November 2000

Tools & Solutions for Less than $15,000

By Maria Medina

Scan-to-the-Web System Powers Outsourced Service

The legal community in Alaska is turning to service provider Downtown Legal Copies, Anchorage, to manage legal documents and case histories online. The solution behind the service is WebLink, an Internet-based scan and retrieval system from LaserFiche, Torrence, CA.

One of Downtown's clients is Hughes, Thorsness, Howell, Huddleston & Bauman, an Anchorage law firm that needed to manage more than 250,000 documents for a petroleum lawsuit that had been open for nearly a decade.

"We're dealing with an appeal and would like to scan in everything from the previous case," says B.J. Baker, a paralegal for the firm. "[We] didn't want to have to go over every document from the last trial one by one."

Downtown Legal Copies uses a LaserFiche imaging system to scan and store the documents, and a WebLink server adds a secure online repository that can be accessed 24 hours a day. Attorneys that subscribe to the repository gain access to court information using a special Web browser client, a user ID and an assigned password. Once logged in, subscribers can search using keywords and phrases and then retrieve the appropriate files.

LaserFiche stores documents in a folder/file model similar to Windows Explorer. Users can customize the organization to mirror existing filing methods. Searchable index cards are assigned to each document to ease searching. Administrators can control access to folders and documents and use redaction features to secure private information from unauthorized users. Documents are viewed in their native file format; individual pages or entire documents can be downloaded as PDF files.

LaserFiche runs on Windows NT or Novell. A packaged solution including imaging, report management and the WebLink server starts at $11,995 for one full client (including a scan station) and 10 browser clients.

Document Management Drains the Paper Problem

Could you imagine having to add 10 file cabinet drawers full of records a year in order to keep up with customers? That's what was happening at 28-year-old All County, Vernon, NJ, a wastewater services company. A DocuWare document management system from Alos, Montgomery, NY, sopped up the overflow and unclogged customer service.

All County services more than 40,000 customers, handling approximately 7,000 septic cleanings per year at residential, commercial and government sites. The company is required by the U.S. Department of Transportation to keep documentation on all vehicle maintenance records, accident reports and driving records for up to 10 years. The documents are needed in the event of an accident.

In addition to the vehicle and driver records, account paperwork such as contracts, bills and correspondence added to the paper overload. All County turned to Alos for a document management system that could tackle accounts receivable, accounts payable and fleet maintenance. The company installed a 10-user DocuWare system, and the search and retrieval functions are saving more than an hour of employee filing time per day.

DocuWare systems start at $5,000 for a single user, $15,000 for a basic system with 10 full network users, or $15,000 for the base license with COLD, Autoindex and recognition add-on modules. The COLD module archives download, spool or print data from a mainframe or minicomputer. Autoindex speeds metadata capture for scanned documents by extracting information from databases. Recognition reads text or barcode information on predefined zones on a document.

Web Doc Management Speeds Real Estate Transactions

When you manage more than 100 properties, handling invoices for repairs and installations is a crucial task - especially if expenditures have to be approved, routed to regional managers and then sent to an accounts payable department. Real estate firm Related Companies, New York City, is doing just that with the help of WebDocumentz, an entirely Web-based document management system from Tampa Bay Systems, Tampa, FL.

By bringing invoices online, Related Management was able to speed up approvals and repairs. Under the old system, Related's management dealt primarily with paper. If a building needed new windows, the large expense had to be accounted for; the paper-based processing system took a few days and would hold up the project.

"Now when building managers receive an invoice, they can scan it and put it on the Web," says Steve Silverstein, information technology director for Related Companies.

WebDocumentz is a document repository made available through a Web server. You scan in documents using an ActiveX scan client and store them as TIF, JPG or PDF files. You can also drag and drop electronic document files from the desktop to the repository.

Related Companies is currently working on integrating WebDocumentz into other divisions within the organization. For example, its Capital Division will use WebDocumentz to speed real estate acquisition over the Web. Approximately 20 employees will use WebDocumentz to collect, revise and store legal, accounts payable and engineering documents. One of the system's main advantages is its ability to track and control documents as they go through revision cycles.

Pricing for WebDocumentz starts at $10,000 for a single server supporting five concurrent users. Additional concurrent users cost $250 each.

At press time, Tampa Bay Systems was planning upgrades, including email notification when a document changes, the ability to create a new document on the server from an existing document, and the ability to save directly to the repository from Word, Excel and other popular desktop applications.

Affordable Forms & File Management

PaperPort Deluxe and OmniForm from ScanSoft, Peabody, MA, offer document management and electronic forms solutions at a desktop price.

PaperPort 7.0 is a file management solution that organizes your documents into color-coded folders. A powerful search engine displays all documents that meet your search criteria, and you can preview these files using thumbnail views. Once you have retrieved the document, you can drag the file into one of your existing applications. PaperPort is priced at $59 for a single user and $219 for a five-user system.

ScanSoft has enhanced the OmniForm family with eOmniForm.com, an application service provider version of its forms application. eOmniForm.com gives you a direct link to ScanSoft's hosted Web site, allowing OmniForm 4.01 users to post forms and collect data online.

OmniForm converts paper documents into Web-ready forms. The software lets you edit, design and define data and text fields. The forms maintain the look of the original, with faithful presentation of fill fields, tables, graphics and color. The software includes an optical character recognition engine that will recognize tough combinations, including URLs and email addresses.

