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case studies #3

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case studies

SAP Solution The Customer

The Solution

ESI France is a service bureau providing data formatting,

This is the solution which was proposed by Program Products SA in

printing, archiving and micrography services, to over 500

Paris to fulfil the needs of ESI France.

companies in a wide range of businesses, including banking,

• The invoice data would be sorted before being printed, which would avoid the need to sort the documents manually afterwards.

insurance, and industry.

The Problem

• Invoices dedicated to the same customer would be put into only one envelope instead of him receiving several mailings.

A customer from ESI France needs to migrate his billing system

• The PCL datastream should be converted into a metacode datastream to be able to use the Xerox printer, which offers a much lower cost per page than the desktop printer.

to SAP R/3. This is a typical case in the French market at present. Previously, ESI France received line mode data from this customer. This was enhanced and printed on Xerox printers. With the new SAP R/3 format, ESI France receives PCL data, which is quite difficult to modify. As an interim measure, the

The solution was accepted and the implementation started. The

invoices were printed on a desktop PCL printer and sorted

diagram shows the whole process.

manually for French or foreign customers, a slow process, with

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PReS reads the PCL file coming from the SAP R/3 billing system and

a significant risk of mistakes.

creates an index for each country, for each ZIP code. With the volume of invoices increasing every month, it soon became urgent to transfer the printing to a Xerox printer. ESI

The DFS (Data File Structure) PReS module sorts the file according to

France asked Program Products SA to propose a solution

the various indexes (country, ZIP code, invoice code).

reducing both time and cost and including the processes of:

The PCL file is then read again and split into two files, one for the

• Sorting

customers in France and one for the foreign customers. The PCL file will be transformed into a Metacode data stream

• Printing

through a PReS SAP module (developed by GDS PrintSoft in

• Mailing

Hamburg - Germany) and delivered to the Xerox printer. In addition, the PReS SAP module automatically generates the control marks for the mailing equipment.

PReS File Server Windows NT SAP R3

Foreign PCL Files

Splitting files on the country code

Re-grouped PCL Files

Grouping pages on the customer code

Metacode Print Files

Metacode Printing

Adding OMR codes and transform into Metacode

PCL Files

France PCL Files

Re-grouped France PCL Files

France Metacode Print Files

Metacode Printing

for Le Client

La Solution

ESI France est une société spécialisée dans le traitement des

Après avoir analysé les données du problème et établi un

données informatique, l’édition sur imprimantes (continue ou

parallèle avec des expériences précédentes, Program

page à page), l’archivage et la micrographie.

Products SA proposa à ESI France un processus permettant

A ce jour, près de 500 clients couvrant des secteurs d'activités très variés (banques, assurances, mutuelles, industries...)

d'atteindre les objectifs fixés. Celui-ci prévoyait:

accordent leur confiance à la société ESI.

• La séparation des factures pour la France et des factures pour l'étranger avant l'impression afin de supprimer l'étape du tri manuel

La Problématique

• Le regroupement des factures correspondant à un seul et même client dans la même enveloppe

Un client de la société ESI France, comme beaucoup

• La traduction du code PCL en métacode afin de pouvoir utiliser les imprimantes Xerox bénéficiant d'un coût d'impression par page plus faible que les imprimantes de bureau

d'entreprises en France en ce moment, a effectué une migration informatique de son ancien système de facturation vers le progiciel SAP R/3. Auparavant ESI France recevait de ce client un fichier en mode

La mise en place de ce processus prévoyait plusieurs étapes:

ligne que les techniciens d’ESI modifiaient et imprimaient sur des imprimantes Xerox. Les nouvelles factures issues du progiciel SAP R/3 étant dans un format PCL, cette modification s'avérait très difficile à réaliser.

• la lecture du fichier PCL issu du système SAP R/3 et la création d'un index basé sur le code pays, le code postal, le code facture et la position de la facture dans le fichier

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La société ESI devait alors traiter le nouveau flux de factures manuellement, c’est-à-dire trier les factures par pays. Les factures françaises étaient séparées des factures étrangères

• le tri automatique du fichier suivant le code pays, le code postal et le code facture

pour permettre l'affranchissement variable en fonction du pays. Le volume de factures en provenance du client augmentant au fil des mois, il devenait impossible d'imprimer ces factures sur les imprimantes de bureau PCL, alors qu'ESI disposait d'imprimantes à grande vitesse Xerox. Par ailleurs, le tri manuel représentait une charge de travail supplémentaire beaucoup

• la relecture du fichier PCL en provenance de SAP et l'éclatement en deux fichiers PCL, l'un pour les factures destinées à la France et l'autre pour les factures destinées à l'étranger, le fichier pour la France étant réorganisé par code postal et regroupé par code client

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trop importante. Les données du problème étaient claires et ESI demanda à Program Products SA de leur proposer une solution permettant d'optimiser le processus et de réaliser des économies afin de conserver ce client SAP R/3 et de faire face le cas échéant à d'autres demandes de traitement de données en provenance

• le fichier PCL issue de cette manipulation est mis à disposition du module "PReS SAP" créé par GDS PrintSoft (Hamburg, Allemagne) et transformé en un flux métacode pour les imprimantes Xerox. Ce module "PReS SAP" fut adapté pour permettre la gestion des codes de mise sous plis et ainsi automatiser la mise sous enveloppe.

d'un système SAP. Trois postes pouvaient faire l'objet d'une réduction de coûts:

Pour toute information concernant ce projet ou toute application similaire, veuillez vous adresser à:

• l’affranchissement des fichiers • le renoncement aux tris manuels • la réduction du coût d’impression

Program Products SA Tél.: +33 (0) 1 30 73 87 11 Fax: +33 (0) 1 30 73 87 13 E-mail: [email protected]

case studies

Security Printing

application at Océ Openhouse

t the Océ Openhouse

A

tradeshow in Munich

recently, a unique combination of hardware and software was assembled to illustrate the

DIGITAL PHOTO

SIGNATURE SCANNER

FINGER PRINT SCANNER

PERSONALIZATION

potential for creating highly secure documents. The creation of "Paper of Value", documents with a high intrinsic worth, such as travellers’ cheques, money orders, postage stamps, bearer bonds etc. has always been a race

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against the skills of the

ID SOFT

counterfeiter, so with the advent of non-impact printing has come a need to secure this class of documents. Conversations at various trade shows in Europe and sales

PDF DATA

enquiries from South America

OTHER TEXT DATA

and Asia has convinced PrintSoft that there was market interest in non-impact printed

PRES DOCUMENT FORMATTING

security documents, and in secure document production systems. At XPLOR UK in March, Program Products Services Ltd,

PRINTING

had demonstrated DataGlyphs, using them to identify participants in a prize draw, creating considerable interest.

POST PRINTING SECURITY ELEMENTS

with PReS

Written by

Andreas Schels PrintSoft Systems GmbH

The Security Printing System...

Five companies, namely...

Identification Software from ID-Soft...

ID-Soft, PrintSoft, Océ, Security

The role of this software tool is to convert, compress and to encode the personalized data which may be a finger print, picture, signature, address, etc. Basically, ID-Soft consists of a protected data base containing all the identification data. When a security document is to be printed, a job request is sent to the ID-PC, the necessary data is released, encoded and sent via network systems or directly to the print centre.

Foiling and Bell and Howell, assembled for the first time a complete secure document

The whole system is secured by a password structure.

printing system, consisting of

Printing Software from PrintSoft...

the following elements...

PReS receives the encoded data stream, including the identification data, which may be a picture, address, signature, etc, decodes that data, creates via a special PDF barcode DLL the barcode and manages the document formatting and printing on high speed printers. The whole system can be secured by a password based upon 128 bit encoding. High Speed Printer...

The pre-printed security paper can be fed to the high speed printer from rolls or fan fold stock. The identification data and other document elements are electronically printed to specification. Security Foil application...

