Live in NY, NJ, or CT ? Join us on Nov 9th for the Tri-State LUG

Tweet

On November 9th, I'lll be in New York visiting one of our customers and will also get a chance to speak at the Tri-State Lotus User Group (LUG). I've never been to the a LUG before, let alone speak at one. Needless to say, I'm a bit nervous about the event.

The keynote speaker for the event is Bob Picciano and my session is right after his, which of course adds to the pressure. Looking at the agenda, I noticed that my time slot also puts me going head-to-head against John Head. Luckily, I'm going to Enterprise 2.0 in San Francisco next week so I hope to pick up some good tips on new stuff (and perhaps how to present).

My session is going to be about extending Lotus Connections with Tivoli Directory Integrator (TDI) by importing data from existing Domino databases. This is actually something that I had to do for the customer that I visited this week in Toronto. I'm going to give a brief introduction of what TDI is and what a powerful tool it is. Then walk through the process of creating an 'assembly line' to connect to Domino, retrieve some data, and import it to Connections.

To register for the event on the 9th, fill out this registration form (and space is limited so register today)!  See you there!

Opening bookmarks in a new window

Tweet

Today I got to enjoy Toronto again. I was here 3 weeks ago setting up an environment for a potential customer. Last time I was here, they didn't have a Notes 8.5.1 which was released just 16 days ago. It's interesting to see the customer's perception of Connections with Notes 8.5.1. They are completely loving the integrated suite of products all working together in harmony. The 4 hours that I was there, they just wouldn't stop congratulating me for the work that we've done integrating Notes, Sametime and Connections together.

I, of course, don't get any credit for this. All credit goes to the development team for their great work. Not sure if the development team will see this (they are probably heads down now getting ready for Lotusphere), but your work is appreciated.

Anyway, there was one customization that customer wanted: open bookmarks in a new window. Here's the customization that I made in case you would like to do the same in your environment.

1. Go to the Lotus Connections server
2. Go to the following directory: <WAS_PROFILE_ROOT>/installedApps\<cellname>\Dogear.ear\dogear.webui.war\h3\jsp\main
3. Save a backup of bookmark.jspf, currentBookmark.jspf
4. Open the files with your favorite text editor
5. Look for this:

   <a id="bmlink_${link.id}" onmouseover....

6. Add target="_blank" before id so that it looks like this:

   <a target="_blank"id="bmlink_${link.id}" onmouseover

7. Save and close the files
8. "Touch" h3.jsp
9. Delete the directory: <WAS_PROFILE_ROOT>\temp\*
10. Clear browser cache
11. Reload Bookmarks

Enjoy!

Collecting usage metrics in Lotus Connections 2.5

Tweet

Last year, I posted a blog with sample reports & metrics collected by Lotus Connections v2. Since that's one of the areas that was improved in 2.5, I've been getting a lot of questions as to how these reports look like.

Here, I've included a couple sample screenshots. Do note that most reports are longer than 1 page and thus don't fit in one page screenshot. If you would like to learn more, let me know.

Activities

Blogs

Bookmarks

Communities

Files

Homepage

Profiles

Wikis

Pre-Order: Planning and Implementing Social Software for your Enterprise with Lotus Connections 2.5

Tweet

Amazon has just posted the 2nd edition to the Lotus Connections 2.5 book. You can pre-order it today from Amazon.

Table of contents:

• Assessing the potential value of social networking to your business
• Building dynamic networks of coworkers, partners, and customers that promote innovation and business agility
• Understanding the core services Lotus Connections 2.5 provides and the unique way in which they integrate
• Leveraging Lotus Connections’ consistent multitiered architecture
• Successfully planning for technical infrastructure and organizational change
• Walking through a best-practice installation and configuration process
• Building effective communities for employees with shared interests
• Using blogs to improve communications and overcome organizational silos or time zone differences
• Helping individuals and groups organize their work through Activities
• Performing administrative tasks such as customizing look-and-feel, collecting statistics, and troubleshooting
• Using plug-ins to integrate with Lotus Notes^®, Microsoft^® Office^®, Outlook^®, Windows^® Explorer, Lotus Sametime^®, and WebSphere^® Portal
• Displaying useful, up-to-the-minute information with prebuilt widgets
• Utilizing Lotus Connections’ REST-based API to create new integration points and build custom applications

Enjoy!

Cool new plugin for Lotus Connections

Tweet

For some time now, we've had a plugin available internally that enhances the navigation experience within Lotus Connections. It actually requires Firefox, so if you are still using Internet Explorer, well, don't. It's an archaic browser and all it does is reduce your productivity.

Ok back to topic. The developer of the plugin, Brett Johnson, has decided to make it available via userscripts.org. What does it do? Well, the plugin injects a drop-down menu in the top navigation bar. The menu 'discovers' what's behind those links and then dynamically presents you a sub-menu with available options. That way, if you know where you are going, you can get there in 1 click, instead of 3-4.

I strongly recommend that you all download and install this plugin, but be aware that it may make Lotus Connections even more addictive. To download and install the plugin, go here.

Updated 10/Oct/2009 - Note: As pointed out by Mitch: if you are using outside of IBM you need to change the scripts config from *ibm.com/profiles to *domainname/profiles etc. etc. for each feature.

October is the month for Lotus Knows Bus Tour

Tweet

It's almost October and that means it's tour time! Here's a map of the cities that the Lotus Knows Tour Bus will be visiting during this month. It looks like I'll get to see it first when it goes to the LA area which is the same week I'll be at the Portal conference in nearby San Diego.

View Lotus Knows bus in a larger map

Shortly after I get to check out the bus in Los Angeles, the bus heads to the Las Vegas. And as Bilal points out, it looks like it's going to show up at the Sharepoint conference. That sounds fun!!! Can't wait to see/hear the reaction from the crowds there.

So plan now and set a date with the Lotus Knows Tour Bus. For a complete listing of cities and dates, click here.