Lotus Notes - the University of Nebraska Experience

Greg GrayUniversity of Nebraska Central AdministrationComputing Services Network

L in c o ln (U N L )

U n iv e rs ity o f N eb rask a -L in co ln :th e s ta te 's lan d -g ran t, A A U an d

C arn eg ie I R esea rch U n iv e rs ity

O m a h a (U N M C )

U n iv e rs ity o f N eb rask a M ed ica l

C en te r: A h ea lth sc ien ce cen te r

O m a h a (U N O )

U n iv e rs ity o f N eb rask a a tO m ah a : A m etro p o litan

u n iv e rs ity

K e a r n e y (U N K )

U n iv e rs ity o f N eb rask a a tK ea rn ey : A co m p reh en siv e

u n iv e rs ity

N eb ra sk a 's F o u r C a m p u s U n iv ers ity

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:Pre Lotus Notes Problems:

• The University of Nebraska was supporting an estimated 30 separate e-mail 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 e-mail addresses– sending mail was unreliable– ever increasing support costs– calendaring & scheduling was impossible– no University wide workflow capabilities

University of Nebraska E-Mail System – University of Nebraska E-Mail System – Pre Lotus Notes network designPre Lotus Notes network design

How did we get to Lotus NotesHow did we get to Lotus Notes

• The University of Nebraska was frustrated -- We had a “technological tower of babbletechnological tower of babble”.

• We discussed the possibility of connecting the various e-mail systems together by using one large directory, for example, SoftSwitch. It was decided it would more cost effective to go to one unified e-mail system vs. a large directory.

• In early 1996 a university wide team was appointed to study the issue of a standard university e-mail system.

The University wide team….

• reviewed functional & technical requirements, and compared them with leading vendor-supplied e-mail packages.

• installed & tested several e-mail 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 e-mail, calendaring & scheduling system to be used university wide.

Deployment PlanDeployment 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 DevelopmentApplication 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