CNSF provides administrators with the ability to rapidly build and maintain data stores that represent the consolidation of any number of databases, any subset of documents within those databases (that can be defined by a logical formula) and any subset of fields within those documents. This consolidation process simplifies replication support, minimizes replication time, and can be used to selectively provide robust protection of content that is excluded from the repository without complex encryption, selective replication or document security strategies.

CNSF’s “N to 1” data propagation engine provides consolidation capabilities with often negligible processing power for some of the largest distributed Notes installations in existence.   The simple to use configuration interface, implemented within the Notes environment itself, provides local or remote configuration capabilities and the ability to configure the consolidation process in minutes.   After configuration, maintenance is near effortless; many customers have been using CNSF with minimal interaction or effort for over ten years. The newest version, CNSF R7.0, has been built specifically for the R7.x version of Lotus Notes and offers enhanced features for management of consolidated data.

Key Features

Simple Configuration - The simple to use configuration of CNSF allows administrators to define multiple data destinations by creating and editing a single Notes document for each, followed by composition of a single document for each of the source data sets being consolidated.   All configuration options are assigned and managed by these simple documents.  Most importantly, CNSF execution does not require any design updates to the source databases, and furthermore requires only reader access to those databases to support execution.

Flexible Implementation - The CNSF program can be implemented on any Wintel based platform, which runs a client version of Lotus Notes.  The frequency of operation is up to the administrator, CNSF customers have execution schedules which are as frequent as every hour, and as infrequent as every week.

Efficient Execution - CNSF leverages existing document indexes in the source database to identify and propagate Adds, Updates and Deletes, all with equal efficiency, allowing for the propagation of thousands of updated documents in minutes or sometimes seconds depending on processor speed. CNSF configuration allows the administrator to configure and propagate only a select set of fields for deployments where the consolidated database is used for a specialized purpose, such as mass distribution of content that would otherwise have been proprietary and inaccessible.

Integrated Archiving – CNSF provides administrators with a built-in archiving mechanism that allows them to easily and efficiently maintain a permanent repository of all retired documents in one central location.

Rich Filtering – CNSF offers the administrator ultimate flexibility and richness in their filtering options.   Notes formula language can be used to determine which entries from the source database are consolidated into the central database.   Furthermore filtering rules can be applied retroactively to revise the content (document selection OR field selection) of the consolidated database as business requirements change.

Detailed Easily Accessible Logging – CNSF logging is implemented as a Lotus Notes database that can be managed from any location accessible to the Notes client where CNSF is executed.  This logging capability allows the administrator to easily track summary statistics of consolidation events or drill down to detailed information regarding the specific entries that have been added, updated and even deleted.