Document mgmt in TeamRoom and Document Library 1

[ConnorMacLeod]

Lotus Notes has just been introduced to our company, and I'd like to use it to centralize documentation for my current project, including both administrative docs (action items, status reports, discussion threads) and electronic work product (protocols, reports, schedules, etc. in Word, Excel, Project, etc.) from the various team members.

I've been experimenting with the TeamRoom and Document Library databases, and have some questions about their relative capabilities. TeamRoom seems to combine the features of the Discussion Group and Document Library templates, but it's not clear to me whether or not the Document Library offers a more effective review cycle. Has anyone used either of these templates for document storage & review? What are your opinions on them? Would you recommend using TeamRoom for this purpose? Why or why not? How about the MS Office Document Library - does it offer any advantages other than being able to edit the doc in the Notes environment?

TIA!

 

[pmonett]

The Team Room has no document review cycle of any value. In effect, any designated reviewer of a document can modify anything he likes, without creating any sort of backup version or any traceable modification trail.
It is a collaborative tool of reasonable value, but surely not a document storage and review cycle application - unless your needs are quite basic.

The Document Library is more stringent in its review cycle, enabling many more options than the Team Room. The flip side is that the review cycle must be redefined for each new document, as there are no default settings. There is no versioning option by default either, so no modification trail.

In short, both are very basic tools for information storage and sharing. However, that can be viewed as a good thing, since your collaborators will need time to adapt to the new system.
Having a complicated application with a demanding review cycle is not necessarily a good first step. By experience, I know that you have to gain users to Notes by personal acceptance. The order from above is hardly enough.
Choose either template for a start. If you wish to give more freedom to contribute without necessarily writing a weekly report, then use the Team Room and see where it can get you.
If you want to initially restrict storage only to official documents that must be verified before being published, use the Document Library.
Ideally, you could use both as long as you clearly define the limits of their use. For example, the Team Room could be the area where new project documents are worked on by the team. When a document is finished, you can then require that all pertinent information be stored in the Library - sort of a "cleaning up" act before opening a new project.

Last but not least, you will learn in time what your true needs are, and at that point you will be absolutely certain of what you have to change. Then you can go to a Notes developer and say "we are using this and this is want we want added/changed".

Then you will be sure to have a tool that responds to your depertment's needs.

Pascal.

P.S. : I'll be taking a look at the MS Office Library.

 

[ConnorMacLeod]

Pascal - thanks for the insight!

A colleague and I tested out the review cycle of each template yesterday; your comments confirm what we observed. For some reason, all three templates (incl. MS Office Doc Lib) handle review cycles slightly differently, with the Office one offering the most flexibility.

I think I'm going to choose TeamRoom for work product storage for several reasons:

1. Most of the collaborative documents will be authored in Word or Excel. We can use their built-in document protection and change tracking features to allow everyone to edit in a traceable fashion.

2. We have established (albeit slow, archaic, and paper-hungry) systems for formal release of controlled documents, which are published on the intranet in PDF format. TeamRoom will be used for works in progress, and for items not under system control, so a rigorous review cycle is not required.

3. I definitely want to use TeamRoom for handling administrative items, and getting the team members to use one new database will probably be easier than trying to get them to use two.

If anyone has any other comments or lessons learned related to the use of TeamRoom, I'd be interested in reading about them.

TIA - MacLeod