SnTT - Rooms and Resources Accidentally Delete a Resource and the Reservations

Last week I gave a session where I outlined a bunch of things I would like to see in the new Rooms and Resources database template should it get updated.

Yes some things were just more defined views, but other things that would make it more useful to admins, and users, were also included.

Well yesterday I learned the hard way about some things I knew, but I guess had not quite gotten to fix yet. Let me explain.

One of my clients has some very full RnR databases, 1 per region. Sometimes, against my preference, names or very similar names, are used in different places.

Tasked with clearing some old rooms, I set out to do just that and get on with my day.

And, of course, as you may have guessed, I deleted an active room.

Very active room.

400 reservations active.

As I saw when the pop up asked me if I wanted to notify people. I said no to that, knowing I can fix this. Well a few hours later, here is what really happened.

Oh.Yes.I.Did.

Domino problems are caused by admins, truth (except for developer agents that run amok).

I say, no problem, go to trash and undelete it. No Trash View in this R9 template. Note to HCL, please add one. Go into developer mode figuring it would be in the hidden view.

No

Call client developer and ask what they think, SOL. Soft deletion was not turned on.

Damn. Thought we had enabled it after last issue, but maybe the template got written over in an update or a restore and maybe we had only set soft deletions in the database itself and not the template.

In any event, I was blocked this route.

Call restore team, can you provide me with a backup from the prior 24-48 hours ASAP?
Yes, no problem they said.

Great, restore completes and I go to try to get back the data and...it shows me what I see now, not what I should have seen for a day ago.

AGH!

Call restore team, ask how it is possible. Well replication was on, ok, try again, turn it off this time.

And get notification, go open it up, same problem!

Well now I am confused. Got the team together to figure it out, and it seems they do incremental backup sand logs.

I said I don't want logs just data.

And 3rd time lucky, I open it up and it is the old data. Perfect, I start to copy a doc to test that pasting it back in will work.

BAH! No dice, this database doe snot allow pasting of documents.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!

Call back the developer, ask how I, as the admin, can not do this. Well, she knew why and where to look to fix it. And now I will let you know because someone out there will read this after pulling their hair out.

Open the database in the Designer client and go to the views section.

Find the view you need to paste into, you will need 2 of them.
The first is the resources view itself because you need to copy back the deleted resource.
The second is the view of Reservations, by Resource so you can paste back all of the reservations you killed accidentally.

Once you have the view open, locate the Querypaste section as shown in the graphic below and REM out all of the code there and save it.

Once you do this and reopen the database you should be able to paste everything back in.

Then run a Fixup and Updall to get everything cleaned up and reindexed and then test making a reservation that honors used and open times.

You learn something new every day, even after all these years.

EDIT: Adrian asked me on twitter about Adminp and Busytime. I forgot to discuss it, so here is what we did and what you should check.

Adminp at the customer is set to run on a set schedule, so it did not worry me, but you should go into the database and clear the delete request otherwise you will lose the setting in the names.nsf for the resource.

Busytime, I did not rebuild it because my tests showed it was working. Presumably because the dates/times had been in the database already and did not update but if you run into problems, you should follow the technote and clear the old busytime and let a new one start.

Dear IBM

As Yom Kippur starts for me here in Israel in 2 hours I want to publicly ask IBM, well everyone who reads this blog and knows me in one way or another, for forgiveness for all the things I may have said, or did, during the last year that just made you want to nsd -kill me.

A few things come to mind:

• Calling in a PMR as a Severity 1 when it probably was a 2.(I only did that once last year...I think)
• Screaming at the Fix central site for numerous reasons I will not mention but if I can ask one question, why can't I just enter my customer number to get a file? hmm?
• To all the Product Managers I have loved and lost and found, thanks for always answering the questions, no matter how difficult, even if it was to say it will be in a future release. 
• Whomever manages the certifications and virtual badges I only have 1 question, why doesn't it come in Yellow any more? Otherwise I know it is not your fault, you are just following orders.
• The QA teams. You must exist, I hope you exist, but sometimes I have my doubts. I apologize for the voodoo dolls.
• The naming committee members, oy, I am looking at a small quota on my mail file for those thoughts aren't I?
• PartnerWorld, I apologize for screaming at the most recent changes and it will not happen again...until next year's redesign if you remove my saved links again.
• Watson Workspace team for not creating a 32bit client and driving me crazy trying to get it to work, sorry about all the IMs.
• The NWTL team because I kept losing my links and having the patience to answer me 5 times where to upload the files. Sorry did not get to do it again this term.
• The content management teams that asked for guest blog posts, I find it very hard to write for a non customer facing product so I apologize for anthropomorphisizing Websphere. But #DominoRocks via IBM Notes.
• HCL I am really sorry I could not use my Golden Ticket. #Domino2025 will be here soon and I look forward to what you bring us.

