by Doug Henschen, Penny Lunt, Lowell Rapaport and Dexter Gasque

XML Workflow for Web Services

Product: BizFlow 7
Vendor: HandySoft, Vienna, VA, www.handysoft.com

While other vendors are talking about Web services, HandySoft's BizFlow 7 business process management/workflow software has already made the transition. The product can act as middleware between back-office and front-office applications. It contains a SOAP broker with XML support that can pass data back and forth between Web services devices and other applications. A mortgage application sent into the BizFlow SOAP broker, for example, might trigger a workflow process in a loan origination application.

Companies can use BizFlow to request, broker and deliver Web services. BizFlow processes themselves can be invoked and published as Web services. A graphical workflow designer with built-in wizards lets business users build their own workflows. "Anyone who can use Visio can use this tool," says Stuart Claggett, COO and CTO.

Web Workflows Added to ERM

Product: AXS-One Web Services
Vendor: AXS-One, Rutherford, NJ, www.axsone.com

The AXS-One Web Services module provides Internet-based connections between people, systems and applications that allow companies to quickly create new products and services.

AXS-One already had enterprise report management and workflow software in its AXSPoint software suite. The Web Services module lets companies mine data from reports and processes, convert it to XML streams and feed it to partners and customers. For example, a reconciliation process could be facilitated by pulling the background data on a questioned transaction, feeding it to both parties and triggering a resolution workflow process.

AXS-One's Web Services are built on industry standards including XML, SOAP and WSDL. They include prebuilt applications to assist in billing, collections, procurement and payments. A ticket-based security envelope controls user and application access to services and information. Pricing for AXSPoint software starts at $50,000.

Workflow-Agnostic Process Automation

Product: Tower eProcess Objects
Vendor: Tower Technology, Boston, www.towertechnology.com

Tower Technology delivers state-of-the-art, high-volume document and content processing systems now including J2EE-based process automation middleware built on Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs). This technology lets you handle case management for mission-critical financial and insurance processes in a distributed, thin-client approach on robust, scalable industry-standard application servers. Alternatively, an optional bridge lets you link the same middleware to Microsoft business objects and performance-oriented thick-client deployments on PCs. Supported workflow engines include Plexus FloWare, Fujitsu iFlow, Staffware and Tower's own IDM Flow Manager.

Tower is ahead of the game in embracing J2EE and using EJBs, and the system's XML interfaces are exposed for compatibility with SOAP, Web services and Microsoft .NET environments.

Low-Cost Knowledge Management

Product: SERglobalBrain
Vendor: SER Solutions, Dulles, VA, www.sersolutions.com

SERglobalBrain uses natural language understanding to search content and document repositories and push information to the people who have requested it. The system searches ERP, CRM and other application databases, as well as electronic documents. It can search Internet sites, file servers, Lotus Notes and other databases. Fuzzy searching gives you the right results even when queries are misspelled.

SERglobalBrain creates automatic classifications after it's fed some examples of a category. Thus, the software provides the basic information sharing elements of a knowledge management system without the complexity or the need for a new knowledge base. The public and corporate editions of SERglobalBrain start at $25,000.

Rapid-Deployment Process Builder

Product: Movaris Platform 4.0
Vendor: Movaris, Campbell, CA, www.movaris.com

This company's tag line is "100 processes in 100 days." So far, partner/customer Adobe has created 20 processes with Movaris Platform 4.0, and several other Fortune 2000 companies have also deployed the workflow software. Movaris's pitch is ease of use and quick deployment. The system is comprised of a point-and-click Process Builder, a J2EE-compliant Process Server and a Web-based Dashboard. These components are designed to let business users create automated processes that are available in days.

Movaris 4.0 replicates a current user interface and transforms it into a self-contained PDF application that requires no end-user training. Rules and approval routes can be easily changed, and the new workflows integrate with existing enterprise systems and infrastructure and require little involvement from IT.

Business-User-Friendly XML Authoring

Product: eWebEditPro+XML
Vendor: Ektron, Amherst, NH, www.ektron.com

Bridging the gap between low-level XML authoring tools and high-level Web content management, eWebEditPro+XML provides an XML authoring tool that even novice users can understand. Authors create XML-coded content with a mouse click and without encountering the actual code.

eWebEditPro+XML offers a WYSIWYG view of XML documents as they are created. The tool is an ActiveX control that is downloaded into and run from a Web browser.

