tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188845032024-03-19T04:47:48.536-07:00NotesTracker news and tipsNews and tips about NotesTracker -- an SDK from Asia/Pacific Computer Services that adds powerful features to your HCL Notes/Domino database apps. Also info about related apps such as SDMS and CAPTURE, plus general commentary about HCL and its offerings.NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.comBlogger55125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-22673145079274168312023-12-22T21:26:00.000-08:002023-12-22T22:02:44.366-08:00NotesTracker renaissance (December2023)<p><font size="2"></font></p> <p><font size="2">NotesTracker was originally developed by Asia/Pacific Computer Services (APCS) and launched initially around the turn of the century.</font></p> <p><font size="2">In 2013, AGE Computer Consultancy (AGECOM) took over the sales and support of NotesTracker, up until 2021 when they ceased operations.</font></p> <p><font size="2">Since NotesTracker offers unique value to the HCL Notes/Domino application development community, APCS has decided to resume sales and support of NotesTracker in order to fill this gap in application design tools. <font size="2">Progress will be careful, and steady in order to maintain our extremely high design, coding and usability standards.</font></font></p> <p><font size="2">We are working towards making the NotesTracker's unique capabilities available again to the HCL Notes/Domino community.</font></p> <p><font size="2">Watch this blog for news about NotesTracker version 7.</font></p> <p><font size="2"><font size="2">Inquiries:  <a href="mailto:notestracker7@asiapac.com.au">notestracker7@asiapac.com.au</a></font></font></p>NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-5859037425516851102013-06-17T00:34:00.001-07:002013-06-17T00:35:43.735-07:00NotesTracker Guide Version 5.3 has been added to Docstoc<p>NotesTracker is alive and well, and the guide for Version 5.3 Guide has been added to Docstoc.<a title="NotesTracker Guide Version 5.3" href="NotesTracker-Guide-Version-53"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 10px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3KXUK2PXQ-Q/Ub68HUNOt_I/AAAAAAAABfw/Hpv2xfLhnXg/image%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="176" height="244" /></a></p> <p>View or download the guide at <br /><a title="NotesTracker Guide Version 5.3" href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/159510147/NotesTracker-Guide-Version-53"><strong>http://www.docstoc.com/docs/159510147/NotesTracker-Guide-Version-53</strong></a></p> <p>The guide introduces NotesTracker, explaining what it is and how it can be of value to your organization by enhancing your IBM Notes and Domino applications.</p> <p>Following that is a section that shows how to configure and administer NotesTracker in each application, and finally a section for Notes developers explaining the steps used to add NotesTracker to the design of the applications.</p> <p>Hyperlinks in the table of contents make it easy to jump to the various sections and subsections.</p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-24259950584902581542013-06-16T03:07:00.001-07:002013-06-16T03:07:08.789-07:00NotesTracker Guide Version 5.3 has been added to Scribd<p>NotesTracker is alive and well, and the guide for Version 5.3 Guide has been added to Scribd.<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Y4CVmd7bYPk/Ub1s77udwKI/AAAAAAAABfA/ofHkN3g0sPg/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><img title="image" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: right; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 5px 0px 5px 10px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="image" align="right" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-jVSi31zhx9k/Ub1s8uC-efI/AAAAAAAABfI/cQjWLLbBeOI/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="176" height="244" /></a></p> <p>View or download the guide at <br /><a title="http://www.scribd.com/doc/148077501/NotesTracker-Version-5-3-Guide" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/148077501/NotesTracker-Version-5-3-Guide"><strong>http://www.scribd.com/doc/148077501/NotesTracker-Version-5-3-Guide</strong></a></p> <p>The guide introduces NotesTracker, explaining what it is and how it can be of value to your organization by enhancing your IBM Notes and Domino applications.</p> <p>Following that is a section that shows how to configure and administer NotesTracker in each application, and finally a section for Notes developers explaining the steps used to add NotesTracker to the design of the applications.</p> <p>Hyperlinks in the table of contents make it easy to jump to the various sections and subsections.</p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-88460066977171101252012-06-29T19:08:00.001-07:002012-06-29T19:23:49.576-07:00Secunia Personal Software Inspector version 3.0 released<p>Version 3.0 of Secunia’s Personal Software Inspector (PSI) for Windows has just been released, see <a title="Secunia PSI 3.0 is a free computer security solution that identifies vulnerabilities in non-Microsoft (third-party) programs which can expose PCs to attacks." href="http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/" target="_blank"><strong>here</strong></a>. I’ve just upgraded to it and run a scan, and reckon that the improvements are well and truly worthwhile.</p> <p>Secunia PSI 3.0 is a free computer security solution for Windows PCs that identifies vulnerabilities in non-Microsoft (third-party) programs which can expose the PCs to attacks.</p> <p>If you don’t already have it or use it, I’d strongly suggest that at the very least you should evaluate it. It’s a very valuable additional weapon in your armory against malware attacks.</p> <p>It extends (rather than replaces) the protection offered by anti-virus and firewall software, which are still essential. I’ve been using Windows 7 built-in firewall plus Microsoft Security Essentials, and find them very competent. I also use Spybot Search & Destroy, and regularly run the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. I’m striving to not personally suffer from malware attacks, and to not pass on malware to family, friends and clients. I have a few spare CPU cycles left to do real work too, in case you wondered~</p> <p>There’s a nice, fresh user interface in Versions 3.0. displaying icons for all the software products that it detects. Here’s part of the results from my first Secunia PSI scan:</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-zLX5qZjwzZw/T-5fhseQUnI/AAAAAAAABCA/lNzA31b0jYE/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/--71vHPZWJRo/T-5fipgr0AI/AAAAAAAABCI/2QEcN5juyhE/image_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="555" height="448" /></a></p> <p>At last I’ve gotten back to a 100% Secunia system score, because there was one program that has reached its “end of life” -- not being updated any longer. The previous version of PSI always complained about this, and reduced my score to just below 100% which annoyed me (because I was confident that the program’s developer was trustworthy).</p> <p>Now in Version 3.0, as illustrated in the circled area, you can right-click on a product’s icon and tell PSI not to warn any more (include in system score) for such an end-of-life product. Hooray!</p> <p>Other enhancements include automatic updating of software products that are scanned and determined to be “insecure” – which means out of date, not at the latest software level. I’d say this really should be termed “potentially insecure” or “possibly insecure” (but that’s not quite as easy to rattle off the lips).</p> <p><iframe height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iUmaLmO0gx0" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Once again, you can get Secunia PSI version 3.0 and find out more <a title="Secunia PSI 3.0 is a free computer security solution that identifies vulnerabilities in non-Microsoft (third-party) programs which can expose PCs to attacks." href="http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/" target="_blank"><strong>here</strong></a>.</p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-58755338356601827502012-06-22T09:50:00.001-07:002012-06-22T09:50:30.369-07:00Simple Signer version 1.2 for IBM Lotus Notes released (freeware)<p>Simple Signer version 1.2 is now available for download.</p> <p>It’s your simplest and easiest way to “sign” Lotus Notes database applications, that is, to stamp tall the design elements that make up each application: forms, view, XPages, agents, etc. When signed with your own organization’s Lotus Notes signature the applications are properly prepared/authorized to run in your organization’s IBM Lotus Notes/Domino production environment.</p> <p>Signing is usually required when you obtain a Notes application from an external source, or before your own in-house-developed applications are moved from the development stage into productions.</p> <p>Simple Signer was developed to make application signing easy for anybody to carry out.</p> <p>You can download Simple Signer version 1.2 right now from <a title="Asia/Pacific Computer Services web server in Australia" href="http://notestracker.com/Simple_Signer_Download.htm" target="_blank"><strong>notestracker.com</strong></a> (Australia) or <a title="Asia/Pacific Computer Services web server in the USA" href="http://notestracker.net/Simple_Signer_Download.htm" target="_blank">notestracker.net</a><strong></strong> (USA) web servers.</p> <blockquote> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">UPDATE:</font> Please download a refreshed copy of Simple Signer v1.2</strong> that was uploaded on 23rd June, without local encryption (which was causing the error "This database has local access protection"). Apologies for the slip up.</p> </blockquote> <p>The self-extractor requires a PASSWORD … <font color="#000000"><strong>NotesTracker</strong></font> (what else would you expect from me?)</p> <p>Apart from a few minor changes, the main enhancement is the ability to keep an audit trail of the various database signing events, for example:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-c_fVWO5yOB0/T-G5TCcddwI/AAAAAAAAA8g/TmAy15X7GQI/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-dH3ZlVuROLw/T-G5UDX5TwI/AAAAAAAAA8o/lHFvUXLSosw/image_thumb%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="644" height="267" /></a></p> <p>As usual with applications provided by Asia/Pacific Computer Services, it is fully documented -- via the built-in <em><strong>Help About This Application</strong></em> and <em><strong>Help Using This Application</strong></em> menu items.</p> <p>Simple Signer’s design is unhidden (“open source” more or less, you might call it) so you can tweak it to work exactly how you like.</p> <p><strong>ENJOY!</strong></p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-49483375764188307762012-06-20T04:51:00.001-07:002012-06-21T00:09:03.751-07:00Simple Signer version 1.2 for IBM Lotus Notes released (freeware)<p>Simple Signer version 1.2 is now available for download.</p> <p>It’s your simplest and easiest way to “sign” Lotus Notes database applications, that is, to stamp tall the design elements that make up each application (forms, view, XPages, agents, etc. When signed with your own organization’s Lotus Notes signature the applications are properly prepared/authorized to run in your organization’s IBM Lotus Notes/Domino production environment.