MWLUG 2011: Notes/Domino Application Development Competitive Advantage

Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel Milwaukee, WI

August 24-26, 2011

The Notes/Domino Application Development Competitive Advantage

John Head David Vai

PSC Group, LLC IBM

@johnhead @davidvai

Session: BCS108

©2011 Property of PSC Group, LLC

John Head

[email protected]

1051 Perimeter Drive Suite 500 Schaumburg, IL 60173

(847) 517-7200

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F O U N D E D I N 1 9 9 0

David Via, IBM Lotus Software Group

Business Unit Executive, Messaging and Collaboration Sales

“What does that mean?” I am primarily responsible for sales of the Notes and Domino product family – Notes/Domino, Symphony, Alloy, Protector, Lotus Mobile Connect – worldwide. (My not-so-secret mission: Presenting Notes

and Domino as a vital part of IBM's Social Business Strategy)

In January I presented at my 18th Lotusphere. (Yes, I have been to every single

one.)

Working with Notes since R2 in 1992! (Wow, I am old.)

Perhaps most importantly: I've only been at IBM for five years. (Before that I

spent 13 years as a Lotus Business Partner sitting in the same seats that you are right now... ;)

Follow/contact/link to me: Twitter - “davidvia”, LinkedIn - “http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidvia”, email - “[email protected]”

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidvia

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidvia

Agenda

• Domino Application Development Today

“not your Father's Designer”

–Advantages of Domino over Microsoft SharePoint

• Notes from the field – PSC's real world experiences

• Domino Application Development Tomorrow

The IBM Social Business Toolkit

Let's talk about Domino applications

but not these Domino applications, please...

Designer 8.5 - a world-class RAD environment

• Open, point and click GUI development

environment.

• Support for developers at every skill level –

Lotus, Java, Eclipse

• Bundled templates that require no coding to use

• Component reusability saves time and increases

responsiveness

• Centralized administration for quick deployment

and easy maintenance

• Pervasive security

• Universal access: online or offiline, Rich client or

web client.

• Integrate multiple data sources

Business-process-driven applications that enable people to collect, organize, share, and track information.


Discussion databases Community forums Document storage and collaboration Customer relationship management Help desk and customer support Human resources

Inventory and project management Process tracking Sales force automation Product catalogs and price lists Billing systems Audit and assessment

Today's Notes/Domino offers the easiest, fastest and richest development of Web 2.0 apps.

Notes Apps “by the numbers”:

280,000 active developers

$45m investment by IBM since 2007

10,000,000 applications in use

64,000 developers and 200 projects active in open source community

Thousands of enterprises around the globe trust their core collaborative and business applications to Lotus Notes and Domino.


From this... Jacobs eLite 1.0

To this with xPages - Jacobs eLite 2.0

Adobe Flash can't run on Apple's iOS …

… but Domino applications can!

"XPages have allowed me to deliver classic Notes database applications to the

iPhone without having to change the template. I can simply create one

database with an X-page, and it will connect to the database that is appropriate

for the particular user - even if the other database is on different server. "

Mark Hughes – HughesConnect.com

(Developer of ITANA task management solution)

IBM Lotus Domino Mobile Applications

Today: Web browser mobile apps

Supported via XPages in IBM Lotus Domino Designer

Mobile controls - see http://mobilecontrols.openntf.org/

Planned for Domino Designer 8.5.3 Feature Pack 1

New tools for XPages Extension Library

Domino REST services

Early access via OpenNTF http://extlib.openntf.org/

Domino XPages Mobile Specific Controls

Outline/Menu

View Panel Navigation Bar Form with Validation

Search Bar

Filter

Calendar

Agenda







Reasons not to move Notes apps to SharePoint

• Claims heard about why one should move to SharePoint

– SharePoint could easily replace the Rapid Application development feature set of Lotus

Notes

– SharePoint is self service driven and therefore will need less development resources

than a new Lotus Notes environment

• While in reality

– What most consider to be simple Notes client applications often require moderate to

significant development effort that cannot be done with SharePoint Designer and

require Visual Studio and .Net development skills

– Complex applications with business logic and workflow are not suitable for SharePoint

and require .Net development and additional Microsoft products to provide the same

level of capability you get in one product (Lotus Domino)


Platform Capability Lotus Notes/Domino Microsoft SharePoint

Messaging Built in messaging

services tailored for

applications.

