Real Vision Software Delivers RVI 8.0

Published: October 16, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Real Vision Software is now shipping a major new release of Real Vision Imaging (RVI), its document scanning and content management solution for OS/400 and i5/OS users. With version 8.0, Real Vision has made a number of enhancements, including more indexing options, better scanner support, enhancements to the Web interface and HATS support, more mark-up capabilities, new "system linking" capabilities, and other new features.

RVI is an image capture and retrieval system designed to help iSeries and System i users reduce their dependence on paper-based processes. The software enables users to capture and index documents from various sources, including i5/OS spool files, TWAIN and Kofax scanners, fax, e-mail, Topaz signature pads, multimedia files, and from PCs, and to save them on the System i's DASD or optical drives in standard PC formats, like TIFF and IMG. With the documents centrally stored, workers can then retrieve them as needed, using one of several interfaces Real Vision supports, including 5250, Windows, and Web interfaces.

Real Vision has several packages to choose from. Users can get started with the RVI Spool File package, which is focused on capturing black-and-white System i output, including SCS and even AFP files with graphical overlays; indexing the content; and storing it on System i DASD or optical media. The Spool File package also converts System i output to the PDF format, and provides a PDF-view function, as well. For many shops needing to move to PDF access, this may be the package they get started with.

The company also offers the RVI Basic package, which provides several useful features for black-and-white documents, such as support for Word, Excel, Lotus Notes, support for optical character recognition (OCR) and barcodes, support for audio and video files, and the capability to add notes to documents, as well as versioning and redacting functions.

A Web application is also available that provides capabilities of both the Spool File and Basic packages, including support for i5/OS spool files and support for PC file formats, and adds support for color documents. What sets the RVI Web application apart is a more sophisticated Web-based interface that grants or denies access to users based on several factors, including user ID, and system and document type.

The RVI Complete package is where all the functionality of the Spool File, Basic, and Web versions come together. This package also includes the workflow capabilities that allow documents to be automatically routed to certain people for approval, additional processing, and other functions such as advanced printing capabilities.

With version 8.0, which became available in July, Real Vision has made more than 100 enhancements to the product. The majority of the enhancements are minor, such as the addition of buttons to certain screens, new indexing functions, and new scanning functions.

One of the more important enhancements is support for up to 99 index fields per file. Now users have a number of ways they can categorized the information in the documents they capture.

Version 8 also brings a new "poll for auto import" feature in the PC interface that allows users to automatically grab any supported files from monitored systems, and load them into the RVI repository. Users can set the interval, in minutes, that this function will follow.

New document annotation capabilities in version 8 allow workers to use shapes like rectangles, circles, and arrows to focus readers' attention on certain parts of the document. They can also highlight text in yellow, annotate it in pink, or redact it with a thick black line. Users are also provided a series of handy "rubber stamps," which enable them to easily modify the document with the following words: approved, assigned, checked, copy, draft, extended, fax, faxed, important, invoice, official, on file, paid, passed, pending, processed, received, rejected, release, sent, shipped, secret, top secret, urgent, void, confidential, and client.

Version 8.0 also brings new "system linking" capabilities. When RVI customers have categorized their documents using two or more systems, they can now use system linking to automatically find related documents in another system that are related to the current system that they're in, such as they have the same customer or account number.

The Web interface has also been overhauled with this release. In addition to supporting IBM's HATS technology, the Web interface now allows users to change the sort order when viewing documents through the inquiry screen.

Real Vision has also added a new PC "screen scrape" capability in version 8 that allows users to grab information off their screen--such as a 5250 session--and enter it into the RVI repository. This function is customizable, and allows alphanumeric values to be grabbed only from certain positions the user has highlighted on the screen. This feature will work with most Windows-based applications, the company says, and has been tested against J.D. Edwards EnterpriseOne, Microsoft Dynamics GP, and 5250 sessions.

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