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DPRO-90218Karen M. Shegda
Product Report28 July 2003
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
Summary
Livelink is a Web-based document management and knowledge management solution for intranets,extranets and corporate portals. It provides a platform for internal and business-to-business (B2B)collaboration.
Note
Open Text made a number of acquisitions in late 2002 and early 2003, including Centrinity, Eloquent andportal product vendor Corechange. The Centrinity technology will be used to enhance the capabilities ofLivelink MeetingZone around voice and data conferencing, while the Eloquent acquisition adds rich mediarecord and playback capabilities to MeetingZone and a new line of business application called Livelink forSales Readiness. In addition, Open Text has added new modules to the Livelink suite. It replaced theTransit Central Web-publishing tool with its own application, Livelink for Content Management.
Table of Contents
Overview
Architecture
Migration Issues
Analysis
Pricing
Competitors
Strengths
Limitations
Recommended Gartner Research
Insight
List Of Tables
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 2
Corporate Headquarters
Open Text Corp.
185 Columbia Street West
Waterloo, ON N2L 5Z5, Canada
Tel: +1 519 888 7111
Fax: +1 519 888 0677
Internet: www.opentext.com
Overview
Open Text Corp.’s Livelink is a Web-based collaborative document and knowledge management solutionfor intranets, extranets and corporate portal environments, and it provides a platform for business-to-business collaboration. Open Text’s focus on collaboration and its recent acquisition of Corechange,position Livelink as a Smart Enterprise Suite (SES) market. SMEs aggregate the functionality offeredtoday by portals, team collaboration support and content management software products.
Livelink’s core functionality consists of services for team collaboration, business process automation,document and knowledge management, information retrieval and group scheduling/calendaring. Optionalmodules are organized by functional categories as follows:
• Classification and Records Management:
• Livelink Records Management
• Livelink Classifications
• Digital Asset and Collections Management
• Livelink Activator for BASIS
• Livelink Cataloged Library
• Dynamic Collaboration
• Livelink eLink
• Livelink MeetingZone
• Livelink virtualteams
• Information Retrieval
• Livelink Activator for Lotus Notes
• Livelink Brokered Search
• Livelink Prospectors
• Livelink Spider
• Livelink Recommender
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 3
• Integration and Customization
• Livelink Activator for Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
• Livelink Activator for SAP R/3
• Livelink Archive for SAP R/3
• Livelink Doorways
• Livelink SDK
• Productivity Tools
• Livelink Explorer, Standard and Professional
• Livelink OnTime
• Livelink eForms Management
• Livelink WebDAV
• Livelink Wireless
• Livelink UNITE
• Livelink eSign
• Publishing and Content Management
• Livelink for Content Management
• System Administration
• Livelink Directory Services
• Livelink Remote Cache
• Livelink Secure Connect
In addition, Open Text offers packaged business applications: Livelink for Learning Management, Livelinkfor Skills Management, Livelink for Program Management and Livelink for Regulated Documents, Livelinkfor Sales Readiness and Livelink for AEC.
Architecture
Livelink was designed with a modular, three-tier architecture consisting of an access tier, which facilitatesend-user access; a server tier for its core application services and a data tier that includes the Livelinkdata repository and other enterprise data sources. End users access Livelink functions through standardWeb browsers. In addition, Livelink supports access from popular desktop applications as well as fromcustom applications built with the Livelink SDK. For example, WebDAV-compliant applications can serveas Livelink clients. The server tier consists of customizable personal, project and enterprise workspaces;Livelink services; and Livelink modules, that is, integrated applications for specific business requirements.A Livelink repository includes a relational database for storing metadata about the documents as well asworkflow information; NT or Unix file systems for storing the actual documents; and the Livelink Index,which is created through the Open Text search engine. Documents can be stored as binary large objects(BLOBs) in the database or in their native format in the file systems. The data tier also handles integration
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 4
with messaging systems and directories via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), NT Domainand Windows Active Directory synchronization/authentication.
Migration Issues
Open Text typically supports previous releases (applies to major versions) of its software for a period ofup to 12 months after the current version’s release. Customers that subscribe to Open Text’s softwaremaintenance get the new releases at no additional charge. Open Text offers a professional serviceprogram to assist users in migrating their existing Livelink implementations to the most current version.
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
Product Type Collaboration, document management and knowledge management suite
Current Version Livelink 9.1
Date Announced February 1996 (Livelink Intranet); December 1996 (Livelink Intranet Suite 7);
September 1997 (Livelink Intranet Suite 7.2); April 1998 (Livelink Intranet 8); April
1999 (Livelink Intranet 8.1); June 1999 (Livelink 8.1.3); December 1999 (Livelink
8.1.5); February 2000 (myLivelink); October 2000 (Livelink 9.0); February 2002
(Livelink 9.1)
Number Installed 6 million users in over 5,000 customer installations; for its entire product line, Open
Text has 15 million seats in more than 10,000 corporate customers.
Architecture Three-tier, Web-based
Server Hardware
Platforms Supported
HP Precision Architecture Reduced Instruction Set Computer (PA-RISC) Sun
Scalable Processor Architecture (SPARC) or Intel PCs
Server Operating
Systems Supported
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 6 (SP6a), Windows 2000
Server with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP2 or
Windows 2000 Data Center Server with SP2; Sun Solaris 2.7, 2.8 or 2.9; HP-UX
11.0
Web Server Support Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0 or 5.0 (on Windows 2000), iPlanet Web
Server Enterprise Edition 4.1 with SP8 or Sun ONE Web Server Enterprise Edition
6.0 with SP1, BEA WebLogic Enterprise/Express 7.0
Client Hardware
Platforms
Intel PCs, Macintosh, Sun or HP systems, or any browser-enabled device
Client Operating
Systems (OS)
Supported
• Workstation OS: Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation with SP6, Windows 2000
Professional Edition; Windows XP; Macintosh OS 8.5, Macintosh OS 9.0, Macintosh
OS X; Sun Solaris 2.6; HP-UX 10.20
• Web Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 with
SP2, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 with SP2, or Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with
SP1; Netscape Communicator 4.79 or Netscape Communicator 7.0.
Databases
Supported
Microsoft Structured Query Language (SQL) Server 7.0 with SP2
Standard/Enterprise Editions or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Standard/Enterprise
Editions; Oracle 8i Release 3 Standard/Enterprise Editions (version 8.1.7) or Oracle
9i Release 2 Standard/Enterprise Editions; Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise 12.0
or 12.5
Communications
Protocols Supported
TCP/IP
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 5
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
System
Administration
Livelink provides Web-based administration features, including password expiration,
user settings (for setting password, colors, discussions options), user domain
support and personalized user profiles, the capability of setting a maximum number
of versions that can be indexed in Enterprise Index and the capability of granting
any user System Administrator privileges. The Livelink Administrator can restore
documents that have been deleted accidentally. Administrators can also configure
the menu style for the Livelink Web interface. Menu styles are provided as drop-
down lists in HTML and in Java. Livelink Directory Services enables system
administrators to synchronize users and groups with an external LDAP directory or
with Microsoft Active Directory or NT LAN Manager domains.