OmniForm 4.01 with eOmniForm.com is priced at $149 for a single user. After the first year, eOmniForm.com costs between $49 and $175 a year, depending on the hosting requirements.

Electronic Solution Retains Vital Paperwork

Sometimes you can't just scan and forget about the originals. Take the case of National Car Rental, Fort Lauderdale, FL. This well-known firm needed a way to keep track of automobile titles, but legal requirements demanded retention of paper records. National turned to Smeadlink electronic and paper document management software from Smead, Hastings, MN.

The Smeadlink suite manages both electronic and physical documents from a common "Librarian" database. An Imaging module captures and manages paper documents in electronic form, but there is also a tracking module that provides a solution for the source documents. Additional modules are available to handle PC Files (PDF, Word, Excel, CAD, etc.), COLD/ERM (reports) and workflow (routing and tracking of work in progress). Smeadlink also offers a complete line of paper-filing products that work hand in hand with the management software.

National's solution tracks the stored location of the physical titles along with complex data sheets on the location and status of the documented vehicles. When vehicles are sold, the system quickly delivers information on the exact location of the title so it can be retrieved and sent to the buyer.

An entry-level Smeadlink application, selling for less than $15,000, combines five seats of imaging, standard workflow routing and set up for scanning logic. Local resellers can provide configuration, installation and training at an additional cost.

Document Imaging Speeds Access to Patient Records

There was a time when the file clerk at Total Orthopedic Care, Fort Lauderdale, FL, would spend her days retrieving patients records from hundreds of boxes in the file room at this eight-year-old, four-doctor practice.

Now she inputs all new patient charts, lab reports, test results and HMO referrals into an imaging system designed by ImageAccess, Boca Raton, FL.

Physicians are required by law to maintain patients' medical records. To manage Total Orthopedic Care's files, ImageAccess combines its own Bscan 99 capture software, a third party's retrieval software and a high-speed KV-S2055W scanner from Panasonic, Secaucus, NJ.

The imaging starts with the KV-S2055W, which has a 300-page automatic document feeder and can scan 50 pages per minute at 200 dpi resolution (simplex, portrait), or 100 images per minute in duplex mode. The 2055W is priced at $9,999. Bscan controls the scanning process, applying indexing and image processing features.

Total Orthopedic Care's legacy records are being scanned in at a rate of 6,000 pages per day. New documents are scanned in immediately, "rather than sitting in piles where we can't find them," says Debbie Schaeffer, the practice's office administrator. "This system is saving us an enormous amount of clerical time and storage space."

Corporate Relations Gain an Electronic Messenger

At pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Morris Plains, NJ, the public affairs department set up two Acrobat Messenger stations in order to distribute corporate news and product research to employees, government agencies and the press worldwide.

Developed by Adobe, San Jose, CA, Acrobat Messenger is a paper distribution solution that can replace a fax machine. Messenger will send faxes complete with cover sheets, but can also email color or bitonal PDF, text-searchable PDF or JPG images in three easy steps (see our review, "Scan to Email or Straight to the Web," June 2000).

Pfizer's public affairs department handles all communications related to the company's pharmaceutical, consumer and corporate divisions. These divisions generate more than $12 billion annually through worldwide sales of well-known products such as Halls, Dentyne, Listerine, Certs and prescribed pharmaceuticals.

"We want public and employee discussions about our business to be based on timely, accurate information, so corporate materials have to be readily available," says Tom Martino, senior director of communications at Pfizer.

Messenger has an intuitive interface that looks similar to a copy machine control panel. The software is installed on an NT server supporting the scanner of your choice, and it is left up and running in a central location, ready for service much like a fax machine.

Unlike a fax machine though, Messenger lets you examine images and document thumbnails before you send them. Using a toolbar, you can zoom in, rotate landscape documents and post electronic sticky notes, highlights and stamps. You can also send a backup copy of images to a floppy disk. Messenger relies on NT security, reading and verifying email addresses and passwords directly from your corporate server. Acrobat Messenger is priced at $1,499 (NT server and scanner purchased separately).

Diminutive Scanner Delivers Duplex and Color

The ScanPartner M3091DC, from Fujitsu, San Jose, CA, is a compact, sheet-fed scanner measuring just 5 inches by 12 inches by 6 inches. It's small enough to fit just about anywhere, yet it offers powerful features, including color capture up to 600 dpi and duplex (both-sides-at-once) scanning. Its low price of $995 makes it affordable enough to deploy in large numbers throughout your organization (see "Pint-Size Scanner Packs a Punch," September 2000).

The M3091DC captures 15 pages per minute (ppm) simplex or 15 images per minute (ipm) duplex when scanning bitonally at 200 dpi. Color scanning at 150 dpi is rated at 5 ppp simplex/5 ipm duplex.

If you're dealing with forms, this scanner drops out red, green and blue color backgrounds, and it's done through Fujitsu's ScandAll Plus software rather than applying filters or changing bulbs.

The M3091DC is bundled with Pagis Pro 3.0 Scanning Suite from ScanSoft, Peabody, MA. The suite includes Pagis, which turns Windows Explorer into a filing system, creating thumbnails for document viewing and integrating with popular desktop applications such as Windows, Excel, Outlook and more. Pagis Copier links the scanner with a color printer to create a color copier. If you're scanning forms, the Pagis Fill-in utility lets you tab and type within the form. The scanning suite also includes TextBridge 9.0, which performs optical character recognition and converts images into HTML for the Web. A $199 upgrade to TextBridge lets you convert images to PDFs.