IntelliChief to Deliver Tablet Interface for IBM i Content

February 14, 2012 Alex Woodie

The push to mobile is in high gear at the moment, and one of the latest IBM i software vendors to unveil a mobile solution is IntelliChief. In the next week or two, the developer expects to deliver IntelliChief Mobile, a new user interface that enables workers to use a tablet to view documents stored in their organization’s content management system. Not all IntelliChief features are supported yet, but the new interface will enable users to consume documents from anyplace with a network connection.

IntelliChief Mobile is a pure HTML client that gives users access to their IntelliChief dashboard. The dashboard is the primary view that most IntelliChief users (non administrators) will see. It’s where they go to organize and access the various inboxes that have been configured to store documents related to certain business processes, such as reviewing and approving invoices in accounts payable.

With IntelliChief Mobile, users can access the inboxes, view the documents, send emails with links to documents, and even reassign documents from one inbox to another. These documents, more often than not, originate as spool files from an IBM i-based EPR system, and they are stored as TIFFs or JPEGS.

The email and inbox reassignment capabilities mean that a mobile user can participate in workflow-related processes (reviewing, approving, denying, etc.), but only to a certain extent. The full IntelliChief client supports more advanced workflow prompts, and these prompts are not yet available in IntelliChief Mobile. However, the company’s development team is already working on adding these features to a future release, says Michael Rooney, IntelliChief’s vice president of sales and marketing.

The only other limitation in IntelliChief Mobile is the capability to make annotations to a document. However, IntelliChief Mobile does allow users to view annotations that have been made to documents. It also offers a “sticky note” functionality that allows users to add informal notes to documents (as opposed to more formal annotations). There’s also a sticky note history function that tracks additions and changes to notes.

IntelliChief Mobile is a new Web client that lets workers use a tablet to view IBM i documents stored in their IntelliChief content management systems.

Users will be able to access IntelliChief Mobile simply by pointing their Web browsers to the appropriate Web address. There are no apps to download and install on a mobile device–it’s simply a new service being offered by the HTTP server that’s built into the IntelliChief application.

The IntelliChief Mobile screen has been optimized for tablets, such as the iPad and Android tablets. While there is no reason that IntelliChief Mobile couldn’t be accessed from a smartphone, the fact is that the larger screens of tablets make them more amenable for viewing business documents.

Rooney sees IntelliChief Mobile finding use both in and out of the office. “If somebody is away from their desk or in a meeting, and they need to see a contract, an invoice, or a PO–whatever it is–they can bring it up while sitting there,” he says. He also sees the possibility of using the software to apply digital signatures during deliveries.

IntelliChief is a Windows-based suite of software designed to help IBM i shops transition to electronic documents, or “paperless process management,” as IntelliChief likes to call it. 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 IBM i-based ERP applications and screens, and an automated workflow system.

IntelliChief Mobile will be part of IntelliChief version 3.3, which is slated for general availability sometime in the middle of February. For more information, see www.intellichief.com.