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How business processes become bottle necked
Most businesses are built step by step over time. At each step, various information technology (IT) systems are needed to solve specific problems. For the most part, each solution solves the current problem. For example, one of the first IT systems in a business is often the accounting system. Other systems eventually sprout up as the business grows. These systems might track inventory, perform financial lockbox operations, or handle customer service requests. The final result is that most businesses are eventually made up from various independent software applications.
- A key concept to note is that each additional solution does not have the scope for future developments, or the ability to tie in with existing systems.
- At some point it becomes necessary to bridge between these isolated applications…
What are the solutions?
Throw everything away and start over
Some large software vendors think throwing everything away and starting over is the solution. However, often times, throwing everything away and purchasing one large overall application that is suppose to do everything is not an alternative. Typically these installations take years, and require retraining all of the employees, and restructuring your business process around what the software can do. One very key idea to keep in mind, when making this type of large scale decision is that your company is left completely at the mercy of the software vendor.
Use custom scripts and APIs
For some time, software vendors have included special APIs or programming interfaces to solve these types of issues. In reality; there is no standard, the APIs and programming interfaces are often incompatible, often restricted, and prone to errors. Again, the high dollar speciality programmers are needed to work around issues and solve the problems. Functionality is often lost in favor of getting "something" to work.
Use Advanced Technology Services, latest technology
Advanced Technology Services offers a brand new solution to this problem. Our solution does not require that you change your whole business model, or that expensive specialty programmers work to produce solutions. Our solution can be introduced into your existing business on a small scale. Then it can grow and change quickly to keep pace with your business needs.
AppIT adapts to the applications that you use
AppIT is a special background monitoring agent that can identify the context of what a user is doing. It uses a method of "finger printing" to identify what application and what screen a user is in. It can then create new controls inside the application. These controls can be used to obtain information from or to export information from the current application. Generally Appit ties external applications together using a central imaging database.
Integrated document retrieval…
Without an integrated searching feature, a typical user will run two or more applications at the same time, and write down or copy down the important information (e.g. vendor number, invoice number, etc) when it appears on the screen. Then the user will switch from their main application, into the document imaging application and manually search for the documents of interest.
With AppIT your business applications can immediately have integrated searching features. A user will be able to stay withing their main application, press a Hot-Key, or click on a control, and then be brought directly to the relevant information and documents.
Key Benefits
- Minimizes time spent search for documents.
- Increases accuracy in finding documents
- Applies security to sensitive documents
Filing Electronic Documents…
Without a centralized electronic document filing system employees end up with important electronic documents scattered around on their local computers. These electronic files originate from various off the shelf and custom applications. At a later time, in order to find documents, a user must have good organization skills, or use some type of built in windows "find" feature. Many important documents are "raster" image files, such as TIFF files, or FAX files, and cannot be searched by a built in windows "find" feature.
In the case where a central document imaging system is in place, the user must still switch out from the main application and go through the process of adding the document and the correct index data into the imaging system, and then returning back to the main program. Users often percieve this kind of activity as interruptions to their normal flow of work.
With AppIT, a user can use the "save as" feature that is built into virtually every windows application and save the document to a special directory. AppIT monitors this directory and immediately brings up the on-line indexing feature, populates the index fields, and is ready to send the document into the OptiDoc document management system. All the user must do is review the index fields and press the ok button. The user experiences this activity as a direct integration with the main application, although no code has been changed or added.
Key Benefits
- Quick, simple, easy to use interface to index electronic documents.
- Web based indexing.
- Applies security.
Indexing…
Without automated indexing technology a user must manually type in the same data over and over again. This process is prone to errors.
When using AppIT to capture indexing information from a business process application, errors due to typing, field validation This is another huge time saver for those situations where the 3rd party application has all the key indexing information, but has no way (without AppIT) to share it with OptiDoc…
Scanning
AppIT captures key indexing information from a 3rd party application, and uses it to create a barcode header sheet to be attached to documents that one wants to scan in. This is a huge time saver for those situations where the 3rd party application has all the key indexing information, but has no way (without AppIT) to share it with OptiDoc…
Searching
AppIT captures key search criteria information from a 3rd party application, and uses it to initiate an OptiDoc search for documents. The key benefit of this feature is to save customers time and effort of retrieving documents related to data in a 3rd party application, without having to leave the 3rd party application.
Menus
AppIT can draw menu buttons to work with 3rd party applications to let users search, scan, or index straight from the 3rd party application, without leaving it. The menu follows one's 3rd party application, as if it had been part of the application all the long. This feature spares users from having to make custom interfaces to 3rd party applications…
Before going further, there are some terms about AppIT, one needs to understand. AppIT uses templates to configure these aforementioned features. These templates are referred to as "Capture Templates" or CT for short. Capture Templates (CT) tell AppIT how to capture data from 3rd party application(s), and what to do with the data. The idea is a user would create a Capture Template for a particular 3rd party application, designating which feature of AppIT to use with data the Capture Template will capture. The user would then tailor the various aspects of the Capture Template to identify and capture data right from the 3rd party application, when a sequence of key strokes called a Hot-Key are pressed. Once the Hot-Key is pressed, AppIT captures the data from the 3rd party application, and then forwards it to OptiDoc according the feature the Capture Template should work with. Optionally, users would also create a template for a Capture Menu (CM), and anchor it to their 3rd party application. The menu would literally appear as a button on their application, as if it had always been part of it. The menu makes it easier for users to work with their 3rd party application, and OptiDoc, without having to remember Hot-Key(s).
To see the basic layout of how a Capture Template is created. From AppIT's main screen, there will be options to create/edit/delete Capture Templates as such:
AppIT captures key search criteria information from a 3rd party application, and uses it to initiate an OptiDoc search for documents. The key benefit of this feature is to save customers time and effort of retrieving documents related to data in a 3rd party application, without having to leave the 3rd party application…
Key Benefits
Reduces time searching for documents.
Increases accuracy in finding documents.
Applies security.
Maximizes usage of licensing.
The best way to explain the benefits of this Searching feature of AppIT is to describe life without this feature, and then with..
Searching without AppIT…
Without a Searching feature where the documents are stored in a separate document imaging system, and the 3rd party application is not integrated to it, one would typically break out the sticky notepad, write the key indexing information as it appears in the 3rd party application, that the user wants to search on, and then they would leave their 3rd part application, switch over to the separate document imaging product, type in the key index information they just wrote down, and then use the separate document imaging system to bring up any documents related to the key information…
