AUTO ROUTING COMPLETED EMAILS/MIGRATING LOTUS NOTES WITH ACCESS 2K

[sleonard1432]

I am new to the Lotus Notes world, which will explain some of the stupid questions I may ask.

1. My company uses a certain Notes database in which emails are received. These emails are time sensitive and most of my clients would like a TAT (turn around time) of 2 to 4 hours. What I would like to do, for tracking purposes, is to have emails be sent to a folder, which we will name (WITHIN 4 HOUR TIMEFRAME) when one of my email processors responds back to the senders before the 4 hours has been exhausted and any emails that are responded to outside the 4 hour timeframe will be sent to a folder named (OUTSIDE 4 HOUR TIMEFRAME). I was hoping there would be a way to evaluate, based on the time the email was received and the time in which the email was responded to.

2. I would also like to automatically save the email data in an Access DB, where I could manipulate and report these emails off of. Is there a way I can migrate emails received with table in Access?

Any help would be great. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

 

[pmonett]

1) This is possible. It involves some coding in LotusScript though, so if we cannot work it out here, I'd advise you to get some help from a Notes developer on-site.
When you respond to a mail, you create a new document. What could be done for that mailbox is a bit of personnalization. All we need is to put in a few simple elements.

First, you need to modify the Reply form to include a field that will automatically grab the Unique ID from the original mail.
Second, when sending the reply, we need to include some code in the PostSend event of the Reply form that will calculate how much time has gone by and move the original doc to the specified folder if necessary.
This is what needs to be done for this issue. Can you handle this with the resources at your disposal ?

2) Why do you need to "export" mails to Access ? Would it not be easier to design a view with the information you require ? Since we're already discussing code and modifying the mailbox, we can add a new view to the list.
The mailbox is on a Domino server, which means that, in order to automate the mail "export", the Access db would have to be either on the same physical disc as the Domino server, or at least accessible via an OS-level mapped drive.
What all this means is that having access from a Domino server to anything stored on an individual's PC is out of the question - Domino cannot do that.
On the other hand, we can devise a view that will present the information you require, and you can export that to Excel, or read it directly from Access. MS Access can "read" a Notes database via ODBC. Maybe you'd like to try that first ?

Pascal.

 

[sleonard1432]

Thank you for the quick reply.

1. I can not complete this function (limited knowledge of Lotus), however I do have resources at my disposal that "COULD" put this into production. My problem, as may already know, is the amount of push back from my development team. They are inundated with requests from other divisions of our company, however I was hoping to provide them with a base to work off of. This will minimize the design time and allow them to Focus on the implementation of this function. I will have more details on exactly what my clients are looking for in the next couple days. I just wanted to get a head start.

2. The purpose of migrating to Access (or other database systems) is to have unlimited query capabilities. Again, I presented my request to the Dev Team and there was little excitement on what I needed them to do within the Lotus application. I am bringing on a new developer who has expansive knowledge of Lotus Notes. I am hoping this will stir up the nest, so to speak, and may get the other worker bees to produce. Here is are my primary needs for the data capture of these emails:
a. I am required to send a reply to the clients advising them of the status of their request. Currently, I have 26 staff members who monitor and log the data into a Access DB (2000) and provide the customer with a "Email Identification Number", by replying to the original request. With this unique identifier, we monitor, maintain and add notes to the original request as it hits different stages of the workflow. I would like to collect the data, or at least a portion of the data, so that the email processors could work on other important functions of their day to day job duties. Then I would like to build queries that will automatically move the unique id (all information related) to the next stage of its lifecycle.
b. I need to be able to run reports off of this data which I can present to the clients, when I and my account managers go to the different regions, with this information. One day, I would like the clients to run reports and possibly submit requests, via a Web Based program. However, I am a firm believer in fixing a problem before presenting clients with a possible change in workflow. Certainly since the client is happy with the current setup. Though my bottom line is not optimal at this point.

Any assistance or direction would be greatly appreciated. I hope this presented a more accurate picture of what I am trying to accomplish.

Thanks again for your input.

SL

 

[pmonett]

It is really unfortunate that you want to build all this functionality in Access, whereas you have a developer who could very well do most, if not all of it, in Notes.
Keep posting here to inform us of your progress and problems. The forum members will be watching.

Pascal.