Online Collaboration

We have moved

2007-10-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

We have finished the move to our Somerville location from Concord today. The facility where most of our servers are located is also in Somerville. This will make our next round or upgrades much easier. The new address is on our web site and is:
82 Fellsway West, #2
Somverville, MA 02145

Importing Notes in Ruby on Rails

2007-10-05T14:23:00.000-07:00

We have done a few projects that have used Domino and QuickPlace as a front end to Ruby on Rails. So, as a results, we are sharing our base import class that keeps the systems in sync.

This will help anyone who wants a rake tasks to import Notes data into MySQL through ActiveRecord.

http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/Lotus+Notes+Domino+Import

PLcases for Lawyers

2007-09-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

With Quickr 8 it is now easier than every to share your discovery, pleadings and other documents online. Based on Lotus IBM QuickPlace Quickr with ProjectLounge enhancements, PLcases enables legal teams to work together more efficiently in a cost neutral way with our custom billing solution.
PLcases combines the PLenterprise server with calendar rollups and custom forms in a billing neutral manner. We can customize our costs so that it is a direct expense rather than an infrastructure charge that can be impossible to recoup.
By hosting your matters with us, you can work more effectively with your clients while removing a burden from your IT budget.
We can scale up or down as you need so that you only pay for what you can bill and for what adds value to your matters.
Plcases more information.

How to clear any saved passwords for your QuickPlace

2007-09-03T10:39:00.001-07:00

When you first log into a QuickPlace, your browser will ask you if you want to have it remember your password. If you allowed this, it will remember the password for the next time. You should NEVER save passwords on shared computers such as internet cafe machines or computers that are not in secure locations. If you choose to store a password, that means someone else could get into your account and possibly do damage to it from the computer where the password is saved.

Here are the steps to clear any saved passwords you might have.

Internet Explorer

1. Click Tools > Internet Options
2. Click the Content tab
3. Click the AutoComplete button
4. Uncheck Usernames and passwords on forms and Prompt me to save passwords if they are checked
5. Click the Clear Passwords button
6. Click OK to confirm
7. Click OK and OK again to exit

Firefox
1. Click Tools > Options
2. Click the Privacy icon on the left
3. Expand Saved Passwords
4. Uncheck Remember Passwords if it is checked
5. Click View Saved Passwords
6. Under the Passwords Saved tab, you can choose to Remove All or just the entry for your QuickPlace (e.g. www.projectlounge.com).
7. Click Close and OK to exit

QuickPlace FAQ

2007-08-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

I have updated our Red X posting but some other common errors can happen that include:

'Invalid document identifier' in a folder. This happens when a folder alias is corrupted and can be fixed by opening the folder in Domino Designer and resetting the folder alias. If you see this error on ProjectLounge, email us at support to get it fixed.
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=2338&uid=swg21198680

Problem: You cannot alter the last manager of a room.
This one normally means you are trying to remove yourself and you are the last manger. This is to protect you from locking yourself out of the place. If you find yourself locked out on ProjectLounge, we can fix this if you email us at support.

Internet Explorer and Vista
While Quickr 8 supports the newer browser, QuickPlace 7 does not. We have a workaround if you run into this problem.
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=2338&uid=swg21248488

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=2338&uid=swg21264476

Debugging upload control issues

2007-07-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

There is an environment setting you can apply:

QPCTRLLOG=c:\temp\upload_control.txt

in order to get further debug information while uploading to QuickPlace or Quickr.

To set this setting:
1. Right-click My Computer and choose Properties from the popup menu.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Click the Environment Variables button.
4. Click New and add
Variable name: QPCTRLLOG
Variable value: c:\temp\upload_control.txt
You can change "c:\temp\upload_control.txt" to another location if you do not have a c:\temp directory on your machine.

