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Civility in critiquing the ideas of others is no vice. Rudeness in defending your own ideas is no virtue.


Wed 29 Aug 2018, 10:31 AM
Over the past few years, we have expanded our offerings at Genii to allow more exchanging of data. To be honest, most of it has been outgoing, whether migrating Notes data to SharePoint or many other systems, or simply rendering Notes information to be more consumable on the web. We have added support for CSV to allow large batch exports, but also JSON to allow more RESTful exchanges. Rich text is included, of course, but much of the focus is on powerful extraction of data of all sorts.

It is with that latter goal in mind that I have been working with a few different systems including SharePoint, Confluence, and Salesforce. But times are changing. There are many positive signs out of IBM and HCL about the soon-to-arrive Notes/Domino 10, as well as future, even more ambitious plans for Notes/Domino 11. With that in mind, I am focusing a little more energy on drawing date into Notes/Domino.

One example of the work I have been doing is between Notes/Domino and Salesforce, because the latter has grown by leaps and bounds in popularity. But most companies don't get to choose either Notes/Domino OR Salesforce. Instead, they are left with Notes/Domino AND Saleforce. With that in mind, I am working on how to use a REST interface as well as events in Notes/Domino and the Streaming API in Salesforce to move data back and forth, either keeping it in sync or storing the appropriate pieces of one system in the other as needed. Notes/Domino has its advantages, Salesforce has different ones. Companies which can easily share and exchange information between them can pick and choose where an application or data resides, which may not be the same place it is collected.

Getting all of that in place will take a while, and I hope to document some of the steps. Obviously, we would welcome any companies that want to use our products now to move data, but we will also try to be transparent about the advances we make. As a simple example of how extensive this can be, I show here some fields including a Notes rich text field moved to a Salesforce Contact with a rich text area field.

The following is after the POST to Salesforce (red arrows show updated fields).

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And this is the source in Notes/Domino (red arrows show fields to use for REST).

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So far, it is pretty good, but we intend to improve it. If you would like to be part of a test with some of your data, contact me and we'll work it out.

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Mon 20 Aug 2018, 02:32 PM

I've spent the past couple of weeks working with Trailhead, the excellent (and free) gamified learning system provided by Salesforce. As I dive deeper into Salesforce, I am impressed by the parallels with Notes/Domino, but also intrigued by the differences. My goal is not to leave Notes/Domino, but to provide our customers with the appropriate solutions for their needs. That might be Notes/Domino or might be Salesforce, but it also might be that they need Salesforce with a dash of Domino, or Domino with a soupçon of Salesforce.

We fill the needs our customers have. If we need to extend Salesforce or extend Notes/Domino, we can do it; So, if you are one of our Notes/Domino customers and see my Salesforce posts, know that I am learning from the competition (imitation being the sincerest form of flattery). If you used to be on Notes/Domino and remember our products, but have moved to Salesforce since, know that I am looking at ways to bring the best of both Genii Software's products and Notes/Domino to Salesforce where appropriate.

Of course, there is also an excellent chance that your company has both Salesforce and Notes/Domino. In that case, know that one focus will be on moving data back and forth seamlessly on demand. I have already been playing with the Bulk Load API in Salesforce and the Midas LSX to move data quickly and easily. The JSON support built into Genii's products allows for RESTful interchanges and high fidelity. More on that later, but if you would like to discuss your needs or ask any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Copyright © 2018 Genii Software Ltd.

Tue 7 Aug 2018, 03:59 PM
I am working with a Notes/Domino customer with a large quantity of email in Notes databases they wanted archived outside of Notes, and they are considering  CoexLinks Migrate. At first, they seemed dubious about the importance of how well email renders (a topic as exciting as mixing cement), but one of the people in the meeting had come across a blog post I made about forms that had been mailed where data disappeared when rendered. Disappearing data caught the attention of the lead person, who asked that I demonstrate. The only problem is, the customer is still not sure whether they want the email archived as EML or HTML, possibly both. 

The scenario is quite simple and happens all the time. A user is looking at a form, and forwards it to somebody else with a question or request for action. Since Notes rich text forwards well, they think nothing of it, and the content shows just as it did in the database. But when it leaves Notes, whether right then as an email or later when archived to another format, more than the appearance is lost.

I can't share customer data, so I used a simple example from a Notes database I use to track orders and maintenance. It has some common form elements, nothing fancy. Note that this same engine with some variants is used for CoexLinks FidelityCoexLinks Journal and CoexLinks Migrate, and a similar engine is used for application data with AppsFidelity.

As I mentioned before, the compelling part of this is not just what is preserved, but that it may be your last chance to preserve it. The customer never wants to deal with the Notes databases again, so this is a last chance to get the data out. It better all be there, or it is effectively lost.

What may be lost when archiving/emailing outside of Domino without CoexLinks
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1) Notes form open in Notes client (original data+looks)
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2) The form forwarded via Notes email, still in rich text (data+looks preserved)
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3) The email archived to EML using simple File Save... or native API (data+looks lost)
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4) The email archived to EML using CoexLinks Migrate (data+looks preserved)
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5) The email archived to HTML using CoexLinks Migrate (data+looks preserved)
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Fill out a CoexLinks Migrate evaluation request and try for yourself,


6) The email as it arrived in Outlook 365 using Domino email (data+looks lost)
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7) The email as it arrived in Outlook 365 with CoexLinks Fidelity (data+looks preserved)
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Fill out a CoexLinks Fidelity evaluation request and try for yourself,

Copyright © 2018 Genii Software Ltd.

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