The Connections Blog

You are probably aware that Lotus Connections social software is a great means of managing user profiles within your organisation, making it easier to find the staff with the right skills, talents and experience for a given project or task.

In a new announcement yesterday, IBM has now taken this to a new level by combining the features of Lotus Connections with its Cognos business intelligence software, world-class IBM consulting services and leading human capital software from Saab and SuccessFactors:

IBM today announced the first holistic offering in the talent management marketplace, combining world-class human capital software, consulting services and information technology integration to enable enterprises to implement globally integrated workforce and talent management.

The new offering, IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions, will help companies become smarter and more integrated in all aspects of managing the human capital lifecycle to create measurable improvements in people and business productivity. Driving efficiency and effectiveness in people -- one of the largest assets and costs in a business -- is increasingly important to achieving competitive advantage and to manage the effects of the downturn in the global economy.

The press release goes on to say that organisations that manage their employee talent effectively demonstrate significantly better financial results than their peers.  From my own experience, I have no doubt that this is the case!

This is what the new offering covers:

IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions offering takes a strategic view of an enterprises' human capital technology and processes. Through our Human Capital Healthcheck tool, IBM human capital experts assess where an organization is on its journey to globally integrated workforce and talent management and defines a strategy, technology and process roadmap for the future. The solution builds on what is already in place in the enterprise and implements the integrated solutions required to create an end-to-end capability to access key employee data and manage workforces as a globally integrated talent pool.

Key components of IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions includes, workforce analytics, e-recruitment, performance management, learning, succession planning, compensation and rewards, workforce deployment and scheduling, employee portal, collaboration and social networking, together with targeted consulting services, such as change management, process re-design, technology integration, program management and business performance measurement.

Lastly, it details where Lotus Connections fits into the overall solution:

IBM Lotus Connections' five components -- profiles, communities, blogs, dogear and activities -- provides a personal profile/role based approach to managing talent as well the social network necessary for collaboration and connections between individuals and the knowledge employees need to be more productive.

...

Key to IBM Workforce and Talent Solutions, these applications will integrate with IBM's social networking, portal, and business intelligence capabilities.

"The latest advances in collaborative human capital software such as Lotus Connections, WebSphere Portal, and Cognos 8 Workforce Performance can help deliver a talent management system that companies could only imagine a few short years ago," said Larry Bowden, vice president, portals and mashups, IBM Software Group. "The exciting part for our customers is the deep partnership with IBM Global Business Services human capital team and the experience they bring to transforming our clients business performance."

I look forward to finding out more about the solution at Lotusphere in January.  In the meantime, there are more details on IBM's Human Capital management offerings here.

Gartner has just released its updated Magic Quadrant for Social Software, dated October 31.

I would love to reproduce the Quadrant and Connections-related content here, but am wary of the scary "Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden" warning!

Suffice to say that they are very favourable in their comments about Lotus Connections, placing the product as the second top rated solution in 'ability to execute' and fourth rated in 'completeness of vision'. Overall, Lotus Connections is the closest to the 'leaders' quadrant, which is where IBM would like it to be.

The report is free to access, so go take a look on the Gartner site.

Good to see that the Lotus Connections RedWiki project has come to fruition:

Lotus Connections is social software for business that empowers you to be more innovative and that helps you execute more quickly using dynamic networks of coworkers, partners, and customers. It has components that work together to enable you to connect with the people and the information that you need. Together, these tools can help you and your colleagues interact with one another more effectively.

Often, an organization will want to modify components of Connections to meet their unique needs and preferences. Or the company will want to integrate Connections into one or more of its systems. This wiki explains how to do both of those activities.

This is how to access the new content:

Reading the Web-based wiki on this subject is as easy as 1-2-3:

   1. Access the following Web site:
      http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lcwiki.nsf?OpenDatabase
   2. Click the Customizations topic in the Navigator pane on the left.
   3. Click the link at the top of each page to navigate to the "IBM Redbooks" wiki project.

Actually it is the 'Customization' link you need, and once clicked through, you go to the list of Redwiki topics. This lists the topics in a very odd order - not by date or title. I can't quite work this out.  

