Excuse me, you got some AJAX in my UCM.

Now I know that SiteStudio 10gR4 is hardly brand new but for my own work I’m really starting to dig into it.  We’re running a version of Oracle UCM here at ImageSource that, well, not to put too fine a point on it, is getting a bit long in the tooth.  So, in order for me to play around with it, I ended up installing Oracle UCM 10gR3 on a development system.  I got to say that playing with all the new goodies is pushing getting our production system updated much higher up on my personal priority list!

There are so many new features that SiteStudio 10gR4 brings to the table that to go over them all in detail would take more time than I can spare.  With that in mind I’m going to focus on a new feature that really excites me: External Application Integration.

Oracle has provided us two brand spanking new services in this latest release: the WCM_PLACEHOLDER service, and the WCM_BEGIN_EDIT_SESSION service.  Now, with names like that I can forgive you if you are wondering where the sexiness is located. Let me assure you, it’s in there in spades.

WCM_PLACEHOLDER lets any external application you can think of, be it a custom thick-client, a web portal, or a mashup, get at any piece of content stored in UCM.  Wow!  Not only that but you can specify a rendering template (also stored in UCM) to format the data that’s returned. Double Wow!  So let’s say that you are creating a web portal and want to pull out, say, a word document that happens to contain a press release so you can extol the new virtues of Product 2.0 on the portal page.  With WCM_PLACEHOLDER you could load a link like the following using a standard HTTPRequest on the portal page:

http://myecmserver/idc/idcplg?IdcService=WCM_PLACEHOLDER&dataFileDocName=MY_AWESOME_PR_WORD_DOC
&templateDocName=MY_HTML_TEMPLATE

And get a fully rendered HTML fragment returned to you.  Even though it was a Word document, since we’re pulling it from UCM and using a region template that uses the DynamicConverter to convert that document into HTML, we don’t have to worry about it.  Because this is all done over HTTP we can leverage all the powerful AJAX methods that really are what modern website programming is all about.

You might be saying at this point “Okay, getting HTML back is okay I guess, but man, I really wish I could just get it in some easier format to work with it just as data and let my custom application do what I want with it.”  Luckily, WCM_PLACEHOLDER still has us covered. If we add the IS_JSON parameter to our request link and set that to 1 then, boom, we get a JSON response back and can do whatever we want with it without worrying about all the pesky HTML.   How cool is that?

Now the WCM_PLACEHOLDER services also returns something else interesting.  It returns security metadata that specifies what editing actions are allowed.  Wait, what? We can edit content displayed using this service?  Yes, Virginia, we can edit content in our repository from an external application.

And with all the flair of a featured actor making a dramatic entrance at the start of Act 2 we come to WCM_BEGIN_EDIT_SESSION.  Using this service couldn’t be simpler.  We preform an HTTPRequest on a URL like the following:

http://ecm/idc/idcplg?IdcService=WCM_BEGIN_EDIT_SESSION&dDocName=MY_DOCUMENT

And that will return a SiteStudio editor (assuming the user has the correct role of course) with the document ready to be edited from an external application.  Since WCM_PLACEHOLDER gives us metadata on what editing actions can be taken we can use that in our external application to visualize (or not) the actions that can be taken with that returned content.

These two services, while not complex in and of themselves, really make it easy to start creating dynamic, content driven, applications using the data you already have stored and with all the features you have come to expect from UCM literally anywhere.

One application that comes to my mind would be a UCM and SiteStudio powered blog platform where posts can be created and managed using the security roles already in your UCM installation. Well, a guy can dream can’t he?

Les Harris
Support Engineer
ImageSource Inc.

Is It Time to Take Your Workflow In For a Checkup?

Almost every business has documents that go through some kind of work process such as expense reports and application processing that uses some kind of Business Process Management [BPM].  BPM is generally defined as a systematic approach to improving and automating an organization’s business processes and workflows.  These workflows may be core to your business process and over the years as rules, regulation, and other external factors alter the original flow it is critical to to plan on performing regularly scheduled checkups of your BPM processes.

While supporting systems that have little or no changes to their BPM workflow maps in over a decade it is very common to run into issues and complications caused by knowledge workers who have devised workarounds for changes that have occurred over time.  One of the biggest problems I see with not revisiting and performing analysis and research to get a current picture on a regular basis is User Acceptance.

