212 Part II • Applying Information Technology
will have created databases for the variety of activities in
which he or she is engaged, such as a significant committee
assignment, an ongoing research project, a graduate
information systems course, and a faculty discussion group.
These are databases that the user most likely does not
want to share with other users. However, there are other
databases—created by users throughout the company—that
are intended for sharing. As mentioned previously, the real
strength of Notes is its document-sharing abilities. This is
done through various shareddatabases. Some of the
databases might be set up so that the user can only read
documents, not modify them or add new ones; in other
databases, such as discussion groups, all participants are
encouraged to enter into the discussion.
To open a particular database, first click on the
database bookmark button on the left side of the page (this
button appears to be two cylinders, or hard drives, in front
of a file folder). This opens the database bookmark page,
showing all the databases that the user has bookmarked.
The user opens a database by double-clicking on the
relevant database listing. What if the user has not
bookmarked the desired database? The database bookmark
page also contains “Find a Database” and “Browse for a
Database” selections. The opening screen of any database
looks similar to Figure 5.10, with appropriate tool buttons,
a navigation pane to the left, and a list of topics or
documents in the view pane to the right. The user double-
clicks on a document to display it.
How does all this work? Lotus Notes is a client/server
system, with the large files (databases) stored on the server,
which Lotus calls a “Domino server powered by Notes.” The
user can opt to store databases on the PC hard drive, but mas-
ter copies of the large corporate or departmental databases of
documents are stored on the server. Corporate files are
replicated from one Notes server to another on a regular
basis, so that everyone in the organization has access to the
same version of a document. The Lotus Notes client, operat-
ing on a PC, is used to access the server with appropriate
password protection. This access might either be directly
across a LAN or via an Internet connection. Any Web brows-
er on the Internet can also access Notes. Of course, the Notes
client is itself a Web browser. A major advantage of using
Notes as the browser is that Notes gives you the ability to
store copies of Web pages as documents in a Notes database.
Finally, another strength of Lotus Notes is its ability
to serve as a development platform, allowing companies to
create their own Notes applications customized for their
needs. In fact, a growing number of these specialized
applications are available commercially through third-party
vendors, including project management, human resources,
help desk, document management, health care, sales and
marketing, and imaging applications.FIGURE 5.10 Lotus Notes® Inbox (IBM Lotus Notes Screen Captures ©2010 IBM Corporation. Used with permission of IBM
Corporation. IBM, Lotus, Notes, and Domino are trademarks of IBM Corporation, in the United States, other countries, or both.)