e:Folders stands out from the intranet application crowd in two ways. First, IntraBlocks has taken a uniquely object-oriented approach to the knowledge management challenge, resulting in a product that is at once flexible, intuitive and highly scaleable. Second, by taking a virtual workspace approach, e:Folders motivates information sharing and collaboration. Anyone who has tried to accomplish this with homegrown web applications will appreciate IntraBlocks achievement.

e:Folders uses a series of folders (analogous to folders on a Windows or Macintosh desktop) and Knowledge Objects to manage information. Folders are nothing more than hierarchical organizers that can contain both subfolders and Knowledge Objects.

Knowledge Objects are at the core of the e:Folders value proposition. Encompassing single links and documents to entire mini-applications, objects can be linked together to configure diverse and rich workspaces. The following chart lists the 12 Knowledge Objects that ship standard with e:Folders 2.0:

Document	Allows users to upload and download files
Topic	Threaded discussion groups
Event	Announce and hold registration for events
Project	Track project status
Task	Keep track of who is working on what
Milestone	Mark important deadlines & accomplishments
Issue	Identify and manage isses
Bulletin	Post announcements
URL	Provide links to other Internet or Intranet resources
Search	Save e:Folders searches so they can be reused
User	Maintain a searchable white pages
Skill	Maintain searchable "skills directory"

As you can see, the Knowledge Objects provided cover a wide but not exhaustive range of knowledge domains, sufficient to jump start a basic Intranet.

Within minutes of installing the software I was able to add myself as a User. A screen shot of the basic interface, viewed in Netscape Communicator, is shown below.

e:Folders main screen. Enlarge (21k).

After a few minutes more I felt comfortable navigating the intuitive e:Folders environment.

Brains and brawn

Because of e:Folder's tight integration with NT, it shares security information with the NT and IIS. This allows administrators and users to set access privileges on both individual and group levels. Access restrictions can be applied at a fairly granular level, both on a folder and/or object basis. Full support for SSL encryption is also included.

Keeping up with changes within the e:folders environment is conveniently handled by a built-in notification system. This notification system allows users to mark any information within a Knowledge Object. Objects can be marked for notification based on any number of rules, such as notification when the object is moved, changed, replaced, deleted, etc. Notification to the user can occur via e-mail or personal folder bulletin. It's a nice use of push technology without the hype.

One feature that I found particularly useful and well executed is the Folder Map, shown below. This is a graphical representation (a la Windows Explorer) of the entire e:Folders site that you have access to. The entire map is hyperlinked, allowing you to rapidly find and navigate to any folder (or object) that you want to view.

Folder Map. Enlarge (13k)

Further separating e:Folders from the competition is the context sensitive help system that comes with the product. Clicking on the help icon from any of the main areas in the e:Folders application spawns a new browser session in a popup window that contains information relevant to the particular situation. An example is shown below.

Context-sensitive Help. Enlarge (17k).

In general I found the documentation clear and comprehensive. Moreover, because e:Folders' help files are simple HTML files, they can readily be tailored to contain company-specific information.

Another thing IntraBlocks has done right, from a developer's perspective, is to build e:Folders around standard SQL relational databases (namely, SQL Server and Sybase Adaptive Server). In fact the e:Folders application suite itself is just a dynamic linked library (DLL) that passes requests to several COM objects for processing.

For those of us with Intranets already in place, this means that we can tie our existing applications into the e:Folders database - a huge plus, needless to say. New applications can be layered on e:Folders using the gamut of third-party tools capable of accessing the database via ODBC or JDBC. This opens up the possibility of building additional modules for e:Folders using development platforms such as Active Server Pages (ASP), Cold Fusion, and other tools of the trade.

Wisely, IntraBlocks realized that customizability is crucial to the success of an Intranet-in-a-box. Thus e:Folders offers developers and administrators several options for custom-tailoring the environment. Everything from headers and footers to icons and colors can be configured to meet your company's style guidelines. Yet the product's customizability is more than skin deep. Need to add a field that isn't currently in a Knowledge Object? No problem. e:Folders lets you add an unlimited number of custom fields to any Knowledge Object.

The product also allows user and calendar data to be exported to the popular vCard and vCalendar formats for use in contact management software.

The wrap

My only real complaint about e:Folders concerns a small navigation issue I ran into. The main navigation bar located across the top right of the screen disappears from certain sub sections while it remains for others. On the sections where the navigation bar is not present, a "Cancel" button is provided that returns you to the main folder. This could be confusing for people looking for a way back to the main menu without having to hit the browser's back button. A nit, perhaps, but details like these have a tendency to frustrate information hungry business users.

Other features I would like to see include LDAP support (planned in an upcoming release) and the ability to use Microsoft Access or other desktop databases as the backend database. Although Access and its ilk are not well suited for large-scale use ( a practice I highly discourage), reality is that the cost of SQL Server or Sybase can be a barrier for small businesses. Giving these the option of using desktop databases would further broaden e:Folders' appeal..

e:Folders is currently available for Windows NT Server 4.0 (the product will not work on NT Workstation), and requires Microsoft IIS and Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 or Sybase System 11 as the backend database. Support for additional servers and databases is planned in an upcoming release.

e:Folders 2.0 is available for $4995 per server installation, regardless of number of CPU's per server - always a plus in my opinion! An annual support contract is available for $1495 per year per licensed server. It includes access to support areas on the IntraBlock's Website, 3 free phone support incidents, and all patches and upgrades released during the contract year.

IntraBlocks
Deerfield Tech Center
111 Deer Lake Road
Deerfield, IL 60015
Phone: 888-773-1133
Fax: 847-940-1132