A foil press allows transparent security foil to be fused into the paper surface using a stamping system, thus preventing any alteration of the security elements on the document. In addition, special holograms can be pressed onto the document, to prove authenticity. Document Structure

Secure documents may include the following elements... • Holograms • Signatures • Photographs • Text • PDF 417 barcodes • DataGlyphs • Customized barcodes • Logos • Protective foil

For further information please contact Andreas Schels, PrintSoft Systems GmbH Tel: +49 (0)89 61 44 17 0 Fax: + 49 (0)89 61 44 17 17 email: [email protected]

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case studies

PrintSoft provides the best solution for insurance policy printing in Asia!..

How it used to be done... Previously, an insurance policy was assembled from a number of components. Forms, called overlays, were printed with variable report format BIG5 data from an IBM AS400, on line mode IBM and Siemens Nixdorf printers at 240 dpi resolution. The specific contracts required for each policy were determined and a photo copy of the required contracts was made after finding hard copy for the correct contracts in filing cabinets. These contracts were then bundled with the overlays and bound together at the head, in a fashion similar to a letter writing pad.

6 American International Assurance (AIA) and Nan Shan Life Insurance, have begun implementing a project which combines the latest technology from Xerox with the latest PrintSoft software. The combination of the Xerox DocuPrint 4635 IPS and PrintSoft’s double byte version of IPDS/PReS32, provides high quality, high speed Chinese language printing!

Article written and submitted by…

Brett Dashwood Manager, Technical Support PrintSoft Technologies Pty Ltd

Hardware and Software... Xerox’s fastest IPDS cut-sheet printer, the DocuPrint 4635 IPS was chosen for this project. The initial installation was a single printer, Nan Shan then installed two more systems, following the successful demonstration of performance. As the name suggests, the printer is a Xerox 4635 (135 ppm), and it is run by a SUN SparcStation work station, running the Xerox IPS software in X-Windows under UNIX. Input to the SparcStation is via a Host Control Unit (HCU), which is in turn Bus/Tag channel attached to an IBM Pentium PC via a Data/Ware DW2100 PCI channel emulation card. The first PC/printer system is connected to an Interkom two-channel switch box which is also connected directly to the AS400. The switch box allows printing directly from the host as well as from the PC. The PCs (one for each of the three printers) run Chinese Traditional Windows NT Workstation ver. 4.0 and PrintSoft’s Double-byte IPDS/PReS-32.

How the project fitted together... Background... The American International Group (AIG) of companies in Asia sought a printing solution for their insurance policy documents in the region. Solutions were required for AIA in Hong Kong, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co., Ltd in Taiwan, AIA in Malaysia and AIA in Singapore. The initial “proof of concept” work was done in Hong Kong, but the first installation of the new equipment was to be in Taiwan with Nan Shan Life. For several reasons this installation was potentially tricky. It was the first installation for AIA, it involved a recently established distributor (Jintec Systems and Consultants Co., Ltd.), and the data files were in traditional Chinese (Big5 code). The aim was to provide a complete solution for the printing of insurance policy statements in the one process, which would variably select specific contracts for individual policy holders while combining policy details with a variable number of summary overlay forms. We had two goals; to implement the Nan Shan Life application and to ensure that Jintec was adequately trained as a distributor and hence in a position to support the client after the installation.

The data required no changes and remains as it did when printing from the AS400. Although the Xerox is a 300 dpi printer, the IPS system can also accept 240 dpi resources; this was required for Nan Shan. All of the applications that reside on the host are 240 dpi because of the previous printing technology. The IPS system takes the 240 dpi resources and re-scales to 300dpi. At the time of development, there were 22 overlays and 43 contracts. All of the overlays started life as single-page MS-Word (Chinese Traditional version) documents. The contracts also started as MS-Word documents, however these ranged from 3 pages to 14 pages. Before printing, the overlays and contracts are converted into IPI files (IPDS IOCA graphics) using the PrintSoft IOCA driver. The PrintSoft IOCA driver creates two files; one is the IPI (image), the second is a file with the same name, but a DAT extension. IPI files can be multiple pages, so this DAT file contains the byte offsets into the IPI file for the start of each page. DAT files are converted into PReS Text Reference Files (TRFs), which are then referenced from the main printing program. In addition to the policy holder information, the data contains control records, which define the overlay and the specific contracts required for a policy. The required contract information is stored and the overlay(s) are printed with the BIG5 data as before, however this time the base overlays are IPIs (created as above) which are positioned and printed using the PReS SETXY and LOADGRAPHIC instructions. Once all of the overlays are printed, the specific contracts are determined and the relevant IPIs are printed.

Between each policy document set, a separator page is automatically inserted while printing, and at the end of each run, a run report for that day’s printing is printed on the coloured separator stock. This report remains on the system in text format and is easily re-printed if additional copies are required. And for the other countries… The requirements for the applications in the other countries are essentially similar in structure. The contracts and overlays look different and the data is single-byte rather than double-byte. However the big difference is an additional scanned policy application document. When a customer applies for an AIA insurance policy, they fill out an application form. This form goes to AIA where it is scanned and stored as a TIFF. For these countries; Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, this TIFF is printed at the end of the policy document, after all of the contracts have been printed. As an already well established PrintSoft distributor, Xerox (Hong Kong) Ltd. required no further training, and the application has been successfully implemented. By the time this article is printed, Fuji Xerox Malaysia and Fuji Xerox Singapore will have completed training and the application should be ready for phased implementation. This project saw PrintSoft and Xerox combine MS-Word documents from both English and Chinese systems, IPDS IOCA graphics, TIFF images, and data from both double and single-byte computer systems, to create a complete insurance policy statement printing solution in four countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

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case studies

i-Center’s Output Text Format data

The German Post Office (Deutsche Post AG) is accepting customer data in

How SAP handles printing...

SAP OTF format and utilising Local Printer

PReS to print invoices, advice notes and reminders.

SAP® uses various output paths that allow the printing of data through printer drivers or printing software. PReS allows the following SAP formats to be printed on high-speed printers:

• Invoices • Reminders

SAP

• SAP RDI, IDOC and simple spool (certified SAP product number 7535)

CENTRAL PREPROCESSING

• SAP PCL • SAPScript • SAP OTF

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OTF (Output Text Format) has been developed as an input format for printer drivers. It contains text commands which fully describe each printed page. By selecting a printer driver, the user can decide whether to print his documents on his local printer or through a service bureau.

OTF File

...the Customer

In the project described here, a modified printer driver is being used to write the OTF data to a special file. This driver provides additional information about the sender, the address (postcode and country) and the nature of the print job (simplex or duplex).

i-Center is a wholesaler of electrical goods, they run their business with SAP and send their customer billing documents to the German Post for printing and mailing. The following modules have been added to the PReS-OTF job for the customer: • Production of cover sheets for special mailings that must be sent to a branch of i-center for post-processing • Integration of originals and copies by analysing several data fields

• Error Detection • Accounting and Billing • Split file according to the number of sheets • Sorting (Country ZIP Code, Simplex, Duplex) • Grouping of Documents

...as a Service Bureau

Deutsche Post AG provides comprehensive printing services to outsourcers for ePost (i.e. competitive tariffs, guaranteed printing, postage optimisation, folding and enveloping with enclosures, dispatching with tracing and tracking together with detailed invoicing). When the data arrives from i-Center an automated preprocessing with PReS does the following: • Produces an extended OTF print file (with sheet numbers, page numbers, document numbers, cover pages and logo) • Sorts and/or groups the print data according to the

for German Post...

..no problem!