</p> <p>Signing is usually required when you obtain a Notes application from an external source, or before your own in-house-developed applications are moved from the development stage into productions.</p> <p>Simple Signer was developed to make application signing easy for anybody to carry out.</p> <p>You can download Simple Signer version 1.2 right now from <a title="Asia/Pacific Computer Services web server in Australia" href="http://notestracker.com/Simple_Signer_Download.htm" target="_blank"><strong>notestracker.com</strong></a> (Australia) or <a title="Asia/Pacific Computer Services web server in the USA" href="http://notestracker.net/Simple_Signer_Download.htm" target="_blank">notestracker.net</a><strong></strong> (USA) web servers.</p> <p>The self-extractor requires a password, which is <font color="#ff0000">NotesTracker</font> (what else would you expect from me?)</p> <p>Apart from a few minor changes, the main enhancement is the ability to keep an audit trail of the various database signing events, for example:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-c_fVWO5yOB0/T-G5TCcddwI/AAAAAAAAA8g/TmAy15X7GQI/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-dH3ZlVuROLw/T-G5UDX5TwI/AAAAAAAAA8o/lHFvUXLSosw/image_thumb%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="644" height="267" /></a></p> <p>As usual with applications provided by Asia/Pacific Computer Services, it is fully documented -- via the built-in <em><strong>Help About This Application</strong></em> and <em><strong>Help Using This Application</strong></em> menu items.</p> <p>Simple Signer’s design is unhidden (“open source” more or less, you might call it) so you can tweak it to work exactly how you like.</p> <p><strong>ENJOY!</strong></p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-22951996796266839652010-10-03T19:49:00.001-07:002010-10-03T19:49:37.164-07:00NotesTracker Guide Version 5.2 now available from Scribd<p>Read all about NotesTracker Version 5.2 in the guide now also available from social publishing and reading site <a title="Scribd is "rewriting the rules of publishing."" href="http://www.scribd.com/about" target="_blank">Scribd</a>.</p> <p>Get the guide (a PDF document) from <a title="NotesTracker Version 5.2 Guide (a PDF document)" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/38450330/NotesTracker-Version-5-2-Guide">http://www.scribd.com/doc/38450330/NotesTracker-Version-5-2-Guide</a></p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-36759282612849850652010-08-04T20:50:00.001-07:002010-08-04T20:50:17.062-07:00NotesTracker Guide Version 5.2 now online at Docstoc<p>You can now read the Version 5.2.00 edition of the<strong> NotesTracker Guide</strong> at Docstoc.</p> <p>Read or download it here:</p> <blockquote> <p><a title="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/49044581/NotesTracker-Guide-Version-52" href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/49044581/NotesTracker-Guide-Version-52"><strong><font size="2">http://www.docstoc.com/docs/49044581/NotesTracker-Guide-Version-52</font></strong></a></p> </blockquote> <p> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:dc27b3d2-8dd1-45b4-8ce4-463e5599c18d" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Notes" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Notes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Domino" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Domino</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Usage+Tracking" rel="tag">Usage Tracking</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Auditing" rel="tag">Auditing</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Compliance" rel="tag">Compliance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Asia%2fPacific+Computer+Services" rel="tag">Asia/Pacific Computer Services</a></div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-31682064642675932572010-08-02T21:41:00.001-07:002010-08-02T21:46:14.589-07:00SDMS Version 4.5.10 for Lotus Notes released (03 August 2010)<p>The very popular free Lotus Notes application <strong>SDMS</strong> (a Simple Document Management System) was released today (3rd August 2010).</p> <p>SDMS has been upgraded to incorporate <strong>NotesTracker Version 5.2</strong> which itself was <a title="NotesTracker Version 5.2 released (blog announcement)" href="http://notestracker.blogspot.com/2010/08/notestracker-version-52-released-02.html">released only yesterday</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFeeAD94bBI/AAAAAAAAAro/qH_0eaP9pCs/s1600-h/image%5B5%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFeeA_i2VPI/AAAAAAAAArs/CQtWqWEd6_g/image_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="120" height="118" /></a> There’s also a fix for the Category and Sub-Category fields (the drop-down list was being blanked in edit mode).</p> <p>It was one of those simple bugs that was “staring me in the face” and for some unknown reason I only just twigged to it a few days ago. … Duh!</p> <p>Go get your free copy of SDMS Version 4.5.10 either <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/Downloads/SDMS_v4.5.10.exe"><strong>here</strong></a> (Dallas server) or <a title="Download SDMS version 4.5.10" href="http://notestracker.com/Downloads/SDMS_v4.5.10.exe"><strong>here</strong></a> (Sydney server), and ENJOY.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:6f98d802-315d-4159-8701-4f69831d4efc" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/SDMS" rel="tag">SDMS</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Simple+Document+Management+System" rel="tag">Simple Document Management System</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Notes" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Notes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Domino" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Domino</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Freeware" rel="tag">Freeware</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a></div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-68483494674649398542010-08-02T04:46:00.001-07:002010-08-02T05:01:45.184-07:00NotesTracker Version 5.2 released (02 August 2010)<p>I’m extremely happy to announce that version 5.2 of NotesTracker is now available for download, as is the updated NotesTracker Guide which fully describes NotesTracker: its features, why and how you would use NotesTracker, together with planning and technical guidance for managers, administrators and developers.</p> <p>You can download the evaluation or licensed (purchased) editions of NotesTracker v5.2 from either of two sites:</p> <ul> <li><a title="http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm" href="http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm">http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm</a> or </li> <li><a title="http://www.asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm" href="http://www.asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm">http://www.asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm</a> </li> </ul> <p>The <strong>NotesTracker Guide</strong> is downloadable from the same web page<a title="NotesTracker Guide version 5.2 (a PDF document)" href="http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation" target="_blank"><img style="margin: 25px 0px 0px; display: inline" align="right" src="http://www.asiapac.com.au/images/NotesTracker_Guide_thumbnail.png" width="140" height="191" /></a>:</p> <ul> <li><a title="http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation" href="http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation">http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation</a> or </li> <li><a title="http://www.asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation" href="http://www.asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation">http://www.asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation</a> </li> </ul> <p>The overview section of the guide has been  rewritten to better present the rationale behind the development of NotesTracker, and to describe some ways you might use NotesTracker for such things as database content tracking, compliance and privacy auditing, live feeds within the Lotus Notes desktop client (analogous to Web browser RSS feeds), and more.</p> <p>A section was added describing the new function of <strong>tracking changes to attachments</strong>, which enables you to get a handle of the <em>names</em> and <em>sizes</em> of attachments in a document in NotesTracker’s usual “before” and “after” fashion. For example:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawC7s12tI/AAAAAAAAAqw/nDv8LvZhLMk/s1600-h/image%5B17%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawDwF4kpI/AAAAAAAAAq0/-cbnoL0qOlM/image_thumb%5B9%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="604" height="627" /></a> </p> <p>This example shows that one attachment was removed (circled in red) from the Notes document, and one was attached (circled in green).</p> <p>Amongst many additions to the NotesTracker Guide is a description of a really great way to visualize the NotesTracker Repository usage log views, courtesy of <strong>OpenNTF.org</strong> (which is is devoted to enabling groups of individuals all over the world to collaborate on IBM Lotus Notes and Domino applications and release them as open source).</p> <p>In this case I’m talking about <a title="(Notes Reconn, at OpenNTF.org)" href="http://www.openntf.org/internal/home.nsf/project.xsp?action=openDocument&name=Notes%20Reconn" target="_blank"><strong>Notes Reconn</strong></a> which enables you to create reports and Charts from any Lotus Notes database (via an interface to Microsoft Excel). For example, a NotesTracker usage log view like this:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawEpL6k8I/AAAAAAAAAq4/6s5cZK6XiYY/s1600-h/SNAGHTML10a66464%5B6%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="SNAGHTML10a66464" border="0" alt="SNAGHTML10a66464" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawFsfGmNI/AAAAAAAAAq8/eggAjjG25Us/SNAGHTML10a66464_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="550" height="502" /></a></p> <p>can be quickly charted like this:</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawGU9dbXI/AAAAAAAAArA/AgKNqSzIcfc/s1600-h/image%5B28%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawHSV2dmI/AAAAAAAAArE/VBBN19BvQvg/image_thumb%5B16%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="600" height="555" /></a> </p> <p>or like this:</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawIKY5znI/AAAAAAAAArI/kdczXbnYots/s1600-h/image%5B27%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawJBkjI1I/AAAAAAAAArM/1dw13lBLad4/image_thumb%5B15%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="600" height="558" /></a> </p> <p>The chart legend for the chart displays the single-letter NotesTracker “Action Type” values, which are:</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawKPCCA3I/AAAAAAAAArQ/Px1ifl6Rdhg/s1600-h/image%5B32%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFawK4PrOoI/AAAAAAAAArU/-w43NT2Az4c/image_thumb%5B18%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="431" /></a></p> <p>Why not find out a lot more about NotesTracker by reading the NotesTracker Guide and requesting an evaluation.