The Green Sheet 026

INCORPORATING THE M ICRO GRAPH ICS M AR N IT PLACE AND THE M ICRO GRAPH ICS NEW SLETTER

Issue NO. 26

ISSN 1476-3842

SpecialReview

Begins Page 3

Media does matter

oiiAIIM 2004 flIIMexpo.

CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION

JAVITS CONVENTION CENTER • NEW YORK CITY

Choosing the most appropriate storage medium See Page

IMPLEMENTING FREEDOM OE INFORMATION

INFORMATION CULTURE CHANGE Is your organisation prepared for this culture change ? also in this issue:-

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Visit The Green Sheet Web Site at: www.green-sheet.net

ADVERTISERS RATES 2004

T H E G R EEN S H E E T

Advertising Data (U K & Europe)

Type Area (mm)

Cost

Double page spread

2 7 5 x 400

£1200.00

Outside back cover

2 7 5 x 190

£ 800.00

Full page

2 7 5 x 190

£ 650.00

Half page

138 x 190 or 2 75 x 93

£ 400.00

138 x 9 3 o r 6 9 x 190

£ 250.00

69x93

£ 150.00

Quarter page Eighth page

A dvertising Data (U S & C anada)

Type Area 1inches) Double page spread Outside back cover Full page

1 0 s/' x 13 1 0 /- x 7 ,/>

US $2016.00

10 v‘ x 7 v»

U S $ 910.00

5 v‘ x 7 v> or 1 0

Half page Quarter page

Cost

U S $1 1 2 0 .0 0

1/4x 3 v* 1/1

U S $ 560.00 U S $ 350.00

5 ,/! x 3 v‘ or 2 V‘ x 7

2 >/.

Eighth page

x3

U S $ 210.00

Colour rates: A ll above rates are for full colour advertising.

Artw ork should be supplied as 3 0 0 dpi images on CD or Z ip Disk as TIFF, EPS, JPEG, PDF, Quark Xpress, Photoshop or Illustrator files.

Discounts Series discount - (4 or more insertions on one order)

1 0 % discount

Pre-payment discount - (payment must be made on or before copy deadline but does not include classified)

1 5 % discount

Agency discount

1 0 % discount

A b o v e discounts cannot be combined A ll above rates are subject to V .A .T . in the U K at the current rate.

E d ito r Tim Nixon A d m in is tra tio n C a role Nixon Design Paul E n sor

FO R S U B S C R IP TIO N D E T A IL S P L E A S E C O N T A C T :-

M IC R O G R A P H IC S M AR K ETIN G LTD. 65 W inchester D rive , B urbage, Leicestershire LE10 2BA, U nited K ingdom Tel: +44 ( 0 ) 24 7 6 38 2328 Fax: +44 ( 0 ) 24 7 6 38 2319 M obile: 0 7 97 0 2 4 8146 U.K. E -m a il: g sin fo @ g re e n -sh e e t.n e t U.S. E -m a il: M N g re en sh ee t@ a ol.com V is it o u r Web S ite a t: w w w .g re e n -sh e e t.n e t

ADVERTISERS' INDEX IN A LPH AB ET ICAL ORDER

A & P International............................................................................................ 31 Cardamation ........................................................................................................... 31 Connecticut Micrographics ............................................................................ 31 Crowley Micrographics ........................................................................................7 Dass Laboratories................................................................................................31 Direct Microfilm Services ............................................................................... 31 DSS UK ...................................................................................................................... 19 e-Image D ata ........................................................................................................2 5 GB Products.............................................................................................................16 G enus ..................................................................................................................5 , 28 GG B aker ................................................................................................................. 12 G loscan ................................

2 Imaging System s ............................................................................................... 31 Indus ...........................................................................................................................2 5 Kodak ......................................................................................................................... 32 Mercury Visuals .................................................................................................... 31 Micro Vue Products .............................................................................................. 13 M STC ...........................................................................................................................31 nextScan ...................................................................................................................2 6 Penny Imaging Exchange .............................................................................. 31 Solar Microfilm Equipment ............................................................................ 23 Trans Media Technology ................................................................................. 21 Upton Services ...................................................................................................... 17 Versalmage ............................................................................................................ 27 Wicks & W ilson .....................................................................................................11

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This magazine is copyright of the publisher - Micrographics Marketing Ltd. Burbage LE10 2BA UK Tel: 024 7638 2328 Fax. 024 7638 2319 Email. gsmfo@green-sheet net

IF AIIMexpo

CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION

Enterprise Content & Document Management

II

"The days dwindle down...

The AIIM show and its micrographics component are not what they once were but both continue to erform an important, though diminished, role

by Mitch Badler, US Correspondent for The Greeen Sheet

In the classic film Knickerbocker Holiday, Charles Cobum sang the legendary “September Song” about how “the days dwindle down to a precious few”. In Love’s Labours Lost, Shakespeare lamented “For you and 1 are past our dancing days”. And in the Bible’s Book of Job, the prophet mourned, “My days are past”.

Alas, all of these allusions also describe the current receding role of the annual AIIM conference and exposition and, within it, the position of imaging, particularly the film-based variety.

Once it was the world’s largest showcase for micrographics, with over 100 film-related exhibitors among more than 300 exhibitors in total, and thousands of square feet devoted to micrographics products and applications. This year the show attracted just over a dozen film-based exhibitors out of the toal 243 exhibitors.

(It’s been nearly two decades since AIIM was a micrographics - or even imaging-oriented - show. For the past several years it has billed itself as the “Enterprise Content Management” event. Also trade shows of all kinds have been going downhill for a number of reasons, including a poor economy and easy intenet access to information. - Ed) Once upon a time In its gloiy days the AIIM show, on its own, attracted in excess of 40,000 visitors. This year’s version was a far cry from those days. It was put on by Advanstar Communications, the trade show firm that two years ago bought the AIIM conference and exposition from the Association for Information and Image Management.

The show was again co-hosted with the ON DEMAND digital printing and publishing show (i.e. both shows were held under one roof with one admission ticket for both expositions). In addition to the expositions there were 72 AIIM conference sessions and 49 more ON DEMAND sessions. This year there was a third conference track available to attendees, the Digital Marketing Symposium.

Common to all conference attendees were six separate keynote sessions.

Based on the official show programme, the AIIM section had a total of 243 listed exhibitors, while ON DEMAND added 139 more. Final official attendance figures will be issued shortly, but Advanstar claimed more than 10,000 attendees on opening day. Since opening day is traditionally the best day for such conferences, final attendance reach 30,000 thus surpassing last year's 27,200. The 2003 numbers exclude exhibition personnel and press representatives. The site was, once again, New York’s Jacob Javits Convention Center, March 8-10.

The scene today Eastman Kodak was the only one of the old-time “giants” who displayed at AIIM. This year Canon and Minolta displayed no micrographics products and skipped AIIM, showing only in the ON DEMAND segment. And, of course, one-time power houses Bell £t Howell and 3M (who together with Kodak once formed the micrographics “Big 3”) are long gone from the scene.

Service companies, with the exception of SourceCorp which is the US distributor for Agfa film, were conspicuously absent. Lason, the US 3

distributor for Wicks ft Wilson, had a presence in the latter’s booth. ImageMax did not exhibit, nor did ACS. Unlike most national US service organisations ACS is doing very well, but it has downgraded its reliance on imaging services and stresses total digital system offerings.

units CMI will stock spare parts for both the old and new developers.

There were new products Despite the downgrading of micrographics at AIIM and continuing hard times for hardware, there were still some new micrographics products on display. And, as has been the case in recent years, most were film scanners.

Crowley Micrographics’ Mekel division unveiled its new model 625 rollfilm scanner, whilst nextScan debuted its new mid-range Mercury rollfim scanner, and Wicks and Wilson introduced its RS 300 high speed rollfim scanner. Eastman Kodak offered a new software kit for its Archive Writer line and announced new Film-to-Digital and Digital-to-Digital conversion services. (Kodak’s big AIIM imaging debut was a new line o f mid-range scanners, the 600 series - Ed).

Additionally, Connecticut Micrographics showed its new CV line of replacements for earlier Micobra microfiche developers.

Details on these new products follow in the description of micrographic items that were at the show.

Hardware/Software on display Eastman Kodak came out with a new i9600 Series application software kit. It includes new software for the i9600 Archive Writer that has a completely new graphical user interface. It replaces the current version of Archive Writer interface software and opens up new hardware features like image/frame counting and exception scaling. It also checks images for writer compatibility and converts them into writer compatible formats. (This new line of high-speed digital document scanners from Eastman Kodak Company received a “Best of Show” award).

In addition the software provides an interface between Kodak document scanners and the i9600 series Archive Writers. It also includes production level utilities that facilitate the conversion of graphics, PDF and Windows-based document formats to writer compatible formats.

Kodak also launched new conversion services. The new filmto-digital service converts large volumes of microfilm into indexed digital files that may be accessed from multiple locations. Conversion can be from 16mm and 35mm film, fiche, jackets and aperture cards. Indexing is done to customer specs and images are returned in customer-specified formats (CD-ROM or DVD).

A digital-to-digital conversion service is also available.

Visit www.kodak.com/go/CIGservice Connecticut Micrographics announced a new and updated line of Micobra microfiche developers. The new units, models CV11, CV-18 and CV-24, are direct replacements for the earlier Micobra developers which have been sold for over 25 years.

The new units have a built-in automatic metering pump so users no longer need to manually pump ammonia from larger bottles into smaller ones.

In regards to spare parts, most of the new components, which might wear or fail, are directly interchangeable with the older 4

The CV line is designed to meet European CE standards and is scheduled to be certified in the near future. Units are now available for shipment.

Contact: peter@micrographics.com Crowley Micrographics debuted its Mekel Technology subsidiary’s new Model 625 rollfilm scanner. The unit offers up to 150 frame per minute production scanning (200 dpi at 24X reduction) of rollfilm, and output of up to 300 files per minute. Model 625HS does up to 200 frame per minute production. Both models accept all standard 16mm and 35mm film types and all output in all standard image formats. They provide continuous automatic scanning or interactive selection of individual images.

Single, double or triple level blip code detection, as well as leading and trailing edge detection, are standard features.

Automatic image optimising features, at the board level, include deskew, cropping, image rotation, density verification and auto contrast. Both models offer a gray scale option for images with photos and very low contrast. They also use Mekel’s Quick-Thread film transport and Filmscan software.

The operating system is Windows 2000 using a DELL workstation.

Mekel also showed an improved version of its 565GS microfiche scanner. The new version uses a shorter optical path and has new optics, lamp circuitry, camera and firmware.

Throughput is between 800-2,400 images per hour, depending on input fiche and jacket quality. The 565GS supports all standard fiche and jacket formats. Output resolution is 100400 dpi for 16mm at 24X, 100-300 dpi for 16mm at 48X, and 100-200 dpi for 35mm at 24X. Crowley also owns and offers the Extek and Houston Fearless microfilm lines, and is the exclusive North American distributor for Zeutschel digital, microfilm and hybrid imaging systems. These were also highlighted in the Crowley booth.

Visit www.mekel.com or www.crowleymicrographics.com Indus International didn’t show anything new, but was touting its exclusive distributorship of ScreenScan Products and showing that line. In addition, it showed its line of microfilm, microfiche and opaque card readers and reader-printers, book scanners, and turnkey electronic records/information management system.

Visit www.indususa.com nextScan used AIIM to launch its mid-range rollfilm scanner, Mercury. The compact unit will deliver 120 pages per minute and can create grayscale and bitonal images simultaneously without a reduction in output speed. The Mercury is built like nextScan’s production level scanners in terms of camera, lighting, and chip technology. It comes with nextScan’s Fusion software. Mercury is claimed to be the first rollfilm scanner to use USB connectivity, meaning no board has to be installed in the PC. The scanner also supports large format film reels. Other

operating benefits include no re-scans during setup, dual detect bands, fast straight line film loading, film cleaning rollers and high speed rewind.