Norbert Faehling PrintSoft Systems Germany

Cut-sheet IPDS TCP/IP QMR

Production Centre

1

QA

Continuous IPDS TCP/IP Single

TRACKING TRACING

Production Centre

2

Modified OTF File

Continuous IPDS TCP/IP Twin

STACKER REPRINTS

Production Centre

3

• Folding • Enveloping • Enclosures

Production Centre

4

DELIVERY

Production Centre

5

...Future-Proofing

country, postcode, number of sheets and print mode (simplex or duplex)

dispatches (tracking and tracing), as well as for quality assurance

• Produces a log file for billing and accounting

• Registration number of the printed data

To guarantee high production standards, PReS allows the following:

• Creation of a stack including printing the first and last pages in a stack

• Printing on-the-fly and easy handling of reprints (per page)

• Determining the printer type (individual sheet or continuous), the stack to be used and whether two-up or one-up should be printed using an editable print jobspecific INI file

• Control of post-processing machinery with OMR codes for automatic enveloping, addition of enclosures and grouped dispatch • Production of further log files for follow-up of orders and

The structure of PReS allows customers to upgrade their systems when their needs change. The following options are available: • Other printing formats (PostScript, PCL, AFP, spot colour and full colour, etc.) • Archiving as TIF, WMF, PAX/PAF or PDF • 1-D or 2-D barcodes instead of OMR codes • Sending faxes and e-mails • HTML output For further information contact:

PrintSoft Systems GmbH • Printing of a document code for QA and reprinting

Tel: Fax: e-mail:

+49 (0)89 61 44 17 0 +49 (0)89 61 44 17 17 [email protected]

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case studies Written by

Kay Liedtke,

Implementation at debis System

GDS PrintSoft

The Customer

The Solution

debis IT Services (debis Systemhaus) was established in 1990

GDS PrintSoft took responsibility for this project. The first

and is now Germany's leading vendor-independent provider of

step was investigating the PCL datastream created by

information technology (IT) services. In 1998 the company

SAP. With some help from SAP Waldorf they obtained

employed more than 13,325 people and generated sales in

an overview of the features and functions that

excess of US$2,5 billion. debis Systemhaus has a

could be used in SAP-PCL (especially using

comprehensive and vendor-independent range of services

SAPSCRIPT). Then they developed a PReS

which encompasses core competencies in consulting and the

application which is essentially a PCL-

development and operation of applications. These are often

Interpreter running under a PReS Print

integrated to form industry-specific solutions for complete

Control, addressing all the features

businesses.

mentioned above.

debis developed outsourcing strategies for large customers

In the configuration of the SAP-System, the

such as Axel Springer AG (a leading media company in

standard HPJL4 driver is used. After

Germany; newspapers, magazines, TV etc). The debis

initialising a print-process in SAP, the data

printcenter in Hamburg performs all the print production,

is automatically transferred to a virtual

enveloping and mailing for these clients.

printer (LPD – Line Printer Daemon) and stored in PCL spool files on a Windows NT PC.

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Converting

SAP R/3

The Challenge

output with PReS

From that point administration tools link the prepared data to logical jobs (e.g. Invoices, listings etc.) Selecting a job for printing purposes, calls a PReS Print Control and the

As many debis clients moved from mainframe-based R2

corresponding application script.

systems to Unix client/server based R3 systems, they moved from printing on mainframe attached channel printers, to

The data is converted to the target-PDL and printed

printing locally on PCL printers and outsourcing the bulk printing.

immediately.

The main task for the project with the debis printcenter in

The PCL datastream may contain SAP standard lists or invoices

Hamburg was to use the existing Océ cutsheet and fanfold

created using the SAP module SAPSCRIPT. Users have the

printers (3 x PS75 and 3 x 2240) running IPDS at 240 dpi together

option of integrating logos in SAPSCRIPT. This is carried out by

with SAP printer formatted data (HP PCL5). It was very important

integrating macro calls in the data stream.

to set up a system that also increased the production efficiency

SAP uses approximately 180 different fonts in the output using

by providing administration and management tools (PQMS was

various typefaces and point sizes. Fonts are generated

the tool used) and manipulating data for production purposes.

automatically from the PReS application when the conversion

For example, using different physical forms e.g. printing on 12" x

is to different print systems and/or resolutions.

9" landscape instead of A4 portrait, two-up functionality, reprint and copy mechanisms, accounting, adding control sequences for postprocessing machines etc.

mhaus in Hamburg and Berlin (Germany) by GDS PrintSoft

The Future Following the first successful installation at Hamburg, a similar system was installed at debis Berlin. Meanwhile GDS PrintSoft was improving the application in order to address more PDLs and resolutions. Various customer installations followed, with other PrintSoft distributors worldwide adopting the same approach. Development work continues with the aim of more closely integrating PReS with SAP output formats.

SAP R/3 System UNIX/NT Multiple User/Batch SAPSCRIPT/Lists SAP PCL5 formatted Windows NT using LPD (eg. SAPLPD) behaves like a Virtual Printer addressed via TCP/IP

PQMS Printer Management Administration of Production Environment

Currently Supported Features...

PReS AFPDS/IPDS/PCL/Meta Data Processing Printer/Spool Handling

• The output formats include PCL5, PostScript, AFPDS, IPDS and Xerox Metacode.

Printer PDL formatted

• Automatic font creation • Banner pages • Reprint and copy functionality • Accounting • Control sequences for postprocessing machines (prepared) PReS Print Control • Analysis of Spoolfile • Create Fontlist/Fonts Start-PDC • Get Parameters (Orientation, Size, etc...) • Calls Run-PDC with Spoolfile

Data

• Administration tools • Easy customising to customer needs and environments • Security features

PCL/IPDS/Meta Fontlist Img

Fonts

Params

• Interpretation of Data • Conversion • Job Handling • Creation of Printer-PDL

For more information please contact Kay Liedtke, GDS Printsoft

Run-PDC

Tel: +49 (0)40 52 87 29 0 Fax: +49 (0)40 52 87 29 14 e-mail: [email protected]

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case studies

Energy Australia

streamlines printing process

Article written and submitted by Shaun Williams, the technical support programmer from PrintSoft Technologies responsible for the Energy Australia project.

In early 1996, Energy Australia were investigating alternatives for the redevelopment of their Customer Statement printing process. The merger of Sydney Electricity and Newcastle based Orion Energy resulted in the creation of Energy Australia.

Following a PrintSoft Demonstration in March ‘96 and further discussion during May ‘96, Energy Australia decided that PReS would provide them with the required power, flexibility and portability.

• • • •

The PReS scripts were to be fully developed by PrintSoft’s Technical Support Team in Melbourne. At implementation stage, staff

These items are driven by specific record types, flags and data within records, as well as TRF data. As four different stock types are required, all four input feed trays (2 simplex and 2 duplex) on the Delphax printers are being used. Multiple page documents have also been catered for. All of this was to be achieved using one print data stream.

As part of the merger process, it was necessary to combine the customer database and management systems of the two companies. As a byproduct of this, they also needed to streamline the two statement printing processes into one. The combined companies produce between 25,000 and 30,000 printed items daily.

