Microsoft Office SystemCustomer Solution Case Study

Government Agency Uses Microsoft Process to Analyze and Migrate Lotus

OverviewCountry or Region: AustraliaIndustry: National government

Customer ProfileDIMA manages entry arrangements for non-citizens in Australia, facilitates citizenship, and promotes the country’s multicultural heritage.

Business SituationDIMA wanted to switch from Lotus Notes/Domino to Microsoft® collaboration software but first needed proof that migrating its many Notes applications would be feasible.

SolutionDIMA followed the Microsoft Application Analysis Envisioning Process to understand the complexity of the migration and to conduct a proof-of-concept demonstration.

Benefits Automated in-depth analysis of

Notes application infrastructure Reliable process for application

migration More powerful Microsoft

SharePoint® Products and Technologies

Faster development cycle

“I was very surprised by how fast the developers were able to rebuild the functionality of the Notes applications. The new SharePoint features are helping to minimize development effort.”Grant Thomas, Messaging and Secure Gateway Services Manager, Department of The Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) controls the entry of non-citizens into Australia. In 2005, DIMA began early-stage planning to move from IBM Lotus Notes/Domino to Microsoft® collaboration software. However, the agency had many Notes applications and wanted a proof of concept demonstrating the feasibility of their migration. Working with IT partner Avanade and Microsoft Services consultants, DIMA followed the Microsoft Application Analysis Envisioning Process—a prescriptive set of procedures for analyzing a Notes environment, mapping Notes applications to target Microsoft technologies, and conducting a proof of concept. Now DIMA has a detailed report summarizing all Notes applications in its IT environment, a proof of concept in which three production applications were successfully migrated, and a proven process to follow for future full-scale

SituationThe Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA) in Australia is responsible for the entry arrangements for non-citizens, settling migrants, border control, citizenship, and ethnic and multicultural affairs. Originally created in 1945, the agency has had several name changes, but it still serves the government’s mission to “enrich Australia through the entry and settlement of people; value Australia’s heritage, citizenship, and cultural diversity; and recognize the special place of indigenous people as original inhabitants.” DIMA currently has an annual operating budget of AUS$700 million (U.S.$514 million) and maintains offices throughout Australia.

In 2005, DIMA began to review its IT systems and determined that, for strategic reasons, it wanted the option of standardizing on Microsoft® applications and infrastructure software. Although DIMA had already standardized on the Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 operating system, the agency still used Lotus Domino Server and the Lotus Notes client for messaging, collaboration, and other functions.

In addition to using Notes for messaging, DIMA also maintained an extensive library of Notes applications that had been developed over many years. “The Notes apps in the DIMA environment were part of a strategic application-development platform, which included detailed databases

and supported functions that were critical to day-to-day operations,” says Grant Thomas, Messaging and Secure Gateway Services Manager at DIMA. Before the agency could consider switching to a new environment, it needed to understand the scope and complexity that such a project would involve and to ensure that its critical business functions would still be supported.

In late 2005, DIMA approached Microsoft Services consultants to help research the feasibility of a migration. Microsoft representatives examined the agency’s business processes and ran the Microsoft Application Analyzer for Lotus Domino. This free tool analyzes Notes applications and their design elements and generates detailed reports based on several application properties. These properties include last accessed/modified dates, data views, Notes template types, and form elements.

After reviewing the results for four months, DIMA determined that it wanted to switch to Microsoft collaboration software. It had become aware of many of the benefits that this software offers, particularly those of Microsoft SharePoint® Products and Technologies. However, before proceeding with a deployment, DIMA wanted more than just research data; the agency also needed to know precisely how the functionality of its Notes applications would be enabled and enhanced in any Microsoft solution and how much time and

development resources the transition would require.

DIMA also wanted a proof-of-concept demonstration to verify that a future full-scale migration of its Notes applications would be technically and economically feasible.