I'd also like to apologize for the number of times a year I say, Quickr would work so well for this project.

FudBuster Friday 2018 Edition: That GDPR = Dead Domino

"From the ashes we can build another day.."- from "Story in Your Eyes" by The Moody Blues

Every once in a while I feel the need to publish another FudBuster Friday post, yes it has been way too long but "fake news" makes these posts almost superfluous. I could write 10 a day and still never get them done.

Over the last few days some people I like, trust and learn from, were bothered by a "op-ed" type Press Release from the CEO of a company that obviously makes their money by moving IBM Domino shops to Microsoft.

Their own website even states in absolute terms "Our mission is to develop user-friendly, cost effective technology solutions to help companies escape the IBM Domino/Notes application landscape.:"

From their site I get the impression they have not been around for a long time but obviously are unhappy that people use Notes and Domino. This is their prerogative and in business there are many ways to make money. However, FUD ways are not funny, nor valid reasons to ever do something.

In this case they try to angle that the old solution is not up to par for the imminent on May 25, 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU. For a great article about it read this. 

GDPR is a regulation that requires businesses to protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens for transactions that occur within EU member states. It also is applicable to US companies that STORE the data.

Taking a few items to task, let's start with 

"It is compelling because organisations are expected to create a single view of a customer – leaving data in old Notes databases is likely to render users non-compliant"

No explanation is provided and it is "just a fact". There is no requirement, that I found, requiring a single view of a customer. And even if there was, given Domino is a flat database solution, the data is sitting in one nsf although it may be called and referenced by others. Of course you may have data shared in various formats across your CRM, your SAP, your individual sales people as well. This would not change no matter what or how you store your data. What becomes incumbent on companies is the need to document their data workflows and processes for reporting breaches of the said data. 

Domino non-compliant? No way.

He then goes on to lay out a process of three steps that are required to help you meet GDPR requirements, namely: Discovery, Data Extraction and Archiving. In truth none of these steps do anything except pad a consultants pocket and sell, as we will see, many software licenses.

Discovery phase in which they inventory your Domino servers looking for applications. How exciting! our interns can and should do this for us if the built in tools of Domino can not.

Again, this has nothing to do with GDPR or Domino, it is just a normal project process. 

Data Extraction

"A key area of importance to the GDPR compliance directives is being able to get to all the data that is held on an individual so that, for example, a request to be forgotten is executed with a high degree of certainty. This means that getting data out of the Notes databases into an easily searched Relational Database is critical."

What? A did not go to B and definitely did not reach C in that sentence. If you already mapped out your data workflows and locations, then you would have a process in place to eliminate the data asked to be forgotten.

You do not need a relational database to do an index lookup, Excel does it quite well and so does your own internal search solution hopefully. If not, you may want  to invest in a corporate search appliance but this is still no reason to give up on Domino nor does it prove any non compliance. Just bad FUD.

The author then goes on to elaborate about how data could be dumped out of Domino into not one (MS SQL), not two (MS Dynamics), but three (Alfresco) different solutions and somehow this is a better idea? Imagine how many licenses and servers and billable hours this requires compared to your existing team looking at your data and mapping it out.

Archiving of data is always fun. those of you with 20 year old tapes of customer data, how will you rectify this? There is a serious business. This however is just bad rhetoric. Do you really need an all encompassing search solution? Perhaps, but if you have workflowed your data, you should know exactly where it resides and be able to easily identify what parts need to be marked/deleted.

Again, Domino is no different than any other database when it comes to finding your data.

The gist of the PR is a SQL server will give you better control, indexing, deletion of the data. No, it will not and no matter what database or solution you use if you do not document it or manage it properly you will face some huge fines. Any business no matter how small or large if you have personal/private data of EU members you will need to sit down and sort yourselves out.

In the end, no, moving to Microsoft SQL server will not be more compliant for GDPR than Domino.

You will have spent way too much money to move data from one solution to another for zero, I repeat zero reasons other than you were blindly following some entity because you were ignorant and uninformed!

