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AVAILABLE for Consultations or Contracting - I hold passports from Canada and The Netherlands. I work in the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement and I am cleared for NEXUS border crossings. I love to travel and I would be happy to help you - either in person or working remotely.
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Reducing the surprises.

On the migrations from Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange, it has been a common occurrence to come to the morning meeting and make a startling discovery and everyone has to respond.
For example, after migrating the HR department we discover that most of their email is encrypted. Now we have to create a solution (I've done this before) and then we will have to repeat the migration.
I would like to get as much information as possible before the planning meetings. For my own use, I wrote an application that can be run against a Notes Domino Directory to get a snapshot of the environment. I reads the Domino Directory and then goes out to the mail files and gathers information which is stored in a Excel spreadsheet.

Lots of decisions are made by the seat of the pants. With additional information, perhaps more informed decisions could be made.

I am able to run my report on a computer that has Notes installed (developed in 7.0.3 - attached spreadsheet was run under 8.5.3). That computer will need to have Excel 2007 or 2010 installed (I used 2010). I would suggest that we run this under an Administrator ID file.

My opening screen looks like this:

When we run the configuration

All I have to do is enter the server name and the Domino Directory file name. The I tell my code where I want my spreadsheets created.

The code opens the person document in the Domino Directory and extracts some information from the person doc. Then it attempts to open the mail file. If it is successful, then is quickly snatches the easy information. Some information takes additional processing and can selected the items from the second tab.


Now we run the report and select the people to report on CTRL - A will get everyone.


Provide a file name or reuse an old file name.




Premigration Report.xlsxPremigration Report.xlsx < Sample Sreadsheet


TO's DOWhy I think it matters
- which mail files that we do not have access to read I want to find this out first - unless we have access then we can't even start to size the migration
- what size are the mail filesFor planning purposes it helps us scale the migration
- how many emails are in each mail file
- what % of the mail file is actually being used
- how many contacts are listed in each mail file
- how many calendar entries are listed in each mail file
- what is the access level for the migration ID file
- number of mail rules
- how many to-do's exist in the mail file
- when was the mail file last modified
- how many attachments exist
- how many folders exist in the mail files
- what is the precise location of the mail file
- based on which template
- how many private folders Private folders will not migrate. They will need special treatment.
- how many mail messages are encrypted - % of the total mail files
- how many mail messages have reader restrictions - we may not be able to read these with the migration ID file
- which mail files have delegates - knowing this will help with scheduling
- when was Fixup last run on this mail file- if Fixup is not run regularly then we should schedule it before them migrations



Author's Background
I am a Notes/Consultant with twenty years of experience (almost exclusively with Lotus Notes / Domino). My experience with Notes began when I worked as a Senior Computer Consultant for Price Waterhouse. In 1993, I went to work for Lotus Development Corporation as a Senior Notes / Domino Instructor. I started teaching Application Development and System Administration with Version 3. Helped to develop the course materials for Version 4.x and Release 5.x When LotusScript, Javascript and Java were added to Notes/Domino I started teaching these programming languages.

In 1995, IBM acquired Lotus. For several years we were left alone and the culture did not change. It was a lot of fun to work for Lotus. In 1999 the handwriting was on the wall and I decided it was time for me to leave. So I established V&M to do Lotus Notes/Domino Application Development, System Administration and Training. I've been at it ever since. The life of the consultant is constantly changing. It has given me the chance to travel across Canada and the United States, Scotland, England, Bermuda, Jamaica, Barbados and Hawaii. No travel to the Far East yet. Anyone?

For the last four years I have been helping companies move their data from Lotus Notes to the Microsoft platform.
* * *
Migrating from Lotus Notes to Microsoft - Very easy and very hard
Different roles in an email migrations
Notes email encryption explained
What to do with Profile Docs during a Migration
One Approach to Mail Rules

If you would like to see my resume Click Here

Email John


Copyright 1999-2013, John Vanderhoff. All rights reserved. This document is NOT in the public domain and remains the property of John Vanderhoff. Distribution or modification of this document without the knowledge, review and express permission of John Vanderhoff is strictly prohibited.