SolutionIn April 2006, Microsoft consultants returned and presented to DIMA the Microsoft Application Analysis Envisioning Process (AAEP)—prescriptive guidance that reduces the time, complexity, and manual intervention required to evaluate a Lotus Notes/Domino environment. For DIMA, this process would identify the resources, tools, and technologies required to transition the agency’s applications to Microsoft collaboration software. Designed to help customers with migration planning, AAEP consists of four phases: Phase 1 examines the customer’s

current Notes/Domino application environment. Specifically, automated tools and scripted interviews identify infrastructure and development components, administrative processes, and workflow. The tools analyze and conduct an inventory of current Notes applications; and they group those applications into categories based on their levels and types of customization.

Phase 2 examines the customized applications in-depth, determining which ones are business-critical as well as understanding their purpose: who uses them, what

types of data elements are stored within them, how they implement business processes and workflow, and what collaboration services they require.

Phase 3 identifies specific Microsoft and other technologies that will enable and enhance the Notes applications’ functionality. This phase is called “target solution mapping” because each application is mapped to the appropriate target technologies that can best support the application’s business functionality.

Phase 4 takes the target mappings identified in phase 3 and defines a migration path and deployment timeline for them. Phase 4 also includes a proof-of-concept demonstration to verify that the new solutions can replace the old Notes applications and that any historical data those applications depend on can be accessed in the new environment.

AAEP is the ideal solution for organizations like DIMA who are considering a migration of their Notes applications but first need to understand their existing application inventory, identify the best target solution technologies, and outline the migration’s complexity and resource requirements.

Phase 1For the first phase of AAEP, Microsoft ran the new version of its Notes application analyzer—the Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino. This utility includes standard

“I believe, based on the current progress, that in each case the new Microsoft solutions will be better than the old Notes applications.”Grant Thomas, Messaging and Secure

reports that summarize all Notes applications, including any that are dependent on e-mail. This is especially important for customers like DIMA, which may choose to set up a temporary e-mail gateway between their Exchange and Lotus Domino infrastructures.

In just two hours, the Application Analyzer identified 168 applications as potential candidates for migration and categorized them based on their level of customization. The tool also produced detailed reports, enabling IT staff to note any infrastructural changes that had taken place in the Notes environment since previously running the tool in 2005.

Additionally, Microsoft asked Avanade, a partner that has worked with DIMA on previous IT projects, to help set up a test environment to run the Microsoft collaboration software. Founded in 2000 as a joint venture between Accenture and Microsoft, Avanade is a leading technology integrator whose Lotus Notes migration methodology builds on the Microsoft envisioning process. The DIMA test environment included the following components, which form a new transitional Microsoft collaboration and development environment that will replace Lotus Notes/Domino:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Beta 2)

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 (Beta 2, application development and management software)

Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 Microsoft Office Professional 2007

(Beta 2) Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 Also, for data migration tasks, the test environment included the Microsoft Application Transporter 2006 for Lotus Domino. This tool helps move data from Notes applications to SharePoint Products and Technologies—the collaboration features of Microsoft Windows® SharePoint Services combined with the power of Office SharePoint Server 2007. Specifically, this tool maps Notes fields to corresponding SharePoint fields and then copies the information to application lists. Templates are provided to map Lotus Domino discussion databases, document libraries, and teamrooms; and the tool supports custom templates and mappings for custom applications, like those used by DIMA.

Phase 2For the second phase, in May 2006, DIMA, Avanade, and Microsoft went through the applications and identified three to use in a proof-of concept demonstration. The first application was a simple discussion database. The second was a Newsflash application that enables users to select a template on which to publish or e-mail news announcements to predefined business groups. The third was the National Appointment System (NAS),

a sophisticated scheduling application that manages and coordinates DIMA employees’ and clients’ appointments throughout Australia. It also includes collaboration and workflow functions.