The company’s improved Phoenix production scanner is now a 2-in-l rollfilm scanner. Previously released as a 220 page per minute rollfilm scanner, Phoenix can now also scan microfiche at 125 pages per minute. Phoenix was originally designed to give new life to slower SunRise 16mm and 35mm scanners, by providing new technology that can be installed within the housing of these older scanners. nextScan also showed its Eclipse 16/3 5mm production scanner that can scan up to 300 pages per minute, and create grayscale and bitonal images simultaneously with reducing output speed.

Visit www.nextscan.com S-T Imaging displayed within the booth of its parent company, Digital Check. It didn’t show but discussed and offered literature on the line of film carriers that it offers, as well as its Scan-Write Library Book Scanner system and readers and reader-printers it distributes.

Visit www.stimaging.com Wicks and Wilson showcased its newest rollfilm Scanstation, the RS300. The high speed 16/35mm unit will do 325 bitonal frames per minute at 200 dpi and 162 fpm at 400 dpi.

Resolution is 100-600. 256 level grayscale output is available as an option. The unit produces continuous data output in a stream of contiguous files.

WetW’s SCANF1LM software powers the RS300 and offers “Graphical Wizards” that allow advanced scanning features such as blip code detection and image sizing to be set up quickly and easily. Image enhancement uses WftW’s SMARTSCAN technology. Intelligent page cropping automatically sizes the image from the film without operator intervention. Deskewing and centering are automatic while framing, rotation, zooming and logging are manual production functions.

Film input can be by reel, spool or cartridge. Film reduction ratio varies from 7.5X - 50X on 16mm, to 36X on 35mm.

Most standard formats are accepted. The unit is certified for US and European usage and works on a Windows 2000 XP operating system.

The RS300 joins the slower RS100, RS150 and RS200 in WftW’s line rollfilm scanners. The company also offers aperture card and microfiche scanners and a COM plotter.

Visit www.wwl.co.uk Service Companies/Resellers Imaging 411, apparently a first-time exhibitor (at least under this name), is a NY-based nationwide provider of document imaging products, equipment maintenance and software. It highlighted cheque scanners to meet the Cheque Truncation Act, but also introduced the Cobia, a high speed production microfiche scanner. The tabletop unit is said to provide bitonal and grayscale images, scanning over 90 images per minute for 200 dpi fiche. Four resolution ranges are offered: 200 dpi for 35mm 30X images, 400 dpi for 16mm 24X images, 300 dpi for 48X COM images and 400 dpi for 48X COM images. All standard fiche and jacket types are said to be supported. Cobia is driven by SmartFiche software. The unit uses a Windows 2000 XP operating system.

Visit www.imaging411.com

Microform America is the successor to KAB Scanning Resources and is the US-based subsidiary of Microform GmBH, the German developer and manufacturer of the Agfa ADMIS S61 document scanner systems. Its latest introduction is the S655 colour scanning system. The company also owns rights to the microform equipment lines it produces for Agfa but none are currently being imported into the US. Considering the weak US hardware market and the weakness of the $US against the Euro, importation in the near future is not likely.

Visit www.microform.de National Microsales, which has been supplying microform and imaging products for more than 35 years, highlighted its role as distributor for MIRU Data Systems newest cheque scanner, the MDS 2120 series. However, the firm still notes that micrographics sales make up the bulk of its business and refers to itself as “the source” for reconditioned microfilm equipment.

It is one of the few companies specialising in refurbished cameras, tabletop processors, retrieval terminals, readers and reader/printers, duplicators, aperture card mounters and jacket loaders. National Microfilm Sales also offers new equipment and supplies, storage cabinets, replacement lamps and eye lupes.

Visit www.nationalmicrosales.com Scanning America is a national document conversion firm that specialises in major backfile conversion and indexing projects for clients in the US and Canada. In addition to standard letter and legal size paper conversions, it does large format scanning, microform, microfiche and aperture card scanning. Archive Writer and on-site scanning services are also available.

Visit www.scanningamerica.com SourceCorp, as the exclusive US importer of Agfa microfilm products, is now the direct link to Agfa Microfilm in Belgium.

Because the vast majority of the AIIM audience is digitallyoriented, SourceCorp didn’t push its microfilm services and products at AIIM, but instead used its booth to promote the organisation’s role as a “Leading national provider of valueadded business process outsourcing solutions”. These include records management, document conversion and digital web repositories. In the microfilm arena, SourceCorp has begun promoting its microfilm dealer network instead of selling direct as it has in the past.

Visit www.home.earthlink.net/~Jyiglover Once again on the opening day attendees were greeted, and perhaps discouraged, by snow, a result of the unusually early dates for the 2003 (April) and 2004 (March) events. That hopefully will be avoided in 2005 when the event moves from New York to Philadelphia in May.

Brand new formatted Web Site from The Microfilm Shop

www.microfilm.com including a T16W comprehensive equipment section

flllM announcements from New Vork US electronic records retention failures/other reports During the conference, AIIM, ARMA International and Cohasset Associates presented the results of the Electronic Records Management Survey performed by Cohasset. The results are based on the responses of 2,200 records and information managers who are members of either AIIM or ARMA and who were queried in Fall 2003. The results seem to present records management challenges to senior management of US corporations.

Nearly half of US companies have not adopted records retention policies for Email and other electronic documents, despite the serious issues raised about corporate records keeping. Perhaps even more serious in its implications is the fact that 46°/o of companies have no system for placing holds on records in the case of pending litigation or a regulatory investigation. Moreover, 65% said their hold order policies, where they exist, don’t include electronic records.

“With most business documents and correspondence created and sent electronically today, it’s amazing companies are not taking e-records more seriously, especially given what happened to (Arthur) Andersen,” said Peter Hermann, CEO of ARMA International.

The survey noted that unlike paper records, which are overseen by certified records managers, oversight for electronic records is usually handled by the Information Technology (IT) department. IT professionals may be computer experts but don’t understand the concept of “life cycle management” which concludes documents have a life (often in different media at different times) and ultimately a death.

A white paper was released on the survey’s results. For a full report visit www.merresource.com/whitepapers/survey.htm In addition to the Electronic Records Management Survey, at the conference AIIM also announced a new book, “Information Nation: Seven Keys to Information Management Compliance” by Randolph Kahn and Barclay Blair, both of Kahn Consulting. The book outlines a new approach to information management based on compliance law. It also dissects several high-profile business failures and court cases to illustrate the consequences of information management non-compliance.

Visit www.aiim.org/infonation At the show AIIM also released two Industry Watch briefing papers. “Managing Email in the new Business Reality” is a 9page summary of findings from a survey conducted by AIIM and Kahn Consulting. “Back to Basics: The Search for Efficiency and Compliance” is a 12-page summary of findings from user research in six countries.

Visit www.aiim.org Awards and honours At the conference dinner, AIIM honoured individuals who have contributed to the advancement of the association and the industries it covers. The Award of Merit, AIIM’s highest honour, was presented to Bill Neale, eVisory Consulting; the Carl E. Nelson Innovation Award for technical achievement, named after one of the pioneers in developing engineering micrographic systems, went to John O’Connell, Staffware pic; the Thomas C. Bagg Standards Award, given in memory of an internationally recognised leader in the microfilm world, was

awarded to Herbert White II, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; the Film-based Imaging Association (FbLA) award was presented to Peter Hovell, Connecticut Micrographics.

Four new members were inducted into AIIM’s Company of Fellows for their contributions to the industry: Martyn Christian, FileNet; Priscilla Emery, e-Netprise Advisors; John Glover, SOURCECORP, and David Noack, Automation Solutions. Seven individuals were honoured for their service to the association: Rob Averback, Averback Consulting; Brad Bowers, CASNET; Charles Dollar Cohasset Associates; Sheila Hoffert, Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society; Dalton Luz, Politec; Carolyn Offutt, US Environmental Protection Agency; Paul Schulte, Medtronic.

AIIM Finances/2004 Projects/2005 meeting date At its annual business meeting held on opening day, AIIM CEO John Mancini reported that, although audited figures will not be completed until later this year, the final figures will show that AIIM was profitable in 2003. Total revenues will be approximately $7.0 million and total expenses about $6.3 million. For 2004 the association is budgeting revenues and expenses of $6.85 million. Mancini reported European operations are now profitable, as is AIIM’s E-Doc magazine.

Mancini said AIIM accomplished the profitable turnaround of its business model, from one largely dependent on a single revenue source (the AIIM Expo) to one with a multi-faceted revenue base of royalties, meetings and seminars, advertising, membership dues and investment income. Expenses break into three major categories: direct programme costs, staff costs, and non-staff oriented overhead costs.

Four new association directors were voted to two-year terms: Lynn Fraas, Doculabs; Baron Gemmer, Innovative Corporate Solutions; David Milam, Documentum; and Arthur Schlussel, Booz Allan Hamilton. Going off the board at the end of the 2004 conference were Robert Breslawski, Eastman Kodak; Martin Greif; Dr. Ulrich Kampffmeyer, Project Consult (Germany); Frank McGovern, Information 1st; Rory Staunton, Strategy Partners (UK); and Larry Wischerth, TIAA-CREF. FbLA downsized but still active The Film-based Imaging Association, the sub-association within AIIM, held a meeting of its executive board in conjunction with the AIIM conference. The group reported a loss in 2003 as income, derived from membership fees, did not match expenses. However, though FbLA currently still has a solid financial reserve, this will run out unless the trend changes. How fast that could happen depends on the level of expenditures and level of member payments. To accelerate the latter, FbLA plans a more aggressive follow-up system.

For 2004, to promote film-based imaging and itself, FbLA is planning to have representation, at five related events: The AIIM show in New York; an ARMA regional meeting of chapters in Houston, Texas in April; the Society of American Archivists conference in Boston in August; ARMA International’s annual conference and exposition in Long Beach, California in October; and the AIIM Service Company Executives Forum in Orlando, Florida in November.

Visit: Film.based.Imaging.Association@peer360.net

NEW MODEL 625GS ROLL FILM SCANNER Scan 1,000,000 images per minute ! ! ! !

Not really, however, the new model 625GS rollfilm scanner from Mekel offers true production speed and quality scanning of your microfilm at 150 images per minute. And can output upto 300 files per minute.

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150 frame per minute production scanning of roll microfilm.

Image enhancement without loss of scanning speed. Auto-crop, deskew, despeckle, smooth etc.

Integrated, proven "picture elements" image enhancement technology.

Simulatneous Bi-tonal and Grayscale file saving (upto 300 image files per minute) Mekel user friendly "Filmscan" software. Improved, up and running in minutes.

Outside of the scanner PC - low cost end user upgrading of the PC as desired.

Latest Optical and Dalsa CCD technology.

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ekel Technology

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CROWLEY Micrographics

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Crowley Micrographics is now your one source for all your production imaging needs !!

We have combined all of the above manufactures into one orgazization that offers all the best in micrographic and electronic imaging solutions.

We are further pleased to announce that Zeutschel Gmbh is now the exclusive distributor of the new high speed Mekel microfilm and microfiche scanners in Europe.

Please visit www.mekel.com for details.