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Key Requirements • Control of the Print Formatting process was to be retained by Energy Australia • Ability to easily convert the process to a different output format, (PostScript, Metacode, IPDS...) • Ability to produce local re-prints using the same input data stream • Flexible, simple method of controlling criteria driven output such as marketing messages and envelope inserts

ad-hoc marketing messages selective envelope inserts meter self-read forms customer service phone numbers and addresses

Future Considerations

Electricity usage graph from on Energy Australia’s bill at Energy Australia would take over maintenance and future job development. Australia Post’s EDIPost operation in Clyde, NSW, was chosen as the production site, with the target printer being their Delphax 180PS systems. Script development commenced in September ‘96. At the same time, EDIPost were developing their internal systems to handle the job. During October, a PReS training course was conducted for Energy Australia’s staff in Newcastle with part of that week also devoted to a preview of the ongoing PReS development for their project. The billing run consists of approximately 65 form types, including items such as Electricity Accounts, Refund Cheques, Estimated Accounts, Sundry Item Accounts, Extensions and Lettergrams. In addition to standard account details and letter texts, each document may contain a wide variety of variable output; • electricity charge details • sundry item charge details • individual meter readings (in several different layouts) • period usage comparisons (bar graphs) • standard messages

With Energy Australia’s future maintenance issues in mind, we used PReS’s TRF facility to control a large variety of document composition components. Items such as selective envelope inserts and marketing messages are driven by options which are set within a TRF. There are over 300 debit items and over 500 individual tariff groups used for the display of charge and tariff details. The statement due date can be controlled by TRF and new form types can be added without any script modification. To Energy Australia, this means that most of the regular changes can be implemented by staff who have little or no computer programming knowledge simply by updating the appropriate TRF. Energy Australia have PostScript/PReS locally installed, so they are able to test changes before distributing the files to EDIPost for live production printing. Implementation and Testing Implementation and testing at the production site took place from midJanuary ‘97. The process took approximately two weeks, involving many long days (and nights) for both Energy Australia and PrintSoft staff, as the input data stream and PReS scripts were refined. The first live documents were produced on January 31st. The final stage of the project was to handover all PReS responsibility to Energy Australia. This took place in March, after allowing the job to ‘settle in’.

“Thankyou and congratulations to your team for an outstanding job. I would like to personally and professionally commend you as a company and as individuals for providing the product and support promised.”

John Puckeridge Manager-Customer Transactions Energy Australia

case studies

South Africa Telkom Introduces Advanced Billing System! Herbert Kieleithner from Océ & Marius van Biljon from Telkom

When Telkom in South Africa decided to introduce an advanced billing system, they had quite a challenge ahead of them. The

Client Server Architecture DATA SOURCE

company needed a system capable of producing customised, feature-rich

Multi Platform Hosts

LAN’s PC’s

Document Management System

Océ Print Server Platform

2 x Windows NT

2 x SCO UNIX

Print Request PReS/32 bit Document Composition System

Document Transfer

Spooling Operator Interface

Océ High Speed Printing Systems

Document Management

Document Archiving

statements at a rate of over 3.5 million a month.

Deciding to upgrade to an itemised style of account meant upgrading their entire printing solution. To do this, Telkom decided to install an Océ TWIN Duplex printing solution in each of their print centres at Pretoria and Cape Town. Approximately half of the billing is completed at each centre. The chosen system had to be capable of merging large amounts of variable information with fixed text, while being intelligent enough to format the page according to the space available on each account. Telkom wanted to give their customers a detailed, personalised bill, totally customised to their individual needs. The criteria for the project also included the ability to position graphics according to data supplied. Obviously, because of amounts involved and the sensitive information, accuracy was a priority, as was a barcoding facility.

Accuracy is Essential As Jakes Vermaak, Telkom senior manager: IT operations stated, “One of the greatest problems facing any corporation which processes as many accounts as Telkom does is ensuring that the correct accounts are dispatched to the correct subscriber to facilitate speedy payments of outstanding amounts.”

100 Mbit Ethernet

Vermaak also highlighted the importance of the printer being integrated into the communications infrastructure as transparently as possible, so the Telkom operator does not need to see the ‘behind-the-scenes processes.’ Océ have integrated PReS/32 into the Telkom printing system. After extensive evaluation, AFPDS/PReS-32 was chosen as the most appropriate tool. PReS provided all Telkom wanted to achieve while also encouraging creative design of the bill through the flexibility of the software. During the implementation stage, Shaun Williams, one of PrintSoft’s support staff travelled to South Africa to work with Telkom’s programmers.

Printing in a Number of Languages The advanced features of PReS allow it to perform complex formatting tasks such as conditional processing and dynamically formatting data ‘on-the-fly’. The language sensitive formatting abilities of PReS made printing in two languages a simple task. The bill needed to be printed in both Afrikaans and English. Interestingly, future political decisions mean the bills may eventually be printed in up to eleven languages which again will not be difficult to achieve using PReS.

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A

case studies

very elegant s

for.a.Very.

Written by Seth Colley, PrintSoft Americas, with assistance from Margie Binkhuysen Special thanks to Kevin Quinn, President of On Serts Systems, Inc., for his contribution to this article

Here is an overview of the PrintSoft and On Serts

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When On Serts Systems, Inc. began designing their new quality system to affix ID cards to a personalised printed page, they considered many different software vendors for personalisation software. The challenge was to find a software package capable of supporting the range of printers used by their customers. One customer’s application may require a Scitex Ink Jet printer running IJPDS data stream, another may require a Xeikon Full Color press running Postscript. This continual change in printer hardware became a bottleneck in the design process. Each time a new print device was required On Serts had to find a software solution not only capable of driving the target printer, but also powerful enough to handle the customer’s document design requirements. Each On Serts system is custom built to each customer’s specifications, requiring an average of 6 months lead-time to build. On Serts found that many of the software systems they had used had limitations, from only being able to handle certain data streams to being unable to handle the complexity of the customer’s print requirements. In fact, finding the appropriate software for a particular job proved to take almost as long as it took to build each system! On Serts approached PrintSoft Americas, Inc. to see whether the document creation process could be simplified by acquiring software capable of supporting numerous data streams, and at the same time powerful enough to handle the printing requirements of their customers. PReS enabled them to meet all of these requirements.

presentation at Xplor...

DataBase

4 PReS PC

7

5

3 On Serts Control System

On Serts Magnetic Stripe Reader On Serts Card Feeder

1

2

On Serts Barcode Reader

On Serts Card Application

9

On Card

6

Xeikon Full Colour Press

8

1 The On Serts Card Feeder releases an ID card. 2 The magnetic stripe on the card is read by the On Serts Magnetic Stripe Reader to acquire the ID number of the card. 3 The ID number is sent to the PReS PC via a serial com port. 4 PReS uses the card ID number to query the personalisation database to locate the proper information. Once the correct record is found, it is returned to the PReS PC. 5 PReS then formats the page for duplex printing on a Xeikon 32D color press using the database record information. 6 Once the formatting is complete, the page is released to the Xeikon color press for printing. Using continuous feed white paper; all aspects of the page will

be printed by the Xeikon including text, graphics, and background colors. There are no pre-printed forms used. 7 PReS sends an acknowledgment to the On Serts Integrated Card System Controller that a record has been found, and that the page has been sent to the Xeikon color press for printing. 8 The Xeikon press prints the entire page, personalisation text, graphics and background color, along with a page identification barcode. The finished card carrier is then read to verify that the printed page is correct. 9 The ID card is then attached to the printed page automatically by hot melt adhesive, and passed on to the On Serts Paper Edge Trimmer. 10 If the ID card numbers are not readable or valid, the ID card is automatically

solution...

.Difficult.Problem! The process begins with continuous feed blank paper, and a batch of encoded ID Cards. Every ID Card is read and verified against the database by On Serts, the page is personalised with PReS, sent to the Xeikon press for full-color duplex printing, and then passed to the On Serts Integrated Card and Mailing System for personalised card application and intelligent insertion into an envelope.

“PrintSoft is able to create the data stream of choice for any print device, whether it’s a printer or press, in the On Serts system. PReS has really simplified our design process. There isn’t a piece of printing hardware in the On Serts system that PReS can’t drive. We no longer have to spend countless hours worrying if the document software will work with a system. PReS has greatly simplified the process by supplying On Serts with a solid document platform for printing. Thank you PrintSoft.” Kevin Quinn, President of On Serts

PrintSoft Americas, Inc. and On Serts Systems, Inc. made their partnership debut at the 19th Global Xplor Conference & Exhibit, Nashville, Tennessee demonstrating the Integrated Card and Mailing System driven by PReS in conjunction with a Xeikon full color press.

