S4i Adds AFP Support to Electronic Document Systems

by Alex Woodie

A boatload of enhancements have been delivered in the new release of S4i Systems' (formerly Solution400 International) S4i Express, a document management software for iSeries servers. With new features, like support for AFPDS files, an enhanced browser interface, integration with portal products such as IBM's Policy Director, new PDF capabilities, and integration with Elite Document Solutions' forms design software, S4i Systems says the S4i Express 2.7 release is the best yet.

S4i Express is a modular, OS/400-based electronic document management system that forms the foundation for other S4i Systems software. At its most basic level, S4i Express' job is to grab files from OS/400 output queues and apply rules, defined in its address book, to distribute documents in the format that works best for the recipient.

As you take a closer look at S4i Express' capabilities, you can see it's more than an electronic document router. The software gives users the flexibility to send reports in a variety of formats (PDF, RTF, HTML, ASCII, EBCDIC, TXT) in a variety of ways (e-mail, fax, FTP, HTTP, and print). It supports bursting and bundling and has the capability to define multiple, flexible distribution lists. The software can read the PDF output generated by the J.D. Edwards OneWorld suite and also includes archiving and index capabilities. It's also expandable to the Web, through the optional WebView facility, and can archive to disk, tape, or COLD systems. Perhaps most important, S4i Express is entirely OS/400-resident (the WebView server doesn't have to be), doesn't require programming knowledge, and won't modify your application.

Among the top benefits of installing S4i Express is that printer and paper usage declines dramatically. But moving from a paper-based to an electronic-based document system has other advantages, including faster delivery of documents, decreased postage, and labor savings.

S4i Express 2.7 addresses one of the recognized shortcomings in the previous product, namely support for high-end Advanced Function Printing (AFP) documents and the Intelligent Printer Data Stream (IPDS). With this release, the software can now capture AFP and IPDS data, and can do some neat stuff with it, including defining multiple indexes and segments for the files, interactively setting examination points, headers, footers, and CSV columns, and distributing the files in a number of ways, including as native AFP, or after converting them to PDF, PostScript, or TXT format. Users can also view the AFPDS files using the WebView component.

AFP support was a key prerequisite for some companies to buy S4i Express, the company says. "We have a number of prospective customers that have demonstrated their commitment to S4i by waiting for this functionality to begin their implementations," says Spencer Elliott, S4i Systems' vice president of development and planning.

Unlike some other document management packages, S4i Systems' offering has never included a forms design component. In previous releases, the company has recommended users draw their forms in a vector format using Adobe Illustrator or Corel's CorelDraw programs. Alternatively, the company could recommend specialists that would redraw forms for $50 or more per form. With version 2.7, S4i Express integrates directly with eliteDocuments's eliteFORM software, so users can design their forms overlays in eliteFORM and merge that form with the spool file data with S4i Express. S4i Express customers can purchase eliteFORM through S4i Systems, and they may be eligible for a discount, as there is some feature overlap between the two vendors' offerings.

The product's Web component, called WebView, has also been enhanced with this release to make it easier to deploy and use. By using common portal interfaces, such as IBM's Policy Director software, S4i Express users can allow people who don't have a valid OS/400 user ID to be assigned a network ID and get authenticated, giving them access to OS/400 reports. New application server scripts also simplify WebView setup with several application servers, including Apache's Tomcat and IBM's WebSphere and WebSphere Express, running on either iSeries or Windows servers. The company developed this capability as a participant in IBM's Express product program for business partners.

This release brings still other improvements, such as expanded support for PDFs and support for Thai characters. New PDF features in S4i Express give users the capabilities to add bookmarks to PDF documents and to view PDF text in a 5250 greenscreen. Lastly, localization for Thailand brings support for Thai character fonts in PostScript and PDF documents. Thai users can also segment and archive their documents using S4i Express.

S4i Express 2.7 is available now. Pricing for the base package, which includes everything a company needs to get started, such as the core distribution, archiving and HostView functions, is tier-based and ranges from $6,000 (P05) to $32,000 (P50). WebView is priced separately and ranges from $1,000 to $5,000. For more information, go to www.solution400.com.

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