Requires Microsoft

Exchange

Data Storage

Data store is fully

integrated with the

platform at no additional

cost

Data storage relies on

Microsoft SQL Server and

unexpected additional cost

must be considered

Replication

Ability to have fine

grained control to

replicate data over

distributed server

environment

None


Application Capability Lotus Notes/Domino Microsoft SharePoint

Securing access to

document data Fine grained control at the

document, field, or section

level

Very limited to no

capability to hide/secure

data at this level

Workflow Simple to complex

workflow can be built in

Designer using data,

security, and messaging

services

Simple workflows can be

created in SharePoint

Designer. More complex

workflows require .NET

Event Model XPages and Notes forms

provide robust event model Events tied to List actions

can be added by require C#

and .NET

Offline Access Industry leading ability to

take data and business

logic offline securely

Offline support provided

by SharePoint Workspace

(Groove). Limited

Functionality.

Recommendation

Bring your Notes client applications to the Web with XPages

• Preserves your investment in your current application's data and

business logic while providing a Web 2.0 developer experience

• Provides browser and mobile access and still allows you to take that application securely offline with all application logic available using the Notes client

• Expands the reach of your Domino applications to other IBM platforms like WebSphere Portal and IBM Mashup Center thru iWidgets

Source: Gartner. March 2011. Http://imagesrv.gartner.com/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_7BD7CF186C9BBA12ABFA5D7F35EB7A2B23AB0700/filename/article15.pdf

Agenda








F O U N D E D I N 1 9 9 0


PSC

Ecosystem

Our

Clients

Our

Solutions

Our

People


Clients

Prospects Delivery

People

Direction


• Integration

• Workflow

• Rules Engines

• Collaboration

• SOA

• Portals/Websites

• Mobile Enablement

• Custom Applications

• Dashboards

• Process Improvement

• Agile/Sustainable Architectures

Our Partners


PSC’s real world experiences with XPages

“The impact of a consumer

economy on the business and enterprise application space”


We are at an application crossroad

Email has become a commodity

Domino or Exchange or Google

Cloud or On Premises or Hybrid

Email and application platforms being broken apart

New platforms

Smartphones are common place

Tablets are here and growing

The Burning Question – “What about the apps?”

2011 State of the Application


What Applications are Your Users Using?












Do you think they really want to use this?



I know what your thinking …

Your users aren’t like others.

They use the apps we tell them.

They do all their business on

approved tools.



You're wrong.

More than 50% of business users

bypass internal applications for

public tools.



Because the internal tools are:

Too slow

Too restrictive

Not accessible at home

Not on the mobile device

Not Sexy


End User expect consumer Web 2.0 Experiences at work

End Users will find their own solutions if applications are not updated

Corporate IT must modernize or become irrelevant

End Users Expect Modern Applications


PSC’s experience is that once a business application

is put into use, it is rarely updated

Minor changes made to support business needs

The more line of business the app is, the less care it

has gotten.

Many companies using the same app since late 90s /

early 2000s with NO changes.

Have you done an internal application audit?

How modern are your applications?


Existing Domino Application Types

Documents & Discussions

40% of total apps

Based on Templates that come with Domino

Recommendation:

Move to standard platforms/apps

Update with new XPages Templates from IBM (2011)

Use third party tool(s)

LotusLive Engage

Other Offerings

Enterprise Applications

10% of total apps

Highly transactional or huge volumes of data

Recommendation:

Rebuild on top of Enterprise Java, .NET or other technology

Business Applications

50% of total apps

Mission Critical

Organization Unique

Heavy use of custom workflow and/or security

Recommendation:

Move to the web via XPages


Leveraging The Lotus Platform

Once you decide to stay on the Notes Platform

Maximize your investment in Lotus technology!