CROWLEY Micrographics 5115 Pegasus Court - Suite E Frederick, Maryland 21704 - USA (301) 631-6825 fax (301) 631-9466 www.CrowleyMicrographics.com info@crowleymicrographics.com Come see us:

ZEUTSCHEL

Zeutschel GmbH Heerweg 2 72070 Tubingen Germany +49 7071 97060 fax +49 7071 970644 www.zeutschel.de info@zeutscheI.de

AIIM - March 8-10 Crowley Booth # 1673 Cebit - March 18-24 Zeutschel Booth H alil, Stand 3a 2

Colin Dean

Turbo-charge your erp with Automated Invoice Processing Gain real ROI from your ERP software with automated Invoice processing. Colin Dean of document management and data capture specialist ITESOFT UK takes a look at the issues

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning, for the benefit of the uninitiated) projects are notorious for taking too long to implement, costing a fortune and not delivering the efficiencies they were supposed to. Gartner estimates that 40% of ERP installs in 2004 will go over budget by 50%, both in terms of cost and time. The real problem is that companies try to speed up the deployment of ERP and keep down costs by not installing the very modules that actually deliver the ROI. One opportunity to claw back some of the ROI benefits of ERP is to add functionality that will not add to the overall cost of ownership and maintenance, but will deliver savings when combined with the back office system by reducing manual input and fitting seamlessly into the ERP workflow processes - this is the compelling attraction of automated invoice processing.

ERP customers resistant to new modules You can understand why ERP customers are cautious about adding to an already weighty software investment. They have got themselves a solid operational backbone for the business, even if some of the higher level benefits are not in place.

Additional modules cost time and money to install. There may be integration problems with other elements of the ERP or with legacy systems such as CRM or HR platforms. Any talk of adding functions to the ERP must be seen against the background of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. New functionality, such as automated invoice processing, will only be taken on if it can allay these fears and show true ROI benefits from day one.

What are the advantages of integrating invoice processing with your ERP system?

ERP systems already receive data from accounts payable, but this is generally achieved manually with all the downsides of extra costs and manual errors. Advanced invoice technology can automatically processes all invoices, irrespective of format, to achieve 100% first-time processing of unstructured documents. This removes labour-intensive manual intervention, automating as many of the repetitive processes as possible, while achieving a high level of easy integration with your existing ERP software.

One of Europe’s largest late night event companies, that receives over two hundred thousand supplier invoices per year, notes that by integrating automatic invoice processing, the data is now in an accessible electronic format that can be fed into the businesses workflow environment, eliminating the constant problems that they previously had with fixed invoice templates in both quality of data capture and control.

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W hat kind of integration is there between invoice processing and ERP ?

The validation of all data has to be a continuous process.

Authorisation processes can be complex. There may be different workflows for different classes of invoices depending on value, PO status, ordering source etc. There should be a method of filtering the types of documents and workflows available to any individual and/or department. At every stage, data should be checked, ensuring that all information is verified as it is fed through the various business units of an organisation. This enables clients and users to evolve towards real-time management control, reduce processing times and costs, while at the same time significantly improve data accuracy and achieve measurable ROI. All purchasing, supplier account information and supply chain can be read from ERP tables and applied to integrity checks within the automated invoice processing software. The results of the tests can then be communicated back to the invoice module in a closed loop real time process.

Alternatively users can perform this task in the ERP environment, the invoice data is passed to the ERP and integral accounting modules to perform the checks. The results of these checks are communicated back to the invoice processing system. It is also possible to store scanned images within integral ERP document management solutions, reducing office space and costly storage.

What other advantages accrue from invoice processing integration ?

For each invoice received, there may be numerous disparate pieces of paper that relate to that transaction simply floating around the company. This information must be collated to increase the productivity of the A/P staff, whilst ensuring earlier trappings of errors and speedier resolution of anomalies, reduced overall cost of administration, faster turnaround time for transactions and closer financial management based on more reliable information.

The types of information to be extracted from the body of the invoice can be fully customised according to the individual requirements of each client. High quality reports and supervision tools deliver data that should lead to overall improvements to client and supplier relationships. Investment is relatively small and delivers a stand alone ROI within twelve months, helping to justify the investment already sunk into the ERP solution.

Contact: Colin Dean, ITESOFT UK Ltd., Headway House, Crosby Way, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7XG Tel: 01252 741500 Fax: 01252 741515

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Kodak MDNtHES 1BOO SERIES SCANNERS to help companies get more productivity under the most demanding conditions New mid-range desktop scanners feature renowned paper handling and image quality

The new and excitingly complete i600 Series Scanners announced today by Eastman Kodak Company responds to customer needs for outstanding performance and reliability at a price that yields outstanding value.

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The KODAK i600 Series Scanners include innovative features for production environments such as Perfect Page with iThresholding and SurePath paper handling, that deliver outstanding image quality, and advanced image processingall focused on providing price-to-performance value. The three new duplex scanner models in the i600 Series include the i620, with a rated speed of up to 80 pages per minute (ppm) landscape, the i640 at up to 100 ppm and the i660 at up to 120 ppm. All three scanners include a pre-scan document imprinter and five output optionsbitonal, greyscale, colour, bitonal and greyscale or bitonal and colour, which means up to 480 (ipm) images per minute. All at rated speed. Typical applications for the i600 Series require scanning of up to ten thousand pages per day. Yet this new platform can handle daily volumes of up to 60,000 pages per day.

“Our resellers and customers have told us that their greatest need, in mid-range desktop production document scanning, is high performance at a reasonable price, easy paper handling and top-tier image quality,” said Robert Bijster, Marketing Manager of Eastman Kodak Company’s Document Imaging Group in Europe, Africa and Middle East. “The i600 Series represents a clean sheet design to meet the needs of customers whose applications rely on production document scanners to convert their documents into digital images. These can be found in many markets including financial and insurance, as well as federal, state and local government.”

For the most demanding scanning needs, the i600 Series is equipped with advanced imaging technologies that include improved auto-cropping, electronic colour dropout, auto deskew, orthogonal rotation and an overall wider imaging area, in order to capture documents with different textures or unusual sizes. Available accessories include an ultra lightweight paper feeder and an easily installed white background for better image quality on very thin documents.

Another image quality improvement comes from the design of the paper path. Spring loaded background modules to keep documents flat in the image area, yet allowing occasional thick documents to go through.

The i600 Series Scanners also feature Perfect Page with iThresholding - a key image-processing feature found in most KODAK INNOVATION SERIES Scanners. This reduces pre­ sorting, rescans and post-image processing to deliver cleaner, sharper images at full processing speed with less time and labour.

Kodak has loaded the i600 Series Scanners with the following innovative features to maximize productivity and value: ■ Three separate 3-D Ultrasonic Document Detection Sensors ensure, that customers don’t miss a single page. It helps to eliminate feed errors caused by address labels,

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varying paper thickness, adhesive notes and even stapled documents.

SurePath paper handling for outstanding image quality and image processing.

Two long lasting Xenon lamps per side (with lifetime replacement covered by a service agreement) reduce unwanted shading due to wrinkled or folded documents.

Furthermore, they do reduce the total cost of ownership.

Sealed camera design keeps dust from affecting image quality.

500 sheet automatic document feeder with quick set elevator.

Toggle Patch for switching between bitonal and colour scanning on the fly.

Extremly quiet Scanner - both in stand-by and scanning mode. Allowing it to be used in an office environment.

Brightness and contrast control customises colour output for demanding applications.

IEEE-1394 (FireWire) interface (card and cable included) makes it easy to connect.

Energy Star compliant.

Bundled with ISIS and TWAIN drivers to support all advanced features.

VRS READY compatibility.

Upgradability, which means that customers investments are protected, as they can move to a faster model at any time.

The i600 Series Scanners are compliant with Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and feature other ergonomic benefits, a quick-access paper path and easily accessible feeder modules.

A version of Kodak’s renowned Capture Software will also be available right after the product introduction to take full advantage of all innovative features. Capture software supports the entire range of Innovation Series Scanners, meeting the needs of customers ranging from just a few hundred to tens of thousands of pages per day. Capture software customers upgrading from an existing Kodak mid­ volume production scanners can purchase a special upgrade.

Another benefit to Kodak's customers is the all-inclusive PerformancePlus service package which covers parts and labour over a period of three years, and if the customer does not call for a service engineer in the initial 3 years we will provide a fourth year of contract cover absolutely free of charge! This worry-free service package even includes a consumable kit to minimise the total cost of ownership.

PerformancePlus contracts are available for purchase at the point of equipment sale and up to 30 days later and will be offered through authorised distributors in selected markets throughout Europe with a Kodak Service ft Support organisation.

Shipments of the Scanners will begin in May 2004.

For more information visit www.kodak.com/go/docimaging.

9

Records Management, Information Management, Knowledge Management or Content Management Software -

What is you preference?

Simply Semantics........... or is it?

In 1993 (and five years prior to the voluntary liquidation of my micrographic business MICROFORMS) and after three years as a member of the Records Management of Australia “RMAA” and a committee member of the Western Australian “WA” Branch, I decided that my reducing micrographic income could be augmented by the sale of a records management “RM” software product so I took the plunge and became a reseller of RM software.

Did it save me from my final humiliation five years later with the closure of my microfilm/scanning bureau? NO it did not.

What it did do was to make me aware of how little I knew about records management, and the advice I was giving to my microfilm/scanning bureau based clients on the indexing of jacket and aperture cards with limited functionality, and allowed me to upgrade my skills in this area and also allowed me to provide an improved service to my client base at no additional cost to them.

With the coming of imaging in 1990, heralded by the release of the Canofile model CF250 and a forty (40) A4 page per minute scanner with the indexing matrix for filing documents on 5.25 inch 512KB Magneto Optical Disks, we thought we could solve everyone’s records management problems. How wrong can one be!

Was the Canon CF250 stand alone, proprietary, self contained with no networking, imaging system a failure? NO! It was a success. Not the success I envisaged when I was introduced to the product at its launch in 1990, where I committed myself to sell 1.5 units per month into Western Australia. Eight years later I had attained an installed base of only fourteen (14) units. At around $35,000.00 Australian at that time, in hindsight, one wonders how we achieved even that result.

What was wrong with this and other stand alone proprietary imaging systems? 1. They could not talk to each other (in later versions they could); 2. They had limited indexing software and they did not possess good records management principles within that software. However, at that time very few people knew the questions let alone the answers.

In the late 1980’s I partnered Wang in a proposal for a major imagining system, here in Western Australia, which was won

by Kodak Australasia at $12.4 Million Australian (approximately $7 million imaging and hardware and $5.4 million for software and its installation) and on attending a debriefing session and seeing how Kodak had handled the project we, myself and Wang, realised that we did not know the questions let alone the answers.

Australian software creators have been at the forefront in the creation and marketing of records management software products since the late 1980s, with such products as TRIM, RecFind and CARMS being successful at that early date. These three software products are still with us today, with at least two of the products being marketed heavily internationally

10

By Laurie Varendorff ARM A

with a high level of success. Even the Hummingbird suite of products uses an RM software module written in Sydney, for use with the PC Docs document management software suite which is now part of the Hummingbird offerings.

If, as a bureau service provider you consider yourself to be at the upper level of understanding of records management software needs and applications in the field, I would respectfully suggest that it may be in your best interest to take another look at that environment.

I believed back in 1990 that I had a good handle on what my clients requirements were, in respect to records management and the indexing tools I was providing at the time. Boy, have I come a long way since those days of simplicity. RM applications and the software that support those applications are complex and becoming more so day by day, with their integration with other whole-of-business applications.

If you have the need, desire and dedication to go down this track for greater enlightenment in this area of Records Management, Information Management, Knowledge Management or Content Management Software understanding, please take the ride, it will be thrilling.

Happy RMing!

Contact: Laurie Varendorff ARMA by email at Laurie.Varendorff@bigpond.com Wicks and Wilson’s new RS300 roll film scanner - hits the ultimate in performance levels Fast, Faster, Fastest is how roll film scanners have developed from Wicks and Wilson. “The new RS300 Scanstation will”, according to Sales Director, Ian Mcminn, “simply outperform, by some margin, all other roll film scanners.