System Security Supports secure HTTP servers, such as Netscape Commerce Server and Rivest-
Shamir-Adelman (RSA) Security. Livelink supports Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for
communications security and encrypts user authentication information for security in
wide-area intranet deployments. Livelink supports role-based access control with
nine levels of security privileges based on user login and group association. In
addition, through synchronization and authentication with LDAP, NT Domain or
Windows Active Directory, it leverages existing account security.
Native Language
Support
English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese. Livelink can store content in
multiple languages. Multilingual content is converted into Unicode for indexing.
User Interface The user interface is built in HTML with some Java applet components, including a
tree-view navigation panel called Livelink Atlas. An alternative, Windows Explorer-
like interface is available as an option.
Application Development and Application Integration
General Open Text offers a variety of means for integrating Livelink with other applications,
including its Livelink Application Programming Interface (LAPI), its Activators and
Livelink Doorways. Livelink can be integrated with PeopleSoft using ODOC
Workflow.
Livelink Software
Development Kit
(SDK)
An object-oriented development environment for customizing Livelink and extending
its functionality, as well as for creating new collaborative applications. It also
facilitates integration with imaging subsystems, messaging directories, Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP), Product Data Management (PDM) and e-commerce
systems. Livelink SDK consists of two components—the Livelink Builder and the
Livelink Application Programming Interface (LAPI).
• Livelink Builder (Windows only) lets developers tailor standard Livelink application
interfaces to any business requirement. It includes modifiable HTML templates;
OScript, a Java-like scripting language; an object browser; and a scripting editor
and debugger.
• LAPI is a comprehensive set of APIs for integrating Livelink with third-party
software applications. LAPI contains about 150 functions. The LAPI exposes many
server functions, allowing integrations to be developed using Java 2 Platform,
Enterprise Edition (J2EE), Microsoft.NET, Web Services, C++, Visual Basic and
Java. It also supports encrypted transmissions (using Livelink Secure Connect)
between an LAPI client and the Livelink server.
Livelink Activators Based on extensions to the Livelink SDK, Livelink Activators provide the ability to
integrate with other systems, such as SAP R/3.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 6
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
• Livelink Activator for SAP R/3 enables development of integrated solutions for
SAP’s R/3 ERP applications. Gives Livelink application developers a set of
language extensions for connecting to the SAP R/3 Business Application
Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) and Remote Function Calls (RFCs) from within the
Livelink application environment. It enables Livelink users to view SAP transactional
data as a Livelink object. Because it is a development toolkit, Livelink Activator for
SAP R/3 is not SAP Archive Link or Document API certified. Open Text, however,
provides another module, Livelink Archive for SAP R/3, which is SAP ArchiveLink
certified.
Livelink Activator for
CORBA
Development Kit
The Livelink Activator for Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA)
Development Kit extends Livelink functionality through CORBA services. With this
Activator, a CORBA object will act as if it were a local Livelink object regardless of
the language it was created in, the platform on which it operates and its physical
location.
Livelink Doorways Through Livelink Doorways, Livelink users can browse, search and copy content
stored in external repositories, such as Microsoft Windows file systems (file shares
that can be mounted as Windows drives), Server Message Block (SMB) file system,
Unix Network File System (NFS), Oracle Internet File System (iFS), Documentum
4i, FileNet Content Services or Hummingbird DOCS Open/DOCS Fusion systems,
as well as other Livelink repositories. Livelink Doorways works with Livelink 9.1.0
SP2 or later on all supported platforms; however, the Livelink Doorways server must
be installed on a computer running a Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system
(Server, Advanced Server or Datacenter Server).
Optional Modules
Livelink Spider Livelink Spider is Web crawler software that monitors Web sites (private and public)
and newsgroups, locates documents and automatically builds a full-text index of
those documents. Spider handles HTML and Standard Generalized Markup
Language (SGML) documents and supports over 40 office file formats and Adobe’s
Portable Document Format (PDF). It obeys the Robot Exclusion Protocol for sites
that do not want to be indexed or that wish to limit a Spider’s ability to index the
content. Reporting capabilities provided with Livelink Spider include page-level
analysis of each Web site, graphical depictions (for example, pie charts) showing
link quality and type, and summary reports for sites with common domain suffixes.
Data gathered by Livelink Spider is fed into Livelink Data Flow for full-text searching,
HTML conversion, upload into the Livelink Library or other manipulation. Livelink
users can search indexes of data crawled by Livelink Spider from the Livelink
search bar and advanced search page. Livelink Spider 9.1.2 works with Livelink 9.1
and higher and with Livelink Prospectors 4.0. The server components of Livelink
Spider run on the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server (with SP6a) or Windows 2000
operating systems as well as on Sun SPARC/Solaris 2.7.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 7
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
Livelink Prospectors Livelink Prospectors are knowledge retrieval agents that perform real-time searches
of knowledge sources, both within and outside of Livelink and retrieve relevant
information. Prospectors return a summary of the information content and a link to
the original source. Users can configure personal or team prospectors. When used
in conjunction with Livelink Notification, Livelink Prospectors can be configured to
notify users via e-mail or pager with the search results. Livelink Prospectors 4.0
works with Livelink 9.1 SP3.
Livelink
Recommender
Livelink Recommender extends Livelink’s capabilities by automatically
recommending content to users and allowing them to explicitly rate content to
identify knowledge and topical expertise. It works by examining the conceptually
relevant concepts from the documents a user reads and uploads, and then
identifying (through inference and link analysis) similar content that might interest
the user. It adds a Recommendations page to a user’s Personal menu. Livelink
Recommender 1.0 works with Livelink 9.1.0 SP3 and is dependent on the Livelink
Common Utilities module, a Livelink module that allows the Livelink Recommender
module to display some of its interface elements. This module is being made core
functionality for Livelink 9.2 and is free for Livelink 9.1 SP3 customers.
Livelink OnTime A Web-based module that provides enterprise scheduling/calendaring capabilities.
Enables project calendars to be added to Livelink. It provides real-time scheduling
and allows users to access other users’ calendars to assess their free or busy time
slots. With Livelink OnTime, users can invite an entire Livelink group to an
appointment. Other features include e-mail notification of schedule changes, remote
user support, resource scheduling and calendar printouts. It also provides the
capability of attaching Livelink objects to an appointment object and supports
appointment notification via e-mail. In addition, it can be synchronized with other
application devices so that data can be shared between a Livelink OnTime calendar
and Palmtop computers and personal information managers (enabled via Starfish’s
TrueSync engine). It requires Windows NT 4.0. Server or Windows 2000 Server and
works with Livelink version 9.0.0.1 through 9.1 SP2 on all supported platforms.
