SharePoint / Documentum Integration

SharePoint and Documentum offer distinctly different approaches to managing content, but there are actually many areas of overlapping functionality. Each method has its place and application, its pros and cons.

So, when should you use SharePoint, and when should you use Documentum?

A SharePoint solution applies when your scenario looks like this:

• Back-office and desktop environments are focused around  Microsoft (SQL, Server 2003/2008, Office 2003/2007, BizTalk),
• File sizes are typically less than 25MB,
• Environments are hosted via an Application Service Provider,
• Internet access is critical and you have an enterprise search portal,
• Departmental collaboration is important, and

• ERP or CRM systems in the environment support, and leverage SharePoint web parts-based integration.

A Documentum solution applies when your scenario looks like this:

• Workflows are initiated with high-volume scanning and indexing (like Captiva),
• Complex workflow and integration requirements exist,
• There is a need for complex document lifecycles in a regulated environment (e.g., you generate quarterly reports, SEC documentation, etc.), and
• Formal record-management policies are needed. 

The key is that each platform is useful for different scenarios-when planning the content management solution for your enterprise, consider your needs.

What happens when you need both? That's where integration happens.

Depending on requirements, an integration between SharePoint and Documentum can be relatively simple, or extremely complicated. Crown Partners has implemented both using various approaches and deployments.

For scenarios where the key requirement is to be able to make Documentum content available for read-only consumption within a SharePoint environment, Crown's SPIN component can be used to easily push content to SharePoint.  SPIN leverages EMC Documentum's Site Caching Services (SCS) in conjunction with a special wrapper component created by Crown Partners to enable users to publish content to SharePoint.

SPIN was developed using MS .NET and can be used to publish content to either existing SharePoint libraries or to libraries created on the fly. Content metadata and security settings are applied as part of the publishing process using standard SharePoint Object Model constructs, with the end result being that content in SharePoint appears to the user as standard SharePoint objects.

SPIN Publishing processes are configured using Documentum Administrator. When a publishing operation occurs, SPIN uses SCS to transfer all content files and associated metadata (using an XML data file) that meets the specified publishing criteria to the publishing target using the HTTP/HTTPS protocol. The publishing target is (typically) a web server instance associated with a SharePoint installation. Because XML files are used to transfer metadata and configuration information to the publishing target, it is not necessary to install/maintain a database in the publishing environment.

Once content and meta data has been transferred, a post-sync script is executed that parses the transferred data and associated parameter file(s) (files that contain pointers to metadata files and the locations of content files) and then places content and sets associated metadata within the SharePoint library structure.

During publishing SPIN will (depending on configuration) automatically create new SharePoint content types for all configured Documentum object types, creating any appropriate SharePoint site columns to store configured metadata.  When content within Documentum is deleted, the next time the publishing process executes the document in SharePoint is automatically removed, unless the document is referenced in other SharePoint locations in which case the document is simply flagged for removal. When content (or metadata) is updated in Documentum, these updates are pushed to SharePoint the next time the publishing process runs.

SPIN also supports multi-threading of the publishing operation, thereby providing extensive control over the publishing process, allowing SPSite and SPWeb open operations to be executed only once per SharePoint site collection and/or web site. 

Therefore, it is important that the user has permissions both to the destination site collection as an owner, as well as to be able to read the Farm Configuration database. In other words, this user should be treated just like an application pool service account.

Crown Partners has been fortunate to be involved in many kinds of SharePoint/Documentum integrations. If the out-of-the-box SharePoint integration doesn't fit the bill, ask us about devising a custom integration from spec based on your enterprise's requirements.

Learn more here, or contact us at info@crownpartners.com.

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

Enterprise Content Management Customers Speak Out

Summary from Crown Customer Forum: May 2009

Companies today-regardless of the size or industry-face complex, and typically costly content management challenges. From content availability to version control to archiving, content management touches every corner of the organization. Yet simply managing content isn't enough. Companies must look to innovative enterprise content management (ECM) strategies and solutions to streamline processes around managing content and more importantly, to infuse the greatest business value into how they use their enterprise-wide content.

