Essentially, there are five groups of products. We will look at each one in more detail, so you will always be sure that you use the right tool for the job at hand. The first one we should look at is the ECM.
The ECM (also known as Document Management) is a set of tools you'll use to add full text search, revisions, granular access control, workflow, easy web publishing, and more to your existing content. Many organizations use it to transition from paper documents in file cabinets, e-mail, file shares, and other legacy document management systems. It helps business users find the right documents fast—just when they need them, and cut down on wasteful paper processes. It also makes their content more secure and better protected against an accidental loss.
Document Management Group includes the following products:
Content Integration APIs: This includes Java toolsets (Custom Components, CIS, RIDC and so on) for extending ECM functionality and for remote communication with UCM, and WSDL Generator for using any SOAP-aware tool to consume UCM services (We looked at these tools in more detail in Chapter 10, Customizing Oracle UCM).
Desktop Integration Suite : This allows you to integrate Virtual Folders with Windows Desktop and Microsoft Office (We explored the CIS in Chapter 6, Understanding Virtual Folders and WebDAV).
Dynamic Converter: This allows you to convert business documents into web pages for everyone to see, without the need to use applications that created them. You can include MS Office, AutoCAD drawings, and hundreds of other proprietary file formats on your site—and never worry about your end users needing to have an appropriate viewer on their machines to open them. Dynamic Converter is also a core of the Native Publishing Model that we discussed in more details in Chapter 11, Web Content Management and Collaboration. You can find more info on Oracle Dynamic Converter section on the online UCM Documentation Library.
Content Conversion Server (Also known as Inbound Refinery): This is a standalone server product that converts content between different file formats. It can also create preview thumbnails. Unlike dynamic converter, that converts documents on demand, Inbound Refinery performs its conversion during the check-in process. More information is available in Inbound Refinery Administration Guide.
PDF Converter: This is a Content Conversion Server add-in that allows you to automatically generate PDF version of a document on check in. (More information available in PDF Converter Installation and Administration Guide) .
PDF Watermark: This is an optional Content Server add-on to add dynamic, configurable watermarks to the PDF documents generated by the PDF Converter. More information is available from PDFWatermark Installation and Administration Guide.
Content Categorizer: This is a Content Server add-on that suggests metadata values for the documents being checked in, based on their content and other business rules. You can also use it to mass-update existing content. You can find more information from Content Categorizer Administration Guide—from the UCM Documentation page.
Content Tracker: This is another Content Server add-on that allows you to gather detailed usage information and generate reports—for auditing and monitoring purposes. Learn more about it from Content Tracker Administration Guide.
Web Parts for SharePoint: These are there to integrate documents stored in Content Server directly into MS SharePoint interface (Supported SharePoint versions are 2003 and 2007).
UCM Need To Know Component (NTK) : This delivers security enhancements and allows you to alter Content Server security model based on business rules (See Need to Know Component Administration Guide for more information).
UCM Clean Content Component : This allows you to scan for and remove unwanted parts of MS Office documents that are known to cause security risks. (Things such as hidden text and slides, database queries, sensitive hyperlinks, weak protections, and others. For more information Google for "Oracle Clean Content SDK").
Archiver Replication Exceptions: This helps you to prevent failed imports from stopping replication. It captures such failed imports into "exceptions" archive and sends out an e-mail to system administrator.
Collaboration Manager : This gives you project workspaces, online discussions and another, more traditional security model. However, Collaboration Manager is an older product and I highly recommend that you look into using the Oracle Web Center instead.
File Store Provider (new in 10gR3): This allows you to store your content in a database, instead of a traditional file system. This new approach gives you several important advantages. See Chapter 7, Under the hood, for more information.
Folders and WebDAV: The Content Server extra that adds support for Virtual Folders. Please see Chapter 6, for more information.
Folder Structure Archive Component : This allows you to selectively export and migrate just the folders you want, as opposed to exporting an entire virtual folder tree. See Chapter 9, Migrating Configuration, for more information.
Content Folios : This adds support for compound documents. They let you handle multiple related documents as one–just like a
ZIPfile, but with a lot more useful features. See Content Folios User Guide for more information.Web Forms Editor: This provides a visual design environment for Hypertext Content Server Files (HCSFs) and iDoc resource files. See Chapter 10 for more information on Web Forms Editor.
That's all for the Document Management, and if that's not enough, let's move on to WeContent Management.
