Once you have an initial understanding of how things work, the next tip is to determine how content will be delivered to the users. The three most important design objectives should be: (1) to make it as easy as possible for users to access their content, (2) to deliver it in a user-friendly manner and (3) to make it appear as though the image software is just an extension of the user’s business application.

An image system viewer should offer solid features with a simple look and feel which allows users to view, print, fax or email their documents. It should also provide the flexibility to deliver documents as PDF’s as an alternative viewing option.

In terms of how to interface a document image system into the user’s work environment, here are some common approaches that any solution should be able to address:

√ With an Integrated approach, a user requests all related documents for a particular key field (e.g. customer, vendor or employee) from an application screen. A call is made to the image system which then presents the list of document “hits” for the user to take additional action.

√ With a Simple Inquiry approach, authorized users can retrieve documents by searching on index values (such as invoice number, employee name, etc…). Multiple index search filters can typically be used making it even easier to locate specific documents.

√ With a Workbasket approach, users can distribute work items to one another or documents can be delivered automatically as part of an established workflow process. The imaging software should provide workflow capabilities that can track and monitor all workbasket activity.

√ With a Mobile Access approach, users should have the ability, at a minimum, to retrieve content from their smart devices. Because mobile devices do not use common operating systems, your image software probably won’t have applications supporting every mobile device type.

Next week… Tip 3: Content can’t be accessed until its Captured

Solution:
RVI has a budget conscious solution that’s designed for every business to take advantage of. The RVI Express solution is a great startup solution that offers affordability and functionality…all for the low price of $12,000!

Here are some of the functions included in the RVI Express solution to help eliminate that paper on your desk, improve employee productivity and enhance customer support:

1. An electronic filing cabinet solution that is very affordable and easy to work with.
2. Capture documents by scanning paper documents and importing PC documents and reports.
3. A report capture application that provides online access to print output from IBM i applications.
4. Report distribution automatically distributes reports (or specific sections of a report) to specific users.
5. Provides 24/7 access to documents and reports in the office or remotely via the internet.
6. Access your documents from smart phones and tablet devices.
7. Remote signature capture on Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch devices.
8. Improve your business processes using the RVI workflow functionality.

All of these features are included in the RVI Express. You can start with this solution in any department as a pilot program with up to 10 concurrent users. Then, as you expand the solution to other departments, you get 100% credit for your initial software investment and only pay a differential license fee to upgrade to the RVI Complete solution with an unlimited user license.

Let’s get started solving your paper problems, satisfy governmental regulations, provide for disaster recovery and improve your company’s overall productivity.

For more information on the RVI Express solution, give us a call, we’ll be glad to answer any questions you may have!

Have you ever needed a RESET button?  Do your golf buddies let you take an occasional mulligan (or two)?  Unfortunately, there is no “do-over” in business, including that wrong solution you selected for that big important project.  You remember the one …it went way over budget, was delivered very late, was much too complicated for the users, fell far short of anticipated benefits or barely works today but will be too expensive to repair.  Good times indeed!

Could you have done some things differently? Perhaps you spent too much time with vendors trying to understand product features and not enough time with users trying to understand requirements.  Perhaps you took a few too many shortcuts with the initial budget and ignored (or didn’t fully grasp) the true costs of the solution.  Perhaps you moved forward without a clearly defined project scope hoping things would work out for the best.   

The concept of going paperless sounds simple (and it can be) which can lead to oversights and mistakes.  As consumers, we can Google anything we need from any device we use anytime we want it.  However, taking such a solution across an entire organization involves many underlying factors that need to be considered.

Over the next few weeks, we will offer seven tips to help you make the best possible decision when selecting a document image solution whether you are just starting to look, are in the process of evaluating vendors or trying to undo what has already been done!  They are easy enough to follow and cost nothing to implement!

Tip 1: Planning is just as important as the technology you select!

If you don’t know where you are going, there’s a good chance you probably won’t get there!  There are no perfect document imaging solutions and every installation is tailored to specific user preferences.  Too often, there is too much focus on too many products with too many features and not enough focus on solving business problems.

While understanding product capabilities is important, the first step before you go shopping should be to gather user requirements and prioritize the needs versus wants.  Document imaging solutions do not lack functionality and it is easy to be seduced by the many dazzling features you will be shown.  The key questions are “will these capabilities ever get implemented” and “at what cost”?

You don’t have to be a Certified Document Image Architect to gather basic information about how users conduct their business and how going paperless can overcome their challenges.

Here are some sample questions to get organized and start framing the scope of the project:

Who are the key users and departments?
What business application software do they use?
What type of documents do they handle?
Where do these documents originate?
Who needs access to these documents?
How long (and where) are records stored?
What happens when files are missing?
What bottlenecks and problems need to be addressed?
Are there any work measures, counts and standards?
Are there any technology considerations and preferences?
Are there any systems in place that will require conversion?