To keep pace with the ongoing and evolving strategies within companies to leverage their content for maximum advantage, ECM tools and technologies must also continue to evolve-and in direct relation to customer needs. So Crown Partners set out to understand more about the content management needs, experiences, and direction of customers. Since founding in 2001, Crown Partners has been serving as a trusted source of services and technology for content-related migrations and upgrades. And Crown's leadership role and ECM solution vision hinges on continued awareness of the changing business needs of our customers. To that end, Crown Partners sponsors a continuing series of  qualitative market research events, called Crown Forums.  Most recently, Crown Partners sponsored the  Crown Customer Forum (Forum) held in May 2009 in conjunction with the EMC World Conference in Orlando, Florida.

The provocative format of the Forum involved seven facilitated, persona-oriented conversations running concurrently, which customers engaged in freely. Conversations veered away from ECM product feature discussions and instead focused on the deeper ECM problems and solutions in important areas including:

• The role of ECM in compliance
• Delivering ECM via a shared services model
• Approaches to ECM solution development
• ECM infrastructure
• Web content management
• Managing email
• ECM system administration

These focused discussions offer rich insight into common ECM problems and business challenges, experiences with available products and technology, and anticipated trends. Thanks to the participation of these valued partners within the Crown community, Crown can better define its vision for the software and professional services that help companies optimize performance of the EMC Documentum, Oracle Hyperion, and Microsoft SharePoint platforms. This article presents key findings from the Forum related to leveraging existing assets, using shared services models, maturing the ECM infrastructure, and more. However, you can download Crown's free Enterprise Content Management Customer Forum Summary Report in its entirety at crownpartners.com.

Leveraging Existing Assets

Where content is concerned, companies are yearning for higher productivity and greater quality. They especially want to improve their marketing content and email management, along with their records management and eDiscovery capabilities. For these and other reasons, the demand for deploying content management solutions is growing. And with strapped budgets and limited resources, organizations are delivering their ECM solutions by leveraging existing software and infrastructure investments, plus improving content-related business processes and workflow and establishing sensible, enforceable policies.

Compliance is an important area where companies see opportunities to both maximize their technology investments while turning to new tools for assistance. Audit and litigation risks continue to rise, and corporate and legal standards are also intensifying. Yet companies are challenged to find a cost-effective approach to litigation and compliance activities around records management and eDiscovery. Nonetheless, the advantages of electronic records management over paper are obvious to companies. "The investment is a small pain now, but once it reaches a critical mass, the company will see the value," says one participant. Participants also agree that records management and audit processes are most effective when addressed via a single repository, even with scale, performance, operational, and other considerations.

Many companies are lacking the intelligent policies needed to support their existing technologies and processes. For example, companies report not having clear policies that identify the content system of record for all content. They say it's also sometimes unclear which system to go to for the most precise and up-to-date content. Even the most sophisticated ECM technology won't get the expected ROI and can even be a litigation liability if it lacks the intelligent policy to drive it. Looking ahead, it appears that businesses will commit funding for policy development, since the technology can only support an organization's commitment to compliance.

For some businesses, EMC workflow is surprisingly difficult and complex. They look forward to product enhancements that will make the solutions easier to deploy and the content easier to manage. This is especially true since companies see workflow and business process management as playing key enabling roles for records management and compliance moving forward.

Companies see their websites as fulfilling a range of purposes, especially sales, building loyalty, and supporting their business communities. They measure the effectiveness of their websites in meeting these and other needs using a range of metrics and analytics as feedback. And to be sure, companies depend on a continuous stream of dynamic web content, establishing a growing need for ECM. According to one Forum participant, "Our CFO has been inundated with requests for web content management solutions." For some, growth is proving painful, however. Some participants report that new versions of websites and new website features are outstripping the capabilities of the infrastructure.

Yet participants also report making efforts to improve what they have, basically employing the "doing more with less" strategy. Some are working to coordinate-and therefore optimize-their web and print marketing investments, such as brochures and newsletters. In some cases they reuse HTML content in print materials, while print content is reused on the website. Some companies are seeing the benefits of standardizing their approaches to component building and prototyping. Others are enhancing their processes around content ownership to avoid costly mistakes, such as inadvertently using restricted images in published materials.

