How many times have you initiated a search looking for something specific, get a long list of results returned, and spend a lot of time scrolling through them to find what you are really looking for?  In some cases even attachments get searched and the search criteria, although technically correct, is out of context.  In some cases way out of context.

An alternative is take advantage of visual search techniques. This web 2.0 technology is being used on many sites and you may be familiar with it.  Check out www.flickr.com as an example.  We have taken this and applied it to a corporate environment in a unique way.  Rather than have the results show everything in terms of meta data, we will be allowing users to define how the search is carried out,. Specifically what meta data is searched and the order it is searched. This is will be all integrated with our powerful "Perspectives" for shaping up data in a way that is meaningful to the end user.

Here is a quick flash overview of a prototype.

http://www.docova.tv/Videos/CloudTags/cloudtags.htm

Posted by: Gary Walsh | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Document Management  Latest Thinking  Lotusphere2009  Technology - Collaboration  Video Posts 

It is time.  We have looked at Sharepoint a few times.  Older releases were so basic it reminded one of the early days of Lotus Notes.  Several customers have linked our Document Mgt system, Docova, into Sharepoint.  As we help with the integration we can see that the product has changed, and It is time to look again and see what the latest release has to offer.  

The project is a DLI internal site.  Lets see how far we can take this.   We need the ability to provide a front end for our existing systems.  Some of these are Lotus Notes based.  Information includes Statement of Work documents, a window to view our web based timesheets, invoices...etc.  Pretty basic.  

This Blog thread will document the project.  You may find the Domino perspective interesting.

Posted by: Gary Walsh | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Sharepoint 

Whenever I do a demonstration I always field the question on how these products compare.  In my opinion, Quickr and Quickplace represent collaboration tools. They allow you to post information, either as pages or in files, where other people can get at it. When Quickplace first appeared the creation and editing was quick and in this regard it was somewhat unique. I was probably one of its bigger fans.  

Now there are numerous products, many open source, that have many more look and feel options, are easier to use and navigate, and are in fact quicker for this purpose.  Quickplace has morphed into Quickr, with the ability to connect into other products in the Lotus inventory, but it retains many of the Quickplace characteristics.   It is NOT a document management system in the same way that Sharepoint is not a document management system. Workflow is limited, version control is limited, and if you want it to do something that it cannot you get to work through an API vs something like Domino Designer.    

DomDoc was full blown (note the past tense) in terms of document management. It grew over a long period of time and the functionality was very deep, however, people found it hard to use.  The UI was not good.  Docova originally started off as a demo of our Domino Web Development tool kits.

While helping clients build their applications we found they were not using all of the functionality in the toolkits to make a clean and functional user interface. We created a demo and used Document Mgt as a context because it was relatively well understood.  The positive reaction to the demo prompted us to finish the application. It has many of the features you would find in a full blown document management product, still runs on the Domino back end, allows you to use the Designer Client to add functionality but has a user interface that is much more like a typical Windows application than what you would find in a browser.

Posted by: Gary Walsh | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Collaboration & Workflow  Technology - Collaboration 

We always have fun at Lotusphere - 2009 will be no exception. Details to follow on what to expect from us for 2009 - including a new product announcement for Docova and an expanded special draw for the showcase.

Posted by: Scott Tomlinson | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Announcements  Lotusphere2009 

Some cool stuff happening with Docova ... We've extended the relationship we had with Ardexus - creating a joint solution to tackle extended Sales Team collaboration. Below is the formal announcement. Video demo should be published soon.

Formal Announcement: DLI.tools Inc and Ardexus Extends Relationship
Creates powerful solution for Sales Force Effectiveness & Optimization

Burlington, ON, July 15, 2008 – DLI.tools Inc, workplace collaboration specialists, and Ardexus Inc today announced the alignment of DLI.tools’ Docova Collaborative Document Management technologies with the Ardexus CRM and SFA solutions.

The combined solution addresses the collaborative needs of extended sales teams by simplifying and consolidating the myriad of sales-related processes, documents, emails and files often scattered across the organization. While conversations, emails, purchase orders and final contracts tend to encompass the customer knowledge stored in the CRM system, items like proposals and RFPs are responses to that customer knowledge and tend to fall outside the CRM system. These supportive processes and documents should be aligned with the CRM system, thereby extending the CRM experience to the entire extended sales team.

“We selected Docova to address the document management needs for extended sales teams and CRM processes because (1) the shear ease of using Docova from an end user perspective, (2) ease of working with the underlying technology, and (3) the level of support we’ve received from DLI.tools in the past,” said Glenn Carnegie, CEO Ardexus. “When you can deliver a total solution that drives productivity, end customer revenue and customer satisfaction, the benefits of return on investment beyond that of the CRM become tangible.”

“Ardexus is another great partnering story. Ardexus can deliver a more comprehensive solution that extends beyond their core offerings into adjacent business areas – while staying focused on developing their own sales force automation, effectiveness and optimization solutions,” adds Gary Walsh, VP Solutions, DLI.tools. “The good news is that Ardexus has already deployed the joint solution to a number of customers in North America and Europe, proving that both the partnership model and the customer benefits are real.”