Next Week…. Tip 2: Start with the User’s Perspective.

According to an AIIM study, it is estimated that 68% of the information we store is duplicated or junk information. Where do you store all those paper documents and reports?  What does that junk information cost you each year?

If you are saving paper documents and reports because you are afraid to get rid of them, then maybe your organization has a “paper hoarding” problem.

Solution:
RVI can help you get control of your company’s “paper hoarding” problem.  RVI offers affordable solutions with features that allow you to eliminate paper from many of your business processes.  RVI can reduce the employee paper usage by:

√  Scanning paper documents into an RVI digital filing solution.
√   Importing PC files or electronic documents and reports into the digital filing solution.
√   Capturing printed reports (invoices, statements, etc.) so you do not have to distribute
      paper copies of the reports.
√   Viewing the stored documents and reports in the office or over the web… 24/7…. from
      any place at any time.
√   Routing documents in an automated workflow process so that tasks can be reviewed,
     approved and completed the same day.
√   Destroying documents at the end of their useful life with record retention features
      provided by the RVI solution.
√   Securing and controlling documents with RVI’s five levels of security to protect access
      to the documents and  control what your employees can do with the document.
√   Accessing documents and reports 24/7 using mobile devices like smartphones and
     tablets.  View the RVI files remotely from anywhere.
√   Eliminating printing documents, coping redundant documents, labor costs for manual
      filing and all the costs for printing and distributing documents and reports.

All of these benefits can be yours with the RVI solution.  RVI provides unlimited user licenses at a very affordable cost.  All of your employees, partner and customers can have access to the documents 24/7 when they need the information.

Solve your paper dependency problem and eliminate the costs associated with processing, retrieving, distributing and storing your paper documents/reports.

Get control of the paper in your offices this year!

However, criminal acts such as stolen identities, the hacking of credit card databases, etc. have forced lawmakers and corporate entities to rethink the idea of encryption. Legislation requiring encryption of stored information, coupled with the sheer necessity of protecting private information and resources, has led the IT world into an entirely new realm of security measures, whether information is stored on traditional storage media (internal disk drives) or on portable devices (external storage appliances). With the proliferation of low cost external storage appliances, the exposure of data is of concern, particularly when the data on the storage device is accessible to the internet or local networks that are in turn accessible from the internet.

In order to meet the requirements of encrypting image and report files that are stored on external media and/or storage appliances, RVI has developed an optional encryption/decryption system based on IBM’s encryption and decryption Application Programming Interfaces (API). The API’s use the 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). AES is a commonly used encryption and decryption standard used by federal agencies of the United States government, the Department of Defense, and many companies in the private sector. This encryption and decryption standard is approved by the Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 197 (FIPS 197) by the United States Department of Commerce.

The RVI Encryption and Decryption System encrypts image and spool data as it is moved to storage (the RVI “burn” process). When capturing spool reports, there is an optional post-capture program that can be deployed that will automatically encrypt and burn the spool data to storage. Then, when the images or spool data is retrieved for viewing or other processing, the data is decrypted.

In addition to the encryption and decryption of image and spool data, there are RVI API’s for encrypting and decrypting strings of data. These API’s are useful for the encryption of information included in web browsers Universal Resource Locators (URL). For example, you could email a link to your IBM i and encrypt information such as account numbers or other identifying information. Your HTTP server software can then take that URL and decrypt the encrypted part of the URL and then act on the information provided.

The RVI Encryption and Decryption System does not encode and decode communications across networks, such as the communications that take place between web browsers and web servers. Communications encryption and decryption is better suited to a secure communications layers such as Hypertext Transport Protocol Secure (HTTPS). HTTP Strict Transport Security is recommended to be used in conjunction with HTTPS. IBM has a Software Technical Document (380575235) on configuring HTTPS with the IBM HTTP Server for IBM i and IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0.

This RVI feature requires an operating system of V5R4 or higher. It is recommended that your IBM i be at current cumulative PTF levels.

 Mike Miller

 RVI has recently developed the PHP program that will provide this connection. It requires PHP server code for your Windows Server which is open source.

For more information, contact:
Monty Chicola
Phone 318-449-4579 

 Other interesting responses from companies recently surveyed by AIIM*:

• 55% report at least 15% of their office space is used for storing paper documents
• 47% indicate that sensitive information leaks would have a high disastrous impact
• 41% estimate that over half their staff has unsecured confidential information
• 36% rate their control of paper records as chaotic or somewhat unmanaged

These are real business problems that need to be addressed. Your customers really “care” why it takes so long for you to respond to their inquiry. It shows inefficiency and a poor level of service. You could loose a customer and that costs you profit.

