email: info@finesystem.co.uk

Since Lotus released InterNote Web Publisher in mid-1996 and then Domino, Lotus Notes has become an excellent tool for the development of Web sites and Web applications.

The most common reason for Notes customers using Domino as their Web server is that they can communicate information between the Domino server (accessed via the Internet or by Web clients within the organisation who perhaps do not have Notes) and the corporate Notes network. Some examples of these applications are:

• publishing corporate information to the Internet which is also used internally (Web browsers can view the same information or a subset of that information, so no data conversion is required for the Web clients)
• collecting comments, orders, etc from people outside the organisation and capturing them in Lotus Notes databases which are functionally rich and may be processed and accessed internally using Notes or Web clients
• allowing some portion of the corporate Web site to be updated by internal staff with Notes clients without forcing them to use a system other than Notes

Particular applications we have worked on include:

• New Product Approvals - an intranet application for processing applications to trade new products within Deutsche Bank. This application was developed for Lotus Domino, using Notes forms and views for data presentation (refined with JavaScript and computed/embedded HTML) with Java used to implement the workflow / business logic
• Graduate Recruitment - client staff entered details of vacancies and recruitment events using Notes, graduates completed application forms on the Web which were captured into the Notes database and distributed to client staff for processing
• Web site for the Rank Group which has financial information and press releases maintained by Notes users within Rank, automatically updating the public Web site; this site was developed in partnership with The Presentation Company
• staff directories for the Whitbread group of companies use Notes to store the staff information - in this case, only system administrators actually access the data using Notes clients; all other users access the system using Web browsers on the company intranet; the staff directories form a part of this intranet application developed in partnership with The Presentation Company
• Web browser interface for British Petroleum's work-related incident tracking database. This was originally developed exclusively for Notes clients. However, many potential users, e.g. retail outlets, do not have Lotus Notes, so a Web browser interface was added to provide access for these people.
• support system for CHS allows people with support contracts with CHS to raise support issues over the Internet which are then processed internally using Lotus Notes; this database formed a part of the Internet application developed in partnership with NetInfo
• Public web site for Harrow Town Sports Club
• Public web site for Costa Blanca Birdwatching Tours