Contribution (Alfresco)

Hi,

While looking for some documentation on Alfresco, I came across this wikipage -> http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Help_Wanted#LibreOffice_Alfresco_Implementation (The last on at the bottom of the page) The page says:

LibreOffice Alfresco Implementation

The LibreOffice project uses Alfresco to manage technical documentation. They are looking for help customizing their Alfresco implementation (folder structure, permissions, minor Share user interface tweaks, workflow, etc.).

Primary contact: David Nelson

Which says that the LibreOffice project is looking for people with Alfresco knowledge to help them with their Alfresco implementation. While I may not be a pro, but I would love to contribute in any way I can. I have worked on other open source projects and have made contributions here and there and have extensive experience in Document management and ECM.

So, are you guys still looking for help with Alfresco? Can I help? if Yes, How do I get started?

Best Regards,
Sanket

Hi :slight_smile:
Have we been able to help with this at all yet?  It is a difficult question to deal with as the crucial person is very busy but it would be great if we could forwards this to David
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Sanket Sharma wrote:

Hi,

While looking for some documentation on Alfresco, I came across this wikipage -> http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Help_Wanted#LibreOffice_Alfresco_Implementation (The last on at the bottom of the page) The page says:

LibreOffice Alfresco Implementation

The LibreOffice project uses Alfresco to manage technical documentation. They are looking for help customizing their Alfresco implementation (folder structure, permissions, minor Share user interface tweaks, workflow, etc.).

Primary contact: David Nelson

Which says that the LibreOffice project is looking for people with Alfresco knowledge to help them with their Alfresco implementation. While I may not be a pro, but I would love to contribute in any way I can. I have worked on other open source projects and have made contributions here and there and have extensive experience in Document management and ECM.

So, are you guys still looking for help with Alfresco? Can I help? if Yes, How do I get started?

Best Regards,
Sanket

      Use this email address: David Nelson <lists@traduction.biz>. If you can help, he will probably appreciate it.

--Dan

I forwarded this and other Alfresco correspondence on to David some time ago. Haven't heard anything.

BTW, lists@ is not the best email address to reach David directly; commerce@ is better.

Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
Brilliant, nicely done (as always).  Thanks for reassuring me.  I doubt anyone else remembers noticing because i am not sure if it really even happened but did David tell us the name of his main contact within the Alfresco project?  If so it would probably have been around a year or so ago so they may have moved on. 
Apols and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Hi :slight_smile:
I had a quick glance back but only as far as mid-Aug 2011.  Couldn't find the one i thought i remembered.  The only other name i could find was Christian Lohmaier and i think he is a famous LibreOffice person.  I sent him a quick email to see if he remembered anything.

I found the email that Jean was referring to when she said that commerce@ was the best address.  David said that lists@ was read occasionally but commerce@ got read even if he was snowed-under with clients.  So, i guess he is busy with clients :)  not a bad thing to be these days!  :) 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Hi Sanket, Jean, Tom, guys,

Sorry to have been so silent recently... So much stuff is happening
for me right now in the offline world. I did get your off-list mails
but did not reply immediately since no showstopper Alfresco outage was
involved. But I will reply - *probably* this weekend, since I have the
weekend free for the first time in ages.

Anyway, this does not mean that things have not been moving Alfresco-wise.

Cedric Bosdonnat has been in contact with me on Skype, and is now
tooled-up to help out with admin'ing the server. He's also been at
work on CMIS functionality for LibreOffice, which - when ready for
prime-time use - could have very significant implications and
advantages for collaborating via Alfresco.

Jeff Potts has developed and installed a dedicated interface to
replace the current Drupal-based site at http://media.libreoffice.org
- you can check it out at http://media.alfresco.org:8081.

I'll be starting new threads with much more information about all the
above news.

Sanket, if your offer of help with administration is still open,
you'll be a most-welcome addition to "the staff". If so, please could
you post back with more details about the kind of help you feel able
to offer? Admin via the Alfresco admin interface? Development work via
the admin interface? "Back-end" development work via coding installed
at OS level? Got any specific ideas about what you'd like to get
involved in?

One big outstanding task is to write documentation for docs team
contributors collaborating using Alfresco, and - more generally - for
other teams using the LibreOffice Alfresco platform for collaboration.
I'm planning to work on that more this weekend, but you'd be very
welcome to take part in this, if you felt able...

Hi David,

Trust you are well and had a good weekend. It was nice to see you reply and seems like you've already quite far ahead with your implementation.

Yes, my offer for help is still stands open. I can perhaps start with the general administration and move on to more advanced coding/backend stuff once I understand environment well enough?

I'm pretty much comfortable with the fully cycle - administration/installation, configuration, development and even documentation. I think it would be best if you can advice me - whats on your priority list and I can get cracking? Would love to be part of "The Staff" :wink:

Best Regards,
Sanket

Looks like I've lost you again?