Overall, though, companies report that their current investment in records management, compliance, and web content management is inadequate for today's standards and varying business requirements. These and other areas of content management are calling for technology improvements to ensure smooth daily business operations and ongoing compliance.

Using Shared Services Models

Organizations continue to identify ways to improve their solution-deployment abilities and reduce related costs. Some participants report accomplishing both through shared services models focused on common applications they can use repeatedly across the enterprise. Shared services organizations often support centralized and standards-based information technology strategies. Though companies differ in their direction toward centralization or decentralization, the current trend toward centralization favors and encourages businesses to use the shared services model.

Shared services offerings include a range of services and solutions, such as regulated systems delivery and operation, general content management solutions, document management hosting services, and a departmental filing cabinet with a configurable EMC Documentum Webtop interface and Documentum TaskSpace interface. These and other shared services solutions make it easier for businesses to improve their ability to respond to litigation holds.

Participants note lacking a mandate to use the shared services offerings. Instead, internal customers have the option of using these shared offerings. For organizations convinced of the value of the shared services model, some apply internal cross charges to shared services to encourage the use of the common applications and discourage one-off customization solutions. Yet tight budgets, inherent limitations, and business concerns around the shared services model can result in less than optimal results or even inhibit companies from taking the shared services plunge. Shared services models sometimes fail due to inability to scale and inability to integrate. Some businesses report concerns about loss of control when they rely upon shared services-including loss of control on service levels, exposure to cost, and licenses. And shared services organizations sometimes lack financial resources in comparison to other organizations.

Still, more and more companies are expected to adopt the shared services model as an important practice. Those already consolidating applications into a service-oriented organizational unit will continue to seek ways to serve more internal customers economically. Importantly, shared services organizations will enable and accelerate the implementation of records management across the enterprise. According to one proponent of shared services, "There is no other strong records management offering in the enterprise and internal customers are coming to us for the records management capabilities we offer. We had not anticipated the importance of records management, but it is turning out to be an advantage for us versus our internal competitors."

Layering Architectures and Organizations

Some participants note a conflict between needing tailored business solutions on the one hand and respecting IT standards on the other. Organizations are learning they can accomplish both through an approach that defines responsibility and allows varying degrees of flexibility at each of several layers in a solution. For existing applications, companies are looking to improve productivity for a better return on those investments. New solutions in particular demand are in the areas of longer-term email storage; business process management; CAD drawings management; contract management; facilities documents management; document scanning; and point solutions for R&D, regulatory submissions, and regulatory affairs.

Organizations will increasingly manage layers of the infrastructure-including servers, storage, and other back-end components-independently. Yet integrating applications is proving to be an important initiative. Based on participant feedback, integration is the most common solution project, especially integration between different content management technologies. In particular, companies are investing in strategies for integrating Documentum and IBM Lotus Notes, Documentum and Microsoft SharePoint, and Documentum and IXOS.

However, companies report experiencing challenges with integration projects. According to one Forum participant, "We are developing a custom integration on our own between different content repositories. The challenges are great and the effort is not living up to expectations." Another reports, "We have a very mature document management environment, but we're not really sure how to put together a strategy to consolidate our systems."

Regardless, integration efforts will continue to expand. Companies are especially focused on integration across a variety of content management technologies. In the next two to three years, organizations will address integration with ERP applications as a strategic initiative. Participants report a need for collaboration solutions for project management, product design, sales account management, and electronic workflow. In addition, collaboration will become increasingly important as businesses adopt social networking software as a part of the business infrastructure.

Maturing the ECM Infrastructure

As companies continue to support the established ECM infrastructure, efforts to "mature" the content management infrastructure are increasing. Participants stress the importance of a content management infrastructure that's standards-based, reliable, and uniform. With an effective, efficient ECM infrastructure in place, participants say that businesses and shared services organizations have compelling budgetary and strategic incentives to leverage the infrastructure.