The WCM allows you to use your content in dynamic websites. It's an add-on module that goes on top of the Content Server. You'll need ECM to run WCM.
It also gives you a full featured HTML editor such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver that allows you to create elaborate, efficient and easy to manage websites. All web pages, images and documents will be stored Content Server (See Chapter 11 for a detailed introduction to Oracle Web Content Management).
Additional modules we have not covered so far include:
Oracle Connection Server is an efficient tool for publishing (and delivering) content to one or more destinations. It can use FTP and other industry standard protocols, pull and push models, and can apply transformations to content while it's being delivered. More information is available in Oracle Connection Server Administration Guide.
Oracle Site Studio is a suite of tools for creating killer dynamic websites, driven by Content Server. Refer to Chapter 11 for more information on the Site Studio.
Oracle Site Studio Publisher (Site Studio Publishing Utility) is a server product that allows you to publish dynamic Site Studio websites as static
HTML, so they can be hosted outside of Content Server. See Chapter 11 for more information on Static Publishing Model and Oracle Site Studio Publisher Administration Guide for more information on SSPU.Oracle Content Publisher is another alternative for publishing business documents on the Web. Just like the Native publishing model in Oracle Site Studio, it allows you to focus on your business documents and have the Content Publisher generate
HTMLversions for publishing on the Web. And just like the Site Studio, it also uses Oracle Dynamic Converter to generate web-viewable rendition of over 200 different file formats.Tip
Content Publisher or Site Studio?
Content Publisher that ships with Oracle Content Conversion Sever, is an earlier product and is better suited for less complex websites. Consider using it if all you need is to publish your business documents on the Web.
On the other hand, Site Studio allows contributors to come in and manage their own content directly on the site. And it gives you, the designer, a great degree of flexibility to create powerful dynamic websites and build a library of reusable dynamic fragments.
While Site Studio is almost always my first choice over the Content Publisher but when it comes to Native Publishing, I love the Tutorial and Seven Easy Lessons guides that come with the Content Publisher product. Remember, both tools use Dynamic Converter and you will be creating Dynamic Converter templates exactly the same way—no matter which tool will you end up using.
Content Portlet Suite is a developer toolkit that allows integrating dynamic content and Content Server workflows into various enterprise portals. CPS supports WebLogic, WebSphere, Sun One, Plumtree, and WSRP (Web Services For Remote Portlets). More information is available from Oracle Content Portlet Suite Developer Guide.
Oracle Web Center is a companion product to the UCM suite that offers best in class online collaboration features, such as team workspaces, blogs, wikis, and portlets. You can find more information about the Web Center at its website —Google for Oracle "Web Center".
Third-party companion products that compliment UCM and WCM functionality. They address common concerns and slash the time (and the budget) you need for WCM implementations. The most useful, in my humble opinion, is the Site Studio Toolbox™ and other Oracle UCM components available from Fishbowl Solutions (Check their website at: www.fishbowlsolutions.com for the full catalog of components and more information).
That's all for the Web Content Management. The next UCM product group we shall look at is the URM.
The URM allows you to control retention and disposition of a sensitive content that requires life cycle management and long-term preservation. Oracle URM is one of the top players in the Records Management market and is DOD 5015.2 and .4 certified.
Oracle URM contains these modules:
Records Manager (Corporate and DoD Editions) is a Content Server add-on that implements URM functionality for electronic content. Find more information about the Records Manager in Oracle Universal Records Manager section in online documentation page.
Physical Content Manager is the URM module that allows you to keep track of physical records, such as file folders, boxes, CD, and tape media and so on. It can be integrated with bar code scanners so you could easily identify the actual physical items. More information is available in Physical Content Manager Administration Guide.
URM Adapters help you extend the retention, disposition, and litigation support of the URM to other Enterprise Content Management systems. While content continues to reside in external systems, such as Documentum, FileNet, or SharePoint, its life cycle is now controlled by the URM. The adapters also send information back to the URM server so it can keep track of all record content in the entire enterprise. More information is available in the Oracle Universal Records Manager Adapters section of online documentation page.
And this completes the Universal Records Management group of products. But we're not through yet. The next UCM product group is Oracle IPM.
Imaging and Process Management (IPM) enables image capture via Oracle Document Capture and Oracle Distributed Document Capture. It also offers OCR, full text search, annotation, and mark-up of images, routing, and approvals.