</p> <p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:ffc21951-b561-4a2c-a9ab-7fffde7756e6" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Notes" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Notes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Domino" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Domino</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/SDK" rel="tag">SDK</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Application+Development" rel="tag">Application Development</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Usage+Tracking" rel="tag">Usage Tracking</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Usage+Metrics" rel="tag">Usage Metrics</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/KM.+Knowledge+Management" rel="tag">KM. Knowledge Management</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Compliance" rel="tag">Compliance</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Auditing" rel="tag">Auditing</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Privacy" rel="tag">Privacy</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Charting" rel="tag">Charting</a></div></p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-31611639236734578302010-07-29T06:04:00.001-07:002010-07-31T16:28:02.241-07:00I’m an old Old Spice man! ... And Oh Yes: NotesTracker version 5.2 is imminent<p>One of the few things I have in common with <a title="I'M ON AN INTERNET -- with the Old Spice man (at YouTube)" href="http://www.youtube.com/oldspice#p/c/484F058C3EAF7FA6" target="_blank">Old Spice man</a> is that I happen to use Old Spice deodorant. But I don’t have a horse or a yacht.</p> <p>As an old codger I can attest that my Old Spice stick does keep that “old man’s smell” at bay! It keeps me fresh -- and even perhaps pleasant to be near -- as I struggle and sweat to keep abreast with what’s happening in the IT world, while trying to maintain a mastery over a tiny little portion of it, in this my 41st year in the game.</p> <p>This includes further refining and tweaking <strong>NotesTracker</strong> (see links at right) including combing through the NotesTracker Guide and making changes here and there with a view to improving NotesTracker’s ease of use even further. </p> <p>Also, I’ve finished functional and regression testing of the next release, and am happy to tell you that NotesTracker Version 5.2 is now ready for final packaging and imminent release (in just a matter of days, I expect).</p> <p>The major new function in NotesTracker v5.2 is the option to log the names (and sizes) of document attachments as they are changed. The attachments themselves are not logged, since this would add vastly to the log repository disk space usage.</p> <p>I’ve also tested and highly recommend the <strong>excellent </strong><a title="You can create reports and Charts from any Lotus Notes database using Notes Reconn." href="http://www.openntf.org/internal/home.nsf/project.xsp?action=openDocument&name=Notes%20Reconn" target="_blank"><strong>Notes Reconn</strong></a> freeware (from <a title="OpenNTF is devoted to enabling groups of individuals all over the world to collaborate on IBM Lotus Notes/Domino applications and release them as open source." href="http://www.openntf.org/" target="_blank">OpenNTF.org</a>) -- and have expanded the final section of the NotesTracker Guide, describing how simple it is to use Notes Reconn to produce very nice-looking and informative charts.</p> <p>These give you even more ways to comprehend and visualize the usage of your Notes applications. Here’s an example:</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/TFSxfaVsGqI/AAAAAAAAAqk/bo9wg8Vlg6o/s1600-h/NotesTracker_3D_clylinder_chart_actions_by_username%5B4%5D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="NotesTracker 3D cylinder chart -- Actions by Username" border="0" alt="NotesTracker 3D cylinder chart -- Actions by Username" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnB42baxbZ3xK5FWmrp81d5X_6Jf7ir3inyLZXdtfE9scFAiFwjY7XcNx0CB4aqofyrzxvjwGga6HhLLiRZeRuxaMSDMF9grXJJsnotq8mfG_sn6dMDcmDvfZFwwCFBW48po8K/?imgmax=800" width="600" height="542" /></a> </p> <p>The single-character legends on the right correspond with the NotesTracker <em>action types</em>, which are: C = Create a document, D = Delete a document, F = Failed document deletion attempt, G = Generic NotesTracker action (these can be any activities that you designate, such as pressing the Send button), P = Paste a document, R = Read a document, U = Update a document, X = Create a document via a Web browser, W = Web Read, Y = Web Update. (There are other loggable application actions that don’t appear in this example: V = a View is opened, O = Opening of a database, E = a document deletion attempt was indeterminate, and M = Mail-in of a document.)</p> <p>Watch this space for the NotesTracker v5.2 software release announcement.</p> <p>Meanwhile, <strong>you can download the NotesTracker Version 5.2 Guide</strong> from <a title="NotesTracker Guide v5.2 (PDF approx. 8 MB)" href="http://asiapac.com.au/Downloads/NotesTracker_Version_5.2_guide.pdf" target="_blank">here</a> or <a title="NotesTracker Guide v5.2 (PDF approx. 8 MB)" href="http://notestracker.com/Downloads/NotesTracker_Version_5.2_guide.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:91161ff0-e8a8-492d-8004-15663b558764" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Asia%2fPacific+Computer+Services" rel="tag">Asia/Pacific Computer Services</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Notes" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Notes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM+Lotus+Domino" rel="tag">IBM Lotus Domino</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/OpenNTF" rel="tag">OpenNTF</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/OpenNTF.org" rel="tag">OpenNTF.org</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Notes+Reconn" rel="tag">Notes Reconn</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Applications+Usage" rel="tag">Applications Usage</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Database+Usage" rel="tag">Database Usage</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Metrics" rel="tag">Metrics</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Old+Spice" rel="tag">Old Spice</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Old+Spice+Man" rel="tag">Old Spice Man</a></div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-38891493990340862502010-01-17T01:01:00.001-08:002010-01-17T02:42:36.821-08:00NotesTracker Version 5.1 Guide – minor update available<p>The NotesTracker Guide has been updated with a change related to the “Open In New Window” capability being re-implemented in Notes 8.5.1 at last!</p> <p>This capability is recommended for opening windows on the side (outside the main Notes window),  for keeping a watch on NotesTracker-generated “breaking news” auto-refresh style views. Such Notes views are quite similar to RSS in functionality,  but with regular Notes data (from one or more Notes databases) and viewed via the Notes Client rather than a web browser.</p> <p>The opportunity was taken also to make a few minor layout changes that should improve its readability. And a correction to the heading level of the Administrator Topics section ensures that this section now appears correctly in the overall table of contents and the PDF bookmarks column.</p> <p>You can download the NotesTracker Guide PDF file from either <a title="Click to download the NotesTracker Version 5.1 Guide (from the Asia/Pacific Computer Services web server in Australia)" href="http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation">notestracker.com</a> or <a title="Click to download the NotesTracker Version 5.1 Guide (from the Asia/Pacific Computer Services web server in Dallas))" href="http://asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation">asiapac.com.au</a> and also from <a title="NotesTracker Guide for Version 5.1 - updated 17 January 2010 (downloadable from docstoc.com)" href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/22558514/NotesTracker-Guide-for-Version-51---updated-17-January-2010" target="_blank">docstoc.com</a></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:b7413fbd-c05a-4b9c-afa5-7ee6f8672e26" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Guide" rel="tag">Guide</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/PDF" rel="tag">PDF</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/download" rel="tag">download</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lotus+Notes+8.5.1" rel="tag">Lotus Notes 8.5.1</a></div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-26124606487754903442009-12-27T20:45:00.001-08:002009-12-28T04:53:05.826-08:00NotesTracker Guide v5.1 now available from docstoc<p>NotesTracker, from Asia/Pacific Computer Services, is a software development kit (SDK) for enabling the usage profiling of IBM Lotus Notes/Domino applications.</p> <p>Database activities such as CRUD (creating, reading , updating and deletion of documents) is logged in a common way across both Lotus Notes Client and Web Browser environments via a common reporting mechanism, in real time and via replication across the entire Notes/Domino domain.</p> <p>NotesTracker was crafted to make it easy to understand how your Notes applications are being used, both at the broad level and in fine detail -- for compliance, security/privacy management, content control, knowledge management and all sorts of other purposes.</p> <p>The <strong>NotesTracker Guide for version 5.1</strong> has just been made available on <strong>docstoc</strong> (the online community and marketplace to find and share professional documents.), where it can be viewed online or downloaded as a PDF document: <a title="NotesTracker Guide (Version 5.1)" href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/20577539/NotesTracker-Guide---Version-51" target="_blank">http://www.docstoc.com/docs/20577539/NotesTracker-Guide---Version-51</a><strong></strong></p> <p><a title="NotesTracker Guide - Version 5.1" href="http://www.docstoc.com/docs/20577539/NotesTracker-Guide---Version-51" target="_blank"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/Szg3Mu-fxkI/AAAAAAAAAhM/sg_PdSjGRGo/image%5B16%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="466" /></a> </p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f48df41d-6f0b-41bb-bc0b-35d680297025" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/User+Guide" rel="tag">User Guide</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Overview" rel="tag">Overview</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Administration+Guide" rel="tag">Administration Guide</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Programming+Guide" rel="tag">Programming Guide</a></div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-89196027619353364432009-11-02T06:15:00.001-08:002009-11-02T06:15:45.131-08:00Simple Signer Version 1.1 for IBM Lotus Notes released<p>When a Lotus Notes application is developed, it is a quite common requirement that it must be "signed" by an appropriate Lotus Notes user ID or Lotus Domino server ID before it will operate correctly in a production environment.</p> <p>The developer (or developers) who over time created the various design elements in the database (forms, views, agents, etc) will have placed their own "signature" against each design element every time that they save it.</p> <p>The situation commonly arises that the developer(s) who coded the database have  signatures that do not provide sufficient or appropriate authority for agents that are to run on a Domino server, for formulae to be executed in a form, etc).