Kisco Offers New Color, Output Options with WebReport/400 6.0

by Alex Woodie

Electronic documents generated with Kisco Information Systems' WebReport/400 software are now available in color. Last week Kisco announced WebReport/400 6.0, which brings new capabilities to merge color AFP overlays with PDF documents created from OS/400 spool files, allowing companies to send color versions of their invoices, purchase orders, and other business documents as e-mail attachments. WebReport/400 6.0 also has the capability to convert OS/400 spool files to CSV files.

WebReport/400 is an OS/400 utility that monitors output queues, converts the spool file to a new format, and then distributes the converted file, either as an e-mail attachment or by posting it to a Web site. The utility can be set up to process the spool files automatically, it can run from inside third-party applications, or users can go through the product's menu to run it manually.

WebReport/400 has numerous uses, for IT staff and others. For example, it can be used to automatically e-mail sales reports to representatives in the field, or to post quarterly sales figures to an internal Web site. For IT staffers, WebReport/400 could be used to automatically route job logs to programmers' in-boxes. In all cases, users benefit from eliminating paper and lag time from internal processes.

When the product was introduced, in 1998, it supported conversion of OS/400 spool files to one format: HTML. In 2000, Kisco added support for rich text format (RTF) and portable document format (PDF) documents, and split WebReport/400 into two separate products: WebReport/400, for simple HTML conversions, and WebReport/400 PDF, for converting to PDF, RTF, and other formats.

The previous version of WebReport/400 PDF allowed users to merge their AFP form overlays with WebReport/400-generated documents. This allowed users to give their electronic reports a similar look and feel as the reports they printed using AFP and IPDS printers, except that Kisco's electronic documents were black and white. With WebReport/400 PDF 6.0, the software gets full support for color AFP overlays, which, Kisco says, has been a customer request. Kisco also says this version supports additional IPDS and AFP formats.

This release also has support for conversion of OS/400 spool files to comma separated value (CSV) files, which makes it easier to load OS/400 data into a spreadsheet program. This CSV conversion feature is only available with WebReport/400 PDF.

Kisco has also enhanced WebReport/400's capability to associate different recipient names and sender names with e-mail, the company says; previous versions used a default recipient name on outbound e-mails, although the recipient name could be included on the subject line. The software also features an address book, for keeping distribution lists and e-mail addresses.

Other enhancements include new security capabilities that allow an administrator to restrict access to the software based on user profiles, and improvements to message formatting for sending PDF documents as e-mail attachments.

Both versions of WebReport/400 6.0 are available now. A license for WebReport/400 costs $995 per OS/400 server, while WebReport/400 PDF costs $1,595 per server. For more information, go to www.kisco.com.

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