June 2000

FIRST LOOKS:

Panagon Takes On Content Management

By Pat Turocy and Joshua Shehab

Like many companies with roots in imaging and document management, FileNet (www.filenet.com) is now positioning the strategic role of its products in e-business solutions. Real e-Business applications need technologies that provide electronic content management and electronic process management. With the newest release of Panagon Web Services and related components, FileNet is beginning to deliver both to the Web — especially the e-content management piece.

Panagon Web Services is a highly functional Web client that provides all user and contributor functions, with back-end content management provided by a Content Services component (formerly IDM Document Services). FileNet has also unveiled a Microsoft Site Server Integration component that enables the Panagon Web Services client to seamlessly access other back-end repositories, including file systems, Exchange public folders and ODBC-compliant databases.

In addition, FileNet has launched a new professional services organization called Panagon E-Business Solutions, a start-up group based in Kirkland, WA. The group’s mandate is to work with customers to create custom e-business and portal solutions built on top of the Panagon product family.

As mentioned, FileNet combines three components to support content management:

• Panagon Web Services. This core component is a full-featured, browser-based document management client and application development environment. It provides all user and contributor functions, including content creation, design, modification and publishing, and storage, searching and retrieval.

• Panagon Content Services. This component manages electronic documents throughout their life cycle, from creation/capture through distribution, editing, storage and retrieval. Though not dramatically improved from its previous incarnation as Panagon IDM Document Services, the content services component is a strong document management repository with sophisticated services and a scalable architecture.

• Site Server Integration. This component integrates Panagon Web Services with Microsoft Site Server to support enterprise search, personalization and content subscription functionality. It also allows you to access information from file systems, Microsoft Exchange public folders, Web sites and ODBC-compliant databases. Site Server Integration is a key component for FileNet’s Web content management strategy, and it underscores the company’s commitment to the Microsoft platform.

FileNet content management solutions can include other Panagon components for additional functionality. For example, Panagon Web Publisher provides formatting and Web publishing functions for content. In addition, Panagon IDM Desktop, Panagon Image Services, Panagon Visual Workflo and the forthcoming Web-based Panagon WorkFlo can all be integrated with the content management components, though on a custom basis.

FileNet has formed a number of strategic alliances with other vendors to extend the system’s capabilities. For instance, FileNet partners with Autonomy for its automatic categorization capabilities and with Interwoven for its Web site management capabilities.

The core of FileNet’s content management solution is Content Services, the content repository and the back-end document management server. It provides robust control over content with five levels of security: Administration, Owner, Author, Viewer and none. Users are assigned as individuals or as members of a group, and their access level applies to their browsing and searching capabilities. For documents, access security is assigned on an object basis and can be inherited from the folder or source document. Content contributors can work with familiar authoring tools and simply save or transfer documents into the content repository.

Most users interact with the system via the Panagon Web Services interface. This is a much-improved Web client that gives users full document management functionality, including document check-in and check-out, repository searching, document viewing and modification, and document profiling.

FileNet’s new Site Server Integration component greatly extends the capabilities of the Panagon Web Services interface. For example, it enables both full-text and metadata indexing and searching of multiple information stores — not just the Content Services repository, but also Microsoft Exchange public folders, file systems, the Web and even ODBC-compliant databases. Thus, users can simultaneously search multiple information stores and receive a unified hit list. Unfortunately, the Site Server Integration component has yet to enable users to search Panagon Image Services repositories.

FileNet has architected its solution around Microsoft technologies. For example, the system can leverage the NT directory for security, and a Microsoft Management Console snap-in allows system administrators to configure and manage much of the system from the console interface. FileNet does not yet provide a Web-based administration interface.

For Web publishing, Panagon Web Publisher is offered as a snap-in for Content Services. Using this component, Webmasters and administrators can pull content from the repository, add formatting and styles, and publish documents to Web sites. The selection of versions to be published can be managed manually, or the system can automatically review the document properties in order to determine the correct version for publication.

Using Panagon, organizations can dynamically organize and control the delivery of information via the Web. Certainly, improvements are still needed, especially in areas such as repository integration and process automation integration. But assuming FileNet can address such limitations soon, Panagon’s value for e-business applications will become all the more compelling.

Pat Turocy is a senior analyst and Joshua Shehab is a technical writer with Doculabs, a Chicago advisory firm that helps organizations choose technologies for e-business. For more information or to inquire about Doculabs’ comparative content management study, call 312-433-7793 or email info@doculabs.com.