On Serts Edge Trimmer

11

On Serts Paper Folder

12

10

On Serts Paper Chopper

Intelligent Envelope Insertion

13

1 5

15 14

n Serts d Reject Bin

On Serts Paper Reject Bin

sent to the ID Card reject bin, and a message is sent back to the On Serts Control System that the card is being rejected. 11 The page is sent to the Paper Edge Trimmer to have the edges sheared off each side, (1/3rd on the top and bottom of the page, leaving the middle of each page connected to each other), to make the page 8.5 inches wide, whether it has a card attached or not. 12 After the edges have been trimmed, the page is next “Z” folded mechanically by the paper folder, folding first the bottom and then the top of the page. 13 Once the page is folded, it is sent to the paper chopper to separate the pages, cutting out the middle-connecting piece of paper.

14 At this point, the folded page is either passed or rejected. If the page is complete, with correct ID card applied to it, the page is passed onto the Intelligent Envelope Inserter. If the page does not have a card applied to it, the On Serts Control System has already sent a message to the Paper Reject Bin to have that page rejected. The conveyor belt drops automatically to allow the rejected page to fall into the Paper Reject Bin and then closes back up. 15 Completed page with ID card and folded carrier is intelligently inserted along with specific items in a mailing envelope, ready to be sent to processing for postage and mailing. 16 The On Serts Integrated Card and Mailing System works in continuous motion at 2,700 cards/hour.

For more information please contact PrintSoft America’s Marketing Dept.

Tel: Fax: e-mail:

+1 847 304 0797 +1 847 304 0798 [email protected]

case studies

n February 1989,

I

Sky ushered in the

dawn of TV's new age, with a four-channel satellite service, bringing competition and greater quality choice to viewers.

In its first five months, Sky had only 10,000

television and telephony users. As well as

subscribers. Now, BSkyB (In 1990 Sky

billing and statements, a new method of

merged with BSB to form BSkyB) serves

producing all the non-marketing,

more than 20 million viewers in 7.44

customer-facing letters was needed.

million households throughout the UK and

These included various administration

Ireland. In Britain alone, BSkyB reaches

letters and debt collection documents.

approximately one third of all homes.

This system needed to be fully scalable to

The launch of Sky Digital was a carefully planned exercise initiated by one of the

Last year, Sky Digital

biggest mailing campaigns ever seen in the UK. PReS was used to compose the

was launched,

1 6

offering the UK’s first fully digital television

output, to today’s requirements to print over 500 different document types, on two PageStream machines!

8 million+ letters that formed the main

BSkyB invited Program Products to design

subscriber recruitment vehicle. Fully

and implement this printing application,

personalised, this mailing incorporated a

which had to present an easy means of

sophisticated stock integrity and

generating letter texts and options, whilst

document tracking system, based on bar

handling the complexities of high-volume

codes hidden in the binding margin.

output. We chose Word/PReS as the

BSkyB rightly anticipated a massive take-

channel.

grow from an initial low volume PCL

up from the direct marketing campaign, and needed to be ready to provide the best administrative service to their new subscriptions, which could include both

primary means of generating the document texts. This enabled BSkyB document creation staff to concentrate on the main task without the distraction of learning a new software tool.

BSkyB

CASE STUDY

The ability to embed their own coding

stock usage automatically. The

they are also using PReS for their

routines in Word/PReS applications then

controlling scripts use information

continuing Direct Marketing and

allowed BSkyB to handle some of the

generated by these utilities to select the

Fulfilment, and for billing telephony

more complex requirements including

input tray to be used and provide

services.

printing the necessary barcodes for the

information to the operators about which

K2, one of the UK’s longest standing PReS

Pitney Bowes inserter and catering for

stationery to load prior to printing.

users has been chosen by BSkyB as an

duplex and multi-page letters.

The invoice and statement documents

outsource supplier to complement the in-

Since the inception of BSkyB’s Digital

are much more complex. For example,

house applications.

service the number of applications has

the structured data-file has to be

In summary, PReS has been a key

been increased to include letters and

checked to see if the information will all fit

component in the creation of BSkyB’s

invoices for digital customers as well as

on one page; if it won’t, PReS creates a

hugely successful digital television

commission statements for dealers.

front-page summary followed by detail

business, and in its smooth and effective

Word/PReS is now used to compose the

pages. The payment slip must always

administration, through its very rapid

letter text, which is then passed (complete

appear on the front page and, as the

growth curve.

with its formatting) to a controlling, master

documents can be multi-page, PReS has

PReS script. There is one incoming data

to ensure that the integrity barcodes are

For further information please contact

file which, using variable record contents,

in the correct places to trigger the

tells PReS which text to use for the

appropriate inserts.

appropriate document type.

Not only have BSkyB used PReS and

We have also developed a number of

Word/PReS internally to create the initial

Program Products (Services) Limited Tel: +44 (0) 1 932 345566 Fax: +44 (0) 1 932 336333 Email: [email protected]

other small utility scripts by which BSkyB

subscriber demand and all of their

control items such as tray selection and

customer facing documentation, but

1 7

case studies

Formula One Treatment for BP FleetCards Article written by Shaun Williams, PrintSoft Technologies Pty Ltd

When BP wanted to speed up delivery of its FleetCard Reports for Singapore and Malaysia they chose to ePOST the data so it can be printed locally. In the past, BP Singapore and BP Malaysia used an old proprietary system to produce FleetCard reports. When the decision was made to upgrade the system to the one being used by BP Australia, BP was faced with the problem of the reports being needed to be produced in Singapore and Malaysia while the data was being stored and maintained in Australia. As Australia Post, Singapore Post and Malaysia Post are all members of IDP (International Data Post), the decision was made to use IDP’s ePOST system and network to manage the process. ePOST was considered particularly appropriate as it is the international version of Australia Post’s EDI POST service. In Australia, printing is carried out on high speed

1 8

PostScript printers but in Singapore and Malaysia OCÉ IPDS Pagestream printers are used. PrintSoft Technologies’ role in the project was to create the PReS scripts to process and format the data, ensuring that consistent results were achieved whatever the printer.

Data is delivered monthly from BP to Australia Post in Melbourne where the PReS processing is performed. The ePOST option of AFPDS/PReS-32 is used to produce the ePOST datastream, which is required by Singapore Post.

Input Data

The ePOST datastream is lodged to the ePOST node at Australia Post headquarters. Two jobs are lodged, one for Singapore, and one for Malaysia. Within each job, document sets are categorised as being for private motorists or fleet account holders, and within these categories whether payment is by Giro or other means.

PReS Preprocessing

PReS Print Formatting

Validation + Print Run Report

Once lodged, the jobs are routed by Australia Post to the Singapore Post ePOST node through a permanent high speed network link. Plans are currently being formulated for installation of an ePOST node in Malaysia in the first quarter of 1998. When this happens, the Malaysia job will be routed to the Malaysia Post ePOST node.

ePOST/AFPDS Spool File

ePOST Node

The job produces eight different Report types, including Customer Statements, Fleet Control Summaries and Card Transaction Reports. There is a mixture of portrait and landscape orientations. Six of the reports can contain multiple pages and each customer can receive any combination of the eight reports. There are some basic differences between the output for Singapore and Malaysia. For example, reports for Singapore include the display of GST amounts, whereas there is no GST applicable in Malaysia. Within some reports the appearance can vary greatly, depending on many data driven options. All of these variations are handled dynamically within one PReS print formatting script. In addition to the primary or Control data file, two other secondary data files needed to be merged into the formatting process to produce the desired output. The Transaction file contains all of the individual transaction details for each customer, while the Reference file contains items such as Product information and Marketing Messages. As part of the pre-processing stage, these two files are converted into PReS TRF files. This enables the print formatting script to use keys which are found within customer data in the Control file, to link to other applicable data which is located in the TRFs.