Modernize your applications

Make your users happy with appealing look-and-

feel of applications

Develop once, use many times

Extend your applications to the web and mobile

devices with XPages


Modern Notes apps have:

◦ Appealing Web 2.0 front-end

◦ Modern Business Processes

◦ Standard Corporate Web

Branding

◦ User Self Service

◦ Auto / Self Updating

◦ Works across platforms

◦ Windows / MAC / Linux

◦ Works across devices

◦ Smart Phones

◦ Tablets

◦ Laptops

◦ Home Computers

Techniques used

◦ Web 2.0 Tools

HTML

JavaScript

AJAX

Java Toolkits

Sencha

jQuery

◦ XPages

◦ Mobile Platforms

◦ iOS

◦ Android

◦ Blackberry OS

◦ Blackberry Playbook

◦ Windows Mobile 7

◦ Flash / Air


Why XPages?

• ‘Develop Once, Use Multiple Places’ is

finally reality

• Works in Notes Client, Browser, & Mobile

• User base can decide how they want to work, where they

want to work

• Corporate Web Branding easily applied

• Source Code Control (SVN, etc.)

• Most rapid updates of development tool in the platform

ever (ExtLib, etc.)


Why XPages?

• Notes Application

• Opening on Server thru VPN

• ~ 30 to 60 seconds

• Opening Replica

• ~20 seconds

• XPages Application of

above Notes Application

• Opening on Server thru VPN


• Opening Replica


• Open in Web Browser

• ~ under 2 seconds

Performance of modern web applications

brought to the platform


Why XPages?

• XPages is developer friendly

•Notes developers w/ web skills can transition easily

•Web developers can pick up XPages with basic

Domino training

•New Hires / College Grads can pick up XPages

development with a week of training*

*results may vary



Samples of PSC’s XPages

Development

These are real

world applications


App #1: Standard Notes Document Library


App #1: Doc Library Modernization with XPages


App #2: Notes Client Application


App #2: Modernization with XPages


App #3: Notes Client Custom Application




App #4: Notes Client Custom Application






App #4: Mobile Solution with XPages


App #5: Previous Application











In Summer of 2010, IBM asked PSC to

review a Notes application and

compare modernizing the application

with both XPages and Microsoft

SharePoint.

This is the result of that effort.


Notes Client to XPages – PSC’s Process

1. Take an existing Notes Client Application

2. Catalog the Notes Client Assets

3. Create XPages Application

4. Create Custom Theme

5. Build Mobile Interface

6. Compare with SharePoint application


XPages Document Workflow in Notes Today


XPages Document Workflow Details

• 1 User Form – Agreement • 4 Dialogs

• 5 System Forms – Keywords, Lookups

• 30 User Views

• 17 System Views

• Workflow & Business Logic • 20 Agents

• 2 Script Libraries

• Export to Excel for Reporting

• User Interface Elements


XPages Document Workflow with XPages UI


• Uses the OpenNTF.org Mobile Controls Project

• Provides Custom UI for iPhone and other mobile devices

XPages Document

Workflow XPages

Interface for Mobile


XPages UI Details

• Created a New XPages Interface

• Created Custom Theme with custom branding

and color scheme

• Only Interface Changes • Home Page

• Document Workflow Form

• Views

• No changes to Workflow or Business Rules

• Used the XPages Mobile Controls on OpenNTF.org

for iPhone interface


XPages Development Results

Notes:

1. Custom Theme is a one time effort. Can be reused by all future XPages Applications

2. Mobile Controls were created as Custom Controls that can be reused


Comparing XPages to SharePoint

• Same Notes Client application

• Document tasks to build feature comparable

SharePoint application

• Use SharePoint development best practices that

PSC uses with our customers

• Estimate development costs


SharePoint Development Estimates

• Create SharePoint Site

• Create Agreement Form & Dialogs

• Create Web Parts & Reports

• Create Keyword Lookup Lists

• Build Windows Workflows (not SharePoint Designer)

• Implement Security – Groups and Building Form Filters

• Build Excel Export

• Move Data using Third-Party Tool

• Create Master Page

• Create iPhone on top of SharePoint Mobile

Extension


SharePoint Development Estimates


SharePoint Development Estimates Notes

• PSC recommends Windows Workflow over SharePoint Workflow

using SharePoint Designer due to it’s quality and support

• iPhone development would be ASP.NET development talking to

SharePoint Web Services

• Security would use Active Directory Groups and function by

applying Filters to parts of the Form

• Data Export using Third Party tools would include documents, field

data, and attachments

• Master Page Estimate includes colors, corporate branding, logo,

and simple menu changes


Application Modernization in 2011

Your users are demanding modern applications in the

workplace

Smartphones and Tablets will force you to embrace

modern and consumer driven development platforms and

techniques

XPages is ready to build real-world production applications

You don't have to migrate to get Modern and Mobile



Your users will work with

applications that match the

experience they have at home.