“Designed to run 24-7 is exactly the reason why so many customers over the years have chosen Wicks and Wilson scanners and rely, for their return on investment (Rol) and business success, on products that provide reliable performance and productivity with unsurpassed image quality - day after day.

“The RS300 embraces 30 years of PROVEN imaging technology. From our years of experience designing and producing aperture card scanners, microfiche scanners and roll film scanners, we have learnt that when you have the best design, use the best components available, write the best software package, adopt the best manufacturing techniques and sell at the best prices, there can only be one possible outcome “The BEST product - it’s that easy.”

Contact: lanMcMinn, Wicks and Wilson Limited Tel: +44 (0)1256 842211 Fax: +44 (0)1256 840997 Website: www.unvl.co.uk

It takes 30 years to become as good as we are.

CS 750 Aperture Card Scanstation •

U p to 7 5 0 cards per hour

•

AGI greyscale ou tput

•

H igh productivity, 2 4 -7

RS300 Roll Film Scanstation •

U p to 3 2 5 fram es per m inute

FS200 Microfiche Scanstation

•

S im ultaneous greyscale and

•

U p to 1 0 0 fram es per m inute

bitonal ou tput

•

AGI greyscale ou tput

•

High productivity, 2 4 -7

•

High productivity, 2 4 -7

'Excellence by design' Wicks and Wilson Wicks and Wilson Limited, Morse Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 6PQ, United Kingdom Telephone: +44 (0)1256 842211 Fax: +44 (0)1256 840997 Email: sales@wwl.co.uk Web:wwwi wwl.co.uk

Four new aces

from Microform

Microform adds tw o high-end and tw o mid-range scanners to make it a quartet Both units feature high-quality technical specifications and, with a scanning speed of up to 240 images per minute (duplex), demonstrate a level of performance far in advance of that usually offered by production scanners.

Right on time for CeBIT, Microform is expanding its range of document scanners by adding four more top-quality products: the MF S 655, MF S 615, MF S 455 and MF S 415.

New high-end Scanners Microform GmbFFs MF S 655 and MF S 615 are setting new standards in the field of production scanners - both in color and black and white. The two scanners feature cuttingedge camera design and the very latest imaging technology. n The MFS 655 The scanning speed of up to 320 images per minute makes both scanners absolute front­ runners with regard to production rate and productivity.

After Microform had very successfully launched its MF S 655 Premium Color Scanner on the market back last autumn, the company quickly decided that it would also have to expand its range of bitonal scanners. Now Microform launches a new top-quality unit for converting mixed documents to blackand-white images - the MF S 615. The real highlight of the MF S 615 is that thanks to its upgrade option, it can be turned - easily, quickly and at the very position in which it is installed - into a color scanner with the full functionality and performance of our MF S 655. This makes the MF S 615 a flexible and economical entry-level model into the world of colour.

The mechanical design of the MF S 655 and MF S 615 is based on the proven S 61 Document Scanner. The unique paper transport system without any belts enables the unit to convert all paper grades at maximum speed and with minimal risks of paper jams.

The MFS 415

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New mid-range Scanners The MF S 415 and MF S 455 mid-range scanners offer the same high level of quality and identical functionality as the high-end MF S 615 and MF S 655 units. This makes the MF S 455 Color Scanner a less expensive alternative to the MF S 655 Premium Color Scanner.

The MF S 415 is a genuine entry-level model into the world of high-performance production scanners is. This bitonal scanner combines high-quality equipment with economy and flexibility: thanks to its upgrade option, it can be turned - at the very position in which it is installed - into a colour scanner with the full functionality of the MF S 455.

New long-life lamps illuminate the scanning zone with light whose brightness is similar to daylight to provide optimum image quality while at the same time reducing running costs for consumables. Just like all other scanners from Microform, the new units are based on the proven paper transport system without belts. As a result, they master all paper grades and allow maximum scanning speeds with minimal risks of paper jams or damage to valuable originals.

The heart of all of these scanners consists of two all-new camera units. These dustfree, encapsulated components contain Trilinear CCD cameras, combined with high-quality lenses from Schneider Kreuznach and bloomed (antireflectioncoated) optical mirrors. They guarantee outstanding scan results in color, grayscale or bitonal.

In the development of these new scanners, Microform profited from its many years of experience with application-oriented capture products. For ten years now, Microform has been developing, manufacturing and marketing document scanners, hybrid scanner/microfilm cameras and analogue microfilm cameras.

Contact: Roland Reinberger, c/o Microform GmbH, Gewanddckerstr. 12, D-73614 Schomdorf Germany Tel: +49 7181 886428 Fax: +49 7181 886429 e-mail: info@microform.de or visit www.microform.de

FREE INFORMATION G G Baker & Associates - suppliers of unbiased reference works fo r over 30 years - invite you to use th e ir very extensive website at

www.ggbaker.com The UK's most comprehensive directory o f document management products and services.

Tutorials relating to electronic document management, micrographics and hybrid systems.

The c o n te n t is re g u la rly u p d a te d a n d can be accessed w ith o u t cha rge.

-1

Mobile storage solution vorks for Hermes Pension Management A new high-density mobile storage system, designed and installed by NORD-PLAN, has helped Hermes Pension Management Limited save space and improve service levels in its Business Information Services section. Significantly less floor area is now used for document storage, which offers a direct cost saving, while better access to files has made the retrieval of records both easier and quicker.

When Hermes moved its head office to the Lloyds Chambers building in the heart of central London’s finance district, they wanted to ensure that the new accommodation was being used as effectively as possible. For Facilities Manager, Andy Ghurchill, this involved consideration of all aspects of space utilisation by the 280 staff who work at Hermes. “With the high cost of offices in central London, space is a very valuable commodity,” he says. “We therefore need to make the best use of every square metre as this has a direct effect on our bottom line.”

Because document storage and filing have always been a major call on floor space for Hermes’ Business Information Services section, Andy Churchill took the opportunity of the move to look very closely this aspect of their operation.

NORD-PLAN was asked to review existing facilities and design a more effective document management system for use in the Lloyds Chambers offices. By replacing the open shelving and filing cabinets previously used with extremely spaceefficient high-density mobile units, NORD-PLAN was able to increase the storage capacity within a much smaller footprint.

This enabled Hermes to draw up plans for the accommodation that saved both space and money.

“The solution proposed by NORD-PLAN has worked really well and saved a lot of space,” says Andy Churchill. “It’s a terrific example of how effective storage can make economic sense. “ Space and cost savings are not the only benefits of high-density mobile storage. Business Information Services staff have also found that ready access to documents and files has enabled them to provide an improved service for their colleagues.

The Business Information Services section has an extensive collection of documents, reference material and files. Even with access to on-line information, these paper-based records remain a significant source of business intelligence for the 50 field managers and brokers who work at Hermes. They rely on frequent day-to-day access to these files and documents for their work. Because NORD-PLAN’s high-density system takes up less floor space than the mixture of shelving and cabinets previously used, staff can locate files much quicker and easier than before. They have also noticed that the office is kept much tidier, with files returned to the correct place rather than left on open shelves or cabinet tops.

The system installed by NORD-PLAN uses its SL1MFL0W highdensity, manually operated mobile storage units. To make best use of the available floor area, the units incorporate seven rows of shelving. The units have been fitted with a mixture of lateral filing and standard shelving, providing over 1200 linear metres of storage - enough for Hermes’ immediate and projected requirements. Easy-to-use and ergonomically designed lowgeared hand wheels operate the SLIMFLOW units. This allows staff to move any number of the units virtually effortlessly just 1kg of effort is required to move 4800kg of weight.

“The installation and handover was straightforward and very professional throughout,” says Andy Churchill in summing up Hermes’s response to the new storage system. “Everyone is delighted by the system that NORD-PLAN has provided. It has helped improve the way we work as well as saving us space and money. The project has been extremely successful all round.”

Contact: NORD-PLAN Ltd, Ahed Industrial Estate, Reigate Rd, Hookwood, Horley, Surrey RH6 OHF, UK Tel: 01293 776795 Fax: 01293 772466 nordplan@aol.com

13

IMPLEMENTING EREEDOM OE INEORMATION

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ORM ATI! 11 M i C:u:LTU1RE CHAN<3E 13 M ay 2 0 0 4 , U M IS T , M a n c h e s te r

THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT AFFECTS ANYDODY IN PURLIC SERVICE, FROM CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO NORSERY SCHOOLS AND DOCTORS SORGERIES, WHO DEALS WITH THE PORLIC.

IS YOUR ORGANISATION PREPARED FOR THIS CULTURE CHANGE P The seminar is primarily aimed at councillors, managers and trainers in public bodies such as local authorities at all levels, hospital trusts and emergency services as well as smaller institutions such as further education establishments, schools, nurseries, doctor’s surgeries and pharmacies.

THE ■

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MIM *nin•••«,

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British Standards

Details of speakers, dates and streams can be found on The Green Sheet web-site at

http://www.green-sheet.net/seniinars.htm Delegates will go away with a much better idea of what they need to do, how they can do it and the resources available to help them.

Sem inar price includes:Complimentary copies of associated BSi literature

On the 1st of January 2005, the Freedom of Information Act comes into full force

[worth £25.00)

joining the Data Protection Act (DPA), the Regulation of lnvestigatoiy Powers Act

Training and guidance notes

(RIP) and Section 8 of the Human Rights Charter. All these acts relate in one way or another to the way in which organisations work with the general public. The

FREE 6 MONTHS SUBSCRIPTION TO The Green Sheet

effect of these acts is to demand that organisations know what information they

LUNCH

hold and to make complex decisions relating to its disclosure. Effective records

Full Sem inar Notes

management strategies will need to become even more commonplace than accounting functions in public bodies if they are to be compliant.

All employees dealing with the general public, as part of induction training, will need to recognise requests for information and properly direct such enquiries.

P lease v is it w w w .g reen -sh eet.n et w here y o u m ay sig n up on -lin e if y o u w ish

Furthermore, business analysts and 1CT staff implementing document management and business processing solutions will need to have an overview of these laws and an understanding of records management from an application perspective.

or c o n ta c t T im N ixon at MICROGRAPHICS MARKETING LTD

65 WINCHESTER DRIVE BURBAGE, LEICESTERSHIRE. LE10 2BA UNITED KINGDOM

This Green Sheet Initiative in association with the BS1 seeks to address the change that is required in corporate culture by highlighting the issues, explaining the associated changes which will be needed in staff perceptions, procedures and technologies and describing the available resources.

■ •••••••••I iM nnf •• ••• m •••••

S H E E T

Tel: +44 (0) 24 7638 2328 Fax: +44 (0) 24 7638 2319 U.K. E-mail: gsinfo@green-sheet.net

A GREEN SHEET INITIATIVE WITH THE FULL SUPPORT OF THE BSI

British Standards

ALL CHANGE - IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE! Monitoring (as I do!) the British Government’s invitations to tender (ITT’s) for information management systems over the last few years, I was struck by the drop in tenders as we approach the government’s end of fiscal year. This, for readers who are not from these shores, is April 5th (a story in itself which is explained below for those who are interested). The event is not that unusual. At end of year public services are usually either trying to survive or utilise unspent budget, but this is very rarely associated with new capital programmes.

These tend to be planned up to a few years in advance.

So it is with morbid interest that I’ll look at the tenders that come out at the start of the next fiscal year to see what aptions will be taken in the way of information management system implementations and training programmes to address the Freedom of Information Act, which takes full effect in the UK on the 1st January 2005.

At a “Freedom of Information Compliance - the key to egovernment?” seminar sponsored by E-Govemment Bulletin last month at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, Maurice Frankel, Director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information was quoted as saying, “We are going to write to every newspaper in the country, explaining the act, offering training on the act and explaining what they can do to put the act to the test. You are going to be tested on this legislation the moment it comes into force by your local newspapers, by national newspapers, by local groups of various kinds. It’s going to be on the front page if you don’t do it properly.” He declined to offer precise details of the form the test for councils would take, to preserve an element of surprise.

