Document Services Make a Flashy Debut

by Lowell Rapaport

The new version of Optical Image Technology's (OIT) DocFinity Suite, released in April, features a slick new user interface based on Macromedia's Flash technology. But the real substance of the upgrade is the deployment of Web services and a move to a robust, highly scalable Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) architecture.

While the Flash interface may not sound like a big deal, users spend more of their time looking at the graphical user interface than any other element of an application. In fact, aesthetics is one of the top reasons why Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, is upgrading to the new version of DocFinity.

"DocFinity's Macromedia Client looks better than the current Java client, but it's faster, too, which is important to our customer service," says Michael Winters, computer technician for Vanderbilt's human resources department.

Vanderbilt uses DocFinity's imaging components to scan in employee benefit applications and the paperwork for new hires. During peak periods, the school receives up to 10,000 pages per day.

"We had problems with the delay between receiving paperwork from employees and getting the data into our PeopleSoft system," Winters says. "By scanning the paperwork into the document management system, it now appears on the school's computers immediately. Replacing DocFinity's Java client with the new fast-loading Flash client will eliminate the [only remaining] delay in giving clients their data when they call in with questions."

Even more significant than the Flash interface is the fact that the new version of DocFinity is written in J2EE and supports Web services, fast becoming the technology of choice for application integration. Actually, the use of Flash and Web services go hand in hand since Flash doesn't support client-side processing. All processing takes place on the server; therefore, everything you see in the Flash user interface has to have a corresponding Web service supporting it. Since OIT's goal is to deploy a Flash interface for all the functions of DocFinity, it stands to reason that every document imaging and management function will be exposed as a Web service.

But OIT's choices of Flash and Web services are more than the GUI tail wagging the software architecture dog. "We need to support the open systems preferred by our customers," explains OIT president Scott Buchart, adding that customers include insurance and finance, state and local governments and universities and other educational institutions. "That means a J2EE-based suite that works in both Unix and Windows environments and a full API for integration with other applications. Unix rules among financial institutions, and Windows is found everywhere. Plus, most of our customers need cross-platform client support, particularly universities that have to deal with every computing platform known to man." Multiple platform support also extends to the back end. DocFinity supports Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, Informix, Ingress, Gupta and ODBC compliant databases.

The Compact Flash Markup Language (CFML) server is written in J2EE and, according to OIT, it is trivial to enable CFML modules to use Web Services. Buchart says CFML is also more tightly controlled than competing standards such as HTML and is less variable across platforms. Compact Flash works on desktop, handheld and embedded computers.

Users don't have to use OIT's Flash interface. They can still use the company's original Java client. Plus, since DocFinity is written in J2EE and every function is exposed as a Web service, users can roll their own user interface and integrate DocFinity with other J2EE- and Web service-enabled applications.

Lacking Web content management and collaboration features, DocFinity is not a true enterprise content management system, but it is one of the most comprehensive document imaging and management systems available. In addition to DocFinity's core imaging and viewing modules, the company offers workflow, XML-based e-forms, output and report management, printer file support, PDF support, email management, OCR and barcode recognition, and an electronic signature server. Low-level functions stretch all the way down to hierarchical storage management.

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