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Automated Deployment Toolkit (ADT) is an automated, managed process for deploying, upgrading or migrating an existing messaging system. ADT supports the deployment of Lotus Notes 6, 7, and 8, and Microsoft Outlook and Domino Access for Microsoft Outlook (DAMO). Developed by Wolcott Group, a recognized leader in messaging system deployment and migration, ADT is the product of over a decade of experience in planning and executing complex Domino and messaging client deployment and migration projects.

ADT is specifically designed to reduce the cost of deploying the messaging client through automation and process management. Enterprise messaging system administrators can meet their deployment goals by avoiding the high costs of manual deployments and the delays and costs associated with using general-purpose management and deployment products. In fact, ADT can reduce the time and cost of labor-intensive manual deployments, by as much as 80%.

Designed from the perspective that the messaging client upgrade should be viewed as an integrated business workflow rather than a loosely connected group of engineering tasks, ADT automates several key services during the deployment, upgrade or migration process:

• Client PC hardware and software determination

• Integration with computer-based or instructor-led training

• Lotus Notes client installation (including client setup and/or a migration to the new multi-user Notes client

• User ID (and mail file) creation

• Integration with third-party data migration products

• Mail server consolidation

• Mail file template upgrade
   

Whether your company is planning a Notes upgrade, deploying Lotus Notes for the first time or migrating from an existing mail system, ADT can dramatically reduce the time and cost for your organization to implement Lotus Notes 6, 7, or 8.
 

Management
ADT provides a central location for management of the entire client deployment process enabling administrators to effectively manage the deployment from the comfort of their desks, only venturing out to deal with exceptions. The status of each user is monitored using views in the ADT database while the ADT Dashboard (shown in Figure 1) gives you a snapshot of the number of users at each point in the process.

Figure 1: ADT Dashboard

Flexibility
Since all corporate mail systems and technology environments are unique, ADT was designed with flexibility in mind. Using the ADT Deployment Control Panel, you use menu choices and configuration documents to configure ADT to meet your specific requirements – building your own upgrade, deployment or migration workflow. With extensive status monitoring and tracking features, ADT will show you at a glance the status of your Notes deployment. Built upon and leveraging industry standards such as TCP/IP, SMTP, the Win32 API, and ZIP compression, you can rest assured that your automated deployment will have a high success rate and high degree of reliability.

The extensive user communication features built into ADT and the ability to customize ADT for your organization's specific requirements, improve the quality of deployment while simultaneously reducing overall cost.

The Upgrade Process
ADT is delivered as a configurable and customizable framework rather than a fixed, shrink-wrapped utility, providing flexibility and power for Notes that goes far beyond other products. For example, ADT provides five key services in one package that can manage the typical Lotus Notes client upgrade process from beginning to end. Depending on your requirements, these options can be turned off or the order in which they occur can be easily adjusted.

PC Survey
The first question most organizations must ask when preparing to deploy or upgrade Lotus Notes is: “What is out there?” Identifying the hardware and software configuration of the workstations that are scheduled to receive the Lotus Notes software is critical to the success of any mail deployment project. The PC Survey feature of ADT automatically gathers and summarizes key inventory information required to deploy the Lotus Notes Client. Delivered through your existing messaging network, this single-use survey retrieves PC configuration data and initiates the migration workflow.

Figure 2: PC Survey Component

Figure 3: PC Super Survey

If a user’s PC does not meet the minimum system requirements you define per user group, they will not be able continue with the upgrade process. The user and administrator(s) receive e-mail messages indicating that the user’s system needs to be upgraded.

Training Management
Training and the management of the training process represent another significant cost in the deployment of software. Wolcott Group's extensive experience in planning and executing deployments has shaped the Training Management feature. The ADT training management sub-system supports integration with computer-based training or allows you to easily integrate classroom training into the client upgrade process. This ability eliminates the training coordination bottleneck that can seriously delay the deployment process.

You can configure ADT so that users cannot move on to the next step in the process until they have completed the necessary training. If this is not a requirement for your organization, you can easily configure ADT so that users are notified of the training options available to them before automatically moving them onto the next step.