When we run into this type of a situation the knowledge workers are often frustrated and highly irritated with the software and how the system works.  The user feels that their performance is based on rules and regulations that no longer apply and will complain stating “I had nothing to do with how this was configured”, “this is how we do it because it has always been like this” and “I don’t understand why we have to do it this way.”  The user is often very negative about the inefficiencies and wants to tell everyone and anyone willing to listen.  This can have an immense impact on the work environment and acceptance of your ECM system and future applications.

Where to start:  The efficient flow of documents through your organization is critical to remaining competitive and document management and workflow solutions are proven to cut cost and improve efficiencies.  If you have been using a rules based electronic workflow for over 3-5 years it is a good practice to review the “as is” state of the workflows and update them on a regular basis.  BPM workflow updates should be visible to upper management and budgeted for the future along with software upgrades.  Most importantly involve the knowledge works in the discovery and development process. “Because we have always done it this way” does not need to be the number one comment about your ECM system.  The success of BPM is rooted in starting with the right process and continuing best practices for regular checkups and maintenance.

Leigh Woody

Program Manager

ImageSource, Inc.

How To Perform Basic Web Troubleshooting for IPM Web

Web troubleshooting can be difficult and searching through Oracle Metalink to get information can be even worse.   I found this record in the Oracle Archives and thought it may help out other Acorde/Stellent/Oracle IPM/UCM users.  The following is a general guide for troubleshooting issues with the IPM Web service.  Hopefully reviewing the installation checklist and going through this troubleshooting guide will resolve most configuration issues with the web service.

Solution

Installation Phase

This phase encompasses all steps outlined in the install doc. If problems occur during or immediately following the installation, please review these steps:

1. How was the installation done?

At the console or through terminal services?

Terminal services has been known to cause serious issues in our installation of the web. It appears that when the install is done in this way, some files are not registered properly. Typically, you will see errors pointing to COM (login errors, plugin errors, etc.).

2. Were all the installation steps followed?

Check permissions, and verify that objects under the IBPMWeb and IBPMData folder all have the correct permissions. Reset all child objects under IBPMWeb and IBPMData. Make sure the correct web extensions are enabled.

3. Has the current problem been happening since the system was installed?

If yes, then you may need to review the install documentation.

4. Check the HKLM/Software/Optika/TRANSPORT/MANAGER_ADDRS

Make sure it points to the actual Request Broker machine (either the hostname or IP address). Also make sure the webserver can ping that address or hostname.

5. Is there a client or other services installed on the webserver?

If so, please understand that this is not a recommended configuration. In the event it is unavoidable, make sure that the services, (client and web) are all installed into the same location. For IPM web, the DLLs should be installed into C:\Program Files\Stellent\IBPM.

Startup Phase

This phase encompasses the process after installation or after an IISRESET.

1. Do the clients get the login screen?

If not, then we’re failing prior to getting all the ASP\DLLs loaded. Typically this points to either a permissions issue or a corruption in the IBPMWeb\OTInfrastructure\AcordeObjectHeaders folder. Delete all the files in that folder and do an IISRESET from a command prompt.

2. Can the user successfully login?

If not, this means that we are not getting a COM connection open to validate the user. Typically we will see a 29515 error appear stating we were not able to reach a service. In this case look at the permissions on the HKLM\Software\Optika registry key. Another item to look at is to make sure that if for some reason we have a client on the webserver that it is installed into the same folder as the IBPMWeb. Installing elsewhere will cause the web problems when it goes to register DLLs.

3. Is the error in the workcenter or elsewhere?

If after login we see an error on the workcenter, this points to an issue with the AcordeObjectHeaders folder. Rebuild that directory.

If the error happens in another window or frame then we’ll need to investigate those individually.

4. Is the client machine following a shortcut that points to a file below IBPMWeb?

In the past we have seen issues where a client will follow a shortcut that they created when at the login screen of the IPM Web. Doing so causes certain startup processes to be bypassed and can cause problems later because they may be using outdated connection information or other bad data that can cause varied problems.