Livelink eLink Livelink eLink enables Livelink to integrate with any desktop e-mail application.
Users can participate in Livelink discussions directly from their e-mail application
and receive e-mail notification of Livelink events. Livelink eLink lets users subscribe
and unsubscribe to eLink discussions. Livelink eLink does require an e-mail server.
Open Text recommends mail servers with the Sendmail program installed and
virtual hosting enabled. Mail clients must support the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
(SMTP) and RFC 822 messaging standards. It also requires that Livelink
Notification be activated. Livelink eLink works with Livelink 9.1.0 with SP2 and
higher running on any supported server platform.
Livelink Directory
Services
Enables synchronization and authentication with a central directory service; that is,
the LDAP, Windows NT Domain registries and Windows 2000 Active Directory, and
it provides single logon access. With Livelink Directory Services, users transparently
log on to a Livelink system without having to enter a separate user ID and password
for Livelink. Access is based on user credentials stored in the directory service.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 8
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
Livelink Cataloged
Library
Integrates Livelink with the BASIS Techlib library system. BASIS Techlib automates
the cataloging, circulation and access control of digital content. With Livelink
Cataloged Library, users can locate library collections and cataloged content from
within Livelink. BASIS Techlib’s bibliographic repositories can now take advantage
of Livelink’s collaborative capabilities. It requires BASIS Techlib version 9.1 running
on Unix, Windows NT/2000 or VMS Alpha servers and Livelink version 9. 1.0 or
higher on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server and Windows 2000 only.
Livelink Brokered
Search
This module enables users to search multiple Livelink repositories, as well as
permissioned and nonpermissioned external sources, through a single query. Data
sources include Open Text’s Livelink and BASIS repositories, Microsoft Exchange
Public Folders (via Microsoft Site Server), public and private search sites and any
Livelink-maintained search index (for example, Lotus Notes databases, extensible
markup language (XML) data and Livelink online help). Through XML, the Livelink
Brokered Search interface can be embedded in any Web page. The Livelink
Brokered Search interface can be exposed within the Livelink and the Livelink
UNITE interfaces. Livelink Brokered Search version 1.7 requires the Livelink UNITE
9.1.5 server, which runs on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server with SP6a, Windows
2000 Server/Advanced Server/Datacenter Server, Sun Solaris 2.7/2.8, or HP UX 11.
It is compatible with Livelink 9.0.0 through Livelink 9.1.0 SP3.
Livelink for Content
Management
Livelink for Content Management is an application developed by Open Text to
support Web content management. It addresses the content life cycle from creation
through delivery. Livelink for Content Management manages a variety of content
types, including PDF files, images, video, audio and cascading stylesheets. It
provides a templating system based on XML and Extensible Style
LanguageTransformation (XSLT). Templates can include both static and dynamic
content. It supports three content states: Working, Staging and Published.
Livelink Remote
Cache
Targeted for remote sites with limited network bandwidth, Livelink Remote Cache
reduces network traffic and improves access speed by caching documents, HTML
renditions and graphical content at the remote site. Livelink Remote Cache 3.0
works with Livelink 9.1.0.2 or later on all supported operating systems.
Livelink eForms
Management
Livelink eForms Management provides electronic (XML, HTML and PDF) forms
capabilities for Livelink. It enables Livelink users to create, manage and track
electronic forms and to integrate them into business processes through Livelink
Workflow. It uses Livelink’s folder structure for eForms repositories. It includes an
XML-based eForms Designer tool to simplify the forms-creation process. Paper-
based forms can be incorporated into Livelink eForms Management by adding
TELEform for Livelink. Livelink eForms Management works with Livelink 9.1 SP3.
The Form Designer client runs on Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000 Professional
SP2/SP3 and XP Home and Professional SP1. The Form Server runs on Microsoft
Windows 2000 Server SP2, Windows NT 4.0 Server SP6a and Sun Solaris 2.8 (with
Oracle databases only). It supports the Tomcat 4.0.4 servlet engine as well as
iPlanet Directory Server 5.0, Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange 5.5
SP3 (Windows NT 4.0 only) and Novell eDirectory 8.5.1/8.6.2 directory servers.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 9
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
Livelink Activator for
Lotus Notes
Livelink Activator for Lotus Notes lets Livelink users access information stored within
a Notes database. It works with Livelink 9.1 SP3 on Windows NT 4.0 Server
(SP5/SP6a) or Windows 2000 Server only. Lotus software supported by Livelink
Activator for Lotus Notes includes Lotus Domino version 4.5 and R5, Lotus Notes
version 4.5 and R5 and Lotus Notes Client Version 4.5 and R5.
Livelink Activator for
BASIS
An optional module for Livelink, Livelink Activator for BASIS establishes a
workspace in Livelink to manage large collections of specialized content such as
technical research, publications or digital archives. Using Livelink projects,
workflows, discussions, task lists and enterprisewide file distribution for
collaboration, research teams produce technical reports which, when released, may
be transferred to BASIS for long-term access.
Livelink Explorer Livelink Explorer enables users to access Livelink functionality from within their
Microsoft Windows desktop environment. Livelink Explorer integrates with desktop
applications, such as Microsoft Word (2000 and XP); Microsoft Excel (2000 and
XP); Microsoft Outlook (98, 2000 and XP); Microsoft PowerPoint (2000 and XP) and
the Lotus Notes e-mail client. It is offered in Standard and Professional packages. In
the Standard version, Livelink repositories appear as hierarchies of folders in
Windows Explorer or as Outlook folders in Microsoft Outlook. When Livelink
Explorer is used with Lotus Notes e-mail, users can import or export messages to or
from Livelink. The Standard version also allows mobile users to mark documents in
Livelink for offline use. Livelink Explorer Professional enables users to connect
directly to Livelink from Microsoft Word and Excel. Functions permitted include
document check out and check in, as well as the capability of editing or adding
documents. Livelink Explorer 4.1.3 works with Livelink 9.0.0 SP2 or higher. The
Livelink Explorer server-side module must be installed on each Livelink server.