Versions of eWebEditPro are embedded in content management systems from Vignette, Eprise and Interwoven. However, Ektron says many companies use ad hoc Web content management. eWebEditPro+XML provides a simple HTML and XML editor and workflow at an affordable price of $599 for a 10-user license.

XML Database

Product: Ipedo XML Database 3.0
Vendor: Ipedo, Redwood City, CA, www.ipedo.com

Relational databases store documents either as whole objects or as separate pieces of content, each in its own field. Storing whole documents is fine for unstructured data, but if users are looking for specific content, searches can take a long time and consume system resources. If the document is broken up into separate pieces of content, specific information can be easier to find, but it's harder to reconstitute the original document because there is no way to ensure that all the pieces are stored together.

An XML database eliminates compromises. Documents are stored as individual files, eliminating the reconstruction problem, while XML tagging provides fast access to granular information. The Ipedo XML Database 3.0 offers technology that is ahead of the curve. The database is written in Java with features such as a fully W3C compliant XML query engine, XML schema evolution, XML document versioning and support for Web services. Schema evolution allows the database to convert documents from one XML schema to another, while the Web services engine allows developers to use the database as a content repository.

Ipedo XML Database 3.0 is immediately available starting at $29,000 for single-CPU systems.

Application Productivity Monitor

Product: Silas Reveille
Vendor: Silas Technologies, Winston Salem, NC, www.silasreveille.com

Mission-critical, enterprise applications can be costly, particularly if you don't have a handle on productivity, service interruptions and system bottlenecks. Silas Reveille is a Web-based monitoring system that lets you track throughput across a distributed enterprise with a battery of reports on everything from scanner operator efficiency, capture throughput, workflow and enterprise application availability.

Silas Reveille's menu-driven interface taps into the system's centralized database with statistics on performance, resources and compliance with service-level benchmarks. Email and paging alerts keep administrators abreast of problems and backlogs, and the system knows the difference between back-burner backfile issues and mission-critical day-forward business interruptions. Historical data helps guide system planning and optimization.

Created by the development team at a major financial services firm, Reveille has been opened up for integration with a range of mainframes, databases, enterprise applications and application servers. Wizards help configure tests and service-tracking reports. The software has prebuilt integrations with ActionPoint and Kodak capture software and templates for leading content management systems. The Enterprise Edition is $65,000.

Invoice and Free-Form Data Capture

Product: Eyes & Hands Invoices and Option Packs
Vendor: ReadSoft, San Diego, www.readsoft.com

There are now several free-form data capture systems that capture like fields from forms of variable design, but ReadSoft has been at it longer than anyone. They've improved on last year's Best of AIIM winner with three significant Option Packs. The Integration Option Pack provides an SAP-certified interface to the mySAP.com e-business platform. This speeds deployment and ensures real-time data validation and posting of completed data to SAP. The Web Invoices Option Pack lets companies create Web-fillable invoices that suppliers can adopt as an alternative to paper. Similarly, the eMail Option Pack lets suppliers submit invoices as email attachments in PDF, XML or other formats. Invoices can then read the invoice data more reliably without OCR errors and costly manual data entry.

ReadSoft is not just addressing the paper problem, it's helping companies move more of their transactions to more efficient electronic approaches that eliminate recognition errors and costly key entry. Stand-alone system pricing starts at $10,000 including the Web Invoices and E-mail Option Packs. An enterprise-level system including SAP integration averages $100,000.

Integrated Forms and E-Forms Processing

Product: Teleform 8.0 and LiquidOffice 2.0
Vendor: Cardiff Software, Vista, CA, www.cardiff.com

Many organizations want to move to electronic forms, but they also know they will continue to cope with paper forms. Cardiff is alone in offering a truly integrated approach to automating both paper and electronic transactions. Forms designed in (or adapted to) the company's Teleform 8.0 forms processing system are instantly converted into PDF or HTML variants in Cardiff's LiquidOffice 2.0 e-form system. Best of all, most of the field formatting, validations and business rules you set up once for paper forms will work in both systems. LiquidOffice adds routing, tracking, attachment and e-signature support for internal and partner-facing processes. If serial routing isn't up to the task, you can integrate LiquidOffice with third-party workflow systems to provide an onramp for mission-critical transactions.

In yet another example of integration, exception transactions discovered in Teleform can be split from the batch and routed through LiquidOffice for rapid, electronic resolution. Adding Cardiff's LiquidPDF technology (formerly Audience One) lets you automatically create response documents (ranging from simple confirmations to contracts or personalized welcome packets) that can be delivered via email, Web, fax or mail.

