Due to the increasing scope of networking in online business environment, client server software platforms have become the undeniable necessity for every business entity. There are various companies that are providing business collaboration services but IBM collaboration services are much ahead from its competitors. IBM Notes and Domino development is a collaborative client server software that has earned a respectable position and name due to its unmatched features. It offers a diverse range of business collaboration facilities like email, contacts management, calendars, discussion forums, to- do lists, instant messaging, team rooms, blogs, file sharing and other such services. Moreover, considering the business efficiency and potential of this business platform, Velocity has provided its expertise and experience in this client- server software platform for giving a new direction to various business entities. Take a look at the various features of this mind blowing client- server platform that are described as follows:

1. Calendar and Scheduling services-

This latest IBM Notes and Domino client- server software platforms have enhanced the performance and functioning of the calendar feature to a great extent. Its new Calendar cleanup action helps in the seamless maintenance of the calendar. With this new feature, users can easily delete their calendar entries based on their creation or last modification date. Further, users are free to select the calendar entries that are to be deleted by them. Some of the other wonderful features that are provided by this new calendar and scheduling option are:

– With this feature, it is easy to limit the number of attendees in your meetings and password can also be set for your online meeting for avoiding the eavesdropping by unauthorized persons.

– It gives enhanced freedom and support to users for managing rooms and resources for scheduling meetings.

– It is now possible to accommodate a meeting even if you have another meeting that is scheduled on the same day.

– This new improved calendar feature has allowed administrators to set automatic reminder notices for ensuring the availability of the room/resource in case the meeting has been rescheduled or canceled.

– Further, embedded graphics in the description field can be seen when the invitation is sent through iCalendar.

2. Enhanced features of Lotus Sametime integration-

The presence awareness of Lotus Sametime has greatly enhanced in the new improved version of IBM Notes and Domino development. It is now easier for an individual to check the online availability of a person and to initiate a chat session with that particular person. The presence awareness is an important component of the Lotus Sametime integration and has been included in various elements like team rooms, To Do documents, C&S views, Personal Name and Address Book , discussions, Domino Directory and Rooms and Resources template. Apart from this, Notes instant messaging contact lists has been revamped to an all together new look for facilitating effective online communication with exciting new features. Further, it is now possible to save a Sametime chat session in your Notes mail database.

3. Path breaking application development services-

One of the major achievement of this IBM Notes and Domino development platform is the introduction of the new programming construct, known as composite application that makes use of the Eclipse open platform for facilitating connection with application components.

This composite application allow different types of content components from multiple systems at a place for grouping together various elements at user interface level in the absence of coding for the seamless access to the information. They work in the same manner like the Portal applications and follow the similar development architecture like Web services and Service- Oriented Architecture. Every other component in a Lotus Notes V8 composite application groups its own user interface, storage, business logic and other such components that can be built from the variety of tools ranging from the no- coding wizards to other scripting tools like IBM Lotus Domino Designer V8 and Lotus Component Designer along with other comprehensive tools like Java IDEs or IBM Rational Application Developer, etc.

4. New exciting mail features for users-

The mail feature of the IBM Notes has received a big boost due to the introduction of the “Quick Follow Up” feature. With this feature, it is now easier to select and mark up the mail messages for follow up without showing the Follow Up dialog box. Further, as per the Mail Rules, there is increased support for Stop Processing Action and blacklisting/whitelisting of spam. The feature also provides a new status bar icon that gives insight whether the email received is digitally signed, encrypted or both. The maintenance of the mail threads has also simplified to a great extent due to this new improved mail feature. It has further made sorting of inbox messages and mail views much easier along with the enhanced support for mail archiving.

5. Amazing desktop functionality-

The new advanced version of the IBM collaboration services has introduced the new option Close All Window Tabs under the File menu option. With this option, it is now easier to close all open windows in a much easier way. One of the specialty of this feature is that it only makes impact on the window tabs that are opened in the current window. In order to close all the open forms in the Domino Designer without closing the Domino Designer window itself, you need to click on Close All Window Tabs option. Also, you can effortlessly create any welcome page consisting of frames, Personal Page or Workplace through its Welcome Page Wizard. Moreover, it is now possible to create multiple workplaces due to the addition of Workplace option in the Welcome Page Wizard.

6. Seamless interoperability of Microsoft Office-

It is now easier to access the Notes mail with the help of Smart Tags feature that is present in Microsoft Office XP. Smart Tags in Notes helps in locating a person’s name within a Microsoft Word document and provide the following three options to user which are namely:

– Creation of an email memo.