Upon receiving the jobs, Singapore Post prints the document sets on their Océ PageStream 440 printers. The document sets are printed in batches according to the document categories. During the enveloping process, different promotional material is inserted into the envelopes, depending on whether it is for a private motorist, or for a fleet account holder, and whether payment is by Giro or other means.

Singapore Post

Once printed, an indexed archive of each of the jobs (in AFP format) is created by Singapore Post on CD-ROM, and sent to the relevant BP Office in Singapore and Malaysia for the handling of customer queries. These archives contain exact copies of the printed documents, which can be viewed on the screen selectively and printed, as required, using a PC with the Windows operating system and IBM’s AFP Workbench for Windows

Printed Documents

Mail Insertion

1 9 At all times during processing, Australia Post is in a position to provide on-line support to Singapore Post, while being able to assure BP Australia that the production process is progressing satisfactorily. The first print run was planned for the first week in December 1997, and we were able to meet this schedule, thanks to the co-operation of all parties concerned.

Special thanks to Danny Birnbaum, Business Systems Consultant at EDI Post in Melbourne, for his contribution to this article

Archiving (CD Rom)

Archive Viewing

case studies

Completing the Picture... Czech Telecom adds integrity verification to statement printing and links customer service to archiving in a nationwide integration. Data Collection...

Today, Czech Telecom has a monopoly for voice

A large WAN collects billing data each month from the regions and delivers it to the printing centre in Vysoké Myto. These Print Data Files are stored on a Unix Print File Server in MDS (Multiple Data Structure) format.

telecommunication on fixed lines. However, in 1989,

‘

(as SPT TELECOM), it started to prepare for the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in 2001. In 1989 only mechanical printers

Printing Department...

were used for production.

Four Océ production printers are driven by IPDS/PReS, three 2140 (NDX) and one 200 DSC for highlight colour (red currently). All these printers use continuous stock in two-up mode. The paper input is rolls on Stralfors unwinders or fanfold. The monthly volume of bills is approximately 3 million A4 pages. Enveloping is offline.

Laser printers were introduced in 1992 with two SNI ND3 printers operating in LineMode. In 1996 the first PReS system was installed. This installation began a long-term co-operation between PrintSoft and Czech Telecom who have pioneered PrintSoft software

2 0

in the Czech Republic. The current production system at

One Océ 3165 cut-sheet printer driven by PS/PReS does reprints.

Czech Telecom utilises PrintSoft throughout, printing jobs via PReS, electronic archiving via

Enveloping Department...

Archive/PReS and View/PReS. A Print Managing System,

Bills are cut and enveloped by two KERN 3000 devices. The enveloping department is linked to the printing department via

Geiger - OCCS, controls the complete document production cycle.

Geiger-Output Compare Control System (OCCS), implemented cooperatively by the supplier and PrintSoft. The OCCS tracks the documents during production. During production, PReS prints on each document an OCR ID number that is visible through the envelope window and writes to the central OCCS database details of the documents printed. Each KERN 3000 carries an image camera which sends a list file of all successfully enveloped documents to the Central OCCS database. By comparing printed and enveloped documents an error Data File is created for automatic reprints.

There are 150 View/PReS client systems distributed throughout the Czech Republic and connected via WAN to the Archive Server. They can all quickly retrieve on-screen the customer’s archived documents and reprint on a small local printer if necessary. These centres can manage complaints and enquiries from clients but they cannot change the archived data. A further 200 View/PReS clients utilise a special VIM (Visual Integration Module) which is connected to Telecom’s Customer Call Centre. This allows the operators to have full access to the document archive while talking to customers.

Electronic Archiving...

Each billing document is also processed via Archive/PReS to create an archive (PAF) and an index (PAX) file. These are stored in a View/PReS database (based on ORACLE – HP UNIX).

Print Data File

For more information contact: Dr. Marek Kucera or Zbynek Zboril PrintSoft Central & Eastern Europe, s.r.o. Tel: +42 (0) 2 74 00 11 48 Fax: +42 (0) 2 74 77 87 22 e-mail: [email protected]

Reprints OCCS Central Database

IPDS/PReS

Production Printing

PS/PReS

Archive/PReS

View/PReS Database

Enveloping

Image Camera

Reprinting

Client

Customer Service

WAN

case studies

Print Plus Fax with PReS ..a cost saving strategy for Deutsche Messe AG

by Wolfgang Wienefeld GDS PrintSoft

Attending trade shows such as CeBIT is a good way to find new customers, but when GDS PrintSoft went to Hanover last year, they did not expect to win the organising company Deutsche Messe AG as a client.

It works like this... All the documents of the basic proposal set which are to be sent to all the exhibitors will be prepared and printed with PReS on a PCL and IPDS printer. With these forms all exhibitors will get the opportunity to order tickets, telephone connections, catering, etc. In addition to the main forms the service offer now contains an order-form for the supplementary documents. To get these rarely used documents the exhibitor returns the order-form by fax to Messe AG. The receiving fax evaluates these faxes and creates a production request. After testing for completeness and correctness the request is transferred to a special directory. The PReS Scheduler controls this directory.

The Scheduler invokes the next process automatically. Archive/PReS prepares and creates the requested supplementary documents individually for the exhibitors as an electronic form. The output format is TIFF-G4 which can be sent via fax without any changes. PReS will copy the electronic documents into a directory which is checked by another scheduler controlling the fax server. The images are then faxed back directly to the requesting exhibitor. Each exhibitor now has the exact set of documents which they require and is able to complete all the forms. The complete order is then faxed back to Messe AG.

As those who have exhibited at trade shows are well aware, the process of specifying your

Preparing all forms with PReS

Printing the basic proposal

Fax-request for special forms

Request of special forms per fax

Fax-Server (incoming)

2 1

(Exhibitor)

requirements involves lots of paperwork! In the past Deutsche Messe AG printed a full set of

PCL/IPDS-datastream

shipment by post

fill out the forms

fax

personalised service offers for evaluation and control

each show and mailed them to exhibitors. However, many of the forms are rarely used and this

receiving the requested forms

shipment as fax

fax-data as TIFF

resulted in a large amount of wastage. Now the Messe AG will print and

Requested forms

Incoming fax

Fax-Server

(Exhibitor)

(output)

mail only the main forms to their exhibitors, with the less frequently required documents being

Benefits...

requested and automatically

In addition to the saving of costs for paper, printing and postal services, there is also the advantage that the basic form set for the exhibitors is printed in a shorter time and can be sent out earlier. Following the usual testing procedures, the whole application has been used successfully for some smaller shows prior to its first big test at a major exhibition. In 1999 Messe AG will use this application for both CeBIT and Hannover Messe Industrie.

delivered by fax, on demand, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day!

For further information contact GDS PrintSoft...

Tel: +49 (0)40 52 87 29 0 Fax: +49 (0)40 52 87 29 14 e-mail: [email protected]

Fax composition with PReS

case studies

EnBW Badenwerk AG (Germany)... PReS converts boring BS2000 LineMode oriented invoice data

The process required to prepare the bills prior to installing the new system involved several stages. The final objective was to take the existing datastream containing all the customers‘ information and use this data in the newly designed invoice. Workshops were organised for about 150 participants to discuss the new invoice layout taking into account customers‘ wishes. The requirements from EnBW Badenwerk AG, for the creation of the new bill with PReS, were as follows: • The BS2000-LineMode data to be the input to the PReS system. Data transfer to be achieved via a network connection beween the BS2000 and the PReS PC. This data to remain in the native SNI LineMode printer format with resources available at 240 dpi. This was required to fulfil the specification that no changes were to be made to the billing system on the BS2000 computer.

2 2

• PReS to compose a new document for printing on an Océ DSC200 IPDS device, with one additional spot colour (blue) and a resolution of 300 dpi. • The new document to use the specific font “Badenwerk Quay”. • Some existing elements of the document to be printed in spot colour (blue). • The layout that was decided during the workshops to be implemented as far as possible.