After you restart Internet Explorer, you should see some output in your upload_control.txt like this:


Mon Jul 23 16:03:05: ------------------------------------------

Mon Jul 23 16:03:05:      BEGIN UPLOAD CONTROL LOG SESSION     

Mon Jul 23 16:03:05:                                           

Mon Jul 23 16:03:05:  log file name:  c:\upload_control.txt

Mon Jul 23 16:03:05:  build version:  Thu Sep  1 22:25:09 2005

Mon Jul 23 16:03:05: ------------------------------------------

ProjectLounge Lite has been Globalized

2007-07-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

The pllite.com site is updated with the new languages

English:
http://www.pllite.com/en/projects/new
French:
http://www.pllite.com/fr/projects/new
German:
http://www.pllite.com/de/projects/new

Quickr 8 Blog via iPhone

2007-07-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

We are still working on upgrading all servers in the cluster and I just tested Satwik's blog via the iPhone. Seems to work as well as Safari (some DOJO limitations) but otherwise very easy to read and move around.

Quickr8 Places Ready for Trial

2007-07-02T13:24:00.000-07:00

We are still going through the process of upgrading the main cluster at ProjectLounge. However, we have edited the signup process to allow standard Quickr 8 places to be created for people to try out.

http://www.projectlounge.com/site/order_step1

The link will get you started and you can select use the Quickr 8 template in step 2. From there you are good go, test out Quickr 8 in the free trial period, and we will support you as best we can.

Updating a manager in all rooms

2007-06-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

Quickr was just released and it has a new concept of "super user" per place. For older versions, the best we could do is a manager in all rooms. This is a script that will add a manager in every room of a given place:


 Set s = New  notessession
 placename = "placename"
 server = "www/projectlounge"
 aclname = "CN=Ian Connor/O=projectlounge"

 Print "Starting in main room"
 Call  restoredb(placename, "quickplace/"+placename+"/main.nsf", aclname)

Sub restoredb(roomtitle, roompath, aclname)
 Dim roomdb As NotesDatabase
 Dim roomview As notesview
 Dim doc As notesdocument

 Set roomdb = s.GetDatabase(server, roompath)

 If roomdb.IsOpen = False Then
  Call roomdb.Open(server, roompath)  
 End If  
 
 Dim acl As NotesACL
 Dim entry As NotesACLEntry
 Set acl = roomdb.ACL
 Set entry = acl.GetEntry( aclname )
 
 If entry Is Nothing Then
  Set entry = acl.CreateACLEntry _
  ( aclname, ACLLEVEL_MANAGER )  
  entry.IsPerson = True
  Call entry.EnableRole( "h_Managers" )
  Call entry.EnableRole( "h_Members" )
  Call acl.Save
 End If

 Set roomview = roomdb.GetView("System\Subrooms")
 Set doc = roomview.GetFirstDocument

 While Not (doc Is Nothing)
  Dim iroomtitle As String
  Dim iroomfile As String
  
  iroomtitle = doc.GetItemValue("h_Name")(0)
  iroomfile = doc.GetItemValue("h_LocDbName")(0)
 
  Print "Working on: " + iroomfile
  Call restoredb(iroomtitle, "quickplace/"+placename+"/" + iroomfile, aclname)  
 
  Set doc = roomview.GetNextDocument(doc)
 Wend
End Sub

QuickPlace Red X Fix

2007-06-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

If you see a red x in quickplace instead of attachments, it means that you don't have the quickplace upload control installed. This can happen when:
1. You do not have installation rights on the machine; or
2. There is a desktop policy or network firewall preventing it being installed.
In both cases, you really need to talk with your system administration staff for help. Once, you have done this and if you need to install the control manually, here is what you will need to do:
1. Login in as a user that can install software; and
2. Download the file qp2.dll to c:\ and then run "regsvr32 c:\qp2.dll" from a command prompt.

