One Way ILINX® Manages Compound Documents

As part of the ECM industry, it is important to understand what compound documents are and how they affect you.  Compound documents have been an issue in ECM software from the beginning of time. According to wiseGEEK, Compound documents are document files that contain several different types of data as well as text. A compound document may include graphics, spreadsheets, images, or any other non-text data. The additional data may be embedded into the document or be linked data that is resident within the application.

You may be asking what that means for you? We all know that basic ECM is scan/store/retrieve, but what happens when you add electronic documents in pdf or MS Word? Importing electronic documents that have are different data types is what creates compound document. Cardiff LiquidOffice creates electronic forms that can have data filled in, data looked up from a database, allow signatures, and many other features. What it also allows you to do is attach other documents to the form to create “a single document”. When you are ready to release this document to your backend, you need to be sure that it can manage compound documents and if so, how. Oracle IBPM says that they can handle these types of documents but be sure you know how they are handled because getting the documents back out could be a challenge. Where Oracle is great at many things, including their newly rebranded ECM product called Oracle WebCenter Content which includes functions like contract management or team collaborations, their main weakness still lies in archiving compound documents. There are other platforms available that may succeed at managing compound documents but have major weaknesses in other areas. Be sure to do your research when selecting your ECM product and determine what your current needs are as well as what future needs may be required.   

ImageSource has just enhanced ILINX Connect for eForms (a product which connects LiquidOffice to Oracle IPM, ILINX Content Store, or a file system). These enhancements allow you to attach any data type of documents to the LiquidOffice form, creating a compound document and release into ILINX Content Store. By selecting Merge All Tiff Files Into a Single Document, your documents will go into Content Store as a single document instead of 2 or more (depending on the number of attachments). For example, when your Accounting Department looks at your expense forms with attached receipts is will appear as a single document.

Jen Hilt

Resources:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-compound-document.htm

eForms Technology Short Cuts That Really Work!

Often we are up against tight deadlines and we need to use all our tricks and tools to help increase efficiency and provide a better client experience.  When we have clients with large form libraries that need converting to eForms; one of my favorite tools to use is FormBridge for Liquid Office.  FormBridge does direct conversions of PDF, word, excel and other common form files to Liquid Office xfm files like magic!  The converted forms are fully editable and are amazingly accurate copies with minor tweaks for formatting once translated.  FormBridge automatically creates fillable fields, just as a forms designer would and this is a huge time saver.

Forms kick-off workflows and drive business.  Moving paper based and un-editable eforms to an intelligent digital format has many benefits such as cost savings based on efficiencies and increased accessibility.  Even a small business may have hundreds of forms.  As a system integrator of ECM technologies we know what tools and tips to help your eForms initiative become a huge success.

Leigh Woody

Program Manager

ImageSource, Inc.

Advanced eForms Strategies for LiquidOffice

Information technology can improve operational efficiency and businesses are turning to forms processing for automating complex processes where information is often very dynamic and acted upon in parallel.  Many of our clients request very complicated multi-form rule based combinations that can be extremely complex and have data dictionaries exceeding 1,500 form fields.  There are two different ways to approach advanced multi-form development and design.  One is to use a method called form chaining or you can use tools such as Liquid Office Case Management.

Form Chaining is a method of displaying subsequent forms based on the submission of the original form.  This is done when field data from the first form is mapped to the 2^nd form – chained forms open sequentially upon submission of a primary form.  Simple chaining can be achieved using out-of-the box features of the LiquidOffice Process studio.  Outside of a formal workflow, the same results can be achieved.  The following is code example for ad-hoc form chaining.  In this example, the ‘chained’ form that opens on submission is called ‘FormB2’.

function CSForm_OnSubmit()

{

var auth = CSForm.getField(“Entry1″).getValue();  //get value from 1st form = then on submit, pass this field value to the next chained form

CSForm.setResponseURL(“http://servername/lfserver/FormB2?Entry1=” + auth );  //this loads the 2nd, chained form and populates one of the fields with a value from the 1st form

return true;

}

Alternatively, Autonomy Case Management (ACM) can be used for more complex multidimensional and nested forms.  ACM addresses the same need but manages forms and documents as packets or a case.   Items within a packet are able to dynamically exist as either standalone entities or as part of a collection depending upon real-time conditions which are automatically detected. Users are guided through the process using a Table of Contents to ensure completion at each step as shown below.

The ACM design studio is a GUI-based point and click tool which is integrated directly into the Autonomy Enterprise Information Processing platform.  This means that with a click all information that may contribute to the design of a case is available in real-time directly from within the design environment.  Complex rule sets can be developed and applied at any level of the case such as packet, form and field which allows for an extremely tuned process.

Leigh Woody                  Peter Lang

Program Manager        System Engineer

ImageSource, Inc.