</p> <p>This is especially the case for “alien” Notes applications that come to you from outside organizations such IBM Business Partners and Independent Software Vendors, but can be true even internally in your organization when there are multiple developers over time or for a specific release of the application..</p> <p>Therefore a given version of a database application is put into production, its design elements need to be signed by a Notes ID with the appropriate authority. (Refer to the IBM Lotus Notes documentation for full details about the concept of signing Notes databases.) </p> <p>Although signing is not all that difficult to do, it can be a somewhat circumspect process for the uninitiated!</p> <p>Hence a few years ago I released the “Simple Signer” for IBM Lotus notes. This is a single-purpose database that was developed to make life a little easier for everybody (including myself) who at some time or other, frequently or only occasionally, has to sign Lotus Notes databases.</p> <p><strong>Its <em>one an only design goal</em> is to make it extremely quick and easy to sign each and every design element in a given database.</strong> </p> <p>Just switch the Notes ID (if necessary), select the database to be signed, and click on the big pink button.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/Su7pjJFPYaI/AAAAAAAAAb0/2hcRIa1c7KU/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/Su7pjxmDsHI/AAAAAAAAAb4/xO0Gw3_1hvk/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="504" height="423" /></a> </p> <p>Note that it works only in Notes 6.0 and later versions (because it relies on the LotusScript  "Sign" method introduced in Release 6.0), but this is not much of nowadays.</p> <p>Also note that the database’s design is not hidden, so by modifying a few lines of  LotusScript you can alter the way that signing is carried out, to sign only agents for example.</p> <p>Version 1.1 has no functional changes, it’s still as easy to use as always, but the “<em>Help Using This Database</em>” built-in documentation has been enhanced to show you how add a toolbar button to make it faster to launch Simple Signer.</p> <p>Download version 1.1 of the Simple Signer from either of our mirrors at <a title="Download the Simple Signer for IBM Lotus Notes!" href="http://notestracker.com/Downloads/SimpleSigner_V1.1.exe"><strong>notestracker.com</strong></a> or <a title="Download the Simple Signer for IBM Lotus Notes!" href="http://asiapac.com.au/Downloads/SimpleSigner_V1.1.exe"><strong>asiapac.com.au</strong></a>.</p> <p>Golly, gosh, it’s nearly quarter past 1 AM here Down Under so I’m heading off to the cot right away after submitting this post.</p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:0e9c3bbc-01b6-4172-9e32-706f7311526c" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM" rel="tag">IBM</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lotus+Notes" rel="tag">Lotus Notes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lotus+Domino" rel="tag">Lotus Domino</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Sign" rel="tag">Sign</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Database" rel="tag">Database</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Application" rel="tag">Application</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Security" rel="tag">Security</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Authorization" rel="tag">Authorization</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Ease+of+Use" rel="tag">Ease of Use</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Freeware" rel="tag">Freeware</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Asia%2fPacific+Computer+Services" rel="tag">Asia/Pacific Computer Services</a></div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-39608991989864402332009-10-08T17:42:00.001-07:002009-10-08T17:42:23.244-07:00SDMS Version 4.5.00 for Lotus Notes/Domino released<p> <br />SDMS is a very popular free “simple document management system” for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino:</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIwz3_gk1I/AAAAAAAAAZI/NN-XgmfZqHE/s1600-h/image%5B11%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw1La5idI/AAAAAAAAAZM/Zbu9X-eAf9g/image_thumb%5B5%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="504" height="472" /></a> </p> <p>SDMS incorporates our NotesTracker capability, which enables comprehensive tracking of database activities for usage details (document creates, reads, updates, deletes, pastes, mail-ins, view or database opens, etc) and for monitoring database compliance (who did what, when, and where).</p> <p>See our home page <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/">asiapac.com.au</a> or <a href="http://notestracker.com/">notestracker.com</a> for the download link to the current production version 4.5.00 of SDMS.</p> <p>The e-mail merge feature was enhanced, as requested by a user of SDMS, now allowing any of the user's mail views and folders to be selected as the source of mail messages to be merged:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw10pJeBI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/iNdm6khDwEo/s1600-h/image%5B21%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw25h6tAI/AAAAAAAAAZU/I4FedBnNea4/image_thumb%5B11%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="161" /></a> </p> <p>Previously, just the Inbox was available for selecting memos. This view shows a merged mail memo:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw4DTcWhI/AAAAAAAAAZY/-KzTmdZDSIk/s1600-h/image%5B16%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw5VkGnkI/AAAAAAAAAZc/YFs7N0Y_tnw/image_thumb%5B8%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="504" height="363" /></a> </p> <p>Also added was an agent to import SDMS documents from a different SDMS database into the current one (very useful, for example, when upgrading to a newer SDMS version).</p> <p>You can better tailor the SDMS page header area, by specifying your own database logo image together with your website URL or your e-mail contact address.</p> <p>Notes client header, showing user-specified logo (and logo description) plus website link:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw6oKSOCI/AAAAAAAAAZg/vAOvps4glbE/s1600-h/image%5B25%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw7rpW1sI/AAAAAAAAAZk/J-oKqO2gy74/image_thumb%5B13%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="504" height="237" /></a> </p> <p>Web browser header, showing that (if you like) for the Web environment you can set up a different user-specified logo and logo description:</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw8uOZ2XI/AAAAAAAAAZo/EuqmcC5gs_E/s1600-h/image%5B30%5D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SsIw-DfcyoI/AAAAAAAAAZs/IcFQGFNCt3Q/image_thumb%5B16%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="504" height="244" /></a> </p> <p>And as you might expect, there are various usability improvements. Plus some bug fixes, of course! </p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:87426a85-d8ae-41a7-a255-63f8bf49dd98" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/SDMS" rel="tag">SDMS</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Document+Management" rel="tag">Document Management</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/IBM" rel="tag">IBM</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lotus+Notes" rel="tag">Lotus Notes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lotus+Domino" rel="tag">Lotus Domino</a></div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-22086305760764549802009-05-19T02:48:00.001-07:002009-05-19T15:45:44.767-07:00How views affect size & performance of Lotus Notes databases (like NotesTracker usage log repositories) — a case study<p><br>Some application performance tips, from a somewhat different perspective, for Lotus Notes developers and administrators…</p> <p><font color="#000000"><strong>Preamble - <strong>Performance still is important</strong></strong><br>Sooner or later, the performance of any application you’re using becomes important. It may start off performing quite well, and then begin to slow down and grind to a halt over time. In a few cases, it may perform abysmally right from the launch.</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">I spent more than two decades at IBM (starting in 1970, now long retired) and a fair bit of that was taken up advising, supporting and troubleshooting IBM customers on a broad range of performance-related matters. Forty years on, performance is no less important as we approach the end of the first decade of this 21st century.</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">We don’t usually notice a system’s performance at all when it is good, but we certainly notice it when it is slow. Think Google search, nearly always sub-second (which now we take for granted, and only notice the extremely rare slowdown), versus some other web applications that run at tortoise-like speeds. </font><font color="#000000">Overall, the performance of a system could be summarized as “what the end user sees and accepts as reasonable” for whatever applications they are running.</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">Once upon a time computing (or “data processing”) was nearly all in the form of batch batch processing on centralized machines, then along came mini-computers (smaller than corporate machines, typically in corporate divisions or departments or smaller businesses), then desktop machines (like the IBM Personal Computer, or PC), nowadays right down to handheld devices (PDAs, mobile phones, netbook PCs, etc).</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">As a general statement, the overall observed performance is the sum of the individual performance of each in a series or chain of stages involving different hardware/software components: central processing unit (CPU), main storage (RAM), buffers of various types, channels or similar data paths, communication links, the operating system binding it all together, and finally the applications being executed.</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">Then there’s the speed of movement of data between the stages: to and from non-volatile storage (persistent, long-term storage) on devices such as paper tape or punched cards in the early days, magnetic media (disks, tapes, diskettes), flash memory (getting faster and cheap enough to soon become widespread for bulk storage in the gigabyte range), and who knows what in the future (quantum storage, holographic storage, carbon nanotube storage, or whatever might eventuate).</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">The overall performance of a transaction — the time from when a user requests something to be done until the last bit of the result is served back — is the sum of the performance of each and every link or step in the device chain. It depends on the not just the <em>raw speed</em> characteristics of each step, but on the workload being imposed (often in a shared user environment, such as a Web server).</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">There are nearly always complex interactions between steps and at each stage in the overall process: queuing for service, task execution (at some relative priority and , for some length of time or “time slice”, perhaps getting preempted and dropping back in the queue), recovering from errors (often badly designed and handled), and more. As I said earlier, it’s a very complex picture.