– Creation of a meeting invitation.

– Displaying the person’s name details through Domino Directory or with the help of Name and Address book.

For more information regarding the configuration of Smart Tags functionality in your Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003 and other higher versions, do follow this link.

7. Presence of the Productivity editors-

Productivity editors are the applications that are required for the creation and editing of the documents, spreadsheets and presentations. They were earlier used in the Eclipse for supporting the Open Document project by the IBM and registered its presence through the IBM Workplace Managed Client. Later on, they were included in the standard Lotus Notes V8 license. They act as a wonderful alternative for Microsoft Office and other such similar products due to their effective integration with Lotus Notes. These editors can be seamlessly accessed through the Open menu of the Lotus Notes or programmatically within an application. With the help of these productivity editors, you can effortlessly read and write various types of file formats like DOC, XLS and PPT formats of softwares like Microsoft Office 97/XP/2000, Microsoft Rich Text Format and Microsoft Office 2003 XML. Further, it is now easier to export documents to Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Apart from this, Lotus Smart Suite formats can be easily imported to the IBM Productivity tools with the help of an included filter.

8. Presence of Message recall feature-

This option facilitate users to retrieve Lotus Notes mail which may have been accidentally sent to the wrong people. In order to use this feature, you need to activate it from the Sent Mail folder or from the All Documents view option present in the Lotus Notes. Due to this feature, the message is removed from the  recipient’s mailbox and the recalling person is informed if the message is opened by any other individual. Further, it provides extended level of freedom to administrators regarding the configuration of message recall as per the policy set by them for recalling a particular message. For getting more detailed information about this message recall feature of IBM Lotus Notes and Domino V8, you need to visit this useful link- http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/notes8-recall/ .

9. Out of Office notification-

This important Out of Office notification feature has been replaced by the built in Domino service of the router. With this feature, the latency and usual delays are effectively eliminated and the requirement of granting rights to users for running this Out of Office notification agent has been stopped all together. In order to use this feature, you need to have a Lotus Domino V8 server, Lotus Notes V8 mail template and Lotus Notes V8 client. Further, this new Out of Office agent can work seamlessly with Lotus Domino V8 or other such server versions without any requirement of new features and updates.

10. Enhanced Contacts functionality-

This new client- server software platforms such as IBM Lotus Notes and Domino V8 has given a complete new look and functionality to the contacts. In order to perform the various tasks related to the contact list, you need to follow these steps.

Importing of your contact details

– For importing the external contacts into your Lotus Notes Contacts out of your Contacts, you need to first select the File and then click on Import Contacts.

– In case of the requirement of field remapping, the process can be implemented before or after the Contacts are imported.

Exporting of contact details

– In order to export your contact, you need to first filter which contacts and fields are needed to be exported from the Contacts.

– Then, select File and click on Export Contacts. This step will initiate the process of exporting Contact details.

Contact Forwarding

– Contacts can be seamlessly forwarded from Contacts as a vCard. You just have to select all the Contacts that are to be forwarded as a vCard and then click on the Forward vCard option.

11. Extended features of IBM Lotus Symphony-

This IBM Lotus Symphony services have got added functionality under the IBM collaboration services that have been revamped completely with new exciting features. Some of the wonderful features of this IBM Lotus Symphony are as follows:

– Seamless interoperability with other file formats.

– Enhanced support for chart rendering, numbering and bulleting facilities for Microsoft Office documents.

– Increased functionality for displaying of the presentation table in OpenOffice.org.

– Improved functionality for page slider function in presentation mode.

– Enhanced functionality for opening and playing of Microsoft PowerPoint PPS file format.

– Increased function enhancements in three editors.

– Enhanced support for graphics and layouts in IBM Lotus SmartSuite documents.

– Increased assistance for spell checking in presentation template files and much more.

12. Faster replication and synchronization services-

IBM Lotus Notes has made the user replication and synchronization much effective due to the presence of IBM Lotus Quickr tool. Some of the functions that can be performed with this new advanced feature are as follows:

– Allow manual synchronization of activities data using a menu item.

– Ensure effective set up of the schedule for activities irrespective of the replication schedule.

– Does not allow stopping of the synchronization once it has been started.

So, it is time to embrace this IBM Lotus Notes and Domino development platform for simplifying your business processes for improving the productivity of your business entity. It has carved out a niche place for itself among other available client- server software platforms due to its unmatched features and services. It is time to make it a part of your business operational activity to transform your business fortunes in a major way.