Quadrant Eases Installation, Lowers Price on IntelliChief

December 8, 2009 Alex Woodie

Fifteen. That’s the key number to keep in mind with Quadrant Software and its new release of IntelliChief document and content management software. As a result of product enhancements that streamline implementation and a lowered pricing structure with version 2.6, Quadrant claims that customers can implement IntelliChief in 15 days or less, at a starting price of $15,000. With document management expected to be a major IT driver in 2010, Quadrant’s offer deserves closer examination for companies looking to eliminate paper.

IntelliChief is a collection of Windows software that’s designed to help organizations (primarily System i shops) make the transition to electronic documents and associated workflows. In its basic configurations, the software provides a simple repository for storing and accessing e-documents. More advanced implementations involve the roll-out of sophisticated scanning and data capture solutions, direct integration with i OS ERP applications and screens, and an automated workflow system.

With version 2.6, enhancements make it easier to complete the more complex implementations. The company did this by standardizing the default settings for document types, user profiles, and Web forms. It also rolled out preconfigured integration modules for major ERP applications.

Standardizing document types should help speed installations. For example, Quadrant enables customers to simply modify the properties of existing documents for given business processes, instead of creating new document types for automated workflows.

From this invoice inquiry screen in ERP XA, users are presented a button to open an invoice in IntelliChief.

Quadrant also set as the default the most commonly seen settings for various document types, including invoices, purchase orders, warehouse receivers, and accounts payable checks for organizations that use a purchase-to-pay process, and customer orders, acknowledgements, shipping documents, invoices, and customer checks for organizations using the order-to-cash process.

“A lot of time was usually spent creating document profiles and workflow rules,” says Daniel Kuperman, director of marketing for Quadrant. “We found from experience that most companies have very similar needs when it comes to standard processes, such as purchase-to-pay. Everyone has to deal with invoices, purchase orders, acknowledgements, and receiving documents. Sure, the content changes and a few rules are different, but the basics are the same.” Quadrant utilized this knowledge by basically “packaging” these most common rules into the default settings for the product.

The WebForms component of IntelliChief has also been enhanced with new templates that speed implementation times. Quadrant now includes templates that allow the user to easily create items like purchase order requisition and check requests.

Setting up users and user profiles is also easier with version 2.6 thanks to a new capability that allows administrators to copy existing user profiles when creating new profiles, instead of generating them from scratch. Admins can also import user information from Excel, which should help organizations with hundreds or thousands of users.

Once open in ERP XA, the user can view the invoice, as well as related documents.

The Workflow Engine component of IntelliChief has also been improved. Quadrant has made it easier for users to activate actions that can be taken on documents, such as re-routing of work for vacations and absences, pay limit authorizations, escalations and other requests. It also made it easier to test and troubleshoot workflow designs.

Quadrant has delivered new integration modules for major ERP applications, including Infor ERP XA (MAPICS), Infor ERP PRMS, Oracle JD Edwards World, JDA Software Group‘s Merchandise Management System i (MMSi), and Mincron‘s MSS/HD software.

The integration modules enable IntelliChief to retrieve major document types directly from the ERP applications. Quadrant offers two classes of ERP integration modules for the two major business processes, purchase-to-pay and order-to-cash. Depending on which process a company is using, IntelliChief will automatically pull documents such as purchase orders, invoices, and order acknowledgements.

In addition to pulling documents directly from i OS ERP apps, the integration modules also gather what they need to accomplish indexing, archiving, and searching in IntelliChief.

As a result of the enhancements with version 2.6, Quadrant feels confident that users will be able to implement IntelliChief in a matter of days. Simple installations will only require a couple of days, while the target for more complex installs involving the Workflow Engine is 15 days.

The company also slashed the price for IntelliChief. Previously, when asked to quote a starting price, Quadrant said $50,000. Now, the new entry level price is quoted as $15,000, a significant drop.

In other news, Quadrant also spun the IntelliChief division out into its own entity, with some of its own sales and marketing resources, although development and ownership remains with Quadrant. For more information, visit www.intellichief.com or www.quadrantsoftware.com.