In a PowerShare System, the catalog is a collection of records stored in
folders on one or more PowerShare Catalog Servers. Each catalog record
contains information about an entity in the PowerShare System, which
can be a user, group of users, network device (such as a printer or file
server), purchase order forms, or meeting rooms.
The structure of the PowerShare catalog is easily customized to fit your
organization's needs. For example, you can design the catalog to reflect
organizational hierarchy, function, geographic distribution, or the type
of information stored.
Within each record, information about the entity is stored as a collection
of attributes. For example, a record named "William Smith" of the type
"User" can store information about that user such as telephone number,
building, and so on. Another record named "ColorPrint" of the type
"LaserWriter" can store information about a printer.
In a collaborative environment, a catalog can be used by users and by
PowerTalk-savvy services and applications to locate entities, store
information, indicate status, or provide any other type of information
that may be required by collaborative applications.
In the same way that you can arrange files in folders on your Macintosh
desktop, you store records in containers known as catalog folders. Each
catalog folder in the PowerShare System can contain records or other
catalog folders. You can use the PowerShare Admin provided with your
server software to administer the catalog structure; creating folders and
manipulating the catalog structure to fit your needs. The PowerShare
software provides built-in templates that allow you to quickly create
records that you can use to store information about individual users and
groups of users in your organization.
The structure of the PowerShare catalog is easily customized to fit your
organization's needs. For example, you can design the catalog to reflect
organizational hierarchy, function, geographic distribution, or the type
of information stored. The figure below represents the hierarchical
structure of a PowerShare System catalog, designed by an administrator to
reflect the organization of a fictitious company.
With the PowerShare Admin, you can manage the structure of the PowerShare
catalog in much the same way as you manage folders and files in the
Macintosh Finder.
Keep in mind that the hierarchical structure of folders is simply a means
of organizing and managing information�?it does not necessarily represent
network connectivity or physical proximity.