“There’ll be veiy little sympathy from the public or press if you say ‘we’ve only had a little time to prepare’. Nobody’s going to believe you,” said Frankel. “Bear in mind that this act was passed in November 2000. By the time it comes into force in January 2005 you will have had five years and two months.

You have been given longer to prepare for this legislation than any other country."

There has been a plethora of advice from various commercial organisations, societies and government departments on the implementation of the act. All that I have seen has been aimed at executive and senior management level who are responsible, either directly or otherwise, for its implementation. The only problem with this is that, by 1st January 2005, we are expecting a seed change in the attitude of those in public service from one of “we don’t provide that information” to one of “is there any reason why we shouldn’t provide that information?”. If Mr Frankel and the Campaign for Freedom of Information are not to have a field day, somebody had better tell the troops what’s happening! Personally, I’m convinced they will be able to drag up enough stories and cdhse enough embarrassment to get the majority of chief execs running for cover.

Researching for the presence or otherwise of suitable training for all those staff in organisations affected by Freedom of Information from central government departments to nurseiy schools and pharmacists, I am amazed at the lack of it! There are two or three commercial organisations who are or have developed product, and one or two quangos such as the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeftA) are still

thinking about product. The message has to be put across to front line staff in over 100,000 organisations!

It is with these thoughts in mind that The Green Sheet, in conjunction with the British Standards Institution, is running its series of regional seminars outlining the problems and describing current training materials and initiatives. The next event is planned for Manchester in May but see www.greensheet.net for details.

David Aspinall, Datum Solutions Limited, Datum House, 4 Priory Close, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 4ED, Tel: 01252 612805, E-mail: daspinall@datum-solutions.co.uk

a

g R e g O R ia N

taLe

The Julian calendar, named after Julius Caesar, was introduced to the Roman empire on 1st January 45 BC. This is accurate to about 3 days in 400 years. The traditional start to the year in Britain was the 25th March - soon after the vernal equinox (21st March) when day and night are of equal length. - Hence September was the 7th month, October the 8th and December the 10th etc. This calendar was to continue in use for many centuries until it was replaced by the more accurate Gregorian calendar (named after Pope Gregory XIII) in 1582.

As might have been expected, protestant countries asserted their independence by ignoring the papal ruling.

Britain managed to resist changing until 1752. So for almost two centuries journeys across Europe often involved a change of date as a border was crossed. The Orthodox countries, Greece and Russia, resisted change until the twentieth century.

Britain changed to the Gregorian calendar in 1752 and changed the start of the year to 1st January at the same time. To bring the Spring Equinox back to 21st March, eleven days had to be added to the calendar to compensate for the drift caused by the inaccuracy of the Julian Calendar.

This was achieved by "losing” the 4th to the 13th of September 1752, so that 3rd September 1752 was immediately followed by 14th September 1752. This caused an outcry from the public, who thought that eleven days had been ’’stolen” from their lives and demanded them back!

It also accounts for the strange date for the beginning of the financial year. When the 11 days were removed from the calendar in September, what would have been 25th March became 6th April. The financial year thus remained the same despite the changes to the normal calendar.

Want to know when you changed? - see: http://homepages.tesco.net/~jk.calisto/calisto/calendars/ change_datesjg.htm 15

Ohio Bureau o f M otor Vehicles receives 1st Place 2 0 0 3 Process Innovation Award Fairfax Imaging's Quick Modules Remittance Solution delivers award winning customer service improvements fo r the Ohio BMV Fairfax Imaging is proud to announce that the State of Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has received a 1st Place Kinetic Information Process Innovation Award for 2003. The Ohio BMV was recognised for their innovative and ‘trend bucking’ implementation that brought outsourced vehicle registration Jim Everett, VP Sales/Marketing for processes back in-house.

Fairfax Imaging Using Fairfax’s Quick Modules Remittance Processing solution the Ohio BMV is able to deliver demonstrable improvements in customer service, while achieving proven cost savings.

Judged by a panel of independent industry analysts, the 8th Annual Process Innovation Awards were co-sponsored by IMERGE Consulting, and were presented to six companies that implemented applications returning significant business benefit. Kinetic Information also presented four Second Place awards and two ‘Vision’ awards (received last year by Fairfax client Precision Images, a division of ServiceSource).

The Ohio BMV is achieving annual savings on operating expenses of $500,000-$700,000, which ultimately translates into significant savings for the Ohioan taxpayer, but it is the improvements in customer service that make this application an award winner. The new in-house system has resulted in speedier turn-around times, increased customer satisfaction, and led to improved staff morale, as staff now have greater control over the registration process and are able to more quickly and accurately address customer queries.

“They say silence is golden,” said Jamie Bryan, Administrator of Support Services at Ohio’s BMV, “and our department is now able to fully appreciate the truth of that statement.

Phones, especially during February-March when many leased vehicles require registration renewals, were always ringing with inquiries, and occasionally abusive complaints, about renewal status. Now we have far fewer calls as vehicle owners are receiving the renewals promptly, they are processed more accurately, and the staff are now able to quickly call up all the necessary information to respond to the few calls we do get.

In our case silence is golden, as it translates into reduced phone costs for call-backs, greater productivity and improved staff morale - all of which directly impact on our budget by reducing costs.”

“The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles understands well that improving customer service first requires acknowledging how customers wish to conduct their transactions, and then changing the business process to accommodate that behaviour,” said Steve Weissman, president of Kinetic Information. “This practical perspective was fundamental to the success of the Agency’s winning solution.”

16

“Improving customer service as well as reducing cost do not always go hand-in-hand,” said Jim Everett, Fairfax Imaging’s Vice President, Sales and Marketing, “so we at Fairfax Imaging are especially proud that the Ohio BMV has received this recognition for the improvements provided by our Quick Modules Remittance Solution. So many organisations are now jumping on the outsourcing bandwagon that it is in danger of becoming a fad, rather than an informed business decision.

Our customers have found that Fairfax can improve in-house systems at a cost that makes outsourcing uneconomical. For others it is clearly the right decision but, as the Ohio BMV has demonstrated, on occasion it pays to re-visit and re-evaluate the outsourcing decision.”

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles deals with all aspects of driving, operating and licensing vehicles in the State of Ohio.

The Bureau is committed to serving the needs of the citizens of Ohio in the most efficient and cost effective manner, employing technological solutions where appropriate. More details on the services they offer, fee structure and recent news can be viewed at: www.ohiobmv.com Fairfax Imaging, based in Chantilly, Virginia, is a leader in tum-key image-based products and solutions for the data capture, forms processing, document imaging, and check/remittance processing industries. More information on their Quick Modules forms processing solutions can be found on their website at www.fairfaximaging.com Contact: Jim Everett, Fairfax Imaging, Tel: 703-802-1220

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‘Scan-on-Demand’ document access solution Document storage company Humphreys have commissioned Anacomp to develop a new Scan-On-Demand Electronic Document Management Solution. The solution will enable Humphreys’ customers to gain easier and faster access to their remotely stored documents.

Humphreys store a wide range of hard copy documents, microfiche and electronic data, for their customers in warehouses across the UK. The storage company wanted a document management solution that allowed their customers, nationwide, to have around the clock access to stored data. A majority of Humphreys customers store hard copy data at the warehouses, but still require access to some of the information held. “Our customers’ processes revolve around paper, but they need the benefits delivered by electronic document management. The dilemma was how to dovetail hard copy data with the easy accessibility gained with electronic data”, said Chris Bradly of Humphreys.

Humphreys’ customers can opt to put all their information online, or request the loading of documents as they need to view them using ‘Scan-on-Demand’. The system is hosted, managed and maintained by Anacomp. The ‘Scan-onDemand’ solution sets Humphreys’ customers initial data up as ‘index only’ - the user requests a scan, the scan is loaded into the system and that will ‘backfill’ the image.

The solution was designed as a cost-effective, quickly deliverable, non-disruptive alternative to back scanning companies entire document archives. “Restructuring the processes, purchasing software for integration with existing systems, and paying for entire backlogs of information to be scanned would be very expensive, time consuming and disruptive for our customers”, said Chris Bradly.

Chris Haden, Sales Director at Anacomp said, “Anacomp’s Online Document Et Data Management solution enables Humphreys to respond to customer requests to view hard copy, stored documents and data (held off-site at Humphreys) quickly and more easily by making their information available online, via the Internet. We are very pleased to have this within our portfolio of products and services designed to enhance business processes”.

Humphreys is an established document storage, archiving and disposal company which caters for a range of clients from large PLC’s to SMEs. Humphreys provide a flexible service for the retrieval, of active and inactive files and data, guaranteeing secure, confidential and fire protected storage.

Humphreys long- and short-term Archive Storage offers rapid retrieval of documents World-wide by courier, fax or hi-tech systems „ Contact: Amanda Barrett, Anacomp Ltd Tel: +44 (0)118 9361600 Fax: +44 (0)118 9773890 Email: abarrett@anacomp.co.uk or contact: Chris Bradly, Humphreys Tel: +44 (0)1923 213 090 Fax: +44 (0)1923 210 355 Email: chrisbradly@blueyonder.co.uk

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ROUND(VA B O U T nextScan appoints Doug Bolen nextScan, the provider of the next generation in film scanning technology, today announced Doug Bolen has joined the company as Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Doug brings more than ten years product engineering, strategic marketing and management experience to nextScan and he will be responsible for worldwide channel sales and marketing communications efforts, as well as offering his extensive expertise to product development.

Doug Bolen comes to nextScan from Micron Technology, Inc., one of the world’s leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions.

Micron’s DRAM and Flash components are used in today’s most advanced computing, networking and communications products, including computers, workstations, servers, cell phones, wireless devices, digital cameras and gaming systems.

Doug served in many different capacities for the company over 11 years, including Product Engineering Management and Strategic Marketing Management for the Network and Communications Group. Doug was a key enabler in the development of a memory module design and signal integrity group while working as a Product Engineering Manager. As a Strategic Marketing Manager for the Network and Communications group he worked with a team to develop and introduce a revolutionary memory architecture that enables very low latency memory access. Doug holds a BSME from the University of Idaho. ’’nextScan is thrilled to have Doug join our executive staff. He has worked in the past with the nextScan executive team, so we know the dedication and professionalism he will bring to the position and to nextScan as a whole. One of his biggest strengths is determining market needs and implementing supporting strategies. Doug will add the creativity and energy required as nextScan implements our innovative rollfilm and fiche scanner product road map. His addition is key to continuing to move the company forward and deliver quality products,” said Steven Butterfield, President and CEO of nextScan.

Contact: Erin Dempsey, nextScan, Inc. Tel: +1(910) 864-2044 email: erin@nextscan.com Fujifilm and Fuji Xerox to offer microfilm service In Japan Fuji Photo Film and Fuji Xerox this Spring will offer a system and service that transfers printed and digital documents to microfilm for low-cost permanent storage. The companies say the need for the service reflects the fact that digital technologies are evolving so fast that older forms of digital storage media are quickly becoming obsolete. As a result, organisations that need to retain documents for decades still must convert the documents to some form of permanent storage.

Microfilm fits the bill perfectly but has not been cost competitive when originals have had to be filmed. The partnership claims photographing from originals in large

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conversion jobs has cost tens of thousands of yen plus a fee of 50-100 yen per page. The new service will cost around 20 yen per page.

The service will be offered to companies that use Fuji Xerox network copiers. Special software for these units has been developed that provides a simple interface for scanning and transmitting documents over the internet to a Fujifilmmanaged server. Once the server has collected enough data, it transfers the documents to microfilm, which will then be mailed back to the client company.