Solution:
Real Vision Imaging (RVI) enables you to digitally capture your documents so they are instantly accessible from your office PC or over the web using your laptop, smart phone or tablet device. RVI includes all the necessary functions to capture, secure, archive and manage your business content. RVI is easily interfaced with your core applications so users can quickly locate, view, print, email or fax documents from anywhere at any time!

RVI helps your company reduce its dependency on paper which delivers real value to your bottom line. In another AIMM* research report, companies were asked what their biggest drivers were for a document management system in their organization. Here are the top responses: 

• 65%     Identified long-term retention and disaster recovery as a high priority
               requirement for content management systems
• 55%     Improve the search-ability and share-ability of business documents
• 45%     Reduce the amount of physical storage space used for records
• 45%     Improve processes to boost productivity
• 34%     More responsive to customer, supplier, and staff requests
• 34%     Tighten records security and compliance procedures
• 16%     Improve the accuracy and quality of their data
• 15%     Enable workers with mobile and remote access 

What are your major challenges managing your information? Do these survey responses sound a little too familiar? Give us a call and we’ll show you how RVI can jump-start your revolution against paperwork!

*AIIM offers high quality research, whitepapers, presentations and more at no charge. Please visit http://www.aiim.org/research for free research report downloads of your own.

Solution:
GPS map locator button on the RVI Apple mobile signature capture application. Employees who make deliveries or service calls can get a list of customer’s addresses for their deliveries or calls from the RVI solution on an Apple iPad, iPhone or iTouch. The user can press a LOCATE button on the screen that shows the customer address. The RVI application will immediately show them a GPS street map of the customer location. Now they know exactly where the customer is located and how to get there!
 RVI Mobile Image Inquiry

Import and Index Pictures from the Camera using the device camera or camera roll. Line up your shot, press the Capture button, index the image, and upload it into an RVI image system. It’s as simple as that! Pictures already in your device camera roll can also be indexed and uploaded.

Mobile Signature Capture on a document using the Apple devices.
 As an example, when your personnel complete the delivery or service, the customer can sign the related documents on the Apple device. The signature is captured and placed in the document and can be immediately emailed to the office and the customer.

 RVI Mobile Proof of Delivery
RVI Mobile Signature Capture for the Legal Industry

RVI Workflow & Approval capabilities. RVI has enabled workflow routing and approval features to allow you access to your RVI workbasket on an Apple device. The remote approval feature allows you to approve or disapprove an invoice, claim, loan, order, etc. This ability allows you to work with your workbasket items anywhere, anytime!

All of these features are available in RVI Complete V8.0 and are FREE to our customers. This includes the free RVI application from the Apple App Store, downloaded directly to your employee’s Apple devices.

RVI can work with you to provide conversion custom code to move your data from the 3995/3996 Optical Libraries to new storage devices. This can be time intensive depending on the number of optical cartridges a customer needs to convert. We expect there to be many customers that will need our conversion services in the coming months, please contact us to schedule your conversion as soon as you can. For a custom code proposal, contact Kenny Smith at our office (318-449-4579) or email him at kenny@realvisionsoftware.com.

Customers unaware of their business partner can contact us for help in finding one. An RVI Certified Business Partner will work with you to determine your options and make recommendations for replacement of your optical libraries with an Imation or Alliance archive appliance that will best suit your company’s needs.

For more information about RVI data storage options, please visit http://www.realvisionsoftware.com/Features/Data.Storage.html or contact,

Monty Chicola
President,
Real Vision Software, Inc.

Sure, you would like to pursue a document imaging solution, but your users insist on a graphical look for any new applications you provide. You’ve considered a PC Windows solution but frankly the idea of bringing in a bunch of new servers and trying to integrate them with your current applications is a bit more than you care to take on right now. And you have given up trying to figure out how much this is going to cost your company!

Solution:
Real Vision Imaging (RVI) has it covered for you! RVI was built for integration with your IBM i applications, provides flexible interface options and has easy-to-understand pricing. Simple is definitely better!

RVI is a document image and spool / file report capture solution that runs on the same IBM i server as your core business applications. RVI supports multiple interface options so your users can move easily from their application to the content they need to access with whatever look you choose to provide. That means you can present the RVI Sub-File with a “green-screen” look that the users are already familiar with or one of RVI’s “browser” options to deliver a more GUI look. RVI even has a mobile APP so users can access business content from their Apple or Droid devices.

So how much extra do these interface options cost? Nothing! With RVI, you have a native IBM i solution that offers comprehensive features with flexible integration options and easy-to-understand pricing. With RVI’s model-based pricing you don’t pay extra for additional modules, users or scan stations like most other PC solutions you may have considered.

Want to spice-up your legacy applications? Give us a call and we can show you how!