Lotus Notes - the University of Nebraska Experience Greg Gray University of Nebraska Central Administration Computing Services Network

University of Nebraska

Involved with the coordination, implementation, support, planning, strategy, etc. for Lotus Domino and Notes at the University of Nebraska Team lead for our Domino Administrators. My role in the Notes implementation:

Presentation Topics: History on decision to use Lotus Notes How are we rolling out Notes How are we supporting Notes Groupware capabilities Problems Future plans

Pre Lotus Notes Problems: The University of Nebraska was supporting an estimated 30 separate systems. This had created, to name a few….. –user frustration –computer support problems –connecting the systems together was a logistical nightmare –lost documents –little to no security: copying, forwarding, who got it? –impossible to find addresses –sending mail was unreliable –ever increasing support costs –calendaring & scheduling was impossible –no University wide workflow capabilities

University of Nebraska System – Pre Lotus Notes network design

How did we get to Lotus Notes technological tower of babbleThe University of Nebraska was frustrated -- We had a “technological tower of babble”. We discussed the possibility of connecting the various systems together by using one large directory, for example, SoftSwitch. It was decided it would more cost effective to go to one unified system vs. a large directory. In early 1996 a university wide team was appointed to study the issue of a standard university system.

The University wide team…. reviewed functional & technical requirements, and compared them with leading vendor-supplied packages. installed & tested several versions, including Lotus Notes, GroupWise, and Microsoft Exchange. the key evaluation criteria included start-up costs, ease of use, functionality, ability to move documents freely, ability to calendar & schedule across campuses, potential for distance education, usage, maintenance, training, and overall support. the clear consensus was that Lotus Notes was the best product at that time and in the foreseeable future. on Saturday, February 22, 1997 the University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the use of Lotus Notes as the standard , calendaring & scheduling system to be used university wide.

Deployment Plan Created a Lotus Notes Management Team –(U-Wide collaboration) –They work together in reviewing & approving major Technical Team recommendations as well as ensure each campus is working towards or has what it needs to reach the same common goal. Created a Lotus Notes Technical Team –(U-Wide collaboration) –They work together in administering and maintaining the production Domino/Notes environment.

Domino Server infrastructure Single Domain with mail servers at each campus that can replicate changes back to a “Hub” server. This configuration provides numerous features, for example, –a common address book –automatic mail routing between servers & users –the ability to share applications or complete groupware activities Support of the mail server infrastructure is completed by a small number of administrators who are from each campus and the University of Nebraska Computing Services Network.

Current Deployment Status Currently at 50, 000 Lotus Notes users university wide –Primarily using the Lotus Notes client –Also using Web Mail or POP3 & IMAP clients –Currently upgrading Lotus Notes clients to R5 –Still to do: -Students and remaining faculty & staff from one campus All Domino mail servers are R5.x Final number of users - approximately 65,000

Application Development Pockets of application development are occurring university wide which has caused some confusion. This is causing us to look at the University wide approach. Discussing the possible creation of a U-Wide Notes Application Development Team.

Non-mail Examples of using Domino/Notes Pegboard Expense vouchers Package Delivery Document Library Discussion database Resource Reservation database User Management Time Sheet Recording Employee Maintenance System Skills Inventory Request for Leave

Problems Implementing Notes –Accepting change –As more users are added the environment keeps growing Duplicate student user names Number of user names in the Address Book Hardware / Software –Notes client requirements - hardware –Mac Notes client – pre-R5.x –Installation of Notes client software –Use of other POP3 or IMAP clients Academic environment –Many flavors of equipment and methods

Future Plans Distance Education Knowledge management Collaboration –SameTime –Quickplace Workflow to SAP Groupware Applications Partnering with the State of Nebraska and others

Discussion