Vic Penney Puts Down His Case Marking his retirement at the end of April from a high profile role in the Document Management Industry, Vic Penney would like to take this opportunity to thank all his friends, colleagues and acquaintances for their help and support over the years.

After leaving University, Vic joined Kodak Ltd in 1968 and as one of the famous Southern Region Sales Team, achieved membership of the exclusive ”21 club” of world-class salesmen.

His years from 1981 as Sales and Marketing Director with Profile Microfilming Ltd (now Microformat Ltd) saw a sustained increase in turnover and profitability providing a sound platform for their continued success.

It was as Managing Director of Christal VS Ltd that Vic steered his way through the most challenging and significant changes in the Industry with the introduction of document scanning to the traditional microfilm marketplace. He also channelled his leadership skills outside work serving as an Officer of the Boys’ Brigade and organising Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme activities; himself a gold medal holder.

Christal VS celebrated their 15-year landmark in champagne style (see The Market Place Dec/Jan 2001) and Vic was beginning to warm to more rural pursuits having moved his company into the picturesque Kent countryside.

He sold Christal VS to Document Options Ltd in November 2002, a company with whom he had close associations during their early days as The Reprographic Centre, helping them to set up as a microfilming service bureau alongside their traditional services. Vic stayed on as Director of Business Development overseeing the merger of sales and marketing activities, looking at new areas of business and specifically at records management consultancy and document management software sales.

Now, with four grown up sons and two daughters in law, he plans to spend more time with his wife, family and dogs.

He would like to re-establish contact with past friends, colleagues and acquaintances and if you are one of them, an e-mail would be most welcome, and all will be answered. victor.penney@virgin.net

British Library joins Digital Library Federation The British Library has joined the Digital Library Federation as the latter’s first strategic partner from outside the United States. The move represents the start of a significant expansion of the Digital Library Programme. The British Library’s decision to join the Federation signals the Library’s determination to exploit possibilities for research and study. It should benefit citizens of the United Kingdom but also readers and researchers eveiywhere.

Korean ministry declassifies 30-year old records onto microfilm South Korea’s foreign ministry announced that 30-year old, formerly secret documents, which include records concerning North Korea’s seizure of the Pueblo, a US spy boat, have been declassified and will be released to the public on microfilm.

Other documents and diplomatic correspondence include reports on former US Secretary of state Henry Kissinger’s visit to China in 1973, the kidnapping of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung that year, and records of North and South Korean talks held in 1973. In all, 953 volumes of formerly secret papers will be available on microfilm at South Korea’s Institute of Foreign Affairs Studies.

Digital grows but paper lives on The University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information Management and Systems periodically does a global survey “How Much Information?” which reveals some interesting information. A recent update to the 1999 study indicates that in 2002 about 5 exabytes (one exabyte is the equivalent of 1 billion gigabytes) of new information were stored on paper, film, optical or magnetic media. This was triple the amount stored in 1999 and a 30% increase in stored information. As an interesting sidelight, The New York Times estimates that five exabytes are equal to the sum of every word spoken by human beings since the beginning of recorded time.

The study deflated the idea that paper is on its way out. The amount of information stored on paper, including books, journals, and office documents increased 43% in 2002.

Original documents produced by office workers make up more than 80% of all paper documents, Not surprisingly, digital information production is the largest and most rapidly growing. About 610 billion Emails are sent each year, compared to 2.1 billion static web pages. The United States produces about 25% of all text information and at least half the content stored on magnetic media.

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ARMA 2004 Resource Guide available ARMA International has published the 2004 edition of its Professional Resource Guide. It is a listing of publications and other materials on information management and knowledge management subjects. More than 100 titles are indexed and described in the 44-page Guide. Prices for members and non­ members are given for each reference item. For information contact www.arma.org

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Why doesn’t electronic storage hold the same value for archive documents?

The prevalent belief in the IT industry has been that because disk and other digital storage is inexpensive, there will be the same cost and storage benefits in using these media for long­ term storage. The cost of technology has been steadily decreasing, at the same time as performance and storage capacity has been increasing. A powerful value proposition no doubt, but one that carries a range of dangers.

The risk of obsolescence The very nature of the speed of technological advancement is the area of biggest concern. There is no guarantee that information created and stored on today’s media will be readable in future, and this has to be of grave concern to those interested in long-term preservation. A simple example will highlight this point.

A few months ago, very emotionally, I disposed of a few hundred floppy disks (some of you may remember these).

These disks held about ten years history of my life - previous contracts, research I had undertaken, correspondence, some applications and games which I was particularly fond of. So why did I have no choice but to get rid of them?

The first, most obvious reason was that my latest computer no longer had a floppy drive. This had been replaced with two drives - one for “stiffies” and one for “compact disks”. I no longer had the hardware which was capable of reading these old disks. My previous floppy drive was worn out, and search as I did, I couldn’t find a supplier who could sell me this “old” technology. Even if I had managed to find a second hand device in good working order, finding the necessary hardware drivers would have proved almost impossible.

I then took a look at the quality of the actual media. Some of the disks had been stored badly and had been bent or creased.

I knew that these were valueless as I had been down the road of trying to read them previously (but had held onto them regardless). Some of the disks were covered in dust as they had been in the back of my cupboard. Still others would have been unreadable as they had been exposed to various temperature variations during my various household moves.

installed. This applies, not only to hardware, but includes software applications, drivers and operating systems. Sadly it also applies to media. As an example, it is worthwhile looking at some of the technologies and how they have changed in a relatively short period of time. Reel to reel tape had a number of formats depending on manufacturer, which then gave way to IBM 3480 type cartridge tape. Since then there have been a number of different formats including 4 and 8mm cartridges, DLT, DAT, DIS, QIC and LTO. Optical media has shown a similar trend, from laserdiscs to CD ROM, CD R/W, WORM, and finally DVD. Even within these formats there has been a lack of consistency. 1 had the experience recently where I produced a DVD which could not be read on other computer’s DVD drives only two years old.

The Domesday project in the UK is a good example whereby the latest technology was used to record information for future generations to access and yet, less than 20 years later, the information is rendered unusable due to technology changes.

The quality of the media is suspect and subject to interference.

There have been many claims about the longevity of tape and various optical formats, however these have yet to stand the test of time. CD was thought to last for 30 years, yet there have been a number of reports of the media not being readable after 5 years. This may or may not be purely the fault of the media. Storage conditions, heat and humidity and other environmental effects will no doubt have an impact on the ability of a given media to last its stated life. Further to this, the quality of the recording technology will also have an impact on the life of the information recorded onto the media.

This is not to say all media is of a poor quality. There are many manufacturers who produce media of an exceptionally high standard, yet it is still subject to degradation due to poor handling.

Is there hope?

A number of potential solutions to this challenge are being debated worldwide and are briefly discussed here.

Store everything on hard disk.

In the unlikely event that I would have been able to find some disks in good condition, with all the information intact, it dawned on me that I no longer had the applications capable of reading and interpreting the information. My latest version of Microsoft Word just could not read MultiMate version 1.

If we examine the issues outlined in this rather simple example, the warning signs for long term preservation become clear:The rapid rate of change leads to a high risk of technology obsolescence.

Most hardware and software vendors work on backwards compatibility for 2 generations (on the odd occasion this could be 3 generations). Because of the rate of change, a new generation will probably be developed every 18 months. This means that on average, any information older than about four and a half years won’t be readable on the equipment then

22

This does have potential as a solution, and will generate support amongst the IT fraternity. It seems attractive, as disk is cheap, and mirror copies can be stored in off-site locations.

The first objection is about the premise that disk is cheap.

Hardware may be inexpensive, but the costs of managing the storage quickly mount. Typical costs of managing storage amount to 5 - 8 times the cost of the storage disks themselves, especially when including the costs of back-ups. There is also the added complication that whilst the disks may be able to store the information, the software applications themselves are often changing. This necessitates a regular migration from one application to the next if the stored document is to be readable. It is well known that anytime a conversion is done, there is a risk of losing information - hardly the ideal scenario for a records manager. In addition, the formatting of the document could change during the conversion process, posing serious questions regarding the integrity of the document.

Migrate all archives on a regular basis This option suggests that every 5 years all archived information is migrated onto the latest technology or media.

This means that information will be moved from older media onto disk and copied from there onto the latest media type.

Obviously this requires that both the “old" and “new” versions of the entire environment must be present and talking seamlessly to one another. All information must be copied off the old media, a conversion process to new applications must take place, and then the “new” information must be written back to the new media.

Not only is this grossly time consuming, but the risk of losing information is simply too high. As discussed earlier, there are also implications in determining the validity of the information as a genuine replica of the original, certifiable in a court of law. An IT vendor’s dream - an archivist’s njghtmare.

Reference Archive Media There does appear to be hope, which satisfies the demands of both IT and the records management fraternity. The solution seeks to extract the benefits of IT during the active stage, and provide comfort and longevity to the records manager during the archive stage. The principles are as follows: Documents entering the company as paper documents are scanned and indexed in the normal manner. These are then used to provide all the benefits discussed earlier, achieving the “access” goal. Once scanned into a repository, the images and associated index information are written to a new generation of high quality microfilm. The microfilm is stored off-site as an archive copy, providing the additional benefit of disaster recoveiy.

Benefits of this approach include:The process of capture is faster than traditional microfilming as scanning technology is used as compared to filming.

Documents are placed on a document feeder which inputs to the scanner at high speed. Scanning software provides additional functionality in straightening, cleaning up and removing unwanted noise from the image. This means that the stored image is of very high quality which improves readability into the future. Those documents which will benefit from forms and character recognition technology can be processed quickly as the indexing can be largely automated.

Once captured, the batch of images and associated index information is passed directly to a processor which writes the information to the reference archive media. This media is then taken off-site for storage.

The media is the latest generation microfilm, which has been designed to last for hundreds of years. This can be safely stored off-site, for later retrieval. On request, the microfilm is placed in a digitiser and the image sent back to the document imaging system of the day.

Long term microfilm storage is a low-cost option. As with digital, many documents can be stored on a relatively small foot-print. It also takes away the need for data migrations which adds so significantly to the cost of storing digital information. The fact that it is low cost suggests that retrieval times will be relatively slow, and this is correct, yet the retrieval times match the level of service demanded of an archive document.

Microfilm has been generally accepted worldwide as a legitimate archive media, accepted in most of the courts.

Compare this with digital information which in many countries is still not accepted as a legal document.

Microfilm technology is not subject to the same pressures of technology obsolescence as faces IT solutions. Because of its low-tech status, microfilm equipment can easily be manufactured in future as it uses standard well-established technology. In many hundreds of years from now, microfilm will still be able to be read using simple readers.

Microfilm is dead - long live microfilm The rapid evolution of information technology has been of great benefit to businesses and organisations worldwide. In the same breath, archivists and records managers have added value through their ability to provide long-term solutions to the preservation requirement. Reference archive media provides a bridging solution to meet the divergent needs of these two fraternities, each with their own objectives. The message remains clear: We will need to keep information for indefinite periods of time, and the best way to achieve this will be to provide technology which is proven as standing the test of time, is cost effective, legally admissible, and at the same time allows and facilitates the benefits that digital solutions offer.

Contact: Paul Mullon at paulm@metrofile.co.za

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e-in vo icin g - the ultimate in data capture?

Capturing the data in invoices can be a tough challenge. But you don’t need complex and expensive EDI systems or changes to legacy systems to make electronic invoicing a reality, as ReadSoft’s Colin Kaye explains In business, time is money - and when you’re at the mercy of slow, paper-based invoicing, it’s surprising how you can end up wasting an awful lot of both. What is even more surprising is just how easy it is to start saving time and money right away, simply by adopting a low-cost, EDIlike approach to electronic, or e-invoicing.

