IBM Connections has consistently grown with the market place but similarly with people who look at Sametime 8.5.x with some weariness they look at Connections as an administration nightmare. It can be if you are not familiar with Websphere Application Server (WAS) and some command line trickery. That has been solved by the TimeToAct group. They now have launched a Connections Administration Toolkit. I saw a demo of this at Lotusphere this year and Dietmar showed me and a client (who was evaluating Connections) an amazingly great tool for non WAS-ers.
Here are some of the features that I pulled from their website.
- User Management (1st & 2nd Level Helpdesk)
- Convenient filter options for simple and fast access to users in activities and communities
- Assigning/erasing of users and roles in activities
- Assigning/erasing of users and roles in communities
- Replacement/returnee functions (merge of UUIDs)
- Basic System Management (1st & 2nd Level Helpdesk)
- Activation/deactivation of connections language configuration
- Extended backup and restore functions for global connections configuration
- Bulk processing of changes (e.g. for modifications of module URLs)
- Module specific notification services
- Automation of reccuring administration tasks (1st & 2nd Level Helpdesk)
- Cleanup tasks for open activities
- Setup of statistic jobs and evaluation
- Parametrization of administrative tasks (by interval or date)
- IBM Connections Module Management (1st & 2nd Level Helpdesk)
- Realization of change or erase requests (e.g. new community name)
- Tagging management (e.g. tag specifications)
- Policy mangement (e.g. for size or file restrictions in the “attachments” module)
- Maximal-/minimal definitions (e.g. for page entries in the “blogs” module)
- Compliance & Change Management
- Logging and traceability of all changes in every module of connections incl. referencing of the change ticket
- Easy rollback of changes
In complete honesty, this is a must for anyone who is considering IBM Connections. This takes away any excuses from someone in IT about supporting Connection. Even if you have a WAS genius, this just makes the job insanely easier. You can find information and a free demo here.