Post Startup Phase

This phase encompasses any issues that occur after a successful installation and login. These errors typically come from problems with COM or from the connection to the backend servers. If these errors occur after an upgrade to the OS then check to make sure that any firewall or antivirus changes have been deactivated temporarily until we can determine if one of them is the cause.

Plug-in related Problems

For issues related to the plugin, look at the following:

1. Does the Messenger virtual directory contain an ISAPIMsgr.dll?

If not, then the Messenger virtual directory is pointed to the wrong location. Delete and re-create the Messenger virtual directory and point it at C:\Program Files\Stellent\IBPM

2. Does IUSR/IWAM have full control to the IBPMData folder?

If not, correct the security settings and then reset all child objects on that directory.

3. Are the users accessing the web with the hostname or IP address?

If they are using the hostname, you may want to adjust the Web Settings so that it uses hostname over IP (Login with a Web Administrator, click Administration -> Choose Web Settings -> Change the first section to use hostname and specify hostname.domain.com in the text box->Save the settings.)

4. Is there a proxy between the clients and the webserver?

If so, use the explanation for #3 and change the setting to hostname.

5. Are we seeing a *.opt file get created in the IBPMData\IBPMSessionData\<sessionid> folder?

If so, is the file larger than 4k? If so, open the file in a test editor and see what the message is. If it is larger than 4k we can assume that the images are getting to the webserver from export. This would indicate an issue with the plugin loading the image from IBPMData.

6. Check the IIS log and see if ISAPIMsgr.dll is listed as being accessed.

The log can be found at C:\Windows(orWINNT)\System32\LogFiles\W3SVC(number of website)\ and will be named after the date in which it was created. This file is helpful in troubleshooting different problems when you need to see if certain items are being requested from the web server.

How to do a complete uninstall of the IPM Web:

1. Use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall the web

2. Delete the Program Files\Stellent folder

3. Open Regedit and delete HKLM\Software\Optika and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Optika

4. Remove the entries in the IIS Administrator for IBPMWeb, IBPMData and Messenger virtual Directories.

When all else fails…

o When all else fails, get another machine and install the web on it temporarily. Does it exhibit the same issues?

o Was the web installed via Terminal Services? If so, re-install from the console.

o Was the IPMWeb uninstalled and re-installed, or just updated over the older version?

o Was the web installed over a network share? If so, try installing from the CDROM.

If you are still unable to resolve the issue, get the following information:

1. What OS version and service pack does the webserver have installed?

2. Does the webserver also have other applications installed (besides IBPMWeb) and are they running under the same website?

3. What version of IBPMWeb are they installing/using and does that version match the backend IPM servers?

4. Is the customer using custom web applications? Were these recently implemented or altered?

5. Does the customer have Antivirus scanning the IBPMWeb and IBPMData folders? If so, have them exclude these directories for the real time scan.

6. What version of IE is installed on the clients?

7. What version of the J2RE is installed on the clients?

8. How many users are accessing the IBPMWeb at any given time?

9. How much RAM is installed, and how fast are the CPUs along with how machine CPUs are present.

10. Enable IBPMWeb logging. Login into the web with a user which has been granted the Web Administrator Policy; Click Administration; Choose Web Defaults; Check m_AcordeWebLogging; Save, and do an IISRESET. A log will be produced at the root of C drive called AcordeWeb<date>.log. After the error is reproduced and a log is created, turn web logging back off because logging is not thread safe. Supply this log to ImageSource tech support and it will be analyzed for it any info it can provide.

Leigh Woody
Program Manager
ImageSource, Inc.

Enterprise Content Management (ECM): Best Practices for Backfile Conversion

The 2 main aspects of Backfile Conversion are Security and Quality.  Security within the document scanning process is tracking and maintaining records for each document through the workflow.  If a conversion workflow is tracked and accounted for efficiently, a quality product will be the result. 

In addition to maintaining records of documents it is not uncommon that someone will want to view one of the documents that are in the workflow.  If an itemized inventory list (tracking log) was created at the beginning of the conversion workflow and an entry to the tracking log was made every time the document was processed, it should take minutes to locate where the document is and provide either the hard copy or the imaged copy of that document for the individual looking for the document.

