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June 2000
Output Management Takes Reports Beyond Print
By Lowell Rapaport
Modern businesses rely on information, and much of that information resides in reports and
other documents that must be distributed across the enterprise. Output management solutions deliver
these documents to the right users at the right time, and, with electronic delivery options,
they’re helping companies cut the cost of printing.
Like document management systems, output management software incorporates administrative and security
features that let you control the groups and users that receive and gain access to reports and other
documents. The software can also break down large reports, delivering summaries to top executives,
appropriate subsets of information to departmental managers, and even single pages or lines of
information to functional managers.
When delivery is crucial, output management systems can ensure that important documents reach their
intended recipient. If a document is sent to a remote printer, for example, a feedback loop indicates
that the document has, in fact, been printed. Either the printer can be set to send back an alert in
case of failure or the document can be automatically sent to another nearby printer.
In their best
and most forward-thinking use, output management systems are replacing print altogether. If a report
can be emailed or placed on the company intranet through a Web server, why go to the trouble of
printing. Several companies have discovered a fortune in savings in printing, a deceptively costly
act. The ability of output management systems to convert reports and other documents from one format
to another facilitates the transmission of information between applications and enterprises.
Tyson Looks Beyond ERP Report Management
According to William McKinney, director of product marketing for Dazel (www.dazel.com), an output
management system should also be able to bring all printing jobs in an organization together, where
they can be tracked. And an output system should be able to handle documents distributed by means
other than printing on paper. Web-based distribution, for example, dispenses with paper and lets users
access documents anytime and anywhere.
Greg Thornton, senior Unix administrator for Tyson Foods (www.tyson.com), would prefer users to use
Web distribution for company documents. For now, however, they’re still printing out reports.
“We have printers all over the United States and overseas,” says Thornton, “because we
needed a solution that guaranteed that a report would print out at its destination and alert us if a
print job failed.” Tyson uses Dazel to track print jobs. Dazel also offers accounting
functions that let Thornton’s users find out how much they’re printing. Print jobs from all
sources are managed on Thornton’s system. “Dazel manages printouts from all applications
including legacy systems,” says Thornton, adding that the systems he is talking about include
everything from SAP to ordinary word processing.
Dazel offers a family of products all focused on output management. The core of the system is the
Output Server, which manages print queues, makes sure that print jobs go only to authorized
destinations and confirms that printouts are completed. The company has additional modules that take
care of report bursting, Web delivery, and mixed print/Web/fax/email delivery. Entry-level systems
start at $90,000 and can extend well into the six figures as requirements extend across multi-location
enterprises.
Supermarket Giant Unites A Growing Enterprise
Output management can be implemented in a number of ways. Incontrol for Output Management from BMC
Software (www.bmc.com) uses a combination of agents and servers to bring documents into the system.
The agents are small applications that can run on any platform that generates reports, including
AS/400, Windows NT, Unix or even VMS. The reports are copied to a “session manager” server
module that stores the records in an archive and makes them available with distribution services,
including traditional paper output, e-mail notification, fax and Web (with all reports automatically
converted to HTML).
The ability to run on any platform was very important to Dutch supermarket conglomerate Ahold
(www.ahold.com). The U.S. operations include well-known regional supermarket chains such as Bi-Lo in
the southeast and Stop & Shop in New England. The company had grown by acquiring and integrating
smaller supermarket chains around the world, but each of these chains was built with individual and
diverse computer systems. BMC’s Incontrol software solved the problem of bringing reports
together into a single system.
“Incontrol lets all the different systems communicate reports to our central office,” says
Jean Dill, Ahold’s lead production control analyst. The near-term goal, she adds, is to get users
to switch from paper to electronic documents. “Printing each page costs roughly 35 cents,”
she says. “When we get all our users to stop printing and view reports electronically, we expect
to save $1 million to $2 million each year, more than enough to pay for the system.” Dill says
the printing volume at Ahold amounts to tens of thousands of pages per month for each of the five
supermarket chains in the United States.
Verizon Blends Archiving With Output Managment
Quest (www.quest.com) implements output management through two separate applications, QMaster and
Vista Plus. Qmaster provides output management inline with a report printing stream specifically for
managing output to printers; a typical installation costs $75,000. Vista Plus interfaces with
applications and enterprise report management systems like SAP, Peoplesoft and Oracle to provide
archiving of reports and electronic output management services to large enterprises. Vista Plus starts
at about $75,000 for one server and 75 users. Together the two applications make a complete output
management system for print and electronic distribution with archiving. QMaster is a pure output
management product. Though it doesn’t archive reports, it lets administrators direct print
traffic to whichever output device best serves the users receiving the reports. This includes print,
fax and email. Qmaster doesn’t offer its own Web server, but it can output files to one as if it
were another type of output device. The advantage of this approach is that it supports existing report
printing practices without big additional investments in archival storage and server capacity.
According to Terry Mullin, vice president of Quest’s Information Availability Business Unit,
QMaster and Vista Plus can each function alone. “QMaster handles document output, but we
encourage most companies to complete their report management with Vista Plus.”