You have to decide if they use

your apps or something else.

Agenda







IBM Social Business Framework ®

IBM Social Business Toolkit APIs

IBM Value-added Modules

IBM Social Business Core Modules

Partner Value-added Modules

Commerce Business Analytics

Enterprise Content Mgmt

Social Analytics Business

Process Mgmt Application Integration

Public Social Networks Rich Media Social

Applications

Archiving Compliance &

Discovery Gaming

Profiles Communities Presence, Chat

& Telephony

Social Collab. Services

Microblogging Meetings & Audio/Video

Messaging & PIM

Workflow & Forms

Portal

Document Management

Mobile Connectors

Customer Experience Partner Collaboration Operations Sales Force Automation

Solutions

Social Business is a key element of the broader IBM Software Group strategy, not the “flavor of the week”

Overview The IBM Social Business Toolkit, as part of the multi-year vision for Exceptional Work Experience/Project Vulcan and the IBM Social Business Framework, is bringing the IBM Collaboration Solutions portfolio together into a compelling unified experience with flexible delivery options.

The toolkit is designed to enable consistent approaches across the web, the desktop and the mobile environments; and enable opportunity and innovation for developers to build a Social Business.

The toolkit delivers through a regular cadence of product updates and new features through Lotus Greenhouse.

Design Principles

Continuity

Innovation Opportunity

Convergence

Building on today's capabilities for a smooth path to tomorrow

Unifying the experience to best meet user needs across access and delivery models

Applying analytics to increase situational awareness and empower people to work in new ways

Making possible the next generation of solutions built on an open foundation

What is the Toolkit?

A set of APIs which adds Social capabilities to applications, and enables

developers to integrate applications into Social capabilities.

The toolkit does not any particular tool or implementation

- The toolkit implements an HTTP-based REST style.

The Toolkit includes emerging services.

Continued investment in Open Standards

Data

Atom – Feeds

ActivityStrea.ms – Events Feed

CMIS – Content Access

View

OpenSocial – Gadgets / Feeds

HTML 5 – Web Standard

OpenAjax – Dynamic HTML and XML

Security

OAuth – Authorization

SAML – Authentication

Security

People and Identity

SAML - Authentication

OAuth - Authorization

Integrated Single Sign On

Application and Process

Least Privilege

Defense in Depth

White Listing

Active Content Filters

Secure Gadgets

Embedded Experiences

• Embedded Experiences enables users to intelligently respond to events.

– In-line coordination of services and actions

– View your events in your activity stream

• Uses the OpenSocial Gadget framework

Matt sent you a file

Paul sent an invite

Rob tweeted

Aggregation Service

• Implements the ActivityStrea.ms Standard

• Use REST APIs to interact with your activity stream

– Use JSON

– Use ATOM

• Post new events

• Retrieve all or a subset of events

• Delete events

• Update events

ERP has an action for you

James edits your document

Social Network Invitation

Isabel shares a file

A shared file has a comment

CRM has a new sale

1000s of Events

Activity Stream

Scenarios

1 - Unified Communications Partner

- Samantha leaves a phone message for John.

- John sees an event in his news feed.

- John clicks play on the event

- John listens to the Audio

2 - Electronic Signature Partner

- Frank has completed a proposal and needs

James to sign off on it.

- James see an event in his news feed

- James clicks review document and a canvas

pops up.

- James signs the document.

Scenarios continued...

3 - Travel Application

- The Renovations company is a leading Travel provider. As a leading travel provider they are updating

clients in real time. The real time updates occur in enterprise news feeds, online social networks and in

activity streams.