</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">Sometimes you encounter poor performance because of inadequately funded hardware (and perhaps software), poor infrastructure design (low-powered servers, slow communications links, and the like).</font></p> <p><font color="#000000">But quite frequently it’s a matter of <em>poor application design</em>: bad or even erroneous coding, choosing the wrong algorithm for a sub-task, inadequate or even non-existent error handling, and much more. Even an otherwise excellent service can be brought to its knees by a bad application, such as one with an extremely inefficient sorting algorithm, one that retrieves a data record in an extremely inefficient manner, one that waits for an error that is never going to be recovered from. One classic example is the <a title="Deadlock - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadlock" target="_blank">deadlock or so-called deadly embrace</a> record update situation, which can bring even the fastest of systems to a dead halt in processing your transaction (and at the very least locks out one other user too, but possibly more).</font></p> <p><strong>IBM Lotus Notes and Domino performance considerations</strong><br>Here I’d like to share my findings on one aspect of performance that I haven’t come across being covered elsewhere, at least in the way that I’m going to explain it: the analysis of Notes/Domino view size as it relates to view indexing performance.</p> <p>You’ll want to know how much hard disk capacity is needed to store the view indexes (indices, if you prefer) in your Notes applications, and from this get some feel for the effect on view index maintenance processing overheads which can have a major effect on overall Domino server transaction throughput and response times.</p> <p>There are many resources from IBM and other parties which give excellent advice and guidance about analyzing and managing performance for both the Lotus Notes desktop client and the Lotus Domino server. I’ve no intention of going over this broad field, having already assembled many useful reference links for you at my web site <a title="Notes & Domino Performance - Asia/Pacific Computer Services (asiapac.com.au)" href="http://asiapac.com.au/Links/NotesDomino.htm#Domino_Performance" target="_blank">here</a> and its mirror/backup <a title="Notes & Domino Performance - Asia/Pacific Computer Services (notestracker.com)" href="http://notestracker.com/Links/NotesDomino.htm#Domino_Performance" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p>Many of these (and other forums/blogs maintained by the Notes community) discuss the design of Lotus Notes views. Some of them give excellent tips for optimizing the performance of Notes views, either by optimizing view design (many considerations) or setting the properties of the views such as index refresh/discard options:</p> <p><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" align="left" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAK4ROWVI/AAAAAAAAAWw/g5LlxxH2rIA/image_thumb4.png?imgmax=800" width="304" height="373"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKALfc1BoI/AAAAAAAAAW0/LDC4ufadu_w/s1600-h/image11.png"> <img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; border-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAMXu_NuI/AAAAAAAAAW4/LSaw-knmlmM/image_thumb6.png?imgmax=800" width="304" height="324"></a> </p> <p><strong></strong> </p> <p>What follows is a brief discussion of views as they relate to NotesTracker (see <a title="NotesTracker — a "universal enabler" for database usage tracking and effectiveness monitoring." href="http://asiapac.com.au/UsageMetrics.htm" target="_blank">here</a> or <a title="NotesTracker a "universal enabler" for database usage tracking and effectiveness monitoring." href="http://notestracker.com/UsageMetrics.htm" target="_blank">here</a>). I gathered this information when a user of NotesTracker asked me how to predict the size of the Usage Log repository database, and to give some guidance on when it should be archived.</p> <p><strong>NotesTracker concepts <br></strong>NotesTracker is a set of easy-to-apply routines that you (once a licensed purchaser) can easily apply to the design of any of your own Notes/Domino applications. Read more about it in the NotesTracker Guide, a download link for which is on on either of the web pages mentioned a few paragraphs above.</p> <p>Think of NotesTracker as a software development kit (SDK). Once you have modified the design of any of your applications, NotesTracker can write out a “usage log record” for each and every user interface transaction against that database: document CRUD events (Create, Read, Update, Delete), document paste-ins, document mail-ins.</p> <p>You control what NotesTracker does via a NotesTracker Profile that you place in each database (on a replica by replica basis). For example, in the case of document update event you can specify whether or not field changes are tracked, and on top of that whether or not an e-mail alert is sent out (say, to Notes administrators or coordinators of that particular application database).</p> <p>These events are logged as ordinary Notes documents, the same way for both Notes Client or Web browser interactions (no dichotomy here). For a given database replica, you can specify that the usage log repository be the database itself or en external Notes database, </p> <p>With this very generic logging mechanism, you have tremendous flexibility in the way that usage log repositories may be organized, as the following diagram illustrates:</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKANHeenTI/AAAAAAAAAW8/EU-1nxcpoDU/s1600-h/NotesTracker_Repository_flexibility3.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="NotesTracker usage log repository configuration flexibility" border="0" alt="NotesTracker usage log repository configuration flexibility" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAN1SiMRI/AAAAAAAAAXA/8SLzBa71NZE/NotesTracker_Repository_flexibility_.jpg?imgmax=800" width="504" height="554"></a> </p> <p>You might take the simplest approach, and send all build usage log documents to a single central repository. The top two groups of applications (circled in red and blue) indicate how you might instead set up a number of different repositories grouped by application category (Marketing, Finance, HR, Manufacturing, or whatever), and at the bottom (circled in green) have any database store its own usage log documents internally. Undoubtedly you would have many more Notes databases than illustrated above, but the same methodology applies.</p> <p>NotesTracker uses nothing but regular Notes/Domino capabilities. Usage log records (documents) are replicated in the normal fashion between servers, giving a composite organizational usage picture covering both Notes Client and Web browser activities.</p> <p>How is reporting done? Via ordinary Notes views of course, nothing special. A pre-built set of NotesTracker views are distributed with the SDK, and you can extend or modify these views any way you like, no specialist skills being necessary. Indeed, all of NotesTracker was carefully designed so that no more than a medium level of Notes developer and administrator skills are required for installation, programming and administration (including security).</p> <p>No end-user training is required whatsoever (indeed, they may not even be aware that NotesTracker capabilities have been added to a database, although there may be legal or organizational policies that require you to inform them that their actions are being tracked).</p> <p><strong>The build-up of NotesTracker Usage Log documents, and view index overheads <br></strong>Because NotesTracker is creating usage log document (one document per user interaction), the Notes administrator will need to understand the ramifications: disk space consumed and server CPU workload implications.</p> <p>Presumably this would be particularly important to monitor for databases where the usage log documents are being created internally (in that database itself) and could have a noticeable effect on view opening performance. It’s probably not so critical for central NotesTracker repositories (particularly if they are placed on a dedicated disk drive), because the usage log documents are being appended to what’s already there and the speed of doing so should be quite fast, though the effect (of rapidly adding many such documents) on view indexing might be considerable. But to stress again, this is “business as usual” in terms of Domino server administrative skills needed.</p> <p>As a good first rough approximation, for NotesTracker the database size increases at 1.5KB to 2KB per usage log document. The growth rate needs to be monitored, and you should devise an appropriate archive-and-purge strategy if disk space is a worry. How frequently you purge log documents should primarily be determined by the length of time — typically a number of months (or even years) — for which you wish to retain usage metrics.</p> <p>Of course, it’s not only document contents that take up space in a database. Keep in mind that view indexes will have a major impact on database growth, rather than the relatively small amount of data stored in the log documents. To reduce Notes Client view opening overheads (and Domino server workload needed to maintain the view indexes), the number of sorted view columns has been kept reasonably low. However, you may wish to alter the view designs to decrease the number of sorted view columns even further, or to make other changes that balance view opening times against indexing overheads to your satisfaction.</p> <p>As a guide, one user of NotesTracker found that some 60,000 Usage Log entries occupied close to 1 GB of disk space, equating to an average of 16 to 17 KB per usage log document. I’m not sure if they removed any of the default views from the repository, or altered any of the views’ indexing properties, both of which could have a big influence on this average. (Naturally enough, other Notes applications could and almost certainly would have quite different characteristics. Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes.)</p> <p><strong>Disk Space management – the NotesTracker archiving agent</strong> <br>In NotesTracker there is an archive agent that can be run as-required or on a scheduled basis, giving you the control you need to remove historic log records for managing repository database size. The archive agent is discussed a little further on.</p> <p><strong>Monitoring and Managing Usage Log view indexes</strong><br>The NotesTracker Repository is distributed with around 35 views. Some views will only ever contain a small number of documents, even down to a single document. Most of the views are based on a selection of Usage Log documents (all of them, or a subset), and might contain tens of thousands of documents depending on the level of activity in your applications and the length of time — weeks or months — that Usage Log records have been stored before being archived.</p> <p>The set of NotesTracker views provided are configured generally to discard their indexes after 14 days of inactivity, and it’s simple for you to alter these settings if you wish.</p> <p>You should monitor the NotesTracker view index sizes over time. If there is any view that is used rarely, you should consider setting its view the discard period to a smaller number of days or perhaps even consider removing the view from the Repository.