About Docova Collaborative Document Management

Docova envisions a day where the ‘Is this the right version of..?’, ‘Who authorized that…?’, and ‘Where can I find …?’ can be retired. Docova is driving progressive organizations to realize the dream today, enabling their workers to do ‘more with less’ around Organizing, Controlling and Sharing the collective business documents, emails, files, and other digital content artifacts in a manner that does not impede the way they work. See how Docova delivers on the spirit of ‘doing more with less’ at www.docova.com

About DLI.tools Inc.

DLI.tools is a leader in User Interface component technologies for Lotus Notes and Domino web applications. Well regarded throughout the Lotus community, DLI.tools has received 10 lotus-based award recognitions since 2003. Over 400 organizations have reported a ROI as high as 1,000%.  Experience the difference our technologies will make to your productivity at www.dlitools.com/WebToolsForLotus

About Ardexus Inc.

Ardexus provides front office solutions that revolutionize the way small to mid-sized companies do business. Aberdeen, ISM, and The Denali Group all agree - Ardexus is an innovative company with outstanding products. Ardexus offers a full range of sales-centric software, including Ardexus MODE® - a professional suite of marketing, sales, and customer service modules. Ardexus is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. For additional information on Ardexus or their products, visit http://www.ardexus.com or call toll free (888) Ardexus.

Posted by: Scott Tomlinson | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Announcements  Collaboration & Workflow  Document Management  Technology - Collaboration 

The latest release provides enhancements in over 20 areas of the product.
Selected enhancements include:

improved security & privileges controls,

system messaging,

web printing capabilities,

document searching.

Customers are encouraged to download the latest release in the Docova Support Center. As well, a video detailing the latest functionality can be found inside Docova Support Center.

Download the Press Release (contains additional information and resources)

Posted by: Scott Tomlinson | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Announcements  Collaboration & Workflow  Document Management  Industry News  Technology - Collaboration 

Anyone who actively markets their business online knows the importance of search engine optimization. The right optimization strategy can drastically improve awareness and revenues; a strategy that can fall apart if you restructure your web site. That was the risk DLI.tools faced when we ‘moved’ our Collaborative Document Management solution, Docova, from www.dlitools.com to its own domain: www.docova.com. The risk: Losing our optimized results we had worked so hard to build. Based on SEO best practices, we knew that we had to implement a 301 redirection plan for all the affected pages, one that proved to be not so straight forward on our Domino R7 environment.  Note: Domino R8 does provide rules for proper 301 redirects, so this workaround is applicable to R7 and below.

301 Redirect Requirements

In order to create a 301 redirect in Domino R7, you need to respond to clients with the HTTP status code of 301 to tell the browser the requested resource has moved permanently.  Domino by default allows you to customize HTTP header fields but it generates the HTTP status codes itself preventing you from customizing these. Therefore, a workaround process is required to re-turn the status code of 301 and to populate the HTTP header field called "Location" with the URL that you would like to redirect to.

One way to accomplish this in Domino R7 is to use a Java Servlet.  Servlets are able to respond with their own HTTP response codes, so they are a good candidate for this. Note that any envi-ronment that permits you to customize the response code and HTTP header can be used.

To handle a redirect you will want to be able to respond to the GET requests from the browser with the status of 301 and the also provide the location to redirect the user to.  The browser han-dles the actual redirection based on the response and http header field (location).

Appropriate Java Classes

The class javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet http://java.sun.com/products/servlet/2.1/api/javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.html has methods for handling each of the http request types, the one we are concerned with is GET, doGet allows you to respond to those client requests through a servlet.  This method has two parameters passed in the javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest and javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse.  These classes allow you to process the client request and compute a response, to do this create a new java class that extends this class (HttpServlet) in order to respond to the client requests using your custom servlet response.

A typical response would be....

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import java.io.PrintWriter;

public class SAMPLE1 extends HttpServlet
{
 public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
 {
         try
         {
         //return the html below to the browser, Status OK
         response.setContentType("text/html");
         response.setStatus(200);
         response.getWriter().println("This is the response page");
         }
         catch (Exception e)
         {
         response.getWriter().println(e);
         }
 }        
}

A 301 redirect response would look like...

import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import java.io.PrintWriter;

public class SAMPLE2 extends HttpServlet
{
 public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
 {
         try
         {
 //tell the browser to redirect the client to the new permanent URL below, 301 Redirect
         response.setContentType("text/html");
         response.setStatus(301);

 //the browser will redirect to the location specified in this header field
         response.setHeader("Location","http://www.docova.com");
         }
         catch (Exception e)
         {
         response.getWriter().println(e);
         }
 }
}

Posted by: Jeff Primeau | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Domino Web Dev  Lotus Administration 

Development Update: The Docova 2.5.6 is pending release.
Customers with up-to-date Docova Support and Maintenance will receive upgrade, update instructions soon.

Posted by: Scott Tomlinson | Add / Read Comments (0)
Categories:  Announcements  Document Management  Technology - Collaboration