Livelink UNITE Livelink UNITE provides users with a unified, personalized interface to one or more
Livelink systems. It enables a single, central view of multiple Livelink systems as
well as integration of Livelink and any third-party Web site or portals, including the
SAP Enterprise Portal, through the UNITE Anywhere Java applet. It requires the
Livelink UNITE and Atlas module to be installed on each Livelink server. Livelink
UNITE Server runs on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server (SP6a), Windows 2000
Server/Advanced Server/Datacenter Server, Solaris 2.7/2.8 (64-bit), or HP UX 11,
and can be installed on a different computer and operating system than the Livelink
server. It is compatible with Livelink 9.0.0 through Livelink 9.1.0 SP3. Web browsers
supported are Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
Livelink Secure
Connect
Provides data encryption capabilities on communications between Livelink and
optional or custom client applications built with the Livelink API. It supports the SSL
protocol version 3.0. Also supports proprietary or third-party certificates, such as
those from Entrust or VeriSign. Livelink Secure Connect runs on Microsoft Windows
98 Second Edition, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows NT 4.0
Workstation/Server with SP6; Sun SPARC/Solaris 2.7 or 2.8 client workstations; or
HP-UX 10.20 client workstations. Livelink Secure Connect 9.1 works with Livelink 9.
0 and higher.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 10
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
Livelink eSign The Livelink eSign module adds electronic signature capabilities to Livelink. With it,
users can initiate special workflows to manage processes that require the
application of signatures to PDF documents. Signing privileges are managed by
Signing Administrators who identify authorized users. Signed documents can be
watermarked and secured to prevent further modifications even after downloading
from Livelink. Automated conversion to PDF can be configured as part of an eSign
signing workflow using any conversion engine that uses watched folders such as
Acrobat Distiller or AdLib eXpress. Livelink eSign 1.1 works with Livelink 9.1.0 SP2
on Microsoft Windows NT/2000 and Sun SPARC/Solaris platforms.
Livelink MeetingZone Enables real-time collaboration through virtual, Web-based meetings. Allows both
internal, Livelink users, as well as external, non-Livelink users to participate in
meetings. Livelink MeetingZone allows attendees to access the Livelink enterprise
knowledge to view and revise project-related items while a meeting is in session.
They can also view applications shared by the presenter; conduct group chats; have
private conversations; use the whiteboard tool; and create and view agenda items,
notes, tasks and Web links. At the conclusion of the meeting, all of this information,
including a meeting summary, is captured in Livelink automatically. Livelink
MeetingZone is available for use with Livelink, not as a stand-alone tool. Livelink
MeetingZone server runs on Windows NT 4.0 Server, Windows 2000 Server or
Windows 2000 Data Center Server, Sun SPARC Solaris 8 and HP UX-11. It
requires Sun JRE 1.3.1 and the tools.jar file from the Sun JDK 1.2.2 on the host
computer. It works with Livelink 9.1 SP2 and later on all supported platforms.
Livelink Archive for
SAP R/3
Livelink Archive for SAP R/3 uses SAP’s ArchiveLink interface to enable the Livelink
repository to be used as an archive for SAP R/3 business documents. Data types
supported include R/3 reports, Tag Image File Format (TIFF) files and outgoing
documents originating in SAP R/3. It is certified by SAP and works with SAP R/3
version 4.5B and later. Livelink Archive for SAP R/3 requires Windows NT or
Windows 2000 server, but works with Livelink 9.0.0.1 or higher on all supported
operating systems.
Livelink WebDAV With this module, Livelink supports the Web-based Distributed Authoring and
Versioning (WebDAV) protocol. It enables WebDAV-compliant desktop applications
(for example, Adobe applications, Microsoft Web Folders and Microsoft Office
applications) to be used as Livelink clients. Users can browse the Livelink repository
and add, delete or check-in/check-out documents directly from WebDAV-compliant
applications. Using Microsoft Web Folders, users can drag-and-drop documents
and folders between Livelink and the desktop as well as create folders in Livelink.
Third-party software vendors or application developers can also use the WebDAV
protocol to provide functionality that integrates with the Livelink repository.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 11
Table 1: Overview: Open Text Livelink
Livelink Records
Management
The Livelink Records Management module adds records management functionality
to Livelink. It enables records management attributes to be added to a Livelink
object, including documents, compound documents and folders. Users can apply
retention and disposition rules to objects stored in Livelink, perform disposition
searches against Livelink objects to retrieve those that are ready for archiving or
other disposition and place holds on objects scheduled for destruction. Livelink
Records Management also enables enterprises to manage the life cycle of physical
objects, such as CD-ROMs and videocassettes, It is installed on the Livelink server
and all user and administration functions are available through Livelink’s Web
browser interface. Livelink Records Management 2.5 works with Livelink 9.1 SP3. In
addition, Livelink Records Management 2.5 requires that the Livelink Classifications
2.5 module be installed. Livelink Records Management 2.5 is certified with the U.S.
Department of Defense (DOD) 5015.2 standard, including the chapter 4 certification
for Classified Records.
Livelink virtualteams Livelink virtualteams is a fully integrated team environment built on Livelink. It
combines a methodology for virtual teamwork with collaboration technology. Livelink
virtualteams enables people to work together across time zones and geographic
and organizational boundaries. Livelink virtualteams 1.1 works with Livelink 9.1 SP3
on all platforms. It supports all Web browsers supported by the selected version of
Livelink.
Livelink Wireless Livelink Wireless provides a wireless gateway to the Livelink repository. It enables
users to interact with Livelink from a variety of wireless devices, including PalmOS
devices, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and iMode mobile phones, Pocket
PCs, and RIM BlackBerry pagers. Livelink Wireless runs on Microsoft Windows NT
4.0 and Windows 2000 and Sun SPARC/Solaris 2.7 (and higher) servers. It works
with Livelink versions 9.0.0.1, 9.0.0 and 8.1.5 (SP1)
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Content Creation/Capture
Document Import Livelink provides for document upload using a standard Web browser. Using
Livelink Explorer or Livelink WebDAV, documents can be imported via drag and
drop:
• From Windows Explorer on a PC to a window for insertion into a compound
document, folder, workspace or other container object
• From the Library to the desktop to copy to the client workstation
• Between folders
• To a Project window
• To the Workspace for quick access
• Between Livelink instances using Livelink Explorer or Livelink WebDAV.
Documents and other objects can also be imported using XML. Simple text
documents can also be composed within the Livelink Web interface, using the
Livelink Text Editor.
Open Text Global Services offers a bulk document upload utility to facilitate
migration of documents to Livelink from legacy systems.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 12
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Content Creation/Capture
Document Imaging Paper documents can be captured and stored in the Livelink repository via Open
Text’s ODOC suite of products or third-party products, such as products from Kofax,
Captiva and Cardiff.
Information Retrieval Services
General Supports full-text searching of objects across an intranet, extranet and the World
Wide Web. Works with any HTTP server and has a configurable user interface
(ability to save multiple search form templates). Supports content-based and
metadata (both system and custom metadata) searching. Allows queries to be
refined as well as saved and executed. Allows result sets to be saved as snapshots.