These three applications were chosen because they illustrate increasing levels of customization by DIMA and thus increasing complexity. Migrating the NAS, in particular, would demonstrate the power of SharePoint Products and Technologies as a customizable, programmable environment that can handle migrating very complicated Notes applications. It would also demonstrate integrating SharePoint features with a SQL Server–based application, showcasing the flexibility and coordination between the two products.

Phase 3For the third phase of AAEP, in June 2006, project developers selected the appropriate target components and technologies for the selected Notes applications.

Migrating the first application was very simple because this type of functionality is already built into the new version of SharePoint Server 2007. A template for mapping the data from a discussion database to SharePoint features is already included with the Application Transporter. “The discussion database was pretty much out-of-the box,” says Gerald De Run, a Microsoft developer on the project. “We modified the feature a little, adding a

few custom columns and views. But the real custom functionality that was built into the Notes application—notifying users when new discussion items are added, for example—is already available through SharePoint alerts.”

The Newsflash application required a little more planning than the discussion database because it was more complex, but this migration was still straightforward. “I created a custom form that allows users to select a template and pre-format a news announcement,” explains Cameron Hoh, a Solution Developer at Avanade. “I did write a custom interface to filter announcements based on target audience membership. But a lot of the functionality, such as approving, requesting a comment for, or reviewing an announcement, is already available by using or lightly customizing out-of-the-box SharePoint features.”

For both of these applications, the development effort was sufficiently light that phase 3 (target solution mapping) and phase 4 (deployment as a proof of concept) were essentially combined and required only one week. However, the much more complex National Appointment System used a combination of technologies—implementing a SQL Server database, customizing SharePoint features, and programming custom components. Target solution mapping alone for this application required a full day to

ensure that the new architecture would scale to meet the future needs of DIMA.

Phase 4The final phase of AAEP was to develop, test, refine, and deploy the National Appointment System and the other two applications. “To migrate the NAS application, we broke it up into different regional offices, each with its own SharePoint site,” explains Marcel Skjad, Senior Infrastructure Consultant at Microsoft. “A single centralized SQL Server database contains all the appointment information and provides tight security. We control who has access to a regional office’s data by identifying who has membership in that office’s SharePoint site. We created custom forms and integrated them into SharePoint technologies, and these forms filter out any data that a particular office is not authorized to see.”

Additional programming work was required to enable many components of the National Appointment System to communicate with each other and to channel their output into a common user interface. Features that rely on these components include setting up appointment time slots; booking, rescheduling, and cancelling appointments; and sending alert messages as each of these activities takes place.

The developers used Visual Studio 2005 as their primary programming tool, and they relied on the

Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft ASP.NET to enable the application features. The .NET Framework is an integral component of the Windows operating system that provides a programming model and runtime for Web services, Web applications, and smart client applications. ASP.NET is a programming model that makes building real-world Web applications easier through an HTML-like style of declarative programming.

Development time for this phase of the envisioning process was one week plus an additional week for testing and refining.

On June 30, 2006, project developers presented the newly migrated, functioning applications to DIMA managers, who were very pleased with what they saw. Although this was not a true end-to-end production deployment, the proof of concept was nevertheless a complete success. “It looked very impressive,” says Thomas. “The developers did fine work, and the demonstration gave us confidence that the final production version would show very high quality.”

Benefits

DIMA wanted proof that its National Appointment System (Lotus Notes app shown below) could be migrated to a Microsoft collaboration

Using the simple, scripted Application Analysis Envisioning Process, DIMA learned that it can migrate even complex Notes applications to Microsoft collaboration software. The agency now has actual experience from which it can project the resources that a full-scale Notes application migration will require. Because DIMA chose the latest SharePoint Products and Technologies, which already have many built-in collaboration and workflow features, development time and effort are greatly reduced, compared with the previous Notes environment. Plus, the Microsoft-

based solutions that emerge from the migration are often more scalable and easier to manage and use than the original Notes applications.