IBM has also released a longer FAQ on the subject here:
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=2338&uid=swg21154131

Windows Vista Fix for QuickPlace 7.0

2007-05-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

In Windows Vista, the DHTML activeX control was removed due to security concerns. The DHTML control was an easy to use Rich Text editor that could turn any Rich Text entered into HTML. QuickPlace has used this control since version 1 as did many other applications.
QuickPlace has a rather simple test that assumes if ActiveX works, then the DHTML control can be used. In Vista this is no longer true, so we have coded up a change that puts an extra test to make sure Vista is not being used before DHTML is applied.
These changes need to be applied to the HaikuCommonForms.ntf file under your QuickPlace/AreaTypes directory on the server (and will be overwitten during any upgrade or hotfix application so you must reapply as needed).
qpbase form:


this.isPlatformWin = isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject; 
...
function isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject ()
{ 
logEnter("isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject");
return ((this.m_clientPlatform.indexOf("Win") != -1) ? true : false);
logExit("isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject"); 
};
...
if (h_ClientBrowser.hasActiveX ())
formObj.fieldDef[y] = new _IERichTextControlField;

becomes:


this.isPlatformWin = isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject; 
this.isPlatformVista = isPlatformVista_ClientBrowserObject; 
...
function isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject ()
{ 
logEnter("isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject");
return ((this.m_clientPlatform.indexOf("Win") != -1) ? true : false);
logExit("isPlatformWin_ClientBrowserObject"); 
};
function isPlatformVista_ClientBrowserObject ()
{ 
logEnter("isPlatformVista_ClientBrowserObject");
return ((navigator.appVersion.indexOf("Windows NT 6.0") != -1) ? true : false);
logExit("isPlatformVista_ClientBrowserObject"); 
};
...
if (h_ClientBrowser.hasActiveX ())
if (h_ClientBrowser.isPlatformVista()){
formObj.fieldDef[y] = new _SimpleTextControlField();
} else {
formObj.fieldDef[y] = new _IERichTextControlField;
}

Thanks to Yared Consulting for the Install Instructions

2007-03-21T05:19:00.000-07:00

The good folks at Yared have provided a installation instruction for ProjectLounge Lite here. It goes through the common install errors and editing your hosts file to allow projects to be created.
We also have to thank some translators for their efforts. We are testing a German and French version and should be able to roll that out when all the bugs have been resolved with the Globalize plugin.

QuickPlace Mail-In Feature

2006-12-31T21:44:00.000-08:00

I was reading Senthil Kumar's Blog and have to say the mail-in feature is very nice. I sometimes subscribe to mail lists with a quickplace name. This way, it can build up a search database for the topic. As it is just a mail-in database on the backend, you can add extra ones for different rooms. So you can create qpname-room1@projectlounge.com as well as qpname-room2@projectlounge.com, etc. for a number of rooms. This way you can target your content to a QuickPlace room.

The internet is everywhere but your laptop might not be

2006-08-14T18:10:00.000-07:00

Many people rely on their laptops to stay productive while traveling. However, following last week's terrorist threats, airport authorities introduced no hand luggage policies. Many companies decided that staff should leave laptops at home rather than check them in as baggage, leaving affected employees disconnected from their work once they reached their destination. Companies seeking to enable uninterrupted access to all work related material, without a personal laptop, might choose to utilizee a secure online collaboration portal.
Even if a laptop is checked in, most airlines exclude this from any cover and will not accept responsibility for checked computers. By having data accessible on a secure web site, you can be assured that you your information will be available at the other end.
To avoid potential problems, it will be best to change the reliance on personal laptops that can get damaged or lost to a secure web collaboration site that can be accessed anywhere and from any internet connected computer.

Working from home

2006-08-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

The WSJ is reporting that working from home will continue to become more popular in the foreseeable future. This will provide a real boost to online collaboration sites as these workers try to optimize their productivity using internet tools.
It follows that companies will continue to reach out to these home based employees with intranets and custom built collaboration web sites. If you also factor in time saved in not commuting, savings with reduced gas use as well as environmental benefits, there are many reasons that working from home makes good sense.

