Lotus Quickr - The Technology Behind eMerlin Places

Lotus Quickr is a product of IBM and is an evolution from a previous product called QuickPlace. Quickr is typically installed on a Windows 2003 server alongside another of IBM's products called Lotus Domino which provides the document repository facilities. Quickr is designed to integrate with Domino so that they work together seamlessly.

Using Quickr, you can create individual "Places" for a team, a department, a project or for any other group. Inside the Place are pages, folders and other types of content that either hold your written notes directly or your files (such as Word, Excel or Powerpoint files or indeed any other sort of file).

Just using a browser, you can manage the content and change the way your Place works if you are the Place owner. You can customise the forms used to add content and allow new people to access your Place, or change the type of access of existing people from reader to editor.

Places come in different types. The "standard" Place is the Team Place which is a general design to help groups of people work and share documents together. But there are other types available such as "Blog" which is aimed at disseminating information and getting feedback and "Wiki" which is to help you construct and maintain complex documentation with help from a wide range of people. You can get an idea of how these look and feel from our demo site. These are the main three, but other types of Place include Project Place and Presentation Place are available and there is more information here from IBM about different these types (or "templates"). Third party companies are also involved in developing new types of Place to fit different needs, although even the standard Place types can be customised to suit most requirements by the user.

Connectors

One of the most innovative new features of Quickr is Connectors. Connectors mean you can save Microsoft Office files directly into a Place using the normal "File - Save" commands. You can also use Windows Explorer to access files of any type in a Place. This makes Quickr as easy to access as the files on your own computer. Take a look at this screenshot from IBM to show how Connectors adds new options into the Microsoft Word File menu to enable the "Check In / Check Out" ability of Quickr, as well as allowing the Save option to save the document straight into your Place.

Access Anywhere

Of course the main advantage of Quickr is the ability to access files anywhere you have access to a browser and to share your files and notes and other content securely with people both within your organisation and outside it. And for times when you do not have a network connection it is possible to take a Place off-line and use it on a laptop - useful if you travel by plane in the course of your work.

Demo Site

The eMerlin site has a demo system for both the Wiki Place (or Live Manual) and the Team Place. We hope to add a Blog Place soon. IBM have a screenshot of a blog place which you can see by clicking here.

Getting Started

To get up and running with an eMerlin Place of your own, you can sign up by clicking on the New Account link at the top of this page to record your details securely. You can use our on-line services as a company or an individual.

If you want to have a Place on a computer within your own company, we can help with that too. Just get in touch (there is a "Contact Us" link at the top of the page) and let us know your requirements.