Sanket

Hi Sanket,

Sorry for the delay, I'm frantically busy with some urgent work. If
you have a Skype account, you can also catch me on Skype
(traduction.biz)...

Trust you are well and had a good weekend. It was nice to see you reply and seems like you've already quite far ahead with your implementation.

Well, implementation as such is completely finished.

The only on-going work is http://media.libreoffice.org:8081

This is the public download point where all content on the repository
can be accessed by the public without requiring to log in.

Jeff Potts of the Alfresco project has developed this, and it requires
some work on the CSS to bring it into line with LibreOffice
presentation norms.

In addition, we need to work with Jeff in deciding what meta data to
display for each document. Notably, the version info would be used for
differentiating between document versions (Writer's Guide for LibO
v3.5, then v3.6, etc.).

The same document would be updated each time, and previous versions
would be preserved and still accessible for download via Alfresco's
versioning system. But the one linked to on the wike and LibO site
would be the most-recent version.

In effect, this would give the documentation team the opportunity to
have one version of a document that gets linked to on the wiki and the
LibO main site (http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/)
one time, without having to update links each time a new version gets
published.

But this requires definition of the meta data with the docs team.

Yes, my offer for help is still stands open. I can perhaps start with the general administration and move on to more advanced coding/backend stuff once I understand environment well enough?

I'm pretty much comfortable with the fully cycle - administration/installation, configuration, development and even documentation. I think it would be best if you can advice me - whats on your priority list and I can get cracking? Would love to be part of "The Staff" :wink:

At present, the big outstanding need is to finish a docs team
contributor's guide for the Alfresco platform, followed by an
administrator's guide (admin through the Alfresco admin interface
only).

This is a job that I have "sitting on my to-do list" for quite some
time, but have not yet been able to complete.

If you felt able to work on this, it would be a big boon.

Although Alfresco is a very powerful tool that can easily fulfill the
team's needs, and has a lot of additional valuable functionality in
relation to the tool they are currently using, there seems to be some
reluctance to change over as some team members are not familiar with
Alfresco. If they had a user guide, they'd *probably* take the plunge.

But, to write the guide, a certain amount (not massive, though) of
configuration work needs to be done setting up groups and putting
registered users in those groups. The groups aspect has to be thought
out with consideration that, in the future, other audiences in the
LibreOffice project might also decide to take-up Alfresco. That
potentially includes both documentation teams for other languages as
well as other teams within the project (design, etc.)

If you feel you're able to take a lead in this, your help would be
most appreciated.

In any case, to help you arrive at a decision, I've created an account
for you at http://alfresco.libreoffice.org and made you an
administrator. I'm mailing you the details off-list.

Once again, thank you for the offer of help. Does any of the above
seem feasible for you?

I can only add that there are a number of interesting developments at
the moment as regards Alfresco. Apart from the work that Jeff Potts is
contributing, work is also being done by Cedric Bosdonnat on CMIS
connectivity within LibreOffice.

This would make LibreOffice capable of connecting to and interacting
with an Alfresco repository (such as the one I'm currently operating
for the docs team) in the same way that Microsoft Office does with a
SharePoint platform. This is currently a significant functionality gap
that has importance for some corporate users.

That CMIS connectivity could ultimately mean that docs team
contributors would be able to upload work on a doc to the Alfresco
platform directly from within their LibreOffice, without having to go
through all the manual steps as at present.

So maintaining an Alfresco platform for the LibreOffice project has
more relevance than ever. However, I'm still largely a voice in the
wilderness in this respect, so you, Sharma, could certainly help bring
the good news to the docs team and to the LibO project management.
We're not totally alone as Alfresco advocates: Cedric has recently
also shown interest in admin'ing the LibO Alfresco platform, and Jeff
Potts has already done valuable work and given precious advice.

Apart from that, Jean Weber and Tom Davies also have admin powers on
the platform... But they need an admin guide to help them be able to
work effectively... In the past, Jean has said she'd be perfectly
happy to work with Alfresco if there was documentation to help her,
particularly if it had better functionality in respect of exploiting
meta data. (The online document previewing feature seems to be of less
importance to people, but it's one of the really cool features that I
*love* about Alfresco.)

So having those 2 guides - a contributor's guide and an admin's guide
- would be a valuable means of allowing the docs team to properly
evaluate the tool.

"In the past, Jean has said she'd be perfectly happy to work with
Alfresco if there was documentation to help her,"

That is true, but I am more concerned about having documentation to
help other contributors use Alfresco effectively as part of the
documentation workflow. This requires not only knowledge about how the
LibreOffice implementation of Alfresco woks, but also knowledge about
the Docs team's intended workflow.

--Jean

Hi Jean, Sanket,

knowledge about
the Docs team's intended workflow.

Well, yeah, I should have said that it's not so much Jean that needs
the documentation, it's more a question of getting new contributors up
and running quickly and efficiently, without their having to come back
and ask the same beginner's questions each time.

