A date was set, then changed and changed again. The servers were patched. Agents were scheduled. Patches were released to workstations, then suddenly halted because of a script error. The script was corrected and re-released before the order was given to stop deployment. Arguments followed. At the last minute, the agent version was upgraded and everything had to be re-tested. The day after the Notes agents started running, I was told the scheduled date had been moved back again.

The agents were scheduled to run for seven days. Two days after they finished, a different OS patch was sent out. The agents were re-scheduled, again.

I ran the agent on the reservation database. Everything looked good. The next day, I found something on IBM's website saying each room had its own time zone settings. Each resource document needed to be opened and re-saved to update the time zone.

The agent wasn't designed to update the hundreds of repeating reservations in the resource database. Some meetings were mangled when one of the three TimeZone fields in the document changed. Personal repeating Reminders didn't update either. We're slowly working our way through the confusion.

Numbers are now being tallied to see if any oil is saved. If the numbers aren't sufficient, I suppose we'll be doing this again in six months. I'm hanging onto all my notes, how about you?

Beau Schless is a principal of NOTEbookS Library Automation, a software business that specializes in turnkey Lotus Notes products. Current product development includes an incident management system for the ski industry and an email records management system for Notes. Prior to starting his business Schless held management positions at Digital Equipment, Price Waterhouse and Xerox Corporation. He holds a Masters in Computer Systems Management from Rochester Institute of Technology and a business degree from Florida State.