Enterprise Messaging: Linking Minds Together Across The Enterprise by David Matthiesen and Stacy Hunt Application Development The groupware tools on the market usually provide at least a forms-development capability. Some, such as Lotus Notes, go much further in providing a replicating object-store back end and a very flexible front-end development environment. Integration with the World Wide Web is the important trend to look for in upcoming releases. Groupware tools are very complementary with the Web. They allow multiple authors to contribute documents that can then be published on the Web very easily. One of the most time-consuming aspects of being a Webmaster is managing documents and hypertext links. Most groupware tools provide some form of hypertext link and document management capability, which can be extended to the Web. Groupware tools such as Lotus Notes are moving away from just publishing databases to the Web. They will support HTTP natively, so Web browsers can access groupware databases just as they would any other Web Server. This opens the information stored in a groupware repository to anyone with a Web browser. Some vendors may choose to go this route for some client platforms rather than take the time to develop a platform-specific front end. The trend is for the Web browser to become the universal client, and unless groupware tools vendors recognize this and make their tools complementary with it, they will miss the boat. Your groupware tool should support or be planning support for HTTP, HTML, Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Secure HTTP, Java and ActiveX. Communication with the Web should be two-way if possible. Web clients should be able to post information to the groupware back end as well as retrieve it. For example, you could survey your external customers for information that could be published to a groupware database. It could then be manipulated and reports could be run from it. Discussion forums could be constructed where both Web browsers and the groupware clients could post discussion items and responses in the same forum. In addition to providing integration with the Web, groupware systems should offer an easy development environment for end users and a true structured programming language for developers. One of the problems with Notes (up until version 4.0) was its lack of a structured programming language. Professional developers, who were used to a structured programming language, were frustrated by the limitations of the @language. With Notes Release 4, they have access to Lotus Script. It is a BASIC-compatible programming language that works across all the client platforms Notes supports (Windows 3.x, Windows95, Mac, Unix, OS/2, NT). Other development front ends to Notes are Lotus Notes HiTest Tools for Visual Basic, Revelation Technologies (ViP for Lotus Notes), Gupta Technologies (SQL Windows) and PowerSoft (Power Builder Libraries for Notes), to mention a few. APIs are also available for C and C++. When rolling out a new groupware product, it is important that the application development department in your company is involved at an early state. They are usually the most familiar with customer needs and will not view your new groupware development environment as a threat if they are a stakeholder in its rollout. In shops where the traditional development environment has been the mainframe, groupware tools that support rapid application deployment can be a severe change in paradigm. Time should be taken to train the application development department on the strengths and limitations of the groupware tool. Conclusion There are many things to consider when investing in a messaging/groupware system. Rarely is there a more utilized network application than e-mail at most companies. Usage tends to grow exponentially once trust in the system is established. We hope this article will provoke the thoughts of those chartered with making the decisions in your company, and that we at least save you some time and money in your quest for the field of dreams messaging system roll out. September 15, 1996 Print This Page E-mail this URL