So, what we really need is - as far as the docs contributors are
concerned - is a good contributor's guide for Alfresco - initially for
the docs team. In reality, this would become a section in the main
docs team contributor's guide, which covers other aspects of docs team
contribution than Alfresco.

Drafting that guide entails liaising with the docs team and the docs
team leader, Jean, and establishing what the workflow would become
when usage of Alfresco is integrated, and then establishing what
configuration work needs to be done on Alfresco to fit-in with then
need.

In reality - at least IMHO - we don't need to devise any Alfresco
workflows as such. It could end up being constraining for the docs
contributors. My own cogitation on the subject came to the conclusion
that Alfresco's out-of-the-box functionalities already provide some
great pluses. Also, by not asking them to fit-in with an Alfresco
workflow, we leave the docs team flexibility to gravitate to a
workflow naturally, progressively as they start to really adopt
Alfresco and get used to it.

IMHO, simply using Alfresco in much the same way as Windows Explorer
or Gnome's Nautilus already leverages a lot of what Alfresco has to
offer, while being pretty easy to learn.

But these are simply my own initial views, and all needs to be
validated by consulting with the docs team, and in the light of the
experience of knowledgeable Alfresco specialists.

Subsequently, after addressing the needs of the docs team
contributors, we need an admin's guide.

And then we would also need a *generic* Alfresco user's guide for
users coming from other teams within the project.

I'm pretty certain that when we have those assets, people generally
within the LibreOffice project will be a lot more open to adopting
Alfresco.

Ultimately, we might also look at the idea of requesting a VPS or
other server from TDF and implementing the Alfresco platform on there.
I say this because I'm currently the provider of the VPS and the only
regular admin, and I wonder whether this isn't a brake for some
people... However, I'm also very happy to go on providing the Alfresco
platform and server for the project if other people are happy with
that solution and don't feel reluctant to use the tool under those
conditions.

Anyway, Sanket, I think this outlines the work needed at the present
time. I'll leave you to reflect on the matter, And, once again, we'd
be very happy to count you as one of "the staff". :slight_smile:

Sanket,

Thanks for the off-list mail, I've replied to you and added you on Skype.

Like I said, I'm totally taken up with other stuff at the moment, and
can't currently help out with that list of stuff to be done. But I
certainly will as soon as time gets easier - although that probably
will not be for another month or so. All I can promise is that I will
respond to any questions you have, by mail or by Skype, in a timely
manner, and that I will react immediately in the event of a server
outage.

However, the server is being pinged by Pingability.com every 15
minutes and hasn't been down since it was up again - if you see what I
mean. That is to say that it's been running trouble-free since the
beginning of February 2012, when it was fixed after a botched upgrade,
and can reasonably be hoped to stay that way (it's running the latest
version of Alfresco Community). The server gets backed-up once a week
back-ups onto a separate TDF server - I'm not sure if he actually got
around to that, but I'm CC'ing him this mail just in case, because it
would be an excellent precaution to implement.

No major maintenance is planned at the moment, except that Cedric or I
will be implementing SSO (Single Sign-On) on the Alfresco platform,
which is planned for all TDF sites, so that logging-on to one site
logs you onto them all. Plus Jeff Potts of the Alfresco project has
work on-going on http://media.libreoffice.org:8081, to implement a
better publicly-accessible browsing interface (CMIS-based) than the
current Drupal-based site at http://media.libreoffice.org/.

Florian Effenberger, Cedric Bosdonnat and the TDF sysadmins have all
the info to log in and take action at OS level, as does Jeff Potts.

I will probably approach TDF's BoD during August to see whether to
move the platform onto a TDF-operated server, but will liaise with the
docs team and ask for your opinions before taking any action.

That's about all I can think of for the moment, but you can catch me
on Skype anytime. :slight_smile: Any mail to this list mentioning Alfresco also
gets forwarded to my business mailbox, so anyone can also buzz me here
and be sure that I'll see it.

Hi David,

version of Alfresco Community). The server gets backed-up once a week
from my side, and Florian Effenberger was intending to run hourly
back-ups onto a separate TDF server - I'm not sure if he actually got
around to that, but I'm CC'ing him this mail just in case, because it
would be an excellent precaution to implement.

I just checked, and right now, the machine is *NOT* backupped as far as I can tell. I'm Cc'ing Alin, one of our sysadmins, who is in charge of the (new) backup system. Alin, can you check if rsnapshot still does a backup of media/alfresco.libreoffice.org and if so, disable it there and add it to BackupPC? Best is to discuss offlist with David for the required credentials.

Florian Effenberger, Cedric Bosdonnat and the TDF sysadmins have all
the info to log in and take action at OS level, as does Jeff Potts.

There's still one e-mail from you from early May (sic!) I didn't manage to work on yet. Sorry so much for that - I'm really swamped with work :confused: :confused:

Florian