Also provides Quick find for simple searches. Table-of-contents-type searches can
be performed with the Folder Browser window. Search results are restricted by the
user’s access permissions. Sophisticated SQL queries can be run against the
knowledge base using Livelink LiveReports. Documents can be searched by object
type (for example, alias, generation, workflow, maps, queries and compound
documents). Searches can also be done by location (for example, “from here”
searches within projects, workspaces, library and report folders). Search results
include an analysis of themes discovered in the result set. For example, a ranking of
the Authors who wrote the most documents returned by their search, the locations
within Livelink that these documents exist, date ranges when the documents were
added to the repository and clusters of common terms found in the documents
returned by the search. These themes can be used to refine a search to narrow the
results. Livelink also lets users personalize the information (metadata) displayed on
search result pages.
Search Capabilities
Supported
Searching is a fully integrated service in Livelink. Supported search capabilities
include:
• Boolean
• Proximity—for example, within 5 to 25 words of a given term
• Range
• Advanced similarity
• Phrase searching
• Stemming
• Thesaurus (including a customizable, multilingual XML thesaurus)
• Soundex—search for words that sound similar to a term
• Wildcard searches
• Content/metadata-only Searching
• Summary hit highlighting
• Result themes (for example, authors, dates, locations, topics)
• “Find similar” function
• Natural Language Querying
• Ability to search within or across multiple indexes using search “slices”
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 13
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Content Creation/Capture
Also provides incremental indexing and intelligent abstracts, whereby automatically
generated summaries of documents can be viewed from the search list, and search
term hits are highlighted within the summaries. Supports searching within
XML/SGML documents natively according to the elements defined in their document
type definitions (DTDs). Provides relevancy ranking. Supports simultaneous
searching of multiple indices with a unified presentation and merged search results.
Livelink enables multiple search engines to be configured on multiple hosts to
search a single index.
Agent Capabilities Livelink Notification is a fully embedded service within the Livelink server. Livelink
Notification monitors the Livelink system for information that users need and pushes
it to them via standard electronic mail readers. Livelink Notification can be
configured to send notification e-mails to any address, including addresses that
users monitor via pagers, voice mail, fax and cellular phones.
Advanced Retrieval
Capabilities
Livelink’s search and retrieval services can also be extended through the use of
intelligent agents and options like Livelink Prospectors, Livelink Recommender,
Livelink Spider, Livelink LiveReports and Livelink Brokered Search.
Livelink Library
General This is the central repository for storing and managing documents and objects. The
repository can contain compound documents, folders, queries, snapshots, reports,
news channels, discussions, tasks, task lists, polls, forms, aliases, workflow maps,
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and additional objects associated with optional
modules. Users can set system and custom metadata values for Livelink objects
when adding them to the repository. After a document and its metadata have been
added to Livelink, any user with the necessary permissions can then edit the
metadata at any time.
Indexing Livelink provides dynamic full-text indexing of content in the Livelink repository, as
well as full-text indexing of document collections on private or public Web sites,
Lotus Notes databases and documents in file system directories. Objects are
indexed as they are entered into the Knowledge Library. Livelink supports native
indexing of XML documents.
Backup/Recovery
Capabilities
Open Text supports full and incremental backup of Livelink indexes. Livelink
supports an object type called Backup Manager, which can be created by the
system administrator. It serves as a container for one or more Backup processes
and defines the system location of backup files as well as the type of backup to be
performed and when.
Organization Files (documents) are organized into containers, such as folders, compound
documents and workspaces (personal, enterprise and project workspaces).
Supports a nested folder/container structure that can be several levels deep (for
example, documents within compound documents, documents within folders,
folders within folders). Documents are defined by categories and data type
according to the user organization’s definitions. Custom attributes can be assigned
to document categories. Within Project Workspaces, a Project Outline feature
depicts nested projects and the objects within those projects.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 14
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Content Creation/Capture
Classification Livelink Classifications, enables manual association of Livelink objects to one or
more taxonomies. This module allows information to be manually, automatically or
semiautomatically (recommended) classified in Livelink. A Classification tab is
added to Livelink objects and administrators define the object types for which it is
enabled. The classifications can be defined as an exact rule (for example, XML
document with region “Case Number” where case number = “1234” must get a
given classification) or more generally using traditional pattern matching techniques
and exemplar documents. If a classification is defined as being Assisted, then the
person in control of the taxonomy will be notified that a document has been given a
recommended classification, which the person may choose to accept or deny.
Livelink Classifications 2.5 works with Livelink 9.1 SP3 and with Livelink Records
Management 2.5.
Navigation Users navigate through the Knowledge Library via drop-down lists, through the
folder hierarchy or via Livelink Explorer’s treeview/listview library structure. Livelink
Atlas, a new core module, adds a Windows Explorer-like navigation panel to the
Livelink interface. The Classifications module allows users to browse and search
content by conceptual themes or other custom taxonomies.
Access Control Supports role-based access control with up to nine levels of access permission for
each object; for example, documents, folders, workflow maps, tasks, discussions,
reports and channels. Access permissions (controls) include See, See Contents,
Modify, Edit Attributes, Add Items (for container objects), Delete Versions, Delete,
Reserve and Edit Permissions. A new document or folder inherits its parent’s
permissions by default. Permissions are assigned to user and user groups.
Document Viewing Files are stored and managed in their native format. Livelink uses viewing
technology from Stellent, Inc., enabling support for over 200 different file formats,
including XML, SGML, HTML, Adobe Acrobat PDF, Microsoft Word and Word
Perfect. Livelink Library automatically converts over 100 different file formats to
HTML for online viewing. It supports automatic launching of originating applications
to view documents in native form or to edit the document.
Annotations/Markup Open Text leverages the solutions from a third-party partner, Cimmetry Systems, for
annotation and markup capabilities. Cimmetry’s ViewLink and AutoVue Professional
provide a Web-based view and markup environment that is tightly integrated with
Livelink. They support over 200 document formats, including computer-aided design
(CAD) drawings. The markup files are linked, managed and stored within the
Livelink repository and administered through standard Livelink controls.
Renditions A core service in Livelink, Livelink Renditions, enables alternative formats
(renditions) to be attached to a document version. Renditions can be the same
content as the original document, but in a different file format or a different
language. Multiple renditions can be attached to a single document. Livelink can be
configured so that a rendition (for example, a PDF or alternate language rendition)
is displayed as the default view. Livelink Renditions works with custom-developed or
third-party conversion engines, such as Acrobat Distiller or AdLib express, to
generate the renditions.
Document
Manipulation
Users can “move to,” “copy to,” “make alias,” “set permissions” and “make
generation.”
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 15
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Content Creation/Capture
Library Services • Supports check-in/check-out and versioning. In Livelink, the Check-in and Check-
out functions are integrated with the Unreserve and Reserve functions respectively.
• Documents can be reserved—locked to prevent others from inserting new
versions—or checked out—reserved and copied to the client workstation, a
workflow or a project.
