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InterLab99 Implementing a Commercial Document Management System Lessons learned from Web Fileshare a

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Title: InterLab99 Implementing a Commercial Document Management System Lessons learned from Web Fileshare a


1
InterLab99 Implementing a Commercial Document
Management SystemLessons learned from Web
Fileshareat Sandia National Laboratories
  • Sam Cancilla
  • November 4, 1999

2
Web Fileshare Project Lessons Learned - Lesson 1
Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software is
always faster, better, and cheaper to implement.

3
Web Fileshare Project Lessons Learned - Lesson 1
Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software is
always faster, better, and cheaper to implement.
Except when it isnt.
4
Web Fileshare Project Lesson 1 - The
Customer/Owner
  • Q We found something that we think will satisfy
    about 80 of the requirements. Will that be OK?
  • WTS (What they say) Absolutely, an 80 solution
    is perfectly acceptable to start with. We wont
    worry too much about the rest.

5
Web Fileshare Project Lesson 1 - The
Customer/Owner
  • Q We found something that we think will satisfy
    about 80 of the requirements. Will that be OK?
  • WTS (What they say) Absolutely, an 80 solution
    is perfectly acceptable to start with. We wont
    worry too much about the rest.
  • WTM (What they mean) 80 is not enough. It had
    better do everything the old system did, plus
    this whole set of new things. Nothing less will
    do. And by the way, my needs come first, the
    enterprises needs are second.

6
Web Fileshare Project Lesson 1 - The
Customer/Owner
  • Q The product is fairly easy to customize, just
    how much customization will we be doing?
  • WTS Just a little, look and feel mostly, perhaps
    a bit of additional functionality.

7
Web Fileshare Project Lesson 1 - The
Customer/Owner
  • Q The product is fairly easy to customize, just
    how much customization will we be doing?
  • WTS Just a little, look and feel mostly, perhaps
    a bit of additional functionality.
  • WTM If one can bring up the out of the box
    system and our customized system side by side and
    tell that they had a mutual code ancestor, you
    have failed in your mission.

8
Web Fileshare Project Lesson 1 - The
Customer/Owner
  • Q Can we modify our work processes and business
    rules to work within the new software?
  • WTS Where it makes sense to do so, we will
    change processes and business rules.

9
Web Fileshare Project Lesson 1 - The
Customer/Owner
  • Q Can we modify our work processes and business
    rules to work within the new software?
  • WTS Where it makes sense to do so, we will
    change processes and business rules.
  • WTM Changing anything like that would imply that
    we were not doing it right in the first place.
    It will thus never make sense to change any of
    our processes and business rules.

10
Web Fileshare Project Lessons Learned -
Customer/Owner
  • Q Are the specifications you gave me for the
    metadata requirements complete and accurate?
  • WTS Yes, to the best of our knowledge they are
    correct and you can go ahead and implement.

11
Web Fileshare Project Lessons Learned -
Customer/Owner
  • Q Are the specifications you gave me for the
    metadata requirements complete and accurate?
  • WTS Yes, to the best of our knowledge they are
    correct and you can go ahead and implement.
  • WTM The best of our knowledge may not be all
    that good. Be prepared to change substantially
    much of what we told you (and what you have
    implemented).

12
Web Fileshare Project Lessons Learned - Lesson 2
COTS software and vendors are pretty much alike,
pick the one you think is best and implement it.
13
Web Fileshare Project Lessons Learned - Lesson 2
COTS software and vendors are pretty much alike,
pick the one you think is best and implement it.
Wrong - vendors/software are vastly different.
Find a really good one, then pilot the system.
14
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q Does your software fit into our existing
    architecture?
  • WTS From what you have told us of your
    architecture, our software will fit nicely into
    it.

15
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q Does your software fit into our existing
    architecture?
  • WTS From what you have told us of your
    architecture, our software will fit nicely into
    it.
  • WTM Your buildings have walls, floors, and
    ceilings, our software runs just fine in such an
    architecture.

16
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q Is the software browser and platform
    independent?
  • WTS Yes, it runs on any browser and on any type
    of machine.

17
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q Is the software browser and platform
    independent?
  • WTS Yes, it runs on any browser and on any type
    of machine.
  • WTM So long as what you call a browser we
    normally call a viewgraph and what you call a
    platform we normally call an overhead projector.

18
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q What types of servers will the system run on?
  • WTS Our software runs on both NT servers and the
    most popular flavors of Unix servers.

19
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q What types of servers will the system run on?
  • WTS Our software runs on both NT servers and the
    most popular flavors of Unix servers.
  • WTM But we only guarantee full functionality on
    the NT box, Unix is of secondary importance and
    we have not yet fully implemented the code on it,
    some key features are missing.

20
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q What type of authentication and authorization
    does the product use?
  • WTS We have an internal authentication scheme
    but also support the use of NT domain login. We
    do not yet support the use of Kerberos/DCE.

21
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q What type of authentication and authorization
    does the product use?
  • WTS We have an internal authentication scheme
    but also support the use of NT domain login. We
    do not yet support the use of Kerberos/DCE.
  • WTM But if you dont use our internal
    authentication some of the products
    functionality will not work. We dont
    necessarily know the difference between
    authentication and authorization. We have never
    heard of Kerberos/DCE.

22
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q Will it be easy/possible to customize the
    product to do __________?
  • WTS Yes, it should be very easy to implement
    that feature.

23
Web Fileshare ProjectLesson 2 - Product/Vendor
Issues
  • Q Will it be easy/possible to customize the
    product to do __________?
  • WTS Yes, it should be very easy to implement
    that feature.
  • WTM In theory at least since no one has ever
    tried before.

24
Web Fileshare ProjectLessons Learned - Summary 1
  • COTS software may be faster, better, and cheaper
    but customers needs and desires really drive
    this.
  • Out of the box is never enough, find something
    that is easy to customize and plan to customize
    quite a bit. Look for a product where upgrades
    do not break your customizations.
  • It is difficult to change processes even if they
    are not efficient, try but dont be disappointed.
  • The customers may not really examine the
    requirements in their entirety unless you force
    them. Force them early.

25
Web Fileshare ProjectLessons Learned - Summary 2
  • Vendors may implement on different timetables for
    different platforms and they may not be able to
    test on all browsers.
  • Vendors do not necessarily understand the
    complexity of our architecture and
    infrastructure. Educate them.
  • The security models that we use are not
    necessarily industry-wide and may not be
    supported by the vendor.
  • A lot of what we do is far and above what other
    users of the product have even thought of. Be
    prepared to break new ground and to pay the
    vendor to help you.

26
COTS Software for a Document Management System -
Results
  • We have chosen the COTS software Intra.doc! from
    Intranet Solutions for Document Management, and
    we have been very pleased
  • Faster to implement?
  • Better than we could have written?
  • Cheaper to implement and maintain?

27
COTS Software for a Document Management System -
Results
  • We have chosen the COTS software Intra.doc! from
    Intranet Solutions for Document Management, and
    we have been very pleased
  • Faster to implement - yes.
  • Better than we could have written - yes.
  • Cheaper to implement and maintain - we believe
    so.

28
Web Fileshare Project
The Demo
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