iMap Plots Course from iSeries Spool File to Electronic Document

by Alex Woodie

New software announced last week by inFORM Decisions should make it easier for AS/400 and iSeries shops to begin using the company's electronic document management software. iMap is a graphical data-mapping tool that works with the Windows-based design component of inFORM's iDocs suite to link OS/400 spool file data to fields in the new electronic form. The company says the new drag-and-drop method is a great improvement over the cumbersome multi-step processes previously used.

inFORM's iDocs suite allows OS/400 shops to convert documents from paper-based printouts to new electronic forms that can be distributed--depending on which output modules are purchased from inFORM--via fax, e-mail, over the Web, or printed out and distributed manually. Once iDocs is set up, users quickly gain the benefits of distributing checks, invoices, purchase orders, and other forms electronically. However, before the release of iMap, setting up iDocs wasn't entirely easy.

Before the release of iMap, iDocs users used a green-screen program to position OS/400 spool file output in the new iDocs template. This required manually entering X/Y coordinates, row/column coordinates, or mapping directly to the database--by all accounts a troublesome process. For someone unfamiliar with the green-screen interface, this would necessitate retraining. Even for 5250 veterans, this process was not ideal, because of the graphical nature of the documents being created. There had to be a better way.

With iMap, inFORM Decision has created a better way to map OS/400 spool file output to new forms. The new tool uses a split-screen interface that contains the original OS/400 spool file on one side and the new electronic form on the other. Users highlight the data field on the original spool file that they wish to map to the new electronic form, and then click a target field on the new electronic form. iMap also permits users to build a mapping table, to change fonts, to change data, or to change the view. When users are done mapping their spool file output, they click the "upload" button, and the new form is sent to the OS/400 Integrated File System for safe keeping.

The new capabilities that iMap brings to inFORM's point-and-click forms creation process has bolstered the iDocs product suite, says Dan Forster, president of the Irvine, California, company. "With iMap added, we feel we have the most powerful graphical environment for composing iSeries form, report, and check applications," he says. "Our point-and-click designer is the thing that makes the difference."

iMap 1.0 is available now. The cost is $500 per OS/400 server, regardless of the size of the box or the number of users. For more information, go to www.informdecisions.com.

This article has been corrected since it was first published. The company inFORM Decisions is located in Irvine, California, not Lake Forest, California, as originally stated. Guild Companies regrets the error. [Correction made 5/29/03.]

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