ADT Currently supports integration with training products from Binary Tree, ElementK, Mentor, ReCor, and TLCC. Expect support for even more training products in the future.

Lotus Notes Client Installation
Physical installation of the software at the workstation level can be one of the most significant costs of any technology deployment – especially for an organization without an enterprise software distribution platform in place. ADT offers an easy-to-use solution to this dilemma through its Client Software Distribution feature. Once the automated PC Survey component confirms that the user workstation can support the Notes Client software, ADT allows users to quickly and safely initiate their own automated install, complete with confirmation of success back to the ADT database.

Figure 4: Client Installation

The Lotus Notes client software installation can be entirely automated; eliminating errors caused when users interact with the dialogs and prompts that appear in the standard installation. Administrators build the necessary installation response files for installing the Lotus Notes client to their specifications and configure ADT to use them to automate the installation. If desired, ADT can be configured to manage a manual installation by the user. The system will track when the installation has begun and completed; with the user responding to the installation prompts.

ADT automatically tracks client installation errors and can alert administrators and help desk personnel for proactive problem resolution.

At the end of the Notes client installation, ADT enables administrators to easily tweak the users' configurations (copy additional files down, make .ini file and other system changes, etc.)

User ID Generation
For new Lotus Notes deployments or migrations to Lotus Notes from other messaging platforms, ADT’s User ID Generation component automates the creation of a Lotus Notes user ID, mail file, and public encryption key for each user. Configurable parameters are included to set the ID expiration date, password strength, and client license type. The ADT User ID Generation component uses special algorithms to generate random passwords as well as validate mail file name and user short name uniqueness.

ID files generated by ADT can be temporarily stored in the Domino directory or file system. ID files and passwords can also be escrowed in the ADT database for simplified recovery by an administrator from a lost ID file or forgotten password. Password data is encrypted in the ADT database so only authorized administrators may access to the escrowed data. Where an existing messaging system is in place, the user’s home server, user name, and password will be sent to them via electronic mail.

ADT can also automate the client workstation setup for New Notes deployments or migrations. For customers who wish to implement their own custom configurations, ADT allows administrators to write LotusScript code that is executed at the conclusion of the client installation - enabling administrators to easily add database icons, create local replicas, update replicator page entries, modify location documents and many other client configuration tasks.

Data Migration
The Data Migration components in ADT integrate with standard migration tools from third-party vendors, such as Lotus and Binary Tree, and provide an automated and managed framework for migrating users to Lotus Notes from many popular messaging platforms. ADT includes components for managing the migration of both legacy server and local data, including local address books and archive files.

ADT manages the server data migration process by automating the creation of data conversion requests into the third-party migration tools and then systematically monitoring the progress and status of the migration. ADT’s Data Migration components also verify that the Domino and legacy system directories are properly updated following the data conversion to insure uninterrupted mail routing between the legacy and target messaging platforms.

Mail Server Consolidation
Many organizations are moving from R4 or R5 to a newer release of Notes to reduce the number of mail servers in their domain. ADT provides the ability to move individual mail files, streamlining the process of consolidating mail servers. During the upgrade process, appropriate changes are made to the Domino Directory and client configuration.

Mail File Upgrade
The ADT mail file upgrade automates the upgrade of the user's mail file using any Notes mail template. The morning following the completion of the user's client upgrade, the mail file is automatically upgraded - eliminating the manual step normally performed by the administrator. If a user has multiple machines, ADT can be configured to delay a user's mail file upgrade until the new client has been installed on each one of the user's machines - ensuring that the user has full access to mail during the upgrade process.

System Requirements
Wolcott Group recommends a dedicated ADT Server with the following configuration requirements:

• Lotus Domino Release 5.x or higher

• Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Sun Solaris

• 256 MB Memory (minimum)

• 500 MB available disk space

• The target network must support TCP/IP and SMTP. Client machines must be running a 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows™ (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT or Windows 2000 or Windows XP).

To evaluate this software, register to download a free trial version.

For additional information on this and other Wolcott Group products, e-mail us at productinfo@wolcottgroup.com. For technical questions about ADT, contact productsupport@wolcottgroup.com.