- Frank schedules a trip to a corporate conference

- Frank sees in his activity stream the information of Frank's travel.

Initial Information

Travel updates

http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/dw/lotus/sbtoolkit/gadgettut/ee_intro.html

The Social Enabler Project XPages

A set of controls and interfaces which enable a developer to integrate with:

- OAuth

- Aggregation Service

- Integrate with Connections

- Project User Interface Components

Uses an Apache License

Integrate with Greenhouse

Build your own integrations

http://socialenabler.openntf.org/



Next steps for Notes/Domino developers

• Learn to use XPages

– It is the strategic direction for N/D application development

– Start from http://xpages.info

– Download ready-to-use libraries and components from openNTF.org

• XPages Extension Library, Mobile controls, Connections components...

• Invest into the new technology trends

– HTML5, CSS

– Mobile platforms

– JavaScript, Dojo

– Gadgets, iWidgets, OpenSocial

http://xpages.info/

http://xpages.info/

More next steps....

• Start to use Java pervasively

– XPages business logic, agents...

– Discover the power and flexibility of OSGi

• Java tasklets from openNTF, XPages Extensibility API

• Join the IBM Social Business Toolkit Community

– https://greenhouse.lotus.com/communities/community/ibmsocialbusinesstoolkit

• Download the Social Enabler Project

– http://socialenabler.openntf.org/

https://greenhouse.lotus.com/communities/community/ibmsocialbusinesstoolkit


XPages Jumpstart for Notes Developers

1. Get the Mastering XPages Book

http://www.ibmpressbooks.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0132486318

Enter IBM6318 as the coupon code for 35% off

2. Follow the Podcasts

http://notesin9.com

http://thexcast.net

3. Work thru Declan Lynch's XPages Tutorial

http://www.qtzar.com/blogs/qtzar.nsf/Document.xsp?documentId=A97DB47B9BEDB9868525756F005BC3C3&action=openDocument

4. Xpages.info for all the information, videos, and more

http://www.ibmpressbooks.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=0132486318

http://thexcast.net/

http://www.qtzar.com/blogs/qtzar.nsf/Document.xsp?documentId=A97DB47B9BEDB9868525756F005BC3C3&action=openDocument

Summary • Social Business applications build on our heritage...

• ...but Social Business today demands new types of applications

– Beyond the firewall

– Systems of systems

– Both Cloud and on-premises

• The IBM Social Business Framework enables IBM customers and partners to capitalize on Social Business

opportunities

– All IBM collaboration products are part of the framework

– Big opportunities for general web developers and established Lotus developers, building on their existing skills

• The new IBM Social Business Toolkit are planned to enable a new class of unified social capabilities based on

the latest born-on-the web open standards

– Consistent extensibility across products, deployment models and user experiences

• Easy to get started with today's products and cloud developer options

Some Additional Resources • DeveloperWorks

– http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/

– http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/community/wikis.html

• Greenhouse

– https://greenhouse.lotus.com

• openNTF.org

– http://www.openntf.org

• xpages.info

– http://xpages.info/XPagesHome.nsf/Home.xsp

• Videos – Youtube, VideoFest...

– https://greenhouse.lotus.com/wikis/home?lang=en#/wiki/W6696b8ac7465_4a5f_9327_94f1a5d82132/page/VideoFest

• Resources also provided by the community

– http://xpages.tv/, http://xpagesblog.com/...

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/community/wikis.html

https://greenhouse.lotus.com/

http://www.openntf.org/

http://xpages.info/XPagesHome.nsf/Home.xsp

https://greenhouse.lotus.com/wikis/home?lang=en

Questions and Your Feedback

How to reach John: John Head

[email protected]

www.johndavidhead.com

www.pscgroup.com

Facebook.com/johndhead

Twitter.com/johnhead

LinkedIN.com/in/johndhead

Slideshare.com/johnhead

Youtube.com/johnhead

How to Reach David:

David Via

[email protected]

Twitter.com/davidvia

LinkedIN.com/in/davidvia

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.pscgroup.comFacebook.com/johndhead

http://www.pscgroup.comFacebook.com/johndhead

Technology

MWLUG 2011: Notes/Domino Application Development Competitive Advantage