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

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

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