• Users always work with the most current version of a document. The system
administrator can set a revisable version limit. Versions can be copied and locked to
prevent deletion.
• Supports aliases and generations so that the same document or object can be
used in more than one place. An alias is a dynamic object reference to the most
recent work object. An alias behaves exactly like the object to which it points. A
generation is a static object reference to a specific revision of a document,
compound document or other versioned object.
Compound
Document
Management/Compo
nent Management
Users can create compound documents to store and manage multiple documents in
a sequential order. Livelink can manage the components of some types of content.
For example, tagged text (HTML, Extensible Stylesheet Language [XSL], XML) may
contain references to external objects (images, templates, script files and others), all
of which can be maintained and secured through Livelink’s content management
interface. Select elements of this content can then be repurposed, versioned and
permissioned,
E-Mail Integration Through the optional Livelink eLink module, Livelink can be integrated with any
desktop e-mail application. Through the Livelink Explorer plug-in, Livelink can be
integrated with Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes.
When integrated with Microsoft Outlook, Livelink folders appear as Outlook folders,
allowing users to drag-and-drop or use rules to move or copy messages into the
Livelink repository. Livelink Explorer enables Lotus Notes e-mail users to
export/import messages to/from Livelink.
Enterprise Report
Management
Capabilities provided through Open Text’s third-party partners.
Reporting Tools Audit trails let users track the event history of all object types in the Livelink
repository. Users can view a listing of who has viewed the object, who has modified
it, and who has checked it out. LiveReports are SQL queries that provide reporting
on all Livelink data, including reports indicating task status by user or listing all
documents created during a specified time frame. LiveReports include flexible
display options, such as pie or bar charts.
Business Process Automation Services
General Livelink’s Business Process Automation services provide workflow facilities for
creating, modifying, managing and deploying business process workflows. Livelink
Workflows can include an XML Interchange step that enables work packet data to
be exported as XML to an external system.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 16
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Content Creation/Capture
Process Design A graphical Java-based Workflow Designer lets Livelink users design workflows by
dragging and dropping steps and participants. They can also attach documents or
other objects to workflows, create subworkflows, define conditional loopbacks, set
milestones, set attributes and specify project details, such as deliverables and due
dates. Workflow steps can be assigned to a single User, Group, or Role or to
multiple Users, Groups, or Roles. Users can define a proxy performer who can
perform their workflow assignments when they are absent for extended periods.
Livelink Workflow also provides a visual map of the workflow showing status. Color-
coded displays indicate Workflow Late, Milestone Late, Step Late, OK and
Complete. In Livelink, Status Screen gives users the option of displaying “Not
Archived,” “Archived” or “Executing Only” workflows. The Workflow Status can be
indexed and searched.
Routing Capabilities Provides serial and parallel routing, rendezvous and looping capabilities. Supports
conditional branching with true/false statements. Supports multiple start/end points.
Forms Integration Livelink Forms, PDF or HTML-based, are tightly integrated with the workflow
capabilities for automating business processes that rely on forms data.
Electronic Signatures Electronic signatures are supported with the Livelink eSign module. Livelink users
can initiate special workflows to manage processes that require the application of
signatures to documents by authorized users following review. Enhanced audit trails
capture the details of each signing event, including each signatory’s full name,
corporate position, the meaning associated with their signing (for example,
Approval), and the time and date. The same signing information can be applied to a
rendition of the original document that is more widely distributed. Electronic
signatures are visible when the document is printed.
E-Mail Notification Supports e-mail notification and provides built-in support for SMTP. E-mail
notification in digest format is fully integrated with Livelink Notification. The optional
Livelink eLink module provides e-mail notification in per-event format. Livelink
supports Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) and SMTP for e-
mail notification, as well as Telephony Application Programming Interface
(TAPI)/Speech Application Programming Interface (SAPI)/Internet Message Access
Protocol (IMAP).
Team Collaboration Services
General The project management and collaboration services can be used for ad hoc
collaborative and structured projects where anyone with permission can create a
project. Projects can be set up (via a wizard) quickly without having to involve
programming. Each project has its own project workspace. It supports the creation
of projects within projects, threaded discussions and project-specific news channels
for broadcasting news to the project team. Livelink v9.1 added an inline text editor,
integrated with a spell checker that enables project members to add notes and other
information to the project directly from the Livelink user interface.
Project Pages Supports “one-click” creation of project home pages. Project home pages support
frames and Java “pop-ups” for flexible navigation.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 17
Table 2: Features and Functions: Open Text Livelink
Content Creation/Capture
Project Participants Participants can span hierarchical, organizational and geographical boundaries.
Allows permissions and responsibilities to be set based on project roles (for
example, Coordinator, Member and Guest). One or more Project Coordinators can
have administrative responsibility. Users can enhance their default system profiles
to include personalized information (for example, birthday, contact information, Web
site links, interests, photo and additional contact information).
Project Management A Project Outline tool allows the project and its subprojects, and all objects that they
contain, to be displayed in an outline view. Tasks support setting priorities (for
example, high, medium and low), assigning due dates, grouping of tasks and
associating one or more tasks with a milestone. Through Livelink Workflow,
common project activities can be automated. Workflow step assignments and ad
hoc tasks are routed to each user’s Personal Workspace. Task status can be
tracked and monitored. A project team can have a collection of saved queries and
reports for quick access to relevant information.
Task List Tasks and task lists define the project member responsibilities for team initiatives.
Milestones can be added to the Task List workspace. A Task Group Container can
be created to group related tasks together.
Threaded
Discussions
The Project Workspace supports multithreaded discussions, which can be created
dynamically. Team members can post comments, messages and responses, as
well as attach documents, files or objects to the discussions. Discussions can be
displayed in a report or nested view, by time period, by read or unread, or by fully
threaded or topics only. The optional Livelink eLink module allows team members to
participate in Livelink discussions via their e-mail client.
Polls Livelink supports a poll object that enables surveys to be conducted among Livelink
users. A Poll can contain multiple questions, and it can be attached to a task or a
news item. Permissions can be applied to polls.
Workflow Ad hoc project workflows automate business processes for the project team,
supporting anything from an engineering change notice to a document approval.
Analysis
With Livelink, Open Text targets global corporations with mission-critical business applications and theneed for document-centric collaboration and knowledge management. Vertical markets targeted includethe financial services, high-tech manufacturing, pharmaceutical/life sciences, government andconstruction (via a U.K. partner, Causeway Technologies). Livelink can be used for such applications asnew product development, collaborative commerce, e-learning and brand management. Open Textreports that its average Livelink implementation is 1,100 users, but some installations have over 100,000users. According to Open Text, Livelink is designed to be an out-of-the-box solution for rapid deployment.Livelink, along with its components, is based on open standards, such as HTML, HTTP, XML, WebDAVand CORBA, ensuring that it fits into the existing corporate infrastructure and leverages an organization’sother technology investments.