I welcome feedback, further details which maybe I have neglected to research thoroughly enough or even an official statement from IBM or HCL that provides me with a reason to edit this post.

יבם דומינו נוסע ליעד שאף תוכנה עוד לא הגיעה אליו

האם ישנה תוכנה שאינה מערכת הפעלה, ועדיין פועלת בכל פלטפורמה, יותר מ-30 שנה לאחר שהיא יצאה?

אם ידועה לך, אנא הודיע לי.

יבמ (חיים קודמים לוטוס Lotus) נוטס ודומינו(Notes and Domino) מתמשכים הרבה יותר מאשר ריי אוזי אי פעם חזה. ריי, אל תהסס למסור לי אם אני טועה. 

יבמ הודיע היום כי הפיתוח של הערות דומינו ימשיך ללא הגבלת זמן.

מובן שמי שקורא מאמר זה, אף פעם לא דמיין שזהיפסיק לפעול,  אם כי יש בהחלט מנהלים שונים ומתחרים שירצו שכך יקרה.  ובכל זאת, התוכנה חיה וקיימת , ובכיוון החדש היא תמשיך להפיץ שיתוף פעולה וזרימת עבודה בדרכים שאף מוצר אחר בשוק לא יכול לעשות היום.

בואו ילדים, צאו וכתבו מערכת טובה יותר לכל מטרה, יבמ מעיז אותכם, ולמרות זאת, עד עכשיו, אף אחד לא הצליח.

ועתה, כנראה שאף אחד לעולם לא יצטרך כי זה יכול פשוט לשרוד את כולנו.

"HCL also expanded its relationship with IBM to collaboration solutions, including Notes, Domino, Smart Cloud Notes, Verse and Sametime." - http://www.livemint.com/Companies/BpxtRX3Lvs7hJs1eKRdGlL/HCL-Technologies-Q2-net-profit-rises-86-to-Rs2188-crore.html

אפילו (Sametime) סאמטים מקבל חיים חדשים. אני תוהה אם הם יכולים עכשיו להחיות מחדש את Quickr. מותר לגבר לחלום, נכון?

אה ו- IBM מוציא את נוטס ודומינו גרסה עשר (10) במחצית השנייה של 2018.

במקרה ואתה באמת רוצה שהיישומים האלו לפעול בצורה שלא כדרכם, או לאלה ששונאים לתקן משהו שלא נמצא חן אצלך, יבמ מתכוון לארח אירוע אידיא ג'אם  בשם #Domino2525 שבו אתה תוכלו למסור רעיונות  משלך עבור המוצר, ומפת העתיד שלו. אפשר להירשם לאירוע כאן.

עסקת HCL אינו פתרון בלתי צפוי לחידה שהעליתי לפני יותר מ -9 שנים בפוסט הזה, גם אם זה בא מזווית אחרת.

אנחנו צועדים באומץ לאן שאף אחד עוד לא הגיע, למעט באז שנות-אור ( Buzz Lightyear) כי הוא הלך אל האינסוף... ומעבר לו.

Notes 9 Public Beta is Fast

Having finally got around to installing the public beta, as a Design Partner I have been using the previous beta code I am impressed by the speed of the client.

Here are a few simple yet beneficial bits of information.

• It moves much more fluidly than the 8.5.x stream. More web speed than Windows speed.

• There is now a Discover tab area which is sort of like a GUI for help and a welcome to Notes on line learning area. Right now the video links are not connected but a number of useful items from mailing, search, calendar and more will be there for all the new users and even find some new pieces for us old guys.

• The IBM Connections plugins and widgets all work in the beta so far as well.

• When in your inbox, click on the Show drop down from the upper right corner of the inbox. The Group by Date option will let you know just how bad you are at inbox zero (50 messages for December in mine) 

• Also under Show is the new Beginning of Message option will show you just what it says, the beginning of the messages.

Two personal preference things which I changed:
If you are not a fan of the shades of grey look, change the theme.
I set it to my Operating System Theme for my Windows7 laptop.
Steps from your Notes client: File->Preferences->Windows and Themes and the Theme option drop down.

The other thing I changed is the new blue icon. I don't mind the change, but since my background is blue as well it blends in and I miss my yellow/orange icon. So with that in mind I created a Lotus icon so I did not need the old notes.exe which housed it. If you want a copy, grab it here it is also on my Downloads tab. I made this using this site in case you wanted any other icons.

No doubt much more will come out in time as I use it further.