E

very morning, between Taubertal and Konstanz in the area of Baden, when the alarm goes off and the coffee machine is goes on, there are

• Control sequences to be printed on each page for use by the paper post processing equipment supplied by the company Kern AG. These control sequences to be used for sorting, enveloping and franking purposes.

over 826,000 households that draw electricity from EnBW Badenwerk AG.

The EnBW Badenwerk AG is a subsidiary company of EnBW Energie BadenWürttemberg AG, the fourth largest German energy supplier. In the middle of 1997, PrintSoft Systems GmbH (Munich) was asked to redesign their existing electricity bill.

For more information, please contact:

...Old Data but a New Document! to colourful and readable invoicing documents.

To fulfil these requirements in the generation of the new document several PReS scripts had to be written. To ensure error-free printing the whole process was divided into three substages as follows: • The LineMode data from the BS2000 system was converted, using a PReS script, into a format that reflected the structure of the newly designed invoice. The volume of the new “raw data“ created was seven times smaller than the initial LineMode data.

2 3

• Another PReS script was written to ensure that the final PReS input data file contained only records that were free of errors. Any errors detected by the PReS script resulted in the faulty records being written into an errors file for subsequent processing. • The final PReS script was used to print the cleaned up input data file on a Pagestream 200 DSC from Océ Printing Systems. Spot colour (blue) was used for the EnBW Badenwerk company logo as well as other special elements in each document. The printed documents contained all the necessary codes for the post processing equipment.

W

hile the use of PReS to update the output of legacy “line data” applications is not unusual, it is believed that this application, in which a billing document format was totally redesigned based on

restructuring the BS2000 LineMode data was the first of its kind. Robert Köckeis

Marketing Director, PrintSoft Systems GmbH

Mrs Anja Wilknitz, senior applications engineer, at PrintSoft Systems GmbH

E-mail: [email protected]

was responsible for the project and without her dedication to

Tel.: +49 (0) 89 61 44 17 0

detail the successful completion of the project would not have

Fax: +49 (0) 89 61 44 17 17

been possible.

case studies

ImPReSsive POLICIES

The Background... Lombard General Insurance Company in the UK is amalgamating its commercial and personal insurance systems, which previously ran on ICL and UNIX systems, to a new system running on an IBM AS/400. Lombard needed a printing solution which was capable of producing insurance policy documents from raw data supplied by the AS/400 system. The documents produced would either have to be printed on the company's two Xerox 4890 highlight colour laser printers, or at any of Lombard's branch offices around the UK on HP PCL

2 4

printers.

The System Requirements... The entire system at Lombard is based around being able to print complex policy documents. All of the documents are fully dynamic, with the wording and layout of each being specific to the individual customer. This contrasts with the previous standard "forms" approach which is not tailored to the individual customer's requirements and present problems for long-term control and editing. The policy documents are built up from combinations of paragraph texts with variable fields, tables containing text and variable fields, lines, boxes, shading, and so on.

FOR

Lombard

The range of clauses that make up a policy document are generated in MSWord. But a further requirement was that a policy document should be able to be changed, with the old-style forms-based document left available in case a reprint is needed (quite possibly many years later). Lastly, the system has to operate with both PCL and Xerox Metacode printers and to distribute the output print-ready files to the appropriate device, which could be in any UK location.

The Solution...

How it all fits together...

The dynamic nature of Lombard's policy documents made this a "natural" application for PReS, and a PReS-32/NT system, operating over a TCP/IP network was selected as the document composition tool. But with a "go live" date for the new system of November 1998, Lombard decided that it would need considerable assistance from Program Products to build the system, and its interfaces to the underlying MSWord formatted policy clauses. Mark Wells, a project manager in our newly formed Professional Services division was charged with developing the PReS application.

The data produced by the AS400 is copied into a Client Access Shared folder, still on the AS400 system, but converted to PC format. This folder is watched by the PReS Scheduler. The file extension indicates whether the document(s) within the file are to be printed on Xerox Metacode printers or HP desktop printers. PReS Print Control starts one of two PReS PDCs either in Meta or PCL mode. These scripts determine which production script is to be used first and chain to the appropriate PDC. The production script looks at the appropriate TRF control files, and reads the input records accordingly, dynamically building the document.

At the heart of the system is a number of generic PReS 'modules' which are included in every production script (as INCLUDE scripts) together with an RTF (Rich-Text-Format) converter which handles the MS-Word documents. The control modules are called either as part of the standard processing routine, or as determined by the input data.

EtherNet TCP/IP

IBM AS/400

As well as building the dynamic policy documents from the MS-Word sources, these modules control which PDCs are used depending on the input data, reading of TRF control records, spooling of printed pages, reading the data records and complete the flow of the production printing process. The PReS-trained Lombard staff are able to set-up the new dynamic insurance documents very easily. In fact, set-up of a document does not even require the use of any of the PReS drawing and moving commands (SETXY, MOVE, WORDWRAP etc.). Instead, Mark has developed a system which can build and modify documents by creating a PReS process which allows a user to switch between "what do you want to do?" menus, and screen previews of the document being built. The resultant document is coded automatically and stored in TRF records for de-coding and printing by the production system. The PReS system accepts raw data from Lombard's AS400, which generates groups of records for each document to be printed. The data files produced by the AS400 can either contain multiple records for a single document request or thousands of records with differing record structures in a single data file for batch printing of many thousands of documents. PReS then determines on a record-to-record basis which document is required and automatically processes the correct PReS module, maintaining correct position in the data file.

PReS Development Systems

Xerox 4890’s connected by Bus&Tag PReS Production System

MS Word to create policy clauses

WAN links to Branch Offices with desktop PCL printers

The Future..... Program Products is updating these generic PReS modules with new features, as required. This approach allows the new features within these modules to be implemented within minutes by performing a 'batch compile' of the production scripts. As for document set up, this interactive method of developing PReS scripts for new policies simplifies matters so much that Lombard is now able to create a new dynamic document application within an hour.

For more information, please contact: Program Products (Services) Limited

E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +44 (0)1 932 345566 Fax: +44 (0)1 932 336333

2 5

case studies

C C

O O

M M

D D

Comdirect, previously known as Comdirect Bank, was founded in 1996 as the Telebanking subsidiary of Commerzbank. Since then it has established a firm and successful foundation for itself in the Telebanking industry, generating substantial returns and a large number of customers. The main focus of Comdirect’s business lies in discount brokerage. Parallel to the successful development of the Internet in Germany, online banking has now overtaken telephone banking as Comdirect’s main means of telecommunication with customers. Closer ties have also been forged between Comdirect and T-Online, Germany’s leading Internet provider. This came as a result of an exchange of shares between the two organisations’ parent companies, Commerzbank and Deutsche Telekom, and is expected to lead to a large increase in business over the next few years.

PrintSoft Projects... FINANCIAL REPORTS

2 6

Comdirect decided right from the start to use PReS to print customer statements. Comdirect and PrintSoft jointly developed a concise structure for net data as well as an attractive layout, which integrated and adapted current marketing information to specific customer profiles. This led to the successful outsourcing of print jobs involving financial reports during the first phase of development. Only a small number of financial reports are still printed and dispatched inhouse. After the success of outsourcing its print jobs using PReS, Comdirect also decided to implement the archiving facilities available with PReS.

This was implemented in 2 ways. Firstly Comdirect’s Call Center needed copies of financial reports to be available on screen as soon as a customer called with an enquiry and secondly to replace the existing microfiche archive with CDs for long-term archiving. Both were implemented using Archive/PReS in PAX/PAF format. This meant that

whenever a financial report was printed a copy was also sent to the CallCenter’s database. For the CD archive, all financial data pertaining to a particular month is now sorted before archiving and both the CD archive and the database allow copies to be made of financial reports. Word/PReS allows marketing staff to maintain customer letter templates.