Automated In-Depth Analysis of Notes Application InfrastructureThe Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus Domino used in phase 1 of AAEP is ideal for evaluating large Notes application environments because it provides an automated snapshot of the application inventory. Based on the reports generated by this tool, DIMA quickly identified the Lotus Notes applications that should not be migrated (such as system administration or unused applications), applications that can easily be migrated to templates, and applications that require additional analysis or development work. “The Application Analyzer highlighted which Notes databases we were using and how often,” says Thomas. “This information backed up what we thought we already knew, so it elevated our confidence that we had a solid understanding of our Notes environment. Having that understanding is essential in a project like this.”

Reliable Process for Application MigrationBy going through AAEP, DIMA evaluated the complexity of its migration needs, determined exactly which Microsoft and other technologies its Notes applications mapped to, and can now plan their development resources accordingly. In this way, customers like DIMA that

have large, established Notes application environments gain a broad understanding of their migration projects very quickly but without expending significant time or labor.

Additionally, although the DIMA proof-of-concept project involved only three applications, the same process can be repeated as necessary to migrate the agency’s other Notes applications. “In the target solution mapping phase, we had to capture business functions that were crucially important to the department and implement them using Microsoft technologies,” says Thomas. “I spent time with the developers who went through this process of analyzing the business functions, getting an understanding of the functionality of the new environment, and then building a solution in SharePoint Server 2007, for example. Now that we’ve been through the application envisioning process, we’re confident that it will continue to work for DIMA as we start the full-scale Notes migration in the future.”

More Powerful SharePoint Products and TechnologiesBy including the latest (pre-release) version of SharePoint Server 2007 in the proof of concept, DIMA was able to access powerful new built-in features that significantly reduced the time and effort required to migrate and develop applications. Some of these features include the following:

Direct support for SQL Server 2005

Code foundation based on (and providing full support for) the newest version of ASP.NET

Business data catalog to enable integration between enterprise portal and line-of-business applications

Document management to provide control, organization, publishing, offline capabilities, draft item security, rights management, and records management

Web content management to enable site branding, creating custom converters, building multilingual sites, and building content deployment solutions

Enhanced search capabilities in portal sites, team sites, and content management sites

User profiles and audience targeting to support property management, imports, privacy, and security; plus the addition of memberships, shared context, and colleagues’ quick links

Out-of-the-box support for blogs, discussions, rich calendars, wikis (easy-to-edit collaborative Web pages), and e-mail integration

Detailed reporting Rich, programmable workflow

capabilities

DIMA has its proof. For example, using a single page-viewer Web part, the new NAS solution’s Web interface makes it easier than ever to create, view, and edit time-slot definitions

Using SharePoint features, the new NAS solution offers superior reporting capabilities. With just a few mouse clicks, report viewer and report explorer Web parts display regional office

For example, the new version of SharePoint Server 2007 is built using the latest version of ASP.NET. “Through ASP.NET we can use master pages to promote standard branding—a consistent look and feel across all the DIMA SharePoint sites,” says De Run. “Specifically, we use SharePoint Designer 2007 to create Web pages that inherit their properties from a master page. Just having that feature for this proof of concept was a huge time saver.”

Because SharePoint features include robust reporting and easy integration with SQL Server 2005, DIMA can now view detailed reports drawn from vast amounts of data. The agency can analyze productivity, trends, usage patterns, and other metrics based on appointments in the National Appointment System. “The general reporting capabilities of the Microsoft collaboration software seem to be

much stronger and easier to implement than Notes’ were,” says Thomas.