Planning and operating the ECM infrastructure demands many complex technical, business, and organizational considerations for companies. Managing the ECM infrastructure is particularly difficult when some ECM products aren't always friendly, out-of-the-box solutions, as reported by several participants. Customers note significant risks in managing the infrastructure, including unknown behaviors in the elements of the infrastructure, the interaction among different elements, and not understanding the environment in general. Some companies face additional complexities due to a wide range of hardware configurations across locations and geographies. One participant reports, "Trying to keep all of the moving parts in lockstep is a nightmare." Also, integration of multiple content management technologies, such as Lotus Notes, Documentum, and SharePoint increases the complexity of the infrastructure.

Overall, organizations report compelling reasons to continue developing the ECM infrastructure. For instance, some companies are strengthening their commitment to Documentum as a single standard for trusted content. Others report having EMC Documentum Records Manager and EMC Documentum Retention Policy Services for email on their purchasing list. Participants note that users want to put content into Documentum, not just save it locally. They note that Documentum is a safe place to save email, since it eliminates automatic deletion resulting from compliance with mailbox size restrictions.

However, participants report a clear need to make it easier for users to export email to Documentum. Efficiency is critical to user adoption, according to participants. Companies contend with a large volume of email content, and email management has special requirements relating to response time and throughput. Increasing volume of images will greatly drive up storage requirements as well. On the whole, companies will need to accommodate larger volumes of most types of content through continued enhancements to ECM throughput and performance.

Customer Needs, Crown Requirements

Knowing our customers and their particular business needs is crucial to Crown's continued ability to deliver the solutions, services, and training our customers demand for business agility. Thus, the Crown Customer Forum proved an invaluable tool for understanding more about the greatest ECM challenges our customers are experiencing, what is needed to help solve them, and how they hope to leverage ECM in their organizations in the near and distant future. Crown Partners will continue to engage with our customers for important input, so that the direction of our solution vision remains in step with their vision for success.

Download the Forum Report

• Enterprise Content Management Customer Forum Summary Report

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

Need a Prescription for Better Performance? A System HealthCheck Might be the Cure.

Written By: Lynn Fraas, Vice President Practice Operations

System slowdowns cause large-scale pain and suffering for everyone. Do you know how to improve response time, make end-users happier, and improve overall system performance? A Crown Partners' System HealthCheck is designed to identify obstacles to optimal performance not only uncovers obstacles that are causing problems, but also and identifies appropriate fixes designed to eliminate the obstacles. HealthCheck is a way to find out why your system does not perform at optimal speed, and what you can do to improve your overall system performance.

"There's no silver bullet for a slow system," says Crown's Lynn Fraas, Vice President, Practice Operations. It's a process like diagnosing a disorder. At Crown, we use special tools and techniques that allow us to quickly and systematically identify factors that affect performance. Yet, there are times when we may identify where the problem is not, then proceed to narrow the focus to find out where the true problem lies."

How does it work?

First we identify your organization's performance expectations, and gain a thorough understanding of the system architecture and all components, followed by a review of your organization's perceived performance issues. We interview key personnel, perform in-depth analysis on the entire system, look at end-users' experiences, and run a series of diagnostic tests tailored specifically for your system. Armed with the results we present you with a detailed report.

What will you learn?

"Crown's consultants assess the overall health of your Documentum environment," says Fraas, "We identify critical factors that are causing the most pain, make recommendations for appropriate fixes that could reduce, or in some cases eliminate, that pain, and prioritize the recommended fixes as immediate, near-term, or long-term, so customers know where to begin." The report can be used to develop a roadmap for your organization to use to improve and enhance your ECM infrastructure.

Why Crown?

Sure, your team can make the improvements and fixes in-house, but it's not easy to pinpoint the multiple sources of system-wide sludge. And sometimes trying to identify the source of the slowdown can become, well, tricky, politically speaking. Crown Partners is an independent, objective third-party with years of experience and extensive expertise on multiple platforms and multiple configurations. The System HealthCheck is the perfect way to return your Documentum system performance to optimal levels. Email us or call today to schedule the System HealthCheck or learn more.  