</p> <p>It’s interesting to note that NotesTracker has a unique method for you to make an extremely quick and simple, standardized modification to the designs of the views in a database, after which you can track individual view usage. This gives you a sound basis for knowing which views are heavily used (and should be retained) and which ones are seldom used (thereby being candidates for being removed from the database’s design). Indeed, one company purchased a NotesTracker license just to do this very thing.</p> <ul> <li>In his IBM Lotus Notes Hints, Tips, and Tricks weblog, Alan Lepofsky gives a few tips about database sizes. See:<br><a href="http://www.alanlepofsky.net/alepofsky/alanblog.nsf/dx/local-mail-part-2">http://www.alanlepofsky.net/alepofsky/alanblog.nsf/dx/local-mail-part-2</a> <li>In this second article, Alan describes how view indexes occupy part of the space taken up by a database:<br><a href="http://www.alanlepofsky.net/alepofsky/alanblog.nsf/dx/size-really-does-matter">http://www.alanlepofsky.net/alepofsky/alanblog.nsf/dx/size-really-does-matter</a></li></ul> <p>To get a look at the innards of a Notes database, you could use a Domino console command of the form:<br> <strong>sh</strong>ow<strong> database </strong><em>database_filename</em></p> <p><font color="#000000">Here’s an example for database notestracker.nsf in subfolder notestracker_v5.1:</font></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAOvUfg-I/AAAAAAAAAXE/qQPQrIcv2Hc/s1600-h/image4.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAPkzat8I/AAAAAAAAAXI/09zWJiyLBV8/image_thumb1.png?imgmax=800" width="604" height="662"></a> </p> <p>But let’s do things a much better way: using the Domino Administrator client to look inside the database. Consider a newly-created NotesTracker Repository database, which we select like this:</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAQi4Sj5I/AAAAAAAAAXM/eKm7YQBEF0M/s1600-h/image12.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKARl-hZoI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/NT4Sg_KXiaM/image_thumb6%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="604" height="602"></a> </p> <p>The resulting panel “<b>Manage the views of this database</b>” (next image) show as that a group of Usage Tracking views, circled in red, have indexes that are some three or four times larger than other Usage Tracking views (circled in green). The index size difference essentially reflect the complexity of the individual view designs, nothing else. For this exercise, it will be the views circled in red that we focus on., but this has no effect on the overall argument.</p> <p>As mentioned above, this example database is quite small. It contains only about 900 Usage Log documents and its overall size is only about 14 MB. </p> <p>Firstly, a new “empty” copy of the database was made, containing no Usage Log documents as a base point. Its size with empty view indexes was less than 4 MB. You will notice that the various view index sizes ranged between 1 KB and 4 KB. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAS4CNwGI/AAAAAAAAAXU/6jTZbMQkcYE/s1600-h/image13.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAUJ0xsgI/AAAAAAAAAXY/8ToKwMZ_hoc/image_thumb7.png?imgmax=800" width="604" height="592"></a> </p> <p>Then normal database activity was carried out for a short while: creating, reading, updating, deleting documents inn other databases. This generated some 6140 Usage Log documents in this NotesTracker Repository database.</p> <p>Then each of the twelve commonly-used views circled in red in the following image was displayed, causing their indexes to be created. The repository database size increased from 4 MB to 74 MB, and the index sizes (focus on the twelve circled in red) looked like this: </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAVA2hZBI/AAAAAAAAAXc/Nur3BOFk6_k/s1600-h/image14.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/ShKAWq7EheI/AAAAAAAAAXk/3Hts-G6ZB7g/image_thumb8.png?imgmax=800" width="604" height="592"></a> <br>Note that this was somewhat atypical, having a very high disk space percentage used of 99.3% — because this NotesTracker Repository is essentially a logging database, the main activity being sequential adding of Usage Log documents. It is likely that most “normal” databases would in practice have a significant percentage of “white space” (until they are compacted).</p> <p>Finally, a new copy of this database was made, and its size was reduced to 9 MB (an somewhat easier way to eliminate the view indexes, compared with manually initiating a compaction).</p> <p>This indicates that the 6140 documents themselves occupied about 5 MB (that is, 9 MB minus the “empty” database size of 4 MB).</p> <p>We saw a little earlier that with full view indexes the database size was 74 MB, therefore the 6140 documents had view indexes (for 12 views) totaling about This all indicates that each Usage Log document adds, as a simple approximation, about 1 KB per view! </p> <p>Extrapolating this to thousands or tens of thousands of Usage Log documents obviously will lead to much larger overall Repository size. Obviously the removal of unused Usage Log views could significantly reduce Repository size. </p> <p><strong>Summary</strong><br>This brief insight into view index creation should give you a more definitive basis for managing your NotesTracker usage log repository databases. The same general approach can be applied for managing the views in your own inventory of Lotus Notes/Domino applications.</p> <p>I first learned about Notes in 1993, just into early retirement from IBM. Compared with the lumbering mainframe office systems architecture that IBM had spent a decade or more trying to get off the ground, I was (and still am) struck with the way that “plain vanilla” Lotus Notes and Domino do smart stuff such as replication with simplicity and elegance.</p> <p>The basic underpinnings of the Notes/Domino document-oriented database architecture are still without peer, and there’s still a big role for it (compared with other platforms, which shall remain nameless, because <a title="Ed Brill is Director, Product Management -- IBM Lotus End-User Messaging and Collaboration ." href="document-oriented database." target="_blank">Ed Brill</a> and others in the community say quite enough to go round).</p> <p>Let the <a title="Comparing Lotus Domino/Notes and Exchange Server 2010 (a Microsoft document)" href="http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/notes.aspx" target="_blank">battle</a> rage on, competition is good for us all, keeping us all on our ties and leading to improvements all around. Crikey, it’s my 40th year in the IT industry, and I’m still enjoying it — I must be crazy!</p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-89119097300822852162009-05-11T06:54:00.001-07:002009-05-11T06:54:04.652-07:00SDMS Version 4.5 for Lotus Notes/Domino now available for Beta testing<p>SDMS is a very popular free “simple document management system” for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino, see the home page <a title="Asia/Pacific Computer Services - home page" href="http://asiapac.com.au/" target="_blank">asiapac.com.au</a> or <a title="Asia/Pacific Computer Services - home page" href="http://notestracker.com/" target="_blank">notestracker.com</a> for the download link to the current production version 4.4 of SDMS.</p> <p>SDMS incorporates our NotesTracker capability for comprehensive tracking of database activities.</p> <p>Version 4.5 of SDMS has been completed, and is now in beta testing. If you would like to carry out some testing of SDMS v4.5 then please send a request to participate via e-mail to <strong>SDMS_beta < at > asiapac <dot> com <dot> au</strong></p> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-43479741527852372322009-01-21T23:31:00.001-08:002009-01-22T01:05:56.602-08:00NotesTracker validated against Notes/Domino 8.5<p>Just a short post to mention that NotesTracker underwent testing against IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5 during the Beta1 and Beta2 testing phases, and again a week or two ago against the official ND 8.5 release.</p> <p>NotesTracker works fine in ND 8.5 (as it does with ND 8.). I could detect no functional issues at all.</p> <p>Gratifyingly, this is in contrast to what happened with Notes 6.0, which introduced a bug in LotusScript’s handling of Rich Text fields forcing me to redesign the subroutines used for handling changes in the content of database fields.</p> <p>Please note, however, that there’s now is a functional limitation, indeed for me it’s a major inconvenience: with the Notes 8.0 and 8.5 Standard client you’ll find that <strong>the "<em><font color="#000080">Open in New Window</font></em>" context menu option is missing from three ultra-convenient places where it was available before: view navigator, workspace tab, and workspace icon.</strong></p> <p>Consider the following screenshots, on the left the Notes 8.x Basic client and on the right the Standard client. Click an image to see an enlargement (in a new browser window):</p> <div align="center"> <table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="0" width="635" align="center" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top" width="298"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggk_VeKpI/AAAAAAAAAP0/z9VYNbP5_hw/s1600-h/image2.png"><img title="image" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="221" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggmFfY94I/AAAAAAAAAP4/vdoQL31Yd0s/image_thumb.png?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0"></a><br> <p><font face="Arial" size="1"><strong>Notes ND 8.5 Basic client -<br>Open via workspace icon.</strong></font></p></td> <td valign="top" width="320"> <p align="left"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggnTItCjI/AAAAAAAAAP8/DS-6vZGDs_4/s1600-h/image11.png"><img title="image" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="170" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggo5jh9SI/AAAAAAAAAQA/6-z7rfCO3d0/image_thumb5.png?imgmax=800" width="316" border="0"></a><br></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="1"><strong>Notes ND 8.5 Basic client -<br>Open via workspace icon<br>is entirely absent.<br></strong></font><strong><font face="Arial" color="#ff0000" size="2">MISSING IN ACTION</font></strong></p></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="298"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggqDMfAeI/AAAAAAAAAQE/kQeGuaL1-NQ/s1600-h/image8.png"><img title="image" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="244" alt="image" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggrp-7MII/AAAAAAAAAQI/-cKD0n3fc6Q/image_thumb2%5B1%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="230" border="0"></a> <br> <p><font face="Arial" size="1"><strong>Notes ND 8.5 Basic client -<br>Open via view navigator.</strong></font></p></td> <td valign="top" width="320"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggs-9mylI/AAAAAAAAAQM/TTtKNazzpZI/s1600-h/image6.png"><img title="image" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="207" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXgguJv4ztI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/RW7SljAl1UA/image_thumb2.png?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0"></a> <p><font face="Arial"><font size="1"><strong>Notes ND 8.5 Basic client -<br>Open via view navigator<br>is grayed out.