By making the transition from paper to electronic, it is possible to reduce monthly invoicing costs significantly, improve working relationships with your suppliers, and drive business forward.

Grim reality There is a certain grim reality to today’s protracted, paperbased invoicing processes. Let’s look at an example of Company X and Supplier Y, one of its 5,000 suppliers.

Supplier Y generates an invoice on an ERP system. The invoice is printed out onto paper, which is then folded, inserted into an envelope, sealed, franked (or in a worst-case scenario, stamped manually) and mailed. This is a monotonous procedure that can take hours, if not days for multiple invoices, and diverts employees from more productive and rewarding activities. The cost can be anything from £1 - £3 per invoice including ink, toner, paper, envelopes, postage and labour.

Then Supplier Y waits...and waits. The company doesn’t get a receipt for the invoice, so doesn’t know if it has been received.

It then starts chasing payment, then finds out there’s a dispute with the invoice. That’s settled eventually after numerous faxes and phone calls, but the payment is late and Supplier Y is not only missing out on interest paid, but encountering cash flow problems. It can cost the company as much as £40 per invoice in time wasted and costs associated with chasing the invoice - it can even cost the company its business.

Company X undertakes the same process as Suppler Y, but in reverse. Accounts Payable staff open the envelope, unfold and read the invoice, then re-key data into a financial package or ERP system. Re-keying invoice data has a number of costly drawbacks - apart from being time consuming and monotonous (especially if the company has 5,000 suppliers), data entry errors can occur and can lead to disputed invoices, late payment penalties and declining supplier relationships. In addition, paper invoices need to be filed and archived, which is time- and space-consuming, as well as costly.

The whole process of receiving, processing and handling an invoice can be as much as £10 per invoice - potentially £50,000 in costs across all of a company’s suppliers.

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e-invoicing is the answer - right?

So, electronic, or e-invoicing - whereby invoices are sent and received electronically - is the answer, right? Well, yes - but it’s not quite as simple as that. In fact, there are many challenges that have to be considered and addressed before a company can go down an e-invoicing route with its suppliers.

Not all invoices are the same. Invoices come in all shapes, sizes and formats. Some are packed with data (which may be relevant or not), while some lack even basic data, such as a PO number.

A matter of conversion. The biggest challenges and costs associated with moving from paper to electronic invoicing relate to the media conversion to an image file.

A match made in heaven? A company needs to know: what did I order, what did I receive, and what I am being billed for?

Essentially that involves a three-way electronic match of the following documents: a PO (purchase order), a GRN (goods received note), and an invoice.

Business rules rule, okay? Invoices need to be handled and processed within a defined set of business rules, otherwise all the benefits of e-invoicing go out of the window. And every business has its own defined set of business rules - there is no ‘vanilla’ approach to invoice processing.

Too many systems. The invoice may be generated by any ERP system - of which there are several, including SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle, JD Edwards, etc. - or a financial package or spreadsheet. They don’t necessarily connect together easily - something has to ‘bridge the gap’.

Safe and secure handling. When you’re dealing with thousands of invoices and millions of pounds/euros/dollars, you need to be able to receive, handle and process safely and securely to avoid errors and fraud that could be costly to your business. e-invoicing made easy To meet these challenges, many companies have adopted an electronic data interchange (EDI) approach, They recognised the potential business benefits of EDI, however many found it to be extremely expensive and time-consuming to actually implement. There are as are many different EDI standards and formats as there are ERP systems, and this can be quite a large overhead to businesses trying to communicate in a very costefficient manner.

This was the opportunity that ReadSoft saw. Basically, when we looked at the above challenges we tried to work out how we could get different ERP systems to communicate easily and cost-effectively. This led to the development of our EZ-OUT product.

Firstly, we attacked the challenge of a myriad of ERP systems.

How could we allow them to communicate easily and seamlessly? We came to the conclusion that, regardless of the ERP system, there is one industry standard - communicating to a printer. This is how EZ-OUT was born - it is effectively an intelligent print driver.

Secondly, we needed some sort of mechanism to communicate by, and we decided that email was a very low cost and established communication method. The ERP systems can be completely different, but email can be used as the transport mechanism between Company X and Supplier Y. It doesn’t matter what ERP system or email exchange systems are in place.

EZ-OUT has been designed to integrate with ReadSoft’s INVOICES software, which gathers all of a company’s invoices, on paper or in electronic form, finds the correct information from them, and puts this into the company’s business system. If a company has INVOICES installed it can then provide its suppliers with a low-cost EZ-OUT ‘client’ for sending out invoices out by email.

With EZ-OUT installed as a new printer driver at a supplier, the invoice is, in fact, automatically emailed on a print command when EZ-OUT detects relevant identifiers. In all other cases the document is routed to a normal printer. It does not matter what software is used to generate the invoice.

From a security perspective, encryption is built in, and once an invoice is sent by a supplier, a receipt comes straight back automatically confirming that the invoice has arrived.

No change to business processes The smart thing about EZ-OUT is that an organisation doesn’t have to change any of its business rules or processes to implement e-invoicing. Doesn’t it make sense to have one gateway into an ERP system, such as SAP, so that all the business rules can apply, whether the invoice comes in on paper, or via email, fax, or the Web? All of those facilities can be handled by EZ-OUT. And EZ-OUT is extremely low cost - at around £300 per licence, a supplier only has to make a small investment to: ★ meet the e-invoicing needs of a customer ★ reduce printing and postage costs significantly ★ have a faster and more secure delivery mechanism, and ★ achieve improved management and financial controls.

Many organisations who are using ReadSoft’s INVOICES are today providing EZ-OUT software to their suppliers, in some cases at no cost, or by asking them to buy licences - in the case of the latter, a company with thousands of suppliers can derive enough revenue from them to more than cover the cost of a complete INVOICES implementation, and then some...

How many software implementations can you think of that would achieve that kind of ROI? Colin Kaye is Managing Director o f ReadSoft (UK) Ltd. Tel: + 44 (0) 1908 688 000 Email: colin.kaye@readsoft.com Web: www.readsoft.com.

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XEROX INVENTS NEV SOFTWARE Scientists at Xerox’s European research laboratories have invented software that is powerful enough to “read” an electronic document, decide how it should be classified by subject and then post it to the right person’s e-mail address or online document management system - all completely automatically. The software was developed and pioneered at the company’s Xerox Research Centre Europe (XRCE) based in Grenoble, France.

The software, which is a categorising tool, is intended to help businesses keep their e-document collections orderly and easily accessible, and it is available for licensing from Xerox.

“A mis-shelved book in a library might as well be lost. It is the same with documents that have not been properly categorised; the document itself may have to be recreated,” said Eric Gaussier, a research scientist at XRCE. “Our new software can help save time and money and increase productivity. It will ensure that documents are properly classified for future retrieval and that the right information gets into the right hands as quickly as possible.”

Categorising tools currently available in the market treat each subject category independently of each other and are considered “flat.” For example, although it might seem obvious to humans that biochemistry and biophysics are related categories of information, a flat categorisation system wouldn’t make the connection. But the Xerox system, based on patented technologies, uses a hierarchical model that is able to understand the dependency between those two

categories and therefore make a more informed decision when classifying a document.

According to data gathered from a pilot test of the software, people found the right documents more often and faster because the software understood relationships between documents and categories.

Anne-Lise Veuthey, a senior researcher at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, an academic not-for-profit foundation that researches and develops technology used in biology, participated in the pilot programme. “We have found it to be extremely accurate in identifying documents containing the very specific Information we need to conduct our research on human genes,” Veuthey said.

Technology Highlights Three integrated functions make the Xerox categorisation technology unique: ★ The system can start right away. Using advanced machine­ learning techniques, with only a few examples it quickly learns by itself how to hierarchically classify documents in existing categories. ★ The technology is easy to use and helps people create a comprehensive way to turn unorganised e-files into cleanly labeled document collections. ★ The system can learn entirely new categories on its own.

The categorisation technology detects new or emerging topics and dynamically suggests new categories to the people who are using the system.

The Right Routing The Xerox categoriser system can handle documents written in up to 20 languages and can be easily adapted for specific customer requirements. The software intelligently routes documents to the right person based on a pre-set user profile.

“This can be used, for example, to route incoming mail to the person responsible for a given topic and eliminate mail in your inbox you aren’t interested in,” said Gaussier. “Imagine clients' complaints going directly to the person responsible for handling them, and your e-mail inbox containing only what you are interested in.”

Quality, Speed, Reliability nextScan Scanners for Rollfilm or Microfiche Eclipse: Lightning fast production level rollfilm scanning at 300 pages per minute.

Mercury: Rollfilm scanning at 120 pages per m inute fo r conversion on a tight budget.

Phoenix: A product designed to f i t w ithin the housing o f older SunRise scanners.

Rollfilm at 220 pages per m inute and Microfiche at 125 pages per minute.

Get the superior performance you've always wanted in a scanner instead of the technology you have been forced to accept!

"We are sure nextScan scanners will play a key role in our continued growth in the market" Spencer Woolley, MyFamily.com The largest provider ofgenealogical data over the Web. nexfScon, EdipM, MercuryondPhoenixoretrademark* of nextScon. All other companyandproduct nom#i ore trademark* or registeredtrademark* of their respectiveholder*.

26

The N ext Generation in Film Scanning Technology

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The categorisation technology was developed by XRCE researchers based on their deep expertise in linguistic analysis and machine-learning techniques. The software is written in Java and can be deployed on multiple platforms including UNIX, Linux and Windows.

The company anticipates the technology to be licensed by software vendors or corporations who wish to incorporate it into document systems focused on areas such as customer relationship management, information retrieval and data management.

For more information, visit www.xerox.com/innovation.

IMR UK Ltd formed to focus on Alchemy Alchemy has been distributed in the UK since 1993 and through to the end of 2003 the Microimaging Business (MBS) Group and CC Data distributed the product in the UK and Ireland. During 2003 IMR Inc made a decision to work more closely with a single partner in the UK and Ireland and identified the MBS Group who have been the sole distributor ofAlchemy since 1st January 2004. IMR UK has been operating as a division of the MBS Group and, as a result of the sale of the MBS Group service bureau, has now been formed as IMR UK Ltd, which is a totally independent company with no links to any bureau activity.

London, UK - Gary Mardlin, Chairman, introduced the formation of IMR UK Ltd stating “Our total focus on the sales and distribution of the award winning Alchemy Document and Record management software suite in the UK and Ireland provides an exciting opportunity and future for our customers, partners and employees.”

Malcolm Wilkes, Managing Director, IMR UK Ltd, highlighted the benefits that both customers and partners will enjoy. “Any and all previous perceived conflicts have gone! Our traditional service bureau customers can now benefit by working with a technical team that has been actively employing Alchemy in a bureau environment on a day-to-day basis for a combined period of 14years. This team is now extremely well placed to help our service bureau partners leverage the capabilities provided by Alchemy for their benefit.”

Rob Davies, MD Technology, who was initially reluctant to attend an Alchemy training course, recently experienced an example of the benefits provided by the new IMR UK Ltd team. “The training course for the latest Alchemy release was excellent and by learning more of the capabilities provided by Alchemy it has enabled MD Technology to provide existing customers with the knowledge that will enable them to further utilise Alchemy to address their business needs.”

Gabriel Weitzner, International Vice President of IMR, said, “The introduction of IMR UK Ltd is extremely positive news for Alchemy customers in the UK and Ireland. The IMR Inc team is looking forward to actively working with the IMR UK Ltd team to further expand the number of delighted customers who benefit from the use of Alchemy software.”