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

Documentum and SharePoint Integration (SPIN)

Written by: Barry Besecker, Vice President Web & Marketing Practice

To say you rely heavily on your EMC Documentum and Microsoft SharePoint platforms is probably an understatement. After all, they were big investments that paid off. Each platform has its strengths. And your content authors are accustomed to using the pair for content editing and publishing. Recreating all those web sites and migrating all that content to SharePoint seems a bit nightmarish. What if you could leave your content and web pages where they are, and publish content from Documentum to SharePoint as if it had been on SharePoint all along?

That's the idea behind Crown Documentum SharePoint Integration-SPIN, for short. SPIN simplifies the editing environment for your authors. It uses Crown Web Composer to marry content editing on Documentum with content publishing on SharePoint. 

Here's what the process looks like for users: 

1. An author locates the content to edit through the SharePoint portal.
2. The author clicks on the Crown Web Composer editor. Web Composer pulls and loads the content from Documentum.
3. The author edits the content, and saves it. It is versioned in Documentum, transformed, and automatically published by Documentum's Site Caching Services (CCS) to a temporary file store.

In temporary storage, a post-publishing function loads the content, and all its metadata, into SharePoint and it is available for consumption through your SharePoint portals.

SPIN provides you with the best features of Documentum and SharePoint. It eliminates the complexity and cost of a tight integration. Authors can edit Documentum content directly from SharePoint because SPIN synchronizes the data and security between the two platforms. Because SPIN uses Crown Web Composer, you can continue to use your Documentum platform as you have in the past. You're simply publishing rendered Documentum content to SharePoint. Documentum is the contribution side of the equation; SharePoint is the consumption side.

Take the next step! Contact us about integrating your SharePoint and Documentum data. Visit us at http://www.crownpartners.com/ or email info@crownpartners.com

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

Web 2.0: Hot or Hype?

"Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform", says Tim O'Reilly. "I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means.", says Tim Berners-Lee, "It's dookie." They are both right, but it doesn't matter.

Whether you agree with O'Reilly or Berners-Lee, information technology organizations must deal with the adoption of social-networking, video-sharing, wikis, blogs, and user tagging. Because people use them and businesses demand them, the infrastructure has to control and support Web 2.0 applications.

Public Web 2.0 facilities can achieve inter-company benefits, but those public facilities don't meet the large organization's need for control or support in the areas of retention, access, security, availability, and cost. In those large organizations, rogue Web 2.0 islands have likely sprung up internally and increasing adoption has caused unplanned cost and risk. Public facilities and rogue islands were fine when Web 2.0 applications were an experiment, but for many companies, enterprise-caliber infrastructure is now required.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technology is a promising backbone for Web 2.0 applications. The appeal of ECM is first in the fit and maturity of the technology. ECM is designed to manage unstructured information such as addressed by Web 2.0 applications and has been proven at enterprise scale for over a decade. The appeal of ECM is also in the potential to leverage existing investments. Most large companies have existing ECM platform investments that can provide needed support and control to Web 2.0 applications.

EMC Documentum Content Server (Documentum) is playing the role of backbone for Web 2.0 applications via two different approaches. First, Documentum has traditionally played a repository role for custom-built or niche front-end applications. Documentum plays a similar back end role when used in conjunction with Web 2.0 solutions built using Crown SiteBuilder and Crown Web Gear products. In the second approach, EMC has built on it's eRoom heritage of providing application front-ends, and EMC is now extending eRoom solidly into the Web 2.0 era with its CenterStage product.

If you have enterprise-scale Web 2.0 needs, Crown can help you evaluate your options and put the appropriate infrastructure in place. Ask us about our SiteBuilder and Web Gear products and about our experience with EMC CenterStage.

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

Heterogeneous ETL Platform Capability as a Content Consolidation Enabler

 

Extract Transform and Load (ETL) operations can be homogeneous or heterogeneous.  Homogeneous operations involve extract from a repository and load into a repository of the same technology.  As an example, one can synchronize the content in a North American Documentum repository with the content in a European Documentum repository via a homogeneous extract and load (i.e., from Documentum and to Documentum).  Two or more technologies are involved in a heterogeneous operation.  As an example, one can migrate from FileNet to Documentum, by extracting from FileNet and loading into Documentum.