Livelink provides the foundation for business-to-business collaboration and information access. Itincorporates XML to manage the exchange of Livelink content with third-party applications, supportsindexing and searching of XML documents and provides interoperability with portal platforms to enable a
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 18
single point of access to both Livelink collaborative functionality and to other business-to-businessapplications.
Open Text is positioned as a smart enterprise suite vendor, ranking as a Visionary in Gartner’s SmartEnterprise Suite Magic Quadrant. Smart enterprise suites aggregate the functionality offered today byportals, team collaboration support and content management software products. Livelink can be used asthe underlying content repository for enterprise information portals. Through Livelink UNITE, Open Textsupports integration into various portal frameworks, including iViews for the SAP Enterprise Portal. Inaddition, Open Text acquired portal vendor, Corechange. With this acquisition, Open Text has closed thegap in its portal functions and improved its position among vendors of smart enterprise suites. Open Texthad a portal-like user interface, myLivelink, but it was weak compared to true portal products.
Open Text has also built integration with wireless technology into its overall vision. Livelink also providesintegration with back-office processes and applications. For example, Livelink provides an XML-basedworkflow bridge to communicate with non-Livelink applications, such as Supply Chain Management(SCM), ERP and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).
Open Text provides Livelink users with interfaces—called Workspaces—that are tailored to specificbusiness roles. Livelink has three Workspaces—a Personal Workspace, the private work environment;Project Workspaces, collaborative environments for project teams and an Enterprise Workspace, theenterprise knowledge map—designed to emulate the structure and context within which users typicallywork.
Livelink brings a rich set of project management and collaboration/group scheduling capabilities totraditional document management. It provides some of the best features from the document managementand the groupware worlds within an integrated application.
Livelink users with sufficient permissions can create categories and attributes without requiring theservices of a system administrator. A template design form simplifies the process of creating categorytemplates. In addition, Livelink supports multivalued attributes, where attributes can be assigned morethan one value for an object. Categories and attributes can be versioned and are searchable throughLivelink Search and LiveReports.
Pricing
Open Text uses a Named User pricing model in which the Livelink license price is based exclusively onthe number of named users in the system. There is no charge for additional servers or CPUs(processors). Prices for add-on modules and line-of-business applications are calculated independentlyon a per-named user basis as well.
The per-user price for Livelink software decreases as the number of users increases. This means that theprice of a module varies with the number of users. Livelink is priced between US$100 per user (for 10,000users) and $1,000 per user (for 100 users) for a base system. For a 500-user configuration, the baseprice is $480 per user; for 1,000 users it would be $340 per user, while for +10,000 users, the cost isapproximately $160 per user. The base price does not include the optional modules deployed,maintenance or implementation/deployment costs. Annual maintenance costs for the first year are 20percent of the total software cost.
GSA Pricing
Open Text Livelink is listed on the U.S. Government’s GSA pricing schedule through a partner, BurkeConsortium.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 19
Competitors
While Open Text is extending its market reach to offer a Smart Enterprise Suite that combinescollaboration, portals and content management, Livelink has a document-centric foundation and thuscontinues to compete with integrated document management (IDM) products, such as FileNet’s ContentManager, Documentum 5 platform, Hummingbird DM 5 and iManage WorkSite Suite. FileNet andDocumentum’s products require considerable development and customization, while Livelink is an out-of-the-box solution. Documentum and FileNet both provide Web content management solutions, andDocumentum has augmented its product family with project team support and collaboration capabilities(eRoom) as well as with records management functionality.
As Open Text continues to augment Livelink’s core capabilities and drive it further into a collaborationsuite, it also faces competition from a number of vendors outside the realm of traditional documentmanagement. For example, Intraspect and SiteScape are potential competitors in Web-based teamsupport/collaboration services. The offerings from these vendors provide document-based and project-centric collaboration for internal teams and for enabling enterprises and their suppliers, partners andcustomers to work together more efficiently. Likewise, Open Text is encountering competition frompowerhouse vendors such as SAP, IBM/Lotus and Oracle who are also building out Smart EnterpriseSuites. IBM and SAP are the most advanced in their offerings, reflecting the scale of investment and thebreadth of their offerings. Oracle has so far focused attention on the e-mail and messaging functions of itsOracle Collaboration Suite, and it lacks significant content management functionality.
The most direct competitors to Open Text, in terms of product features/functionality and applications focusremain iManage, Documentum and Hummingbird.
iManage
With the WorkSite suite, iManage provides integrated software that enables enterprises to optimize theirvalue chains by enabling members to collaborate and exchange information. The iManage WorkSite suiteis a content management and collaboration suite available for Microsoft Windows and for Javaenvironments. It provides modular application services for document management, collaboration andworkflow, as well as a portal application. The applications have a single code base and share a commonrepository. Documents, project workspaces, tasks, events and discussions are all stored in the samerepository. In recent months, iManage has expanded its product suite with enhancements and newcapabilities, such as report management capabilities and an e-mail management solution. In October2002, iManage announced version 3.0 of its WorkSite MP offering and a new Java-based workflowsolution, WorkRoute MP Pro. In February 2003, iManage announced a partnership with Interwoven,whereby Interwoven will resell iManage’s WorkSite MP offering as its collaborative documentmanagement solution.
Documentum
To further extend the broad enterprise content management capabilities delivered with Documentum 5and to build out its product portfolio to move toward an SES, Documentum made two strategicacquisitions in the fall of 2002: collaboration vendor, eRoom, and records management vendor, TrueArc(formerly Provenance Systems). Documentum’s release acquisition of eRoom and the release ofDocumentum eRoom Enterprise puts it even more directly in competition with Open Text. It enablesDocumentum to address the ad hoc, work-in-process segment of the content life cycle in addition to thestructured management and approval process. Documentum’s Team Manager and the eRoom productsuite have been rationalized as part of the integration process and are now known as DocumentumeRoom Enterprise. Documentum also continues to sell eRoom as a stand-alone offering.
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 20
Documentum eRoom Enterprise, which represents the initial integration of the eRoom and Documentumproduct lines, integrates with the Documentum 5 platform, enabling organizations to collaborativelycreate, share, manage, deliver, reuse and archive the content and best practices supporting businessoperations. Documentum eRoom Enterprise is an out-of-box solution that includes both real-timecollaboration features, such as chat, e-mail and an integration with WebEx, along with team collaborationcapabilities, such as shared workspace, task management, project templates, role support and integrationwith Microsoft Project. For current eRoom customers, a starter pack is available that includes theDocumentum Content Server, Repository and seat package. For current Documentum customers, aneRoom Starter Pack is available that includes an eRoom Server and seat package.