Verizon Wireless (www.verizonwireless.com) is a nationwide mobile phone service provider formed by a
partnership between Bell Atlantic, AirTouch Communications and PrimeCo. Verizon was having trouble
printing enterprise resource planning (ERP) reports from its Oracle database. It chose Vista Plus as a
solution, but Carl Eberling, Verizon’s director of ERP systems and planning, said the software
proved valuable for more than just archiving and distributing ERP reports. “Once we had the
system running, we began to send it all our printing jobs,” Eberling says. “Accounting,
finance, billing and human resources all ended up on Vista Plus.”
Vista Plus was able to interface to all these legacy and custom applications because it could be set
up as a virtual printer. End users could also take advantage of the system by placing their files in a
directory on a remote server monitored by Vista Plus. With all print jobs going to this system instead
of a printer, it became possible to replace paper with electronic document distribution.
“We trained departmental managers to distribute reports via e-mail,” says Eberling,
“This saved as much as $2.2 million on printing costs.” Eberling is considering adding
Quest’s other software package, QMaster, to manage its remaining print operations. The software
can work in tandem with Vista Plus, providing archiving and electronic distribution as well as print
distribution.
Vista Plus is somewhat of a crossbreed between an output management system and an enterprise report
management system (formerly known as COLD). In the long term, there may be even more convergence
between the two types of systems, bringing users easy, electronic distribution of documents through
multiple interfaces as well as powerful database and archive query options.
Volkswagon IT Unit Unlocks the Docuvault
On the surface, Docuvault from Cypress (www.cypressdelivers.com) looks a lot like other output
management systems, but architecturally it is more like a file translation application converting
reports from one file format to another. This capability allows Docuvault to move reports not only
from applications to printers and other output devices but to other applications as well, letting
different systems within an enterprise communicate without human intervention.
Docuvault software was originally developed to allow legacy mainframes to send documents to Windows NT
servers. The product’s Report Distribution Manager creates and controls distribution of reports
to end users while the Enterprise Output Manager ensures that reports reach their recipients. The
software is priced at $160 to $325 per seat.
Docuvault is inserted into the report processing pathway as a virtual printer. Incoming documents are
converted to a metadata format; outgoing documents are converted into multiple formats for printer,
fax, email or Web delivery. Docuvault also offers archiving capabilities. By implementing a custom
database, users can search for their reports and access them through a Web browser.
Docuvault was designed for compatibility with both legacy and modern systems. Both sources and
destinations for documents can be users or applications, meaning that Cypress lets disparate
applications communicate with each other, and it can support proof-of-delivery. According to Dave
Hinz, Cypress’ director of business alliances, this suggests an alternative convergence path for
output management and document distribution systems. In addition to distributing information to users,
these systems can also distribute information to other computer systems, enabling business-to-business
transactions.
It wasn’t a business-to-business strategy that Gedas, the IT subsidiary of Volkswagen, wanted but
an output management system that would let users access reports on the Web and allow full-text
searches.
“Docuvault lets us store and retrieve documents and reports that pass through the system,”
says Claus Pfeffer, NT services manager for Gedas. “It lets users queue and view documents before
printing, and allows reprints on demand. The ability to view reports on a browser saves us thousands
of dollars a month in printing costs.”
Gedas uses Docuvault to centralize print management across all platforms. The server runs on Windows
NT but it pulls in print jobs from all systems, including Unix and mainframes.
Displaying E-Prowess
Like Cypress, Optio Software (www.optio.com) has taken a step toward e-commerce with its report and
output management system. Like traditional output management, business documents and reports can be
distributed via email, paper, Web or fax. But Optio’s Document Customization Server can also
transform print streams into a form that can be understood by applications rather than users. Optio
e.Comintegrate lets applications share XML-formatted information. E.Compresent provides confirming
information for the human half of the e-commerce equation, sending reports to the users on exactly
what transpired within the electronic commerce system. Optio system pricing starts at $20,000 and
depends on the number of output devices and users.
Ontario Store Fixtures (Toronto) is in the process of installing Optio Software in order to integrate
business-to-business communications. The company manufactures custom store-fixtures for retailers such
as Abercrombie & Fitch, Blockbuster Entertainment and The Limited. With the high level of
customization required, there tends to be a lot of communication between the fixture vendor and its
customers.“Optio is an integration tool that allows an enterprise system to communicate business
information,” says Delvin Fletcher, vice president of information services at Ontario Store
Fixtures. Fletcher says Optio software will enable the company to integrate its ERP system with that
of its customers’. Information passed back and forth includes budgets, plans, and customs and
shipping information.
“We want to present ourselves to our customers in a way that makes them feel efficient,”
says Fletcher. He would like eventually to integrate suppliers with the system and move toward
end-to-end electronic communication between all the businesses involved in the company’s
projects.
Output Management Takes on The Supply Chain
As seen in the case of Verizon, an output management system can be acquired for one narrowly defined
purpose and then used in an expanded role to encompass an entire enterprise. Output management is one
of the few applications that can unite otherwise incompatible software systems, such as those in place
within Ahold.
The tactical advantage of output management is to save printing costs and to streamline operations.
These uses are usually enough to pay for the software fairly quickly. But its most strategic use is in
tying together different departments within an enterprise or different enterprises in a supply chain.
In its highest form, it becomes a business-to-business transaction solution that can help companies
trade goods, services and information about those transactions — and it all started with the need
to print reports.
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