Teleform starts at $6,000 while LiquidOffice is $15,000 (100 log-in accounts) to $55,000 (unlimited users).

Distributed Capture for MFP Devices

Product: Ascent Ricochet
Vendor: Kofax, Irvine, CA, www.kofax.com

Digital copiers and other multifunction devices are more and more commonplace, so why not use them to capture documents at the source? Ascent Ricochet is a browser-based capture utility that lets ordinary business users easily submit images and electronic documents to Kofax Ascent Capture workflows.

The thin, Java-based client software is downloaded once through the browser with no dongles or licensing fees required. Users scan documents from a networked or desktop-attached multifunction device from which images are typically sent to a known folder on the desktop. Ricochet monitors this folder and lets users review thumbnails, rotate images, attach electronic documents and assemble complete "packages" that are sent to the Ricochet server. From there, packages enter existing Ascent Capture workflows.

The Ricochet interface shields users from complexity and jargon, with drop-down menu selections based on user and group privileges. Data entry is minimized with values such as user, date and doc type automatically filled and transferred in an XML-tagged wrapper file. The application doesn't require a permanent connection, and users are notified when packages have been successfully delivered. Server pricing starts at $15,000.

.NET Imaging Toolkit

Product: Raster Master Platinum 10 for .NET
Vendor: Snowbound Software, Newtonville, MA, www.snowbnd.com

Snowbound Software is known for its Java-based imaging toolkit, but the company now addresses .NET with Raster Master Platinum 10 for .NET.

.NET applications give developers much more flexibility in choosing their preferred development languages. All .NET objects are managed, meaning they use protected memory. This prevents applications from stomping all over the operating system or other key software components in memory. Without this approach, developers would have to use unmanaged, dynamically linked libraries (DLLs) or ActiveX controls and risk crashes and instability.

The .NET toolkit supports the full range of image file formats and functions found in the rest of the Raster Master line, including TIFF, JPEG, MO:DCA, PTOCA, AFP, ABIC, PCL and PDF. Applications developed with the kit require Windows XP or Windows 2000 with the .NET Framework installed. Priced at $3,995, the .NET library is written in C#.

Departmental Duplex Scanner

Product: fi-4340C
Vendor: Fujitsu, San Jose, CA, www.fcpa.com

Fast speeds, high resolution, color support and affordability all add up to make Fujitsu's fi-4340C an outstanding value for departmental duplex scanning. The fi-4340C is a flatbed with a 100-sheet auto document feeder that handles up to legal-size documents. Bitonal speeds are impressive at 40 pages per minute (ppm) simplex and 80 images per minute (ipm) duplex (portrait scanning 8.5" x 11" at 200 dpi). Color speeds also exceed expectation, reaching 34 ppm/48 ipm at 150 dpi or 16 ppm/29 ipm at 200 dpi. The maximum optical resolution is 600 dpi.

The long list of options includes an onboard JPEG compression board and image processing boards such as ScanRight IP or VRS. There is also an optional post-scan, backside endorser. Perhaps most impressive is the scanner's low price of $5,495.

Network-Attached Asset Management

Product: The ContentCube
Vendor: Turquoise Technology, Boulder, CO, www.contentcube.com

Turquoise Technology's ContentCube is a network-attached device designed for digital asset management. This Linux-based device manages a range of content types with a built-in Poet XML database. The system has up to 546 GB of hard disk storage, and it also includes a 9.4-GB DVD-RAM, a CD-RW drive and multiple audio inputs. Other features include IEEE-1394, ethernet, modem and serial ports.

Although aimed at creative professionals and departments, the system can digitize audio such as telephone calls from a CRM system. A Web interface provides universal availability and fast access to content with tools such as revision control, metadata, project management and user security.

Turquoise offers a VAR/OEM version of the ContentCube with prices starting at $47,000.

Value-Priced Recognition Toolkit

Product: FineReader 6.0 Scripting Edition
Vendor: Abbyy, Fremont, CA, www.abbyyusa.com

Abbyy FineReader recognition technology has been packaged in a scripting edition at a competitive price of $2,150. The license allows three computers to each process up to 10,000 pages per month. A license with no restrictions is $5,450.

The FineReader 6.0 Scripting Edition gives developers an API that is compatible with Microsoft's COM standard programmable in Visual Basic, C++ and scripting languages. Developers can control access to the FineReader interface, batch and document handling, events and exception handling.

FineReader recognizes 177 languages — 34 with spell checking. It also recognizes barcodes, preserves vertical text, supports networked users and outputs to PDF and HTML.