If you are considering a Lotus Notes database archiving project, you are probably aware that there are a few different options when it comes to selecting an archiving solution. So how do you pick one? Of course, we’re biased, but we do also believe that you should make a decision on tooling armed with the most knowledge of what to look for and the best questions to ask a potential vendor.
Based on our extensive knowledge of the Lotus Notes platform stretching back more than 25 years, here are the five most important things to consider when it comes to picking an archiving tool for Lotus Notes databases.
1. Speed
This may not necessarily be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a tool for archiving Lotus Notes databases. But speed, as they say, is of the essence in this case. There is actually a surprisingly large amount of work for a tool to do when it’s creating a navigable, searchable HTML web site or a set of PDF documents from a Notes database, especially if that database has a large number of documents.
Demos and trial versions of an archiving tool are fine, but are usually (necessarily) done using a small database containing relatively simple design and data structures. So before you make a purchasing decision, ask about how fast the proposed solution is. Most people are targeting a large number of databases which may contain many documents, so a 2x or even 10x performance differential between tools could save you days or even weeks of time.
2. Scalability
This is related to speed, inasmuch as the demos you watch or the trials that you do may be restricted to small data sets. Our experience is that some databases contain unfathomably huge quantities of data, with document counts sometimes in the millions. Some tools may be architected in such a way that they store temporary working data in memory, and attempting to process very large numbers of documents in a single database may simply break them.
Before you make a purchasing decision, be sure that you understand the size of your largest Notes database, and satisfy yourself that the proposed solution will not collapse when processing a database of that size.
3. Ease of configuration and operation
There’s a pretty wide variety of approaches when it comes to configuration of a Notes database archiving solution. We’ve come across some tools that require a degree in astrophysics, not to mention a deep knowledge of the inner workings of Lotus Notes just to be able to archive a simple discussion database.
Not to oversimplify things, but a well designed solution can make some intelligent assumptions about the way things are set up, and can provide thoughtful guidance on how to make any decisions that are required during the config process. We’ve also learned that many people who are tasked with archiving Lotus Notes databases are not necessarily Notes experts, so if that is the case in your organization, it’s a good idea to choose a product that doesn’t assume the operator knows all the Notes-specific jargon.
4. Licensing limitations
Different tool vendors adopt different licensing models. Some charge fees based on the volume of data being exported, typically based on the number of databases or potentially the actual quantity of data. If you are planning to archive a very small number of databases, that may be fine. But ideally you want to find an archiving tool that has no limits to the amount of data or the number of databases that you can export. Not only will it save you money, but the last thing you want is to be in the middle of an archiving project and have to start purchasing additional licenses to be able to continue.
5. Experience counts
Lotus Notes is a fantastic product. It also can be a fantastically complex product. There are all kinds of foibles, wrinkles and gotchas that you would only expect to find in a product that’s been tweaked, prodded and poked by a parade of different owners over more than 30 years. An archiving product, by its very nature, needs to delve deep into every corner of the target database, and relies on the Lotus Notes API to do so.
And so you want to find a tooling partner who has been working with the Notes platform for a similarly long period of time. The archives that you create from your aging Lotus Notes databases need to reliably reproduce the target data potentially for decades into the future. So you want to make sure that the company that makes and maintains the tool that creates those archives has the experience to know the platform and its eccentricities inside and out.
As I said at the outset, of course we here at Teamstudio are biased. We think that our own Lotus Notes archiving tool, Teamstudio Export, is the top contender in each of these categories. But don’t take our word for it. If you’re in the market for an archiving solution, go ahead and try us out. We think you’ll find Export to be the fastest, most scalable and easiest to configure. There are no licensing limitations, just a simple, low cost, annual subscription model that allows you to archive as many databases and as much data as you want. And, not only have we been doing this since 1995, but also 100% of our software is built by our own employees right here in Beverly, MA. We don’t outsource or offshore any of our software development.
To start a conversation about how to get going with your Lotus Notes archiving project, click below. We love to chat!