The Nexus Scoop

It’s been a while since I posted anything new to the ECM support blog.  If you want to know why, see Brandon’s post from a while back- Support: A Day in the Life Of.  I feel his pain!  But there have been some exciting things happening here and you should know about them.

First of all, I got the low-down on Nexus ’11 the other day!  It seems that the goal is to make every year bigger and better then the next.  This year there are some very well-known and engaging speakers (such as Dr. James Brown), break-out sessions held by ECM professionals, deep dives with ECM field specific experts and of course the after-hours social events.  If you have not been to Nexus, you need to register for this event.  If you sign up early, you get a pricing discount!  Tell us if you want to attend!  (The best way to get a hold of us is put in a support ticket and in the description put that you are interested in Nexus.)

On the software front, I have been busy working with development teams on ILINX® products!  Content Store specifically has been really taking off and there are new improvements being added all the time!  The whole goal of ILINX is to provide a simple user experience, while providing a powerful administration interface, all though thin-client technology.  The ILINX Products Suite has everything covered – conversion, workflow, storage and integration.  Tell us if you want a demo – we have great people that know their stuff in the world of Content Management that would love to work with you to see if ILINX is right for you!

Last but not least, I want to thank all the reader’s outside of Washington State.  Thank you for finally sending us some warmer weather – it took ‘til August but summer is finally here as well!  As always, any questions or comments, please call or email me and we will give you an answer!

Mike Peterson
Support Engineer
ImageSource, Inc

Barcode Document Separation with ILINX Capture

While exploring different document separation techniques I discovered that bar code separation may cause the document to be split multiple times.   I scanned in a single document that had 334 pages and for some reason it split the document multiple times.  There were no other barcodes except one Patch Type T separator at the beginning of the document.  

After looking over the settings on the Barcode QSX module inside the ILINX Capture Server Manager I noticed that the Patch Type T document separator and the 3 of 9 barcode separator were enabled.  Please see picture below…  

ILINX Capture Barcode OSX Module

One of the challenges with setting up barcode separation with both Patch Type T document separator and the 3 of 9 barcode separator is that every time the recognition engine comes across a 3 of 9 barcode it will separate the document automatically regardless if you want it to or not . Unfortunately the software can get tripped up on its own logic and every time the recognition engine comes across a 3 of 9 barcode it will separate the document automatically.  ILINX Capture’s recognition engine still separates by the Patch Type T Patch Code as well as every 3 of 9 barcode. This can give unexpected results with the number of documents that are automatically generated.  To fix the above example I removed the bar code separation because it was not needed. As you can see in the following example…  

ILINX Capture Barcode Settings

However, in some cases this may not meet a client’s needs and different approach to document separation is needed. The best practice for multiple document separation is when using Patch Type T Patch separator pages and 3 of 9 barcode separation you need to add a prefix for each type of document you want to separate.  

Here is a good example:  

A client may want to separate documents by what’s in the barcode itself, such as capturing the word “ILINX” in the barcode for a document type of “Application” and the word “Invoice” in the barcode for a document type of “Invoice”.  To do this you need to add a prefix value with a document type see.

As you can see ILINX Capture has the ability to be customized to fit your needs no matter how basic and/or how complicated the requirements are. The main concept here is ILINX Capture is a very powerful tool and needs to be configure properly to get want you need out of it. The above example is only a small scratch on the surface on what this tool can actually do.  

However, in some cases this may not meet a client’s needs and different approach to document separation is needed. The best practice for multiple document separation is when using Patch Type T Patch separator pages and 3 of 9 barcode separation you need to add a prefix for each type of document you want to separate. 

A client may want to separate documents by what’s in the barcode itself, such as capturing the word “ILINX” in the barcode for a document type of “Application” and the word “Invoice” in the barcode for a document type of “Invoice”. To do this you need to add a prefix value with a document type see.

ILINX Capture Prefix Settings

As you can see ILINX Capture has the ability to be customized to fit your needs no matter how basic and/or how complicated the requirements are. The main concept here is ILINX Capture is a very powerful tool and needs to be configure properly to get want you need out of it. The above example is only a small scratch on the surface on what this tool can actually do. 

John Hart
ImageSource Inc.

  

Virtual Meeting Place

There is no denying that our world is changing and more people are becoming more thoughtful of their daily decisions and how they affect the planet.  There has been a big push to come up with innovative ideas to save resources and reduce the harmful greenhouse gas emissions.  The business community has a potential to make a large contribution to combating the climate change by simply decreasing the number of face-to-face meetings.  Modern technology and the internet have helped companies reduce their carbon footprint with the use of desktop sharing tools.

WebEx, Live Meeting, and Acrobat Connect Pro are just a few desktop sharing programs that save companies’ money and greatly reduce global emissions.  By using these tools, employees are able to collaborate on projects, hold training sessions, and conduct meetings from the convenience of their workstations.  This saves on the travel time and expense of remote colleagues or partners having to leave the office and meet at a central location.  Not to mention the cost to the environment.  One person traveling from Seattle to New York will produce about 1,116 lbs. of CO2 from a single flight, according to the “Carbon Footprint Calculator”(http://www.terrapass.com/carbon-footprint-calculator/#air).  On the other hand, sometimes face-to-face meetings are vital to building relationships, motivating staff, and discussing new ideas.  The object is being careful that the cost to the planet of attending these meetings doesn’t outweigh the benefit they can give. 

Desktop sharing programs can also be a tremendous benefit with support organizations.  There is a lot of cost involved with sending a technician onsite to work on an issue as opposed to working on it remotely.  The hours spent traveling to and from the job site and time that the customer’s system is down are both issues that can cost the client and consultant.  With the use of WebEx, the support engineer can open up a session and be looking at the issue in a matter of minutes.  Furthermore, the support team can have the user recreate the problem while watching and then be given permission to take control of the system to work through the issue.

Although meetings are crucial for corporations to communicate ideas, virtual meetings can help to avoid unnecessary business travel and reduce its negative impacts on the environment.  I am not suggesting that all meetings need to be held online.  There will be a times that the in-person communication is needed for the success of a partnership or project.  The idea is to become aware of how our decisions are going to affect our earth.  Furthermore, the virtual world provides us with the opportunity to drive business more efficiently than before and care for the real world at the same time.

If you want to learn more about Green Solutions, join ImageSource at their annual ECM Solutions Conference, Nexus. To register for the event or to learn more about Nexus, visit www.NexusECM.com.

Brandon Konen
Support Engineer
ImageSource, Inc.