One organization's use of Lotus Notes

The HDB’s Office Automation (OA) initiative is a series of projects aimed at raising HDB staff productivity (see [2]). A key OA project is the Integrated Office System (IOS), which facilitates organizationwide communication and provides shared access to information and documents. The IOS was implemented with Lotus Notes software in 1993. Chosen for its full application development environment and integrated imaging and voice functionality, Notes also facilitates the development of department filing registries with free-text search capabilities. In addition, Notes supports the Microsoft Windows interface and Novell LANs as well as shared documented databases. Initially, HDB’s Notes infrastructure configuration included: three hub servers; 17 departmental servers; 19 branch servers; 17 database/image servers; 12 ID servers; one communications server; one voice server; one OCR server; one optical jukebox; 18 scanners; and about 3,000 licensed users. HDB’s Notes applications can be divided into three levels: corporate applications, departmental applications, and interorganizational applications. By mid-1996, the first two were in use. Corporate applications are classified as core, business, or other. The initial five core applications are maintained by the corporate IS department (ISD). They are the HDB Email Database, which enables internal and external email communication; the Electronic Filing Registry, which enables the efficient filing, retrieval and management of documents; the HDB Circulars Database, which enables the preparation, filing and retrieval of intraand inter-department circulars; the HDB Papers/Reports Database, which enables HDB staff to prepare, distribute and save all papers/reports designated for discussion, distribution or approval; and the HDB Meeting Template Database, which facilitates the preparation, dissemination, tracking and access to documents pertaining to meetings. The HBD has four major corporate business applications (systems). The press reply system routes complaints or stories published in local newspapers to departments, keeps track of the status of department replies, and retrieves previous information and replies, as well as generates detailed analysis and reports for top management. The helpline system routes records of calls received through a quality service management employee, distributes to departments images of letters addressed to the quality service manager, keeps track of the status of department replies, retrieves previous information and replies, and generates detailed analysis and reports for top management. The staff information system provides access to staff information and information needed to locate and contact HDB officers. On Site