However, there is a "Table of Contents for Customizing Lotus Connections 2.0" link eventually, which gives us this list:

This content was developed by IBM Redbooks residents.
Meet the authors

Lotus and IBM Redbooks have partnered together to provide tips and techniques to customize Lotus Connections. We wrote topics in two sections:
A. Re-branding and customizing Lotus Connections
B. Integrating Lotus Connections into 3rd part solutions and platforms

A. Re-branding and customizing Lotus Connections

1 Lotus Connections
2 Homepage
3 TDI
4 Profiles
5 Business card
6 Dogear
7 Blogs
8 Activities
9 Communities

B. Integrating Lotus Connections into 3rd party solutions and platforms

10 Using the API
11 WebSphere Portal Server
12 IBM Mashup Center
13 Lotus Connections plug-in for Sametime
14 Microsoft Outlook
15 RIM Blackberry client for IBM Lotus Connections

Much better!  I wish this was linked from the Wiki homepage.  There looks to be some good content in there, so do take a look and feedback to the team.  I know how much work goes into these things, especially when working remotely, so well done to those involved.

Analysis of social networking systems is increasingly becoming a real hot topic - there is a huge amount of information in a corporate social software solution such as Lotus Connections and advanced techniques are required to extract and interrogate the data.

IBM has released a new ISSL ExpertBriefing podcast covering this area:

Being able to quickly find the right people within an organization who can provide the information and expertise needed to address business challenges can give a company a significant competitive edge. With the help of social software and social networking analysis technology, individuals now have the tools to more quickly provide and find information as well as build and leverage important social networks across an organization.

In this podcast, Bill Kilduff, Chris Desforges, and Scot Bentley from IBM Software Services for Lotus discuss the latest trends in social software and uses for social networking analysis technology. They also provide an overview of Atlas for Lotus Connections, an IBM solution that helps users analyze their social networks, identify experts, and better leverage their relationships to those experts.

Get the podcast and transcript here.

There are lots of very good reasons to upgrade to Lotus Connections 2.0.1 - the integration with Quickr 8.1.1, improved indexing, better synchronisation with LDAP etc.

However, the most compelling reason to upgrade to 2.0.1 might be this one.  Particularly if your Connections server is available directly on the 'Net.

Now this is a really tricky area, configuring SSO in Lotus Connections - in my experience, getting Connections and Quickr/Domino in SSO harmony is a particular area of pain.  Here's a cracking little developerWorks whitepaper detailing how it should be done in a standalone Connections environment:

This article explains how to configure single sign-on (SSO) with Lightweight Third-Party Authentication (LTPA) for IBM Lotus Connections 2.0. Learn the basics of SSO and LTPA and the detailed steps for configuring SSO in a stand-alone environment.

Single sign-on (SSO) can be complex to configure, but it is beneficial to users who otherwise become annoyed when repeatedly queried for login information. Using the new home page feature in Lotus Connections 2.0, you can easily switch between different features, but you must enable SSO to connect to them seamlessly.

Of particular importance is getting the domain name right - you must add the leading dot, else behaviour can be very variable, especially in Communities Forums:

Well recommended.

IBM had seemed to be hiding its light under a bushel when it comes revealing details of what is new in Lotus Connections 2.0.1.  There was preciously little information on the Connections product pages or in the Infocenter.

Thankfully, Luis Benitez brings us his own description:

One question that I'm continuously asked is: "what's new in Lotus Connections v2.0.1?". Well, here's a list of what I've gathered:

   * Quickr integration with Activities - Push-button publication from an Activity into one of your Quickr Places for permanent document storage
   * Quickr integration with Communities - Allows communities to use Quickr as their content repository and document collaboration platform.
   * Enhanced person card
   * E-mail is no longer a required attribute (great for external implementations)
   * New feeds inside of Communities
   * New feeds for forums
   * New APIs for Activities, Blogs, Communities, Homepage (federated search), Profiles
   * Hidden support for STLinks (more about this tomorrow)
   * User Interface and Usability enhancements, for example:
         o Can now save members as part of an activity template
         o Drag-n-drop activities entries
         o Uploading images to a blog is now easier
         o Improvements in the Activities widget
         o Easier way to work with multiple bookmarks
   * A couple of bug fixes

Excellent, Luis!