The challenge with content consolidation is that there are several, if not numerous, repository technologies to be addressed.  For example, if content in SharePoint, FileNet, Lotus Notes, and ApplicationXtender are content sources to be consolidated into a Documentum target infrastructure, then extract must be performed on four different technologies and load into one technology.  Each of the technologies involved implies a need for knowledge of the technology, technical infrastructure (e.g., test environment), and existing functionality to connect to each repository technology.  A heterogeneous ETL platform capability addresses each of these needs:

• Knowledge of each technology is required to inform consolidation strategy from an enterprise taxonomy point of view.  Knowing each source technology is required to understand how the content in each source will map to a taxonomy for the enterprise.   Knowledge of each source technology is also important for consolidation efficiency.  Consolidation efficiency can be improved by best leveraging technical capabilities in the source, such as indexes and application programming interfaces.
• Technical infrastructure (for the several or numerous technologies involved) to test and execute consolidations can be costly and time consuming to establish, but is required for an effective consolidation program.  In most consolidation programs, the technical infrastructure is required for a finite period of time, and obtaining required infrastructure via outsourcing is an economically attractive idea.  Aside from traditional outsourcing or hosting, large consolidation programs can also leverage infrastructure of solution providers or software vendors.
• Constructing extract connections to each source repository technology is the most technically risky portion of a consolidation effort.  Using pre-existing extract connections for the source repositories or proven models for constructing them greatly reduces the risk.

If you are like 69% of companies in a recent Gartner survey (see my April 19, 2009 post), you have more than 6 content repository technologies in use.  Crown's Professional Services and Crown's Buldoser Center Product represent a heterogeneous ELT platform that reduces the risk and cost of consolidations.  Cost and risk are the two main obstacles to consolidation, and with those obstacles addressed, what's stopping you from consolidating?

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com

Going from Good to Great on the Fifth Anniversary of Buldoser Accreditation

 

Crown's Buldoser product is celebrating its fifth anniversary of accreditation awarded by Documentum and EMC. Having been in commercial use as a Crown project utility since 2001 and licensed as a supported software product since 2003, Buldoser was first accredited as Designed for Documentum in 2004. It has been continuously accredited during the five intervening years.

Much has changed during Buldoser's life, and much has stayed the same. Crown's Buldoser initially became popular as an alternative to "Dump and Load" and home-grown approaches for moving content. In the early days, Buldoser moved content among Documentum repositories, file systems, and ODBC-compliant information stores. The changes in Buldoser's life have occurred via four major releases and supporting minor releases. Now Buldoser has broadened into a family of extract, transform, and load (ETL) products. The family includes Buldoser, Buldoser Center, and RedCarpet. These products each have a distinct and complementary purpose. As a family, they address a wide range of use cases such as migration, archiving, synchronization, and others. Beyond the traditional Buldoser source environments, additional source environments have been added, including FileNet, Lotus Notes, SharePoint, ApplicationXtender, and eRoom. (For a more detailed review of the current evolved state of the products, reference "The Critical Role of Extract Transform and Load Solutions for Enterprise Content Management" in the Crown resource library at http://www.crownpartners.com/home/login.jsp)

Crown's consistent investment in ETL products is based on the flywheel concept presented in Jim Collins' "Good to Great". Using the concept, Crown's ETL products have gained maturity and momentum through steady, sustained investment over a period of years. Crown has made the investments in much the way one would apply consistent force to accelerate the spin of a heavy flywheel. Like the optimal force applied to a flywheel Crown's investments have been a steady vector, always aligned toward a single direction, always continuing to accelerate the fly wheel.

Most important in the life of Crown's ETL products have been the experience and loyalty of Crown customers. The passion they share for Crown products and their collaborative engagement with Crown has brought the ETL products to the milestone of the five year anniversary of Buldoser's accreditation. The partnership around the ETL products continues, and as more a more customers join in that partnership, the flywheel of these products accelerates from good to great and beyond.

Questions or comments? info@crownpartners.com