Hummingbird
Hummingbird Enterprise is the umbrella name for its information management suite of products thatincludes portal, document management, business intelligence, records management, imaging, search,workflow and collaboration solutions. Individual products comprising the Hummingbird Enterprise suite areHummingbird Portal, Hummingbird DM, Hummingbird BI, Hummingbird ETL, Hummingbird KM,Hummingbird RM, Hummingbird Imaging, Hummingbird Web Publishing, Hummingbird DM Workflow andHummingbird Collaboration. Hummingbird began shipping Hummingbird DM version 5.0 in June 2002.The release of Hummingbird DM simplifies the product brand, providing one server-based application witha single, zero footprint client that offers the features of both PowerDOCS and CyberDOCS. It is a step inthe right direction and positions Hummingbird well for the future. Compared to many of its IDMcompetitors, Hummingbird has a strong focus on records management. iManage relies on third-partypartnerships. While all of Hummingbird’s leading IDM competitors support Unix server environments inaddition to Windows NT and have moved to support J2EE, Hummingbird DM is currently a Microsoft-centric offering. Hummingbird intends to support J2EE across the entire Hummingbird Enterprise suite,including Hummingbird DM, in the future. In addition, support for Web Services is an important part ofHummingbird’s ongoing technology strategy. Workflow capabilities are currently limited. Hummingbird DMWorkFlow is designed to enable business users to route documents through a review and approval lifecycle and is specific to Hummingbird DM.
Strengths
An Off-the-Shelf Application
While many competing products are really application development environments or middleware thatrequire considerable customization, Livelink is an off-the-shelf application that can be easily deployed andused without customization. Although Livelink was designed for use virtually out of the box, its use ofobject technology and its support for standards like Java and ActiveX, PDF and HTML make it a highlyextensible solution. Through the optional Livelink Activators modules, users can integrate their legacysystems and applications, such as Lotus Notes or SAP R/3, with Livelink’s collaborative capabilities.
Web-Centric Architecture
While many of its traditional document management competitors have added thin-client access to theirserver-based repositories, Livelink was designed completely for the Internet and Web infrastructure. Nospecial client software is required, since all client access and full functionality, including administrationand workflow design, is accomplished through a standard Web browser. Also, Livelink solves anorganization’s administrative challenges and cross-platform interoperability issues by providing fullfunctionality through a Web browser.
Distributed, Scalable and Open Architecture
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 21
Livelink is built on a scalable architecture. Livelink services are configured on a single server; additionalservers can be added as needed to scale a Livelink implementation throughout the enterprise. In addition,servers can be configured as logical clusters of multiple servers acting as a single logical server. It evensupports multiple servers running different operating systems (for example, Unix and NT) in the sameimplementation.
Based on an XML backplane, the Open Text Open Interchange Architecture is designed to integrate withEnterprise Information Portal platforms, interface with back-office processes, support the management ofdocument components, deliver dynamic and personalized content and extend virtual team collaboration.Content integration is made available through this XML-based Open Interchange Architecture.
XML Support
Livelink brings extensive support for XML to the table to facilitate enterprise application integration. XMLdocuments are indexed natively so that users can search on specific elements of an XML document.Livelink Workflows can include an XML Interchange step that enables work packet data to be exported asXML to an external system. Livelink also now includes an XML Parser and XSLT engine so that XML filesand XML DTDs can be added, ensuring that XML files are properly rendered in the browser. Livelink v 9.1added support for importing objects using XML.
Collaborative Features
With Livelink, users have the ability to manage multiple object types, not just documents. For example, itsupports the management and tracking of text, workflows, tasks, discussion threads, newsfeeds, projects,images and others. In addition, Livelink provides rich project management and collaboration/groupscheduling capabilities lacking in more traditional document management offerings. With Livelink’ssupport for threaded discussions, project team members can post comments, messages and responses,as well as attach documents, files or objects to the discussions. Since there is often an inter-relationshipbetween Livelink objects (for example, tasks may attach relevant documents or vise versa), the content inthe system becomes interconnected. With the Livelink MeetingZone module, Open Text adds Web-based,real-time meeting capabilities, including “whiteboarding,” group chat and application sharing, to Livelink. Inaddition, Open Text markets Livelink virtualteams, an integrated team environment built on the Livelinkfoundation. Livelink virtualteams also embeds a virtual team methodology.
Limitations
Many Features Are Optional
Livelink is built with a modular architecture that allows for the addition or removal of plug-in-play modulesfor specific functionality. This can be both a drawback and a strength. With the modular approach,enterprises gain the flexibility of being able to choose the modules appropriate to their specific needs, butthis flexibility comes at a price. Many of the features that extend Livelink’s functionality beyond coredocument management and workflow are options, which must be purchased in addition to the baseproduct. Open Text defends its approach by stating that most of the optional modules are optionalbecause they deliver specific features. For example, Livelink Explorer provides a Windows Explorer viewof the Livelink system. Since this is an Active-X control, it would be an irrelevant feature for customerswho have standardized on non-Microsoft operating systems or the Netscape Navigator Web Browser. Inaddition, Open Text is undergoing a repackaging effort whereby specific sets of modules will be bundledwith core Livelink into a series of Livelink-based applications, focused on specific business problems.
Minimal Web Content Management Capabilities
Open Text Livelink Document and Knowledge Management Suite
© 2003 Gartner, Inc. and/or its Affiliates. All Rights Reserved.DPRO-9021828 July 2003 22
Open Text has extended its capabilities with the addition of Livelink for Content Management, whichprovides basic Web content management capabilities. An application developed by Open Text, Livelinkfor Content Management focuses on content creation primarily. It lacks some of the sophisticatedmultichannel content delivery capabilities found in competing products. For example, Open Text relies onthird-party partners to provide content syndication capabilities.
Recommended Gartner Research
The Smart Enterprise Suite Magic Quadrant for 2003, M-19-3949
The 2002 Integrated Document Management Magic Quadrant, M-16-9036
Magic Quadrant: Team Collaboration Support, M-16-7340
Insight
Livelink is an integrated suite of modules for finding, sharing, managing and collaborating on contentacross geographic and organizational boundaries. It is suitable for ad hoc and virtual project teams thatneed readily deployable functionality out of the box. Organizations can quickly roll Livelink out to usersthroughout the enterprise. Its rich project management and collaborative features extend the reach ofdocument management. Open Text has continually enhanced Livelink’s functionality and increased itsrelevance as a collaboration and knowledge management platform through the addition of optionalmodules and enhanced base features. Consider Livelink if you require a tool that supports both intra- andinterenterprise collaboration, via a secure extranet application. Its added support for real-timecollaboration via the MeetingZone module will appeal to geographically dispersed and budget-consciousorganizations.