Offline: Large File Solution for Unreliable Networks

2006-07-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

The QuickPlace offline feature is an ideal way to deal with slow or unreliable internet connections. QuickPlace offline works by downloading a full replica of your QuickPlace to your local computer (workstation or laptop) and then operating disconnected from the internet. You can then schedule or use the automatic schedule to synchronize to the server on the internet. So, this means you are immune from any internet disruptions while you are working. You can upload or attach as many large files as you like and because you are working locally, the speed is as fast as your computer can handle.
After you have finished working, you can start the synchronization process and leave your computer do all the hard work. It uses a very solid approach to synchronization that ensures the information is broken up into small enough chunks to get through any type of connection. It will then assemble them at the other end and retry any part that did not work (without having to start uploading from the very start). This process can take as long as it needs and does not require you to wait for any progress bars or retry any uploads.

So, if you have to work with very large attachments and your internet connection gets clogged and need another solution rather than "retry later", you can use QuickPlace offline to work and synchronize to share the files with your team. To work offline, you just need to click "work offline" from your QuickPlace (ProjectLounge Premium and above) and follow the instructions. ProjectLounge has already done all the hard work on the server side to make sure it "just works".

Lite going around the Internet

2006-06-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

The news about ProjectLounge Lite has gone around the Internet...

Italy: http://kolabora.com/

India: http://in.sys-con.com/

America: http://opensource.sys-con.com/

as well as some newswire services:

http://www.i-newswire.com/

http://www.prweb.com/

Having said that, most of the activity has been through the Ruby on Rails Wiki and we are seeing a steady sign up rate as a result.

IBM QuickPlace is making headway in Australia

2006-06-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

ComputerWorld Australia, has repoted that the accounting and advisory firm, RSM Bird Cameron, "will deploy IBM Lotus QuickPlace solution across its offices nationally".
This is a good step forward for educating users on the benefits of collaboration and will give the firm a solid foundation in which to organize their projects.

Writeboard: Yet another word processor?

2006-06-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

Moving from WordPerfect 5.1 to MS Word 6.0 was probably the biggest struggle for me as far as changing the way I used word processors. I tried to use the keyboard mappings to make is easier but no matter how much I tried, ctrl-shift-f7 it was just easier to learn the new way to work. After that, I tried Lotus Word Pro as it had Notes FX features that made mapping fields to a Lotus Notes database easy. However, it seems my needs for a Word processor have stagnated since. I like the spell checker, don't like the grammar suggestions, I liked the print preview but no longer print stuff out.
I ended up setting up a load of short cuts to get my styles all mapped so that I could structure the document with headings, lists, and paragraphs to make the table of contents as easy as possible.
However, when I really look into the core use for me, XHTML covers all the major parts of a document (headings, lists, paragraphs, and structure). So, to me I should probably just switch to XHTML for my documents.
This would present a number of wonderful side benefits: the ability to use any type of version control system, easy reversioning and well supported viewing.
However, I am probably a bad example of most users. I tend to be too technical and end up in code as a first solution. Whereas most users would never code their way out of a problem and tend to already have their word processors setup and working.
So, as much as I would like to change the way world does word processing, I would prefer to allow users to just to share what they have already produced. I guess according to this article, then I prefer bloat but I don't see it that way. Rather than saying the choice is between simplicity and bloat, I see the choice as between the familiar that most of my business colleges are using and a new tool they have to underscore and asterisk their way around.
I think it is too easy just to make a new tool and throw away all the users built up knowledge and tell them to use something else. However, it would be better to let them build on what they do know and just provide them a better way to overcome the short comings with as little "rip and replace" as possible.
In the programming world, we see this all the time, too many developers would prefer to write a new program than to maintain an old one that needs some fixes. Fixing the old is far less glamorous but it is this less glamorous work that the users really appreciate.
To conclude, I don't see writeboards as a big advantage to the problems with emailing around documents that you are collaborating on. I do see them as a really neat solution. The first priority would be to get the current MS Word documents out of email onto a shared collaboration space rather than emailing them around. So, I would prefer to see users share their existing documents in a better way rather than changing the tools they use to create the documents.