<br><font color="#ff0000" size="2">MISSING IN ACTION</font></strong></font><br></font></p></td></tr> <tr> <td valign="top" width="298"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggvmwpUoI/AAAAAAAAAQU/ZrDf0RujjWw/s1600-h/image11%5B1%5D.png"><img title="image" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="167" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggw8nnmsI/AAAAAAAAAQY/CmeUbchwWB4/image_thumb3.png?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0"></a><br><br> <p><font face="Arial" size="1"><strong>Notes ND 8.5 Basic client -<br>Open via workspace tab.</strong></font></p></td> <td valign="top" width="320"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggyGFmqnI/AAAAAAAAAQc/rc4Yge5eOB0/s1600-h/image10.png"><img title="image" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px" height="177" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SXggzTTh7fI/AAAAAAAAAQg/cAYxNMdVIng/image_thumb4.png?imgmax=800" width="202" border="0"></a><br> <p><font face="Arial" size="1"><strong>Notes ND 8.5 Standard client -<br>Open via workspace tab<br></strong></font><font face="Arial" size="1"><strong>is entirely absent.<br></strong></font><font face="Arial"><font size="1"><strong><font color="#ff0000" size="2">MISSING IN ACTION</font></strong></font></font></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:92277ec4-d4f5-4c11-b08c-049e1b7a7857" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/NotesTracker" rel="tag">NotesTracker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lotus+Notes+8" rel="tag">Lotus Notes 8</a></div> <p>The ND 8.x Basic client works properly, as with earlier Notes client releases, as shown in the left column of the above table. No problems (or “no sweat” as we say in Australia).</p> <p>But the Eclipse-based Notes 8.x Standard client simply hasn't implemented it yet, as shown in the right column of the above table. What a pity. I hope that IBM fixes this glaring omission soon, I (and one or two others) asked IBM to rectify this way back in ND 8.0 Beta1 days.</p> <p>It's a bit of a shame, but only significant if you happen to have implemented any auto-refresh RSS-style "Breaking News" views. Now you need to follow a a much more convoluted pathway to launch such views in separate external windows.</p> <p>As explained in the <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation">NotesTracker Guide</a>, the idea is to move the external views to the side where you can monitor them separately from the main Notes client window. There's also a brief description <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/UsageMetrics_BreakingNewsView.htm">here</a>.</p> <p>This is not a NotesTracker limitation, rather it's caused by the as-yet failure of IBM to support this feature in the Standard client. The only way you can launch an external window is by fiddling around: you'll need to learn how to set up each such Breaking News view as a widget/gadget, and only after doing so will you be able to launch the view in an external window (via its context menu).</p> <p>So with the Notes 8.x Standard client it's no longer same trivial operation of merely right-clicking on the view in the navigator or the tab across the top and then selecting Open In New Window from the context menu) as it was before.</p> <div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:B3E14793-948F-49af-A347-D19C374A7C4F:d69afd23-3deb-4bb8-ad9b-c8e8399bb773" style="padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px"> <script type="text/javascript"><!--<br />digg_bodytext = 'Just a short post to mention that NotesTracker underwent testing against IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5 during the Beta1 and Beta2 testing phases, and again a week or two ago against the official ND 8.5 release.';<br />//--></script> <script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </div> NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-20785952465712266472008-11-04T02:58:00.001-08:002008-11-04T02:59:16.865-08:00Simple Signer for Lotus Notes Version 1.01 released (04 November 2008)<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:049ba754-634a-441e-a7a9-a8e259404d1e" style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FLOAT: none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Lotus+Notes" rel="tag">Lotus Notes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Database" rel="tag">Database</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Sign" rel="tag">Sign</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Security" rel="tag">Security</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Deployment" rel="tag">Deployment</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Configuration" rel="tag">Configuration</a></div><p>Today has been a busy day for me. While preparing for a presentation tomorrow, I’ve been dusting off my Lotus Notes freeware applications, checking them out and making small design tweaks here and there. This is the final one in the bundle.</p><p>Because of the strong security model that has always been one of the major features of Lotus Notes right from its outset, it is sometimes necessary to “sign” a database before it will work properly in your organization’s operating environment.</p><p>Here follows a brief, highly simplified explanation. It is definitely NOT intended to act as a tutorial in Lotus Notes/Domino security.</p><p>When the Notes database application was built, its design elements (components such as forms, views, frames, framesets, agents and much more) were all created by one or more developers. These design elements would have been given the “signature” of the original developer(s), which may not be (and generally should not be) adequate to pass the runtime security in your organization’s production environment.</p><p>In many but not all cases, it is sufficient to sign all of the design elements with an appropriately-authorized person’s Notes ID. This is exactly what Simple Signer does, in a few easy-to-perform steps.</p><p><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#008000;">STEP 1:</span> Open the Simple Signer database. If necessary, switch to the desired the signing user’s ID file (top button), then click on the lower button (as shown by the red arrow) to select the database to be signed.</strong></p><p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SRAqou2sl-I/AAAAAAAAAOA/DFWV7-pzKJQ/s1600-h/Simple_Signer_launch[6].jpg"><img title="Simple_Signer_launch" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height="400" alt="Simple_Signer_launch" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SRAqpg7w2uI/AAAAAAAAAOE/d7s7EVf21bg/Simple_Signer_launch_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="812" border="0" /></a></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#008000;">STEP 2:</span> Use the normal “Choose Database” dialog to locate and select the desired database.</strong></p><p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SRAqqcq72WI/AAAAAAAAAOI/YgMukySXpj4/s1600-h/Simple_Signer_select_DB[5].jpg"><img title="Simple_Signer_select_DB" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height="593" alt="Simple_Signer_select_DB" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SRAqrNBuOHI/AAAAAAAAAOM/NdGHuAwyQsY/Simple_Signer_select_DB_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="809" border="0" /></a></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#008000;">STEP 3:</span> The selected database’s title, server and path are shown. Click on the lower button to sign ALL of the design elements in this database.</strong></p><p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SRAqsK-YxVI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/W44J4P_0r2M/s1600-h/Simple_Signer_final_step[7].jpg"><img title="Simple_Signer_final_step" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height="631" alt="Simple_Signer_final_step" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SRAqtkFMKXI/AAAAAAAAAOU/GDW5u-DA-MI/Simple_Signer_final_step_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="812" border="0" /></a> </p><p></p><p></p><p>If your Notes ID has adequate signing authority for this particular database, it will be signed, else you’ll be informed that the signing process failed.</p><p>Remember that this is called the “Simple Signer” and it’s not meant (as distributed) to cope with complex signing requirements.</p><p>Because the Simple Signer’s design is not hidden, your can get your Notes developer to tailor the design to cope with more complex signing requirements. Otherwise, purchase a more powerful tool. </p><p>Simple Signer is a FREE tool designed to carry out a common, basic sign-everything-with-the-same-Notes-ID process and to do it both easily and quickly. … No more, no less. No apologies!</p><p>You can obtain your free copy from <a title="Download your copy of the Simple Signer today -- it's FREE." href="http://asiapac.com.au/Simple_Signer_Download.htm" target="_blank">here</a> or <a title="Download your copy of the Simple Signer today -- it's FREE." href="http://notestracker.com/Simple_Signer_Download.htm" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-82186049820986002892008-11-03T17:16:00.001-08:002008-11-03T17:18:17.079-08:00Version 1.01 of Presenter for IBM Lotus Notes released (04 November 2008)<p>I don’t give many presentations these days, but expect to do so tomorrow afternoon at the Melbourne (Australia) Lotus User Group meeting.</p><p>So I took out my unique little “Presenter for Lotus Notes” application and brushed up a few cobwebs on it. No new functionality, mainly some color changes to alternate view rows and little things like that.</p><p>Its now ready for download at either <a title="Presenter -- for IBM Lotus Notes" href="http://asiapac.com.au/NotesPresenter_Download.htm" target="_blank">http://asiapac.com.au/NotesPresenter_Download.htm</a> or <a title="Presenter -- for IBM Lotus Notes" href="http://notestracker.com/NotesPresenter_Download.htm" target="_blank">http://notestracker.com/NotesPresenter_Download.htm</a>. Naturally, it’s still completely free.</p><p>But you are probably asking: “What on earth <em><strong>is</strong></em> Presenter for Notes?”</p><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQ-iWQxjnqI/AAAAAAAAANQ/I3L1JaB-Sc8/s1600-h/Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view.jpg"><img title="Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view_by_Slide_Number" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height="404" alt="Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view_by_Slide_Number" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQ-iXMHugWI/AAAAAAAAANU/CD-DaQwE26o/Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="689" border="0" /></a> </p><p>Well, the story behind Presenter goes like this…</p><p>I once did industrial chemistry and high school chemistry/mathematics teaching, then spent a long time at IBM (from 1970 to the mid-1990s, now retired), and find myself as a consultant still in IT 39 years after starting at IBM. My fortieth year in IT begins next January, is that good or bad I keep asking myself.</p><p>During all that time, I’ve seen a vast number of lessons, lectures, business presentations and the like. In the early days, they were done on blackboards and paper. Later overhead projectors were in vogue, with their transparent plastic “foils.” These foils, in any quantity, weighed a ton and weren’t much fun to prepare, distribute and lug around (as I can attest from giving lots of IBM presentations across Australia, and Asia while supporting the IBM System/38 and AS/400 and other systems).</p><p>Then in the 1980s and 1990s, along came Lotus Freelance and Microsoft PowerPoint and suchlike. A better thing? On the whole, probably so.