History of Out of Office within Lotus Notes
The Out of Office (OOO) functionality in Lotus Notes was provided by an Agent that had the terrible default of being scheduled once a day. What was the point in that? Isn't it important that whoever sent you that important business email, knows very quickly that you're not in a position to read it? The normal quick fixes included increasing the frequency by which the Agent ran, or have it run immediately with a new email being delivered. This situation has now been solved with Lotus Notes 8.
New Out of Office Features with Lotus Notes 8
Since the product is still pre-release, the final shipped product may vary, but hopefully by not too much. The key difference is the introduction of an OOO Service that is supported by the Router Task on the Lotus Domino Server. The Agent is still supported, and this has been improved, but in my opinion the Service is definitely the way to go. Below are the comparisons between the Service and Agent for OOO on Lotus Notes 8
| Functionality | Service | Agent |
| Response time | Instant response | Every six hours (default) |
| Support for failover? | Yes | No |
| Disabling | Disabled automatically | Disabled manually |
| Minimum duration length | One hour | One day |
| Delegation | Supports delegation with Access Control List (ACL) | Supports delegation with ACL + agent security |
| Depends upon agent security? | No | Yes |
Delegation of OOO
This is great for PA's, secretaries etc, where senior personnel are unavailable for the afternoon, and therefore unable to attend to their email. It is now possible to allow delegated individuals (or groups) to set the OOO on YOUR behalf, ensuring your colleagues and customers realise your not ignoring their emails.
More Information on OOO for Lotus Notes 8
There is a complete detailed article written by Julie Kadashevich, which provides example screen shots etc on the proposed OOO functionality, available on the URL below:
The new IBM Lotus Notes 8 Out of Office functionality
Want to know more about Lotus Notes 8?
Q:chi is proud to announce that we're on the IBM Beta program for Lotus Notes 8, and therefore can provide a unique in sight in what to expect with the new features etc that will be provided. If you are considering assessing this version in 2007, we can also advise on best practices for upgrading to the new release.
Please contact us for any more information regarding Lotus Notes 8, and Lotus Domino 8, or give us a call if you have any general enquiries that we may be able to assist you with.
Author Joel Greenwell February 2007