Instant Rails ProjectLounge Lite

2006-06-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

The instant rails version of lite is available now via torrent. Here Mag Link, or Torrent. Otherwise, you can download it directly from this blog via this link.

ProjectLounge Lite released to open source

2006-06-09T03:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a few months coming, but we have finally released all our code into the glory of LGPL open source. The open access SVN repository is open and available for anonymous read access. If anyone wants to contribute code, please contact me with what you want to add.
The svn URL is svn://svn.projectlounge.com/open/light and I will be updating a project home page soon.
There is also going to be a simple one click install via the Instant Rails framework.
If all this code seems a little too much, you can see a hosted version at: http://www.pllite.com/projects/new to create your own project there. The access code is currently "pl124" but this will change to a captcha eventually.
The next few weeks will see a lot more development, so please if you are interested in contributing to an open source project that helps people get out of email and collaborate online about projects, please let Ian Connor know.

Security Issues

2006-06-07T03:55:00.000-07:00

Business users who place a high value on their information are unlikely to utilise the forums provided by such ubiquitous and public channels as Google, Yahoo and MSN.

At least not for serious collaboration required by Project Teams and geographically dispersed business units. Especially when they want to work with data that is strictly retained for their own organisation's "eyes only" while working with outside organisations with whom they want to share other information. In these circumstances, for their own personnel, it's important that all the information can be accessed from the one place with security in place to ensure that 3rd parties can only see the information they are allowed to see.

For example the Project Manager will have discussions with his own staff about the client that would not be in the best interests of the Project for the client to even be aware of. If the personnel are not able to get together face to face for such discussions, then a secure electronic resource needs to be in place to capture them - and keep them available for the team members that need to be aware of them. At the same time, the pertinent acpecst or outcomes of such discussion should be there for the client.

Such robust security is vital in business and should be managed smoothly from all users perspectives. The public domain might provide some of this, but it will be clumsy and always potentially fraught with the potential for leakage.

I liken it to having a project team meeting on client premises, with the door open, while issues are discussed that would ordinarily be kept within the project team.

Will google squish the web 2.0 startups?

2006-06-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

Looking through a recent article, please don't squish the startups there seems to be some worry that google, yahoo and MSN's free service model with threaten smaller innovative online collaboration firms.
I am not sure this will be such a problem. There have been many that debate the economics of "free" but I don't see any business model that involves free services and support. That is because that is where the true value lies, in the support.
The ability to get hold or a real support person that will fix your problem and let you get back to business is the true measure of any business critical service. If you cannot get support when you need it, then you cannot rely on the service for your business.
This can be seen in a number of ways. For instance, people are not willing to tolerate endless computer driven prompts and they would prefer to talk to a real person as soon as possible (see gethuman.com). Then even when you get a person, you want to make sure you have a quality person that can help you. This can be seen in the backlash against call centers that are in different countries. I don't think this is related to any racismm but rather people with a similar culture are easier to deal with. If the person supplying the support or services understands your business culture, the whole process is far easier.
A recent example of this is that Apple has recently changed its mind about setting up a call center in India (see cnet) and it has high ratings for its support compared with others.
The bottom line for business is that quality support and services will never and can never be free or even "cheap". For a business situation, you need a level of quality and assurance that you will be supported and served. Google will never squish this need no matter how many advertising based office or collaboration applications they roll out. Business is interested in lower the costs but if there is a risk that it will result in a drop of productivity then the interest will soon disapear.
My advice to Web 2.0 firms closing their doors is focus on the support and services they provide. If you can provide high quality services, then your business will always be solid.

Collaboration companies are better companies

2006-06-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

It is true, it has actually been studied. There was a study released today Collaboration is a key driver of business performance that clearly shows that those whom collaborate have a better business. In one sense, this might be considered a topic for master mind of the bleeding obvious - however it is really interesting that some do not consider collaboration and sharing important to their business.
To me, the origins of a "company" is a group of people collaborating around a set of objectives and thus the foundation rather than just a driver. So, without proper collaboration there would be no company or business.