It also provides means of organizing and searching documents across the enterprise—regardless of where are they stored or what application they came from. IPM includes adapters for Oracle E-Business (BPEL), PeopleSoft, and IPM SDK.
You can find more information about Oracle IPM in the Oracle Imaging and Process Management section of online documentation site.
And there is one more UCM module left to look at. Let's look at Oracle IRM.
Oracle IRM is there to encrypt and secure sensitive content when it's not in repository—inside or outside the firewall. It allows organizations to retain control over their sensitive information—even after it has been shared, track content that was forwarded to various internal and external audiences, prevent unauthorized access and revoke it when required.
The software itself has two components:
You can find more information about IRM in Oracle Information Rights Management section of online documentation site.
And now that you've seen an entire Oracle UCM product offering, let's see a few more easy steps you can take to bump your UCM expertise to an even higher bracket.
You've just finished the Oracle UCM Handbook and its about the time for me to reveal the biggest of my secrets—the one powerful enough to help you achieve any one of your learning objectives, no matter how ambitious or even outlandish they may seem.
Note
Toronto Java developer reveals:
"He laughed when I told him that I now lead a Stellent project—but his jaw dropped when he'd seen us in action, and how the client treated us like royalties!"
This may well be one of the most important sections in the entire book. Here's what it is all about.
Many regard me as one of the most respected names in Oracle UCM, but it hasn't always been that way. Listen, just over five short years ago, I've accepted a team lead role at a large Stellent Web Content Management migration project for a local government, without any formal Stellent experience! (I've been somewhat involved with the Content Server for about a month, but that was it.) Oh, and I forgot to tell you that the project was in a serious crisis!
A couple of months after I started, I've bumped into a manager I used to work with at my previous place. He asked what am I up to and I told him. He grinned and said that he heard how much of a "kludge" the Stellent was and how sorry he feels for me. So what did I say?
I took him for lunch the next day but I asked him to meet me in the building! I used an excuse to bring him upstairs and introduced him to my team, my boss, and the client.
Man it was priceless! Just watching his jaw drop alone made all of my sleepless nights well worth it! So how did I do that?
I wasn't tricking him and I couldn't possibly learn that fast just by reading documentation and bugging Stellent Support. So what was my secret?
It wasn't luck and I didn't have to stop sleeping and eating and just work. Nope. My secret took me from an average Java developer from the trenches to the forefront of a foreign field. And the secret is simply this:
I've been learning from the best of the best.
I bet you've heard this one before! So why so few people out there are are using it?
Well, how would you tell the good guys from the charlatans? And how would you sift through the tons of daily blog posts, tweets, and status updates when most of them are not even related to Oracle UCM? Will reading a lengthily post about the health of the guru's cat take you any closer to Stellent mastery?
I took a massive step forward to help you answer the first question—identify the "good guys". In Appendix B, the Oracle UCM Resource Directory, I've compiled a list of some 42 blogs, article directories, websites, and magazines you can rely on for continuous flow of insider information, but who can follow 42 sites on a regular basis?
Well, I wouldn't be writing this section, a week before the book's publication, at 2:00 in the AM if I didn't have a real working shortcut you can take.
So here's what I've done to thank you for investing in this book, I've set aside your own private and personal spot in the Independent Oracle UCM Knowledge Center. Claim it and you will accomplish these three important objectives:
You will receive important updates to this book's content—especially timely and critical now, when the new UCM 11g is finally out, and everyone is anxious to see what has changed.
You will stay abreast of the new tools, features, and techniques, no matter whether or not they were covered in this book at all.
You will stay motivated about mastering Oracle UCM and reaping the maximum benefit it can give your organization and your career.
It's tough to make yourself learn something new every day, and many people run out of enthusiasm almost immediately. So why not try the other way? Why not simply subscribe to an e-mail list and let the publisher do the hard work? All you need to do is look over the tips, tricks, and trade secrets you receive right in your in-box, and use them to your advantage.
One day I'll ask you to read a short article. The other day, it will be a three minute screen cast video, and before you know it, you will find yourself in the top ranks of Oracle UCM.
Stop by www.stellentexperts.com/handbook and pick up your free subscription.
I promise, you won't see any family stories, stock market updates, or rants about my new car. Just the short, to-the-point tips and tricks—hot from the frontline trenches of Oracle UCM. Tips and tricks you can immediately apply and benefit, just the meat and no filler material.
So don't delay. Grab your subscription while you're still thinking about it. You will be glad you did.
Sincerely,
Dmitri Khanine
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