To try DocuShare on-line please visit our web site at www.xerox.com/docushare/
SUCCESS STORY
Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL) is perhaps best
known recently for its highly publicized
Mars Pathfinder mission. It is the lead 
U.S. center for robotic exploration of the
solar system, and since 1958’s launch of 
the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, JPL has
been in the forefront of technology in space
exploration. Throughout, JPL is recognized
worldwide for it’s innovative solutions to
complex problems, from launching satellites 
and “rovers” to developing advanced
computing techniques for data-analysis. 
In the spirit of true innovation, JPL seeks
out equally creative solutions for managing
space and technology missions, in particular 
the enormous amount of associated
research, documentation and collaboration.
Products such as DocuShare now play a
leading role in helping JPL develop and
manage an increasing number of space
and technology missions “faster, better,
cheaper.”
JPL manages information for over 5,000
employees, 700 on-site contractors, and
several thousand partners and affiliates
around the world. Projects involve project
managers, administrative staff, engineers,
and scientists working together, and 
can last from several weeks to decades.
Capturing, finding and sharing important
documents is more than just a challenging
task in this environment; it is critical to 
the ongoing success of projects and the 
laboratory itself. 
Several years ago JPL began seeking a 
single application to replace a number 
of “project library” solutions then in use.
Different organizations had developed 
different solutions for JPL projects, and
day-to-day documentation of projects was a
struggle. Hundreds of documents would be
stored for each project, each individually
named. It was not only difficult to find documents, 
but users often had no idea if they
were reviewing the most current version of
the document. JPL recognized they could
not continue to meet all their goals, and
maintain the level of ongoing document
management with their current solutions.
This combined with a reduction in the IT
workforce forced JPL to look for a commercial, 
off-the-shelf software solution. “As the
rate of development increased we needed
to provide much faster ways to capture,
find and share important documents,” said
Susan Hess, system engineer, enterprise
information systems for JPL. “We needed 
a web-based solution due to the variety of
partners involved in our work and our lack
of control over their desktop software. The
solution also needed to be very simple to
administer, as well as low-cost,” said Hess. 
A requirement analysis and technical 
survey was conducted. JPL’s design
methodology includes pilot testing of 
products before deploying them widely.
“Being easy-to-use was critically important
to DocuShare’s adoption within JPL.
Engineers and scientists in the ‘faster, 
better, cheaper’ era simply do not have 
the time to learn new information systems.
They use tools they are familiar and 
comfortable with,” said Sugi Sorensen, 
a systems engineer with JPL. When you
have project teams designing new spacecraft 
or figuring out how to land on Pluto, 
it is important to keep them focused on the
project at hand rather than the software. 
DocuShare’s ease of use has encouraged
widespread deployment and adoption, from
a single server in March 1998 to 47 servers
and 3,450 users in just 17 months. Users
span the gamut, from researchers, developers 
and scientists to administrative assistants 
and interns. JPL’s DocuShare libraries
JPL Explores Space 
Faster, Better, Cheaper 
with Xerox DocuShare
Content is stored in a familiar nested 
folder structure so users are immediately
comfortable with DocuShare
DocuShare installs in minutes and 
immediately sets up a default home page
DocuShare’s powerful search tools make 
finding the right information effortless
primarily store project documentation
which includes memoranda, presentations, 
reports, plans, engineering notes,
policies, requirements and specifications,
reviews, proposals, schedules and procedures. 
Financial data and product data
have historically been stored in their 
own information systems; because of
DocuShare’s ease of use, some groups
have also begun to store product and
financial data in their DocuShare
libraries. “Line organizations will use
DocuShare to store their local policies,
procedures, memos, presentation and
basically anything else that is generated
by standard office applications. In short,
if someone creates a document that 
more than one person needs access to,
then a logical place for it is a DocuShare
library,” said Sorensen.
“DocuShare maps to the way people
work today, sharing information across
geographical, functional and system
boundaries. In the spirit of the Web,
DocuShare creates a common ground
among users so regardless of their technology 
expertise, they can participate in
the collaborative process of developing
and sharing information,” said Doug
McLean, vice president, sales and 
marketing, Xerox Internet and Software
Solutions (XISS). 
As a web-based, community-maintained
solution, DocuShare reduces administrative 
and technical support requirements
to a fraction of centralized systems. At
JPL only one full-time and two part-time
technical staff members are required to
customize each of the project “libraries,”
and provides technical support for the 47
DocuShare servers and 3,500 users. “The
DocuShare solution removes the requirement 
for an administrator/librarian in
the loop. Users can easily post their own
information to share in a work area,”
said Hess. 
The success of DocuShare’s initial 
implementation has led to it being 
part of several larger initiatives at 
JPL. Central to these is the move from
Document Management to Knowledge
Management. While the project information 
management process is in development 
to further standardize methods to
build, document and maintain information 
throughout a project’s life cycle, JPL,
like most organizations today, is seeking
strategies to manage its knowledge. “Our
knowledge management solution must
enable one of the projects primary objectives—sharing 
and re-use of information.
Our future plans call for centralizing 
the authentication mechanism enabling
users to search multiple DocuShare
libraries from a single search interface.
We plan to provide access from JPL’s
new enterprise portal that will replace
our current static internal home page.
Even in its current implementation,
DocuShare allows the knowledge 
management team to work together 
even though we are spread out over 
multiple buildings and site locations,”
Sorensen said.
DocuShare’s standards-based repository
and community-maintained model for
sharing information is contributing to
solutions for space exploration. With its
eye firmly set on the 21st century, JPL
has embarked on a course propelling
their projects to the outer reaches of 
the galaxy.
To try DocuShare on-line please visit our web site at www.xerox.com/docushare/
FOR MORE INFORMATION 
OR TO ORDER DOCUSHARE
Please contact your authorized 
Xerox Channel Partner or Xerox sales 
representative. Or call the DocuShare
sales department directly:
United States: 1-800-428-2995
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Questions? Comments? E-mail us at 
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All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies and are recognized as such. 
P/N 610P65226 2/00
DocuShare’s ease of use 
has encouraged widespread
deployment and adoption, 
from a single server in 
March 1998 to 47 servers and
3,450 users in just 17 months
JPL Explores Space Faster, Better, Cheaper
with Xerox DocuShare.
HOW THEY DO IT
The end-user computing environment 
at JPL is heterogeneous—
about 1/3rd each of Macs, PCs 
(running Win95 and NT), and 
Unix workstations—mostly Sun 
but also with pockets of Silicon
Graphics and HP machines.
Serving 3,450 users and 47 servers,
this load is spread out among two
Sun and three NT servers. Clients
access the servers primarily
through the DocuShare web 
interface, using either Netscape
Navigator or Microsoft Internet
Explorer. 
Users connect to the DocuShare
repositories in a variety of ways, 
from 28.8K dialup modems to 
dedicated T1 lines.
(Continued)