The dedicated IMR UK Ltd team will include all the key personnel who are well known within the industiy and will be based in Stotfold, Bedfordshire and Chester, Cheshire. The IMR UK Ltd team include:Gary Mardlin, Chairman, Malcolm Wilkes, Managing Director, Jonathan Holyhead, Sales Director, Douglas Harding, Director and Technical consultant. Simon Jones, Technical consultant and Cameron Smith, Channel Manager.

For more information visit our website at www.imruk.co.uk, call 01767 651004, or send an email to info@imruk.co.uk.

(The Editor has tried on several occasions to contact EDM, the new owners o f the MBS Group service bureau, but his calls to the MD, Mr Peter Smith, were not returned in time for this issue o f The Green Sheet. It is our understanding that EDM has aalso acquired Storewave. A full report will, hopefully be carried in the May/June issue)

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VersalMAGE drives paper scanners, film scanners and all microfilm readers and most cameras!

VersalMAGE uses the powerful Microsoft Access and Sequel Database Search Engines!

1lest Cost/Performance for Hybrid Imaging Software!

Index from Microfilm cameras, Readers, Digital Images or Paper with the same Imaging Software! Fast, high speed indexing can be achieved from reading Bar-Codes, full page OCR text and key field matching with VersalMAGE’s powerful data Import and Lookup/Append feature!

VersalMAGE imports/exports ASCII, CVS data and Tiff Image Files for low cost indexing! Build CD’s with VersalMAGE’s CD pre-mastering module! (New: PDF file output!) Distribute VersaView-GOLD software to remote users with full text OCR search capability!

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Store a “free” scan every time you Print, Fax or e-mail directly from Microfilm!

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New technology helps users find old family histories Scanning microfilm records makes them instantly accessible to subscribers of world's largest genealogical service.

MyFamily.com, Inc. is the largest supplier of genealogical data on the internet and amongst the largest online subscription businesses. One of the fastest growing technology companies in N. America, it has over 1.5 million paid subscribers and more than 10 million people using its web resources each month.

MyFamily.com, through a network of internet sites, provides the tools and content that allow its subscribers to climb the limbs of their family trees.

Millions of its records - which include US and UK census information, immigration passenger lists, birth and death records, and marriage data - are on microfilm of varying quality. Many of the older records are degraded and difficult to read. They have to be scanned and converted to electronic form for on-line availability and, equally important, readability. It is a daunting task.

The solution for MyFamily.com has been nextScan film scanners.

The company is using one 300 page per minute (ppm) Eclipse scanner and three 220 ppm Phoenix scanners to produce more than one million images per month. The job is so big, requiring fast, as well as quality turnaround, that previously it had to be outsourced to a service provider.

Meeting Challenges “We were challenged constantly with image quality,” said Spencer Woolley, Director of Electronic Production, at MyFamiy.com. A lot of the film images we deal with are old and

many are difficult to read. What good are they to someone researching their roots if they can’t read them? “nextScan scanners give us the better, faster and newer hardware we need to improve and process these images. The unique fiber optic light source, automated CCD camera, and the film transport are the best on the market. The light source directly contributed to significantly improving image quality from our source film.

The Fusion software that comes with the scanners has a very intuitive user interface. We especially value the arm and disarm function, focusing options and boundary detection features,” he added.

MyFamily.com purchased, and has been getting support for, its Eclipse and Phoenix scanners through Iimage Retrieval, nextScan’s US reseller. Iimage offers a special service called “Virtual Tech” that allows a support team to be available on-line to the client. It can attach and work with the scanner operator from virtually anywhere in the world via the internet. The support team is able to view the user’s desktop, including the nextScan scanner Fusion software. This enables them to walk the user through setup, scan and software upgrades.

Woolley noted, “The training and technical support for the nextScan scanners is excellent. With this type of product and support, we’re sure the scanners will play a key role in our continued growth in the market.”

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DocFinity EDRMS suite launched in Ireland at Datastore have a superb reputation in the Irish market for delivering and maintaining information management solutions. They were a natural choice for OIT (UK) to partner with and I am extremely pleased with the professionalism that they bring to our relationship. The Docfinity suite of document management and workflow products from OIT now allows Datastore to bring an unrivalled range of solutions to the Irish market. We are very pleased to be a part of what promises to be an exciting time for Datastore and the Irish marketplace. The launch event at Croke Park was veiy successful, generating a lot of interest and many Guinnessinduced hangovers!”

Croke Park in Dublin - the 79,500 seat home of the Gaelic Athletics Association - was the spectacular (but damp) venue for the launch of the DocFinity suite of EDRMS products in Ireland on the 10th and 11th March. OIT (UK) Limited, a subsidiary of the Genus Group, is European distributor and development contributor to the suite. Datastore Ireland Limited is to distribute the product throughout Ireland, thus consolidating their range of information management solutions.

OIT is a leading integrator and supplier of document and records management software and systems. OIT (UK) is the exclusive European distributor for the OIT Inc suite of Docfinity software modules, which includes workflow, web access, purchase invoice processing, COLD, multi user, etc. The software is installed in over 3500 clients worldwide with the major vertical markets being Health, Local Government, Banking, Insurance, Central Government and General Retail.

Datastore is an Irish owned company specialising in the provision of services and solutions for the storage, retrieval and distribution of business information. With eighteen years experience addressing the same type of customer base in the Irish market, the Docfinity suite allows Datastore to further expand their range to include high-end workflow and netbased document management solutions and services.

Dave Feenan, Director of Datastore Ireland said “The introduction of the OIT DocFinity suite of products and solutions into our portfolio will enable Datastore Ireland to continue to be at the fore front for the delivery of document management services and solutions to the Irish marketplace.

Since our formation in 1985 we have endeavoured to offer a variety of solutions to enable our clients to manage the storage, retrieval and archiving of their critical business information. The Docfinity range will allows us to continue this strategy. I welcome the opportunity to partner with OIT (UK) and look forward to the implementation and deployment of DocFinity within Ireland”, (www.data-store.ie) Vijay Magon said “On behalf of OIT (UK), I’d like to say how pleased we are that Datastore have adopted the DocFinity software and cemented the relationship with OIT (UK). We are impressed with the Datastore team, their capability and energy, and look forward to working together on future projects.”

The event included seminars from health, legal and information experts from the UK and Ireland and focussed on the information management changes required to meet the challenges of current regulatory and legislative initiatives such as Freedom of Information.

CAPTION COMPETITION Bottle of something for the best caption for the photograph below showing Ian Case, Sales Manager left, and Ian Coates, both of the Genus Group, exchanging technical ideas whilst attending the DocFinity launch in Dublin.

Ian Coates “I was once AO size like you, until they scanned me to A 5 ”

Dave Feenan, Director - Datastore Ireland shakes hands on the agreement with Paul Negus, MD - Genus Group with Vijay Magon, Technical Director - OTT (UK) centre.

The above caption was supplied by the photographer, David Aspinall of Datum Solutions.

Paul Negus, Genus Group M.D., obviously thought the event a success in more ways than one - “Dave Feenan and his team

All entries should be mailed, faxed or emailed to the Editor, The Green Sheet, not later than 31st May 2004.

29

Ongoing access to Kodak Oracle Microfilm BlipChip Products Company continues to supply its BlipChip Omega controller for Kodak Oracle users who need to upgrade to newer retrieval equipment, including automatic printing/scanning units. The price has remained at US$5,950, since 1990, for the upgrade kit which consists of the controller, sensor, and interface. For a little more, ANSIblipped film, including tri-level, can be read as well, and the controller can be interfaced to a PC for computer-assisted retrieval/scanning and/or automatic code uploading.

BlipChip was the first to offer Kodak Oracle users an alternative with plain paper printing in 1987, with more automatic features than the original 1976 introduced Kodak Oracle Terminal. Until 1990 BlipChip Omega was marketed as the MRS450. The product was improved three times, and a special version was made for Kodak to market for its IDW in the mid 90’s.

Some later BlipChip Omega customers, with large Kodak Oracle microfilm collections, are doing automatic, ondemand scanning and saving the scans for the next time they are needed, thus having the benefits of both worlds without the high cost of scanning their entire microfilm collection.

BlipChip Omega is simple to install and operate and can be added to all popular retrieval units.

Contact: Ed Rummel, BlipChip Products Company, 260 Hartshorn Drive, 33 Short Hills, NJ 07078-1914, U.S.A. Tel: +1-973-379-6431 Fax: +1-973-379-3900 Email: erummel@blipchip.com or visit www.BlipChip.com All quiet on the government front President George W. Bush’s call in his State of the Union address for substantial cuts in domestic spending for FY 2005 may affect both the NARA and other government agency budgets that include funds for initiatives to develop an electronic archiving system. Exactly what will happen probably won’t be determined until the end of the current Congressional session in June, if then. The fact that 2004 is a presidential election year and both major political parties are seeking to restrain budget items makes any substantial appropriations unlikely.

Advocates within the federal government who have been pushing the Census Bureau for a decision on the preservation methodology for the 2010 census see no decision in sight. It probably will be made late in the game as was the decision for microfilming the 2000 census. The advocates have been informed by US microfilm industry figures that at least a “reading” on the future use of microfilm preservation within the Federal government is needed. Without such a “reading”, or hopefully a commitment of some kind, the world’s microfilm manufacturers may discontinue equipment and/or supplies lines that would be needed for the next census.

The passing of US industry leaders Roy C. Johns, founder of Comgraphix (one of the key founding components of Lason) passed away at yearend at age 94. His first involvement with the micrographics industry was with the Remington Rand Company in 1943. In the 1950s 30

he established the first (Dallas, Texas) regional office for Bell ft Howell’s Microfilm Division. He created Comgraphix in 1963 as a microfilm sales and service company which ultimately was a southwest leader with branches in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah before being sold to Lason in the early 1990s.

Other recent deaths of well-known figures in the US microfilm industry included Joe Comiskey, who at one time headed IBM’s microfilm program, and Tom Berney, who held positions with the US government. Both Comiskey and Berney contributed greatly to the standards programme of AIIM and its predecessors, the National Micrographics Association and the National Microfilm Association.

Doctors must provide medical records, including those on microfilm In the state of California medical patients who switch doctors (or HMOs, hospitals, or other healthcare providers) by law have the right to inspect and get copies of their records. This has to occur within five working days after receipt of a written request. Patients, however, must pay for copies. Maximum fees are 25 cents per page, or 50 cents per page for records copied from microfilm, plus “reasonable clerical costs” incurred in locating and duplicating records.

African-American ancestry to be revealed on film For years Freedmen’s Bureau reports, a valuable resource for people tracing slave families brought over to the US, have been stored at the National Archives and Records Administration. It was recently announced that over the next five years these records will be microfilmed and sold to institutions and individuals to allow greater public access.

ImageMax files to “delist” its stock ImageMax announced several steps it is taking as it tries to work its way out of its financial troubles. One is a filing to deregister its common stock, which would relieve some of its reporting obligations to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. ImageMax said it expects to realise significant cost savings of up to $500,000 as a result of being relieved of these obligations. The company also said this move, expected to be approved by the SEC by April, will also reduce “the amount of public information available to competitors”.

Shareholders will be furnished with annual financial statements and an annual meeting will be held.

ImageMax retains 20 operating data centers.

SourceCorp had another good year SourceCorp, the US national outsourcing firm that is^probably in the best fiscal shape among its peers, reported 4Q (Dec. 31, 2003) net income of $7.0 million, a 6% increase over a year earlier. Revenues went up 11% to $11.9 million. For the full year, revenues declined slightly to $424 million but earnings per share were up 4%. SourceCorp predicted full year revenues for the current year will be in the $435-450 million range.

SourceCorp is a component of both the SEtP SmallCap 600 and the Russell 2000 index, two standard measures of the US investment market.

Rates are £35 ($50) per insertion with a limit of 25 words. Each additional 25 words or fraction are £35 ($50). There is an additional

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