As PReS was also Euro compatible and was able to use different paper formats and optimise postage, Comdirect also decided to use PReS to print its regular customer correspondence. This enabled

Comdirect Database Financial Report

its marketing department to design customer letters using Word templates which were linked to the print job using an identification code but were otherwise fully independent. The letters were prepared by PReS using individual customer data and could be linked with forms depending on the letter number. These forms could also be personalised whenever possible.

FINANCIAL REPORT Generated Automatically (every month, quarter...)

PReS

Monthly Sorting

It is also planned that PReS will take over the role of printing other correspondence such as printing addresses on preprinted stationery and packages for new customers. This would optimise storage capacity and make maintenance tasks more efficient.

Financial Report FINANCIAL REPORT

OTHER ASPECTS

The PrintCenter was used for printing financial reports requested by customers and other customer correspondence. The cost of postage could be reduced for print jobs sent to service providers although in the future it will also be possible for Comdirect to send its customers’ financial reports via the Internet rather than on paper.

Generated Daily on Customer Request

Creating Forms Forms

CUSTOMER CORRESPONDENCE Data

Marketing Department Letters

Customer Data Word/PReS

I I

R R

E E

C C

T T

Die comdirect, damals noch als comdirect bank, wurde 1996 als Tochter der Commerzbank für Telebanking gegründet und ist seit dem auf sehr erfolgreichem Weg. Sie war die erste solcher Töchter deutscher Großbanken, die schwarze Zahlen erreichte und hat seit Anbeginn einen stets steilen Zuwachs an Kunden. Aus dem zunächst breiten Leistungsangebot hat sich inzwischen ein wesentlicher Schwerpunkt im Discount Brokerage herauskristallisiert. Parallel zum Erfolg der Nutzung des Internet in Deutschland hat für die comdirect das Online Banking den ursprünglichen Kommunikationsweg via Telefon übertroffen.

Peter Krauß PrintSoft Systems GmbH Munich

Durch den Tausch von Aktienpaketen seitens der Muttergesellschaften Commerzbank und Deutsche Telekom inzwischen eng mit dem in Deutschland führenden Internetprovider T-Online verbunden wird für die Zukunft mit weiterem deutlichen Wachstum bei Kunden wie Geschäftsvolumen gerechnet. +Projektentwicklung...

FINANZREPORT

Service Provider

PAX/PAF Archive AFPDS incl. Postage Optimisation for CallCenter

Financial Report

CD Archive

Bereits in der Anfangsphase hat sich die comdirect bank für den Druck ihrer Kontoauszüge mit PReS entschieden. In Zusammenarbeit mit PrintSoft wurde erfolgreich eine schlanke Struktur der Nettodaten geschaffen und ein attraktives Layout geschaffen, das problemlos aktuelle Marketingmitteilungen zugeschnitten auf Kundenprofile integriert. Im ersten Schritt wurde damit ein problemloses Outsourcing des Druckes der Finanzreporte bei einem Dienstleister realisiert. Nur die

geringe Anzahl aktueller Finanzreporte auf spontaner Kundenanforderung geht noch über die eigene Post/Druckabteilung. Nach erstem Abschluß der Druckrealisierung bot es sich für die comdirect auch an, die

PReS

Archivierungs-möglichkeiten von PReS zu nutzen. Dies sollte auf 2

In-house Printing

PReS

Wegen genutzt werden. Zum einen sollte im CallCenter die Möglichkeit bestehen bei Anruf des Kunden in Sekundenschnelle ein Abbild des gedruckten Finanzreportes auf dem Bildschirm zur Verfügung stehen. Zum anderen sollte für die LangzeitArchvierung die träge Microficheerzeugung durch ein CD-Archiv mit bequemer Verwaltungsoberfläche ersetzt werden. Beides wurde über PReS Archive im PAX/PAF-Format

Customer Correspondence

PReS

Customer Correspondence

Printing

realisiert. Dabei werden alle Finanzreporte parallel zum Druck auch für die Datenbank des CallCenters erzeugt. Für die CDArchivierung werden die Daten der Finanzreporte eines Monats vor der Archivierung sortiert. Beide Zugriffe, aus der Datenbank wie auch von CD, ermöglichen einen mit Kopie gekennzeichneten Nachdruck einzelner Finanzreporte.

KUNDENBRIEFE Da eine Anpassung der Finanzreporte auch bei weiteren

Erweiterungen wie Papierwechsel, Portooptimierung und EURUmstellung als bequem anpassbar zeigte, entschied sich die comdirect auch den Druck der Kundenbriefe auf PReS

umzustellen. Hierbei kann die Marketingabteilung mit einer Vorlage in Word selbständig die gewünschten Anschreiben entwerfen. Diese sind mit dem Druckjob nur durch eine Kennummer verknüpft und ansonsten völlig unabhängig. Die Anschreiben werden von PReS mit den individuellen Daten des Kunden aufbereitet und je nach Briefnummer mit Formularen verknüpft. Auch diese Formulare werden, so vorhanden, bereits mit individuellen Daten aufbereitet. Wurde bisher der Teil des Briefverkehres, in dem auf z.B. vorgefertigte Pakete für Neukunden nur die Adresse angedrückt wurde, noch mit vorgedruckten Papieren durchgeführt, so ist inzwischen in Planung, daß auch dies durch PReS erfolgt. Damit kann sowohl die Lagerhaltung reduziert werden, als auch eine zeitlich deutlich schnellere Aktualisierung ohne Abschreibung eines Berges von Formularen in alter Version möglich ist.

WEITERE ASPEKTE, AUSBLICKE Für den Druck von Finanzreporten auf aktuelle Kundenanforderung und von Kundenbriefen wird als Oberfläche der PrintCenter eingesetzt. Für die regulären Druckläufe beim Dienstleister konnte auf einfache Weise eine Portooptimierung zur Kostensenkung realisiert werden. Für die Zukunft wird es für die comdirect auch interessant sein, dem Kunden Dokumente wie etwa den Finanzreport statt in Papierform in ein für das Internet sinnvolle Format zur Verfügung zu stellen.

2 7

More Choice, More Power...

As a leading provider of software to the electronic printing industry, PrintSoft has a long and proud reputation for providing powerful and reliable print solutions. We are now expanding the boundaries of our product range to address the growing requirement for electronic document creation and distribution. The flagship PrintSoft product, PReS 2000, supports all of the standard page definition formats, enabling its use across the widest range of printers. All languages and writing systems are supported making PReS 2000, with its numerous add-on options, truly international. PrintSoft offers you a highly scalable product line, ranging from WYSIWYG front-ends for creating basic form letters through to powerful plug-ins which enable you to create the most complex personalised document systems. Intuitive output control systems means that a single PReS 2000 application can generate: • PRINT - hard copy for mailing • FAX - output direct • GRAPHICS - indexed archive images • Email - electronic documents • HTML, XML - web site, B2B, EBPP content, etc Any OR all of the above, PReS 2000 gives you the choice! Plus, we can create individual applications or build tailored solutions to fit your precise business needs. For further information on finding a tailored document solution to suit your needs, contact your local PrintSoft distributor.

The PrintSoft Group... PrintSoft provides more than just a software package. The PrintSoft Group provides customers with software maintenance including regular updates, enhancements and help desk support. All PrintSoft offices provide professional training courses and have expert staff available to help with document systems development.

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From simple document design applications to major project management, PrintSoft has the expertise you need.

ASIA PACIFIC... HEAD OFFICE

PrintSoft Products Pty Ltd Melbourne Tel: +61 (0)3 9532 2911 Fax: +61 (0)3 9532 2456 e-mail: [email protected]

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The product names used herein are trademarks of their respective owners. Due to ongoing product improvement specifications and features are subject to change without notice, © 2000 PrintSoft Products Pty Ltd

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THE AMERICAS...

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Program Products (Services) Ltd