes.

If you are familiar with David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology or if you have follow my blogs for any period of time, you know the  importance of having a single "trusted system" in which to store your actionable information. I was delivering an in-house seminar to about 300 people from one organization and I was talking about the benefits of Lotus Notes and how well Notes works as my "trusted" system when a senior manager from the audience interrupted me:
"Sir, what you describe is fine, but I would never use Lotus Notes as my "trusted system" because I can't trust that Notes won't lose my important information!"

After the audience stopped applauding in agreement, I asked him why he felt that he couldn't trust Lotus Notes and he explained that his calendar and task information would automatically disappear after 90 days, convincing them that Lotus Notes is an untrustworthy (and generally despised) application.

The wind blew out of my sails; I had to agree with him. If my tasks and calendar items disappeared from my system,  I wouldn't trust Lotus Notes either. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be this way.

Apparently, the way the administrators at this organization had configured archiving, ALL of documents in the user's mail file were being archived after 90 days after last modification.

20091027-Archiving_in_Vanila_Notes_8.51_ Default_Settings.jpg
This is a common approach and they used the standard archiving process provided by Lotus. The problem with this approach is that a user's mail file contains much more than just e-mail. A Lotus Notes mail file may contain:
  • E-Mail messages, responses, and drafts, as well as all email filed in folders
  • Calendar entries, including appointments, invitations, events, and recurring entries
  • Tasks, individual and delegated, as well as task tracking information
When the system administrator blindly sets up a rule to archive all documents older than 90 days, much more than email will be lost. Unless the archiving rules exclude calendar and tasks, the user will find calendar entries as well as projects and actions missing from the mail file. No wonder users at so many companies tell me they don't trust Lotus Notes. I wouldn't trust it either!

Fortunately, there's an easy solution
It's important that any archiving policy specifically exclude calendar and tasks or that it intelligently archive only those calendar entries and tasks that no longer have current meaning or action for the user. (Remember, it's ALL about the end-user!)

20091027-Archiving_in_Vanila_Notes_8.51_ My_Settings.jpg

For my clients, I usually recommend the following archiving guidelines:
  • E-Mail: 390 Days AFTER last modification
  • Calendar: 390 Days AFTER the calendar date has passed
  • Tasks: Completed items that are older than 390 days only
I offer my clients these recommendations for archiving based on my own extensive experience consulting with highly productive individuals in organizations large and small. For e-mail, it is unproductive to have to hunt for email in an archive. And, if I don't see an email where I filed it I may not realize that it is still available elsewhere. If I haven't used it in a year, I probably do not need it - at least I do not need it immediately available to me. For Calendar, I have to be able to trust that what I put on my calendar will stay there. Personally, I never allow automatic archiving of my calendar, but for organizations that must do so, I request 390 days. This allows sufficient time after a calendar entry to see the calendar items (e.g. during a weekly or annual review). Finally, for tasks, I personally prefer to manage these myself, but for clients with archiving policies, I insist that tasks not be archived until 390 days after their completion date. Incomplete tasks should never be archived.

Unfortunately, vanilla Lotus Notes does not allow this level of granularity over what is archived. For this reason, I recommend that archiving be set to 390 days after last modification. This is not great - future projects and calendar entries can still be lost - but it is much better than what I see at many organizations we serve.

For our customers that use eProductivity, we created a special Archiving view that accomplishes all of the recommended archiving objectives (and more) with ease:

20091027-Archiving_ eProductivity_View.jpg

So, whose problem is it?
At the end of the day, it is the system administrator's responsibility to ensure that the archiving policy will not cause the users unnecessary data loss and cause them to distrust their tools (Lotus Notes) or the IT team. In cases where the users are expected to create their own archiving rules, I recommend that training be provided so that users can safely set up a set of conservative archiving rules without worrying about losing important information along the way. I would much prefer have a user that is upset because an archiving rule did not archive enough (it has never happened to me) than being upset because an aggressive archive rule took away too much; that does happen - a lot.

This represents an opportunity for Lotus to step up and provide an improved set of default archiving rules that won't hurt users or their information. While it's ultimately the administrators problem, when users think that Lotus Notes is the problem it's now IBM's problem. As I've said and written many times before, I think Lotus should create default archiving sets that will keep end-users and their system administrators from hurting themselves. An archiving view like this is not hard to set up. I know - we did it for our customers and any competent system administrator with a copy of Lotus Designer (now free!) can do the same.

How to recover from an over aggressive archiving rule?
The first thing to do is to determine where the archiving is happening. Is it running on the server, or is it a local rule? is it occurring within the Notes mail file or is it being done by a third-party utility or compliance tool? Once you know how the archiving is happening, the next step is to stop it. Once stopped, two steps remain: restore the lost data, and set up appropriate archiving rules that balance the needs of the user with those of the organization. In most cases, restoring the data can be done by opening the archive database and Copying & Pasting information from the archive back into the Notes Mail file. When restoring repeating calendar entries, it's important to get all of them. It's always best to discuss this with your administrators as they may have an easier way; many have an automated tool to assist with this.

Parting thoughts
Remember that the purpose of technology is to enable tools for productive knowledge work. IT and the policies they impose exist for the purpose of enabling the users they serve to work productively. When this happens, tools become personal, people think highly of them, and they use them to get things done.

What are your  thoughts on archiving and productivity?
If you are an end-user how do you archive? Does it work for you? If you are a Notes Administrator, how do you keep mailbox files sizes down while keeping your users productive and happy?

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/thoughts-on-archiving-how-to-keep-your-users-from-hating-you-or-tell-you-lotus-notes-sucks http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/thoughts-on-archiving-how-to-keep-your-users-from-hating-you-or-tell-you-lotus-notes-sucks?opendocument&comments Playing with sidebar widgets in Lotus Notes 8.51. Cool! Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:09:17 -0700 eProductivity 1.81 out the door, I took some time to play with the widgets in Notes 8.51. This is really neat. I was able to easily configure two widgets in Notes and I even have them now floating on my desktop as their own windows. How cool is that?

Here's a preview of the Today view and the All by Context views:


While I'm testing this with eProductivity, you can use these steps with any view in any database in Lotus Notes.

I've documented the steps I used to accomplish this here.
[Originally posted on the Notes on Productivity web site. (http://www.NotesOnProductivity.com)]

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/trackback?open&id=playing-with-sidebar-widgets-in-lotus-notes-8.51.-cool http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/playing-with-sidebar-widgets-in-lotus-notes-8.51.-cool Lotus Notes Eric Mack http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/playing-with-sidebar-widgets-in-lotus-notes-8.51.-cool?opendocument&comments http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/playing-with-sidebar-widgets-in-lotus-notes-8.51.-cool eProductivity 1.81 out the door, I took some time to play with the widgets in Notes 8.51. This is really neat. I was able to easily configure two widgets in Notes and I even have them now floating on my desktop as their own windows. How cool is that?

Here's a preview of the Today view and the All by Context views:
The new The new

While I'm testing this with eProductivity, you can use these steps with any view in any database in Lotus Notes.

I've documented the steps I used to accomplish this here.

Originally posted on Notes On Productivity ]]> http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dxcomments/playing-with-sidebar-widgets-in-lotus-notes-8.51.-cool http://notesonproductivity.com/ICA/NOP.nsf/dx/playing-with-sidebar-widgets-in-lotus-notes-8.51.-cool?opendocument&comments