Following up from Lotusphere 2009, the folks over at Ytria have gone out of their way to make sure I could take a look at their tools. The demo was extremely impressive at Lotusphere and I've been very remiss in not taking advantage of the chance to try them out. Since the software version I run is almost always some kind of pre-beta or beta, I'm pretty cautious about installing any add-on tools -- that plus lack of time have really delayed me looking at this.

The suite consists of tools to manage many aspects of databases from access controls to view column formulas. I think it really shines if you're doing design work on many views and need to change column properties and colors across the board. It's also really nice to have instant access to design element information, acl settings, agent listings, and other design properties without having to launch designer to go looking for them.

Here's some first impressions:

1. Installation was easy, including accessing and installing the license keys. I did have a few quirks, but they're related to this beta software I'm using (not Ytria's) so I discount that as an issue.

2. Ease of use -- it doesn't take look to figure out the "zen" of the tools. Where you would want to click that icon and go to Ytria versus launching designer.

3. The UI, as an ADD-IN task, is non-modal. Meaning you can toggle back to your Notes client while its open.

4. It is expensive -- Probably that's the only negative I've run across so far. Still, if you live in your designer environment, the time savings could be well worth it.

Overall:

I'll need to live with it installed for a while. After a few weeks, I'll know if its something I turn to frequently or not. I'll let you know.

Try it your self here:

http://www.ytria.com