Migrating Lotus Notes data to non-notes applications

Lotus Notes applications are nothing but .NSF file(s) that have both data and application logic (similar to an MS access database). Data is stored within the LN application as documents. There are other ways of storing data (external databases, INI files etc). Regardless of where it is stored, it is possible to access it from the other application. Data within the LN application can be migrated to external applications. Data can be exported to plain text/XML format OR an RDBMS using LEI connectors. Typical formats of content that can be part of a LN application are

• Images
• Rich Text
• Native data types (date-time, numeric etc)
• Attachments
• Web pages

Each of these data formats is accessible using Lotus Script/Java APIs.

Approach to migration would depend on whether both (non-notes & Notes) the systems should co-exist. Migration of data from the Notes application to the target application basically means populating the data store that the application uses, appropriately. There could possibly be a staging setup that would hold the migrated data, before the target application starts accessing the updated repository. If both the systems should co-exist, it would involve building components on both ends to facilitate data exchange. These components would be built after thorough analysis of individual data elements of the applications and their relationship.

A thorough analysis of the existing application needs to be performed before proposing an effective migration strategy. Some of the many aspects of the Lotus solution, that should be studied during analysis.

• Is it a domino application or a LN client application OR both?
• Attributes of the application
  a) No of users
  b) Application file size
  c) # of notes documents
  d) Average # of attachments per document
  e) Secure content (encrypted data)?
• Single database application or multiple .NSF files?
• Is it a distributed application (masters, replicas)
• Is the content Multi-lingual?
• Is it integrated with other notes/non-notes application(s)?
• What is the version of the domino server?
• Is it a mixed server environment?
• What is the version of the notes-client this application is built for (if it is a notes client app)?
• Should parts of/entire application logic be re-written in the external application OR is it just data migration?
• Are there external data stores for the notes application?
• Is the notes application integrated to other products for specific operations (document management, workflow etc)?
  

Key activities that could possibly be required

• Migration Scope definition
• Migration Type(Synchronous/Asynchronous)
• Application Migration Analysis (identify different types of migration components within the application based on the application data model)
• Environmental Check(Server & client versions, external interfaces, security model
• Custom Development (might be required for migration if content is not stored in a standard format[e.g. application-logic] OR if the target application requires content in a different format)
• Consolidating data from distributed databases(if any)
• Dealing Multi-lingual content
• Migration validity check – ensuring migration is completed successfully, as defined in the scope
  

If there are multiple applications that need to be migrated an environmental analysis (identify common resources that applications use, compliance & security standards, integration points etc) needs to be conducted. This exercise would result in coming up with a migration checklist that would help the migration of individual applications effectively.

I have just attempted to gather some thoughts on how to approach migration of Lotus Notes applications to a non-notes environment. I do not intend to suggest products/tools/technologies in this write-up.

If you wish to hear more on this, please write to me at nateshpp@hotmail.com OR drop by a comment with your email, and I shall get in touch with you.