After reading this, I went to check out the out the Infocenter again, and voila! We now have some much better documentation:

What's new in administering?
Lotus Connections:

   * Preventing e-mail addresses from being displayed
   * Removing the data associated with a person or group
   * Changing the language used for notifications

Activities feature:

   * Integrating Activities with IBM Lotus Quickr

Blogs feature:

   * Synchronizing user data

Communities feature:

   * Changing Communities configuration settings
   * Removing unwanted or inappropriate content
   * Filtering active content
   * Configuring the size of the community description
   * Configuring display settings
   * Managing members and member IDs
   * Administering managed applications
   * Changing configuration settings for managed applications
   * Using the Lotus Quickr Delayed Synchronizer
   * Viewing and collecting Communities metrics
   * Retrieving and listing community data
   * Filtering community lists
   * Managing the forum scheduler

Dogear feature:

   * Synchronizing user data for Dogear

Home page feature:

   * Synchronizing member IDs between the Home page and LDAP databases

Profiles feature:

   * Updating the LDAP
   * Synchronizing LDAP changes with Profiles
   * Synchronizing the Profiles database with LDAP
   * Updating Profiles when changing LDAP directory
   * Determining the notification language for Profiles
   * Populating Profiles with photos
   * Uploading pronunciation files
   * Profiles attributes
   * Enabling custom extension attributes
   * Specifying a custom extension attribute label
   * Adding third-party links via the XML configuration file
   * Adding third-party links using JavaScript

What's new in extending?

   * Lotus Connections Connector for Lotus Quickr

Much much better! Go check out the Infocenter page for more details of each feature.

Sorry for the very late notice, I only found out about the event this morning...

Please join us at the Social Networking - Wasting Time or Creating Value? event on 4th November 2008.

At this latest IBM FSS Technical Forum event we will be discussing the impact of Social Networking in the enterprise during the meeting at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel. This will be followed by a drinks reception, tour and dinner on the SS Great Britain. We look forward to seeing you.

Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel
College Green
Bristol
BS1 5TA
UK

Agenda

Time         Description         Speaker
12:00         Arrival & Buffet Lunch          
13:00         Welcome & Introduction         Master of Ceremonies, Colin Rear – IBM Executive IT Architect
13:15         IBM’s View on Social Networking         Stuart McRae - IBM Technical Sales Leader for Lotus Collaboration, North East Europe
14:00         Collaboration Initiative at ZURICH         Michael Bossard - IT Architect
14:45         Coffee Break          
15:15         Opportunities and Challenges with Social Networking in a University Environment         Dr Susannah Quinsee - Director of Learning Development & John Gallagher - Applications Architect, City University London
16:00         Creating a POC based on Social Networking Technology         Graeme Clark, Application Team Manager, Standard Life
16:45         Coffee Break          
17:15         How is IBM using Social Software internally?         Iain McNairn – IBM Program Director, Web Technology and Innovation
18:00         Panel Debate & Discussion          
19:00         Depart hotel by coach to SS Great Britain          
19:15         Pre-Dinner Drinks with a tour of SS Great Britain          
20:00         Dinner         Hosted by Colin Rear, at The SS Great Britain

Hosted by the IBM FSS team, this looks to be a interesting event with fine speakers. Register now if you can attend.

... Not a lot ;-)

What's new

Find out what is new and what has been updated.

Lotus Connections 2.0.1
The following features have been updated in version 2.0.1:

   * The page size for indexing is automatically configured at installation time.
   * Troubleshooting topics have been moved to the Lotus Connections wiki.

Lotus Connections 2
The following features are new in version 2.0:

   * The Profiles Population wizard automatically imports data into the Profiles database.
   * The Database Features wizard creates, updates, and removes databases for installed features.
   * Federated repositories can use the Dynamic Group Membership feature in WebSphere Application Server's Virtual Member Manager (VMM).

The following features have been updated in version 2.0:

   * The Installation wizard installs multiple features in one session.
   * Removing or adding features and databases is automated with the new wizards.
   * Hardware and software requirements.
   * Java 2 Security is no longer required.

The good news is that the Lotus Connections 2.0 infocenter has been updated for the 2.0.1 release.

When all the images are available for Connections 2.0.1, I am sure many of us will be rushing to get our test/devt/demo environments upgraded ASAP.

If you fall into that grouping, then make sure you install this mandatory fix for Blogs on top of the fresh or upgraded 2.0.1install:

LO34631: BLOGS: MANDATORY IFIX FOR BLOGS (LOTUS CONNECTIONS V2.0.1)

APAR status
OPEN

Error description

Mandatory iFix for Blogs. Globalization fixes are also part of
this iFix.

Local fix

Problem summary

Problem conclusion

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR information
APAR number        LO34631
Reported component name        CONNECTIONS BLO
Reported component ID        5724S6801
Reported release        201
Status        OPEN
PE        NoPE
HIPER        NoHIPER
Special Attention        NoSpecatt
Submitted date        2008-10-27
Closed date        
Last modified date        2008-10-27