What can Lotus Notes do for me?
Shawn Abigail
I know this might seem like a rather strange question, but what is Lotus
Notes, and what can it do for me? I've been reading all the computer
magazines I can find, and while everyone raves about Notes, nobody
has really discussed what it does. I find this a little embarassing
because I work as a programmer, and I feel like I have fallen behind
the information curve 8-)
Shawn
--
Shawn G. Abigail ad...@freenet.carleton.ca
Lennart Regebro
>I know this might seem like a rather strange question, but what is Lotus
>Notes,
It's a distributed form based database.
> and what can it do for me?
Everything. :)
Actually, it can do a lot. Here's what we use it for.
- Customer Tracking System (including support)
- Conferencing.
- Distribution of information to customers (both sales info, prices and
tech info including patches and fixes.)
- Email
- Contact with vendors (via their information sharing systems, and their
support conferencing system).
--
Lennart Regebro Lennart...@scs.no (Try this first)
Galactic Guide Field Researcher reg...@stacken.kth.se (Spare address)
David Gutierrez
> In <Cx73o...@freenet.carleton.ca> ad...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Shawn
Abigail) writes:
> >I know this might seem like a rather strange question, but what is Lotus
> >Notes,
> > and what can it do for me?
>
> Everything. :)
> Actually, it can do a lot. Here's what we use it for.
(lots of stuff deleted)
Will it do these out of the box, or do you have to add stuff on or write
stuff? If you have to write it, does what you write also work on Macs, or
do you have to write it seperately? If Mac versions have to be written
seperately, do you bother?
--
David Gutierrez
d...@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu
"Only fools are positive." - Moe Howard
Savannah Brentnall
>From: d...@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu (David Gutierrez)
>Subject: Re: What can Lotus Notes do for me?
>Date: Wed, 05 Oct 1994 11:49:12 +0600
>(lots of stuff deleted)
>--
>David Gutierrez
>d...@biomath.mda.uth.tmc.edu
David,
Some of the apps people mention are available as samples straight out of the
box, and others you write yourself. The apps you write will run on PCs, Macs
and UNIX machines. People can contribute to a discussion database (kind of
similar to a bulletin board, but more powerful) regardless of where they are
geographically or what platform they're running on.
Savannah
Lennart Regebro
>Will it do these out of the box, or do you have to add stuff on or write
>stuff?
You have to write your own databases, yes. It's not very hard, but I can
recommend taking a course.
> If you have to write it, does what you write also work on Macs,
Yes, it should work on Macs. Except for one thing. Many of our databases
uses Lotus Datalens to get info from an SQL server. That means that you
have to have Datalens drivers for this database for all the platforms
you use.
No, we don't bother with Mac versions, we don't have any Macs.
Robin Hall
In article <Cx73o...@freenet.carleton.ca>, Shawn Abigail (ad...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA) writes:
>
>I know this might seem like a rather strange question, but what is Lotus
>Notes, and what can it do for me? I've been reading all the computer
>magazines I can find, and while everyone raves about Notes, nobody
>has really discussed what it does. I find this a little embarassing
>because I work as a programmer, and I feel like I have fallen behind
>the information curve 8-)
The problem with explaining what Notes does is that you have to see
it and discuss it with an existing user for an hour or so. Then
you have the "A-HA!" experience and all the nasty applications that
you have been avoiding for ages have an immediate solution. It is
a database for text-based information.
What it WON'T do is replace your transaction processing or heavy
numerical apps like accounts, payroll, airline booking and analysis
of statistical data.
What it WILL do is customer relationship management, distribution of
company manuals, management of projects (NOT the Gantt planning, the
subsequent working together and documentation), workflow, discussion
groups (the "eternal coffee break" was a neat description I read),
all sorts of sharing of text based information. Any business
process which involves a photocopier is a target for replacement by
Notes. Notes combines email, text handling (not word processing,
far more than that), database and application development in one
simple multi-platform client-server package. And contrary to
anything you may hear from detractors of the product, it is a
heavyweight industrial-grade product. Some applications I have
been involved with include :-
a workflow application with 300 users, 20,000 transactions
per day.
a multinational application stretching from California to
Tel Aviv and Tokyo, supporting an international technical marketing
force of hundreds.
an application involving several hundred companies
switching text information to support a complex trading operation -
a sort of electronic postal service with a sophisticated application
on top to control high security issues.
automation of the distribution and control of manufacturing
specifications (ingredients, processes, packaging, controls, etc.)
for a multi-site operation.
From a programmer's prespective, Notes has a big downside - it is
extremely powerful as a tool for a semi-trained user. The upside
is that a competent Notes guru can turn a pedestrian application
into a real screamer and change the nature of how a company does
business. So, GO FOR IT!
--
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