SharePoint Server 2007 also offers greatly expanded workflow capabilities. Specifically, when migrating workflow from a Notes application, developers can re-create the workflow in the Microsoft collaboration solution without having to manually code all of the process cycles. “The Newsflash application includes complex business rules for approval, reviews, and distributing news items to particular groups in DIMA,” says Hoh. “For all of that, we employed built-in SharePoint features. SharePoint Designer 2007 also simplifies building custom workflows. Learning how to do this for the Newsflash application has been fairly easy to work through. ”

Faster Development CycleThe new Microsoft environment supports rapid application development in at least two ways: First, because so many features are already built into the new SharePoint Products and Technologies, developers can use them as is or with only minor customization. Second, Visual Studio 2005, the .NET Framework, and ASP.NET form a rich development environment with powerful tools for creating applications and customized solutions. “When we do have to customize features or develop new ones, the combination of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio has been powerful and flexible for us,” says Hoh. Also, SharePoint Designer 2007 complements these development tools by adding functionality to build, customize, and contribute to SharePoint sites using the latest Web design technologies and established standards.

“I was very surprised by how fast the developers were able to rebuild the functionality of the Notes applications,” adds Thomas. “The new SharePoint features are helping to minimize development effort. Functionality is often available out-of-the box, and when it isn’t, the required development work is pretty easy. I am very impressed by the examples I’ve seen of developers having to make only minor customizations instead of starting from scratch. Furthermore, I think that basic IT management—the ability to adapt applications in our Microsoft

environment to meet our agency’s needs—will be easier.”

Superior Quality of Enterprise SolutionsMicrosoft collaboration software enables not only the migration of Notes applications but also an opportunity to make them easier to use and more powerful. For example, the new National Appointment System works seamlessly with the Microsoft Office system, so workers can easily merge information about appointments into Office Word 2007 documents to generate correspondence about those appointments. It is also easier to set up appointment rules. And by moving all the National Appointment System information into a centralized database, the new solution will scale to tens of thousands of appointments; offer rich reporting, sorting, and querying; and will likely perform faster and more reliably during periods of peak demand.

“I believe, based on the current progress, that in each case the new Microsoft solutions will be better than the old Notes applications,” says Thomas. “Of course, some of the credit must go to the high-quality Microsoft and Avanade developers, not just the Microsoft environment; but I think going forward that the new solutions will have a better user interface and will probably be easier for our employees to use.”

By standardizing on Microsoft collaboration software, DIMA expects

“Functionality is often available out-of-the box, and when it isn’t, the required development work is pretty easy. I am very impressed by the examples I’ve seen of developers having to make only minor customizations instead of starting from scratch.”

that it will go far beyond merely reproducing the functionality of its old Notes applications; it will also gain added value from the powerful collaboration features that the new Microsoft environment enables. DIMA is building a foundation on which it will be able to add functionality as its needs grow and change over time. For example, through presence awareness, workers could see if a colleague is online and then confirm or change an appointment with that person in real time. Similarly, a supervisor could take a list of appointments and delegate them to subordinates, essentially converting the appointment list into a workflow. “We’re going in a positive direction,” concludes Thomas. “The Microsoft environment opens up many possibilities to improve our business processes.”

Microsoft Office SystemThe Microsoft Office System is the business world’s chosen environment for information work, providing the programs, servers, and services that help you succeed by transforming information into impact.

For more information about the Microsoft Office System, go to: www.microsoft.com/office

For more information about the Microsoft Application Analysis Envisioning Process, go to www.microsoft.com and enter “Application Analysis Envisioning Process” in the Search box.

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about Avanade products and services, call (61) (2) 9005 5900 (Australia) or visit the Web site at: www.avanade.com/au

For more information about Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs products and services, call (61) (2) 6264 1111 (Australia) or visit the Web site at: www.immi.gov.au

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, the Office logo, SharePoint, Visual Studio, Windows, the Windows logo, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published July 2006

Software and Services Microsoft Office

− Microsoft Office Professional 2007

− Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

− Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007

Visual Studio− Microsoft Visual Studio 2005

Professional Edition Microsoft Servers

− Microsoft Windows Server 2003− Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Microsoft Application Analyzer 2006 for Lotus/Domino

Microsoft Application Transporter 2006 for Lotus/Domino

Services− Microsoft Services

Technologies− Microsoft ASP.NET− Microsoft .NET Framework− Microsoft Windows SharePoint

Services

Partner Avanade