The conversion workflow process usually consists of incoming inventory, preparation of documents for scanning, scanning of documents, indexing, releasing of images into the Document Management System and outgoing inventory.  When an entry is made to the tracking log, the name and date should be included in the entry.  This will assign that technician the responsibility of the document during this stage in the workflow.  The goal with assigning responsibility is to add incentive for the technician to make sure the document is imaged clearly and indexed accurately.  Accountability ensures quality of work being produced.

Through the use of a tracking log documents are secure in that they know where they are at all times.  Technicians are held accountable for their work. 

 

Jeff Martin

Conversion Services Project Coordinator

ImageSource, Inc.

  

Monitoring Server Performance

Does your ECM server seem to have performance related issues?  Are requests to your ECM software taking longer than normal?  If so then you may have a few choices:

• You can always add some extra physical ram, this may help but may not get you to the root of the problem.
• You could maybe add a processor or two and hope for the best, or you can figure out why your ECM server is running so slowly. 

There are several different things that can cause ECM system performance degradation.  In this article we will explain how you can use Performance Monitor aka “PerfMon” a Microsoft Windows built in diagnostic tool to help determine the cause of your ECM server’s bottle neck.

As with any other diagnostic tool Performance Monitor is a running process and like any other process, Performance Monitor may consume things like CPU cycles, system memory, and potentially hard disk resources.  This will slightly lower the amount of available system resources reported by Performance Monitor then when performance monitor is not running.  Even with that Performance Monitor is still accurate enough that it can be used to help IT staff determine system bottle necks that are causing performance related issues.

When running Performance Monitor we recommend turning off all of the default counters.  This will allow you to add the counters and attributes that we are going to discuss below.

• % Processor Time
  • This counter will show you what percentage of the available CPU cycles that are being consumed by the system. For example if the % Processor Time counter reads 40, then the CPU is working at 40% capacity.  If your processor is exceeding 65% capacity then this will be a problem area.
• % Disk Time
  • This counter’s average value should be as low as possible. An average value of 70% or above indicates that the hard disk can’t keep up.  Adding more spindles or faster hard disks may be required.
• Current Disk Queue Length
  • This counter will show you how many I/O operations are waiting for the hard disk to become available.  Our recommendation is that the average disk queue length should be 4 or less.  Adding more spindles or faster hard disks may be required.
• Cache Bytes
  • This counter monitors the amount of memory being used for the file system cache.  Anything over 10 MB would be considered too much. If this is the case it is recommended that you add more physical memory.
• Pool Non-paged Bytes and Pool Non-paged Allocations
  • Another way to test for memory leaks is to monitor these two counters. The Pool Non-paged Bytes counter counts pages of memory that can’t be moved to virtual memory, these will stay in physical RAM.  Most likely, if this value is too high, you’ll have to add more physical memory to the system.  You can also watch the Pool Non-paged Allocations counter to see how many calls are being made to that portion of the memory. If the number of calls does not seem to correspond with the number of memory pages, you may likely have a memory leak rather than an insufficient amount of physical ram.
• PAGES/SEC
  • This value counts the number of times per second that the system is accessing virtual memory rather than physical memory. A value above 20 is considered to be high, and it may indicate a problem with the way your virtual memory is configured rather than a problem or shortage of physical memory.

We recommend monitoring these counters over a day or more to document and establish a baseline.

Co-Authered  by:
Jon Sutherland
Senior Systems Engineer
ImageSource, Inc.

Bryan Wilhelm
Senior Systems Engineer
ImageSource, Inc.

Public Access to Records in Oracle UCM Can Make Web Sites Vulnerable

I was recently surprised to find a lot of companies running Oracle UCM systems that were exposed in a way that someone could hijack the website. We were looking for documents related to generic properties forms on the internet and quickly found 4 large government and corporate companies with systems left wide open with material relating to their websites. We logged on as a guest user and we could have deleted the web content or checked out the content and checked in new content giving us control of what is on their websites. I was able to get the emails of the contributors from the system and emailed them to let them know that they need to lock down their site. It was interesting that I never got a response from any of the people and that the web sites are still exposed. When mixing critical business content and public access you can’t take security and rights issues lightly. In this case, a simple checkbox can make the difference between fast access to important ECM records and becoming a victim of HTML theft.