</p><p>But overdone to the n<sup>th</sup> degree. Now we have PowerPoint presentations in plague proportions! See <a title="USING POWERPOINT and GIVING PRESENTATIONS" href="http://asiapac.com.au/Links/KM.htm#POWERPOINT_PRESENTATIONS" target="_blank">here</a> or <a title="USING POWERPOINT and GIVING PRESENTATIONS" href="http://notestracker.com/Links/KM.htm#POWERPOINT_PRESENTATIONS" target="_blank">here</a> (especially look at the articles about “Unplug that projector” and “Drag and drop” and “warts” and “disaster”).</p><p>When I was to give a presentation several years ago, I asked myself if there was a different and/or better way.</p><p>Being active in the Lotus Notes community, I decided that “If you promote and sell it, you should use it!.” So I developed a “presenter” platform to be used in the Lotus Notes Client environment itself.</p><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQ-iX1H1dUI/AAAAAAAAANY/Vw2zPTKVeQA/s1600-h/Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_samp[2].jpg"><img title="Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_sample_slide_with_collapsible_sections" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height="544" alt="Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_sample_slide_with_collapsible_sections" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQ-iYsRRCHI/AAAAAAAAANc/nL2n4hD6JmU/Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_samp%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="759" border="0" /></a> </p><p>The rationale for having a tool like Notes Presenter is briefly outlined in an earlier blog post of mine, see <a href="http://notestoneunturned.blogspot.com/2006/05/notes-presenter-lets-eat-our-own-dog.html"><b>Notes Presenter -- Let's eat our own dog food</b></a> with more details on the download page given above. There’s a user guide built in to the database, in the “Help Using This Database” document.</p><p>You can use Presenter not just for preparing and giving presentations via a Lotus Notes Client, but also for packaging and delivering virtually any Notes applications (databases) together with any sort of related supporting files: executables, documents, data files (even other Notes databases, including design templates), and much more.</p><p>You could, as just one example, hold different versions/releases of a Notes application suite – or a presentation, or anything else -- either inside [separate documents held in] a single Presenter database or in multiple Presenter databases each one dedicated to s single version/release.</p><p>In fact, whatever can be attached to a Notes rich text field can be delivered via a Presenter database as one tidy self-contained package.</p><p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQ-iZceb5cI/AAAAAAAAANg/z5NbdGfyxlM/s1600-h/Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view[4].jpg"><img title="Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view_by_Category_and_Concept" style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height="491" alt="Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view_by_Category_and_Concept" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQ-iaHlcMXI/AAAAAAAAANk/CFOUMGyK3I4/Presenter_for_Lotus_Notes_v1.01_view%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="760" border="0" /></a></p><p>With the various Presenter views (such as the view by Category/Concept shown just above), and via full-text search, you can quickly and easily locate a particular slide or group of slides related to a given topic.</p><p>For example, in the question time at the end of a pitch, somebody asks you about a particular term you used that’s buried deep within one of many slides. Use a full-text search to rapidly locate that slide instead of fumbling around (as I’ve seen happen a number of times) and perhaps not even be able to find that slide again.</p><p>There’s a lot more I could say, but let me just say that if you’re a Lotus Notes Client user you should “eat your own dog food” and avoid using PowerPoint wherever possible. Download Presenter for Lotus Notes and go try it out!</p>NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-23224252435917114982008-10-30T03:53:00.001-07:002008-10-30T03:59:52.424-07:00CAPTURE Version 2.2 released (30th October 2008)<p>CAPTURE version 2.2.00 is now available for download from either <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/CAPTURE_Download.htm">http://asiapac.com.au/CAPTURE_Download.htm</a>(or its mirror at <a href="http://notestracker.com/CAPTURE_Download.htm">http://notestracker.com/CAPTURE_Download.htm</a> ).</p><p>From the same page, you also can download the built-in "Help Using This Database" document as a separate PDF, if this is more convenient for you to read outside the Notes environment.</p><p>CAPTURE stands for "Customer And Project Tracking with Usage Reporting Extensions" and is a completely free Lotus Notes CRM application -- with Asia/Pacific Computer Services' NotesTracker<sup><span style="font-size:78%;">TM</span></sup> incorporated so that you can track and audit usage of the documents in a CAPTURE database. <p>Apart from a few very minor changes, the main functional improvement added is the ability to specify (for each CAPTURE database replica) the three headings that appear at the top of each page. <p>This is shown in the following illustration. Click on it to open a larger image (on a new page). <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQmSKQE6lYI/AAAAAAAAAMI/X6j4WseboYw/s1600-h/CAPTURE_Version_2.2_tailoring_headings[4].jpg"><img title="CAPTURE_Version_2.2_tailoring_headings" style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; DISPLAY: inline; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" height="174" alt="CAPTURE_Version_2.2_tailoring_headings" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_xp8rMrfWWZ0/SQmSLFH5wfI/AAAAAAAAAMU/0b0-DlGsEgo/CAPTURE_Version_2.2_tailoring_headings_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" /></a> <p>This was requested by a CAPTURE user as a means of applying “branding” to a CAPTURE database. <p>And the best news is that it is still a FREE application. So download and enjoy! <p>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br />Having NotesTracker capabilities built in is a unique feature, possibly not found in any other CRM application. For example, you can see who updated the sales forecast figure for your customer Acme Widgets, and when they did it, or who deleted a Contact from the database.</p><p>Another option is to keep open the RSS-style "Breaking News" view so as to see database actions appear automatically as soon as they occur (in the case of events on remote Domino servers, as soon as then next replication cycle occurs for the database).</p><p>You can purchase the NotesTracker toolkit to add powerful features activity tracking and compliance management to the design of your own IBM Lotus Notes/Domino database applications.</p>NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-69996156131926153752008-10-27T16:11:00.001-07:002008-10-27T16:15:48.357-07:00SDMS version 4.4.01 released (28 October 2008)<p>SDMS Version 4.4.01 was released today, Tuesday 28 October 2008 -- and of course it’s free, as ever.</p><p>When v4.4.00 was released, I inadvertently reset its default access level so that it was no longer Manager.</p><p>This meant that, as delivered, you could not do things such as changing the database’s title, unless you knew that you could bypass this problem by making a local copy and select not to copy the access control list.</p><p>In version 4.4.01 the default for the ACL has been reset to Manager.</p><p>This should make it easier for you again to start off using SDMS “out of the box” (without suffering the abovementioned access level problem).</p>NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-25573481634782312132008-07-30T08:06:00.000-07:002008-07-30T08:15:57.085-07:00SDMS Version 4.4 released (30th July 2008)SDMS version 4.4 (otherwise known as version 4.4.00) was released today, Sunday 16th December 2007.<br /><br />As always, it's still completely free!<br /><br />V4.4 is largely a maintenance release, with some documentation additions and very minor changes here and there.<br /><br />The only functional change is that there are several additional columns in the main document hierarchy view (added at the request of an SDMS user, together with a new option in the SDMS Profile document to enable this. Read the built-in <strong>Help Using This Database</strong> document for information about this.<br /><br />Download SDMS from either <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/SDMS_Download.htm">http://asiapac.com.au/SDMS_Download.htm</a> or <a href="http://notestracker.com/SDMS_Download.htm">http://notestracker.com/SDMS_Download.htm</a><br /><br />KEEP ON ENJOYING SDMS, and please send in your feedback!NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-22661196314533953012008-07-12T00:16:00.000-07:002008-07-12T00:24:43.390-07:00NotesTracker Guide Version 5.1 updatedVarious relatively minor usability plus explanation changes have been made to the NotesTracker Guide today.<br /><br />Please download your fresh copy of this PDF document, from the main server <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation">http://asiapac.com.au/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation</a> or backup server <a href="http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation">http://notestracker.com/UsageTracker_Download.htm#Documentation</a> (feedback appreciated).NotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18884503.post-32035681393695211832008-01-29T05:57:00.000-08:002008-01-29T06:19:46.344-08:00CAPTURE Version 2.1.04 released (29th January 2008)CAPTURE version 2.1.04 is now available for download from either <a href="http://asiapac.com.au/CAPTURE_Download.htm" eudora="autourl">http://asiapac.com.au/CAPTURE_Download.htm </a>(or its mirror at <a href="http://notestracker.com/CAPTURE_Download.htm" eudora="autourl">http://notestracker.com/CAPTURE_Download.htm</a> ). From the same page, you now can download the built-in "Help Using This Database" document as a separate PDF, if this is more convenient for you to read.<br /><br />This version contains fixes for minor bugs, as well as several small but useful feature enhancements.<br /><br />CAPTURE stands for "Customer And Project Tracking with Usage Reporting Extensions" and is a completely free Lotus Notes CRM application -- with Asia/Pacific Computer Services' NotesTracker incorporated so that you can track and audit usage of the documents in a CAPTURE database.<br /><br />Having NotesTracker capabilities built in is a unique feature, possibly not found in any other CRM application. For example, you can see who updated the sales forecast figure for your customer Acme Widgets, and when they did it, or who deleted a Contact from the database. Or you can keep open the RSS-style "Breaking News" view so as to see database actions appear automatically as soon as they occur (in the case of events on remote Domino servers, as soon as then next replication cycle occurs for the database).<br /><br />You can purchase the NotesTracker toolkit to add powerful features activity tracking and compliance management to the design of your own IBM Lotus Notes/Domino database applicationsNotesTracker - Tony Austinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051436094635008734noreply@blogger.com0