Falcon: The Year in Document Management

2010 saw many interesting developments in the world of Document Management. From impressive new document management software solutions, such as the latest version of Nuance’s leading eCOPY ShareScan to the launch of new devices in the award-winning Canon ScanFront network document scanning series, there’s been a lot to report on this last year. Here, we bring you a round-up of some of the most important document management news from 2010, so anyone looking for the latest and best in document management solutions as we move into the new year, can start their search a little bit wiser.

eCopy ShareScan v.5 Document Management Software

This year saw Nuance, the makers of eCopy, announcing major improvements to the ShareScan document management package, with the release of the latest version, eCopy ShareScan v.5 planned for an early 2011 launch. At the Canon EXPO in New York, the company offered a glimpse of what users can expect from the most widely-used document management software in the industry today.

For years, eCopy ShareScan document management software has been helping businesses and organisations around the world replace their existing manual paper-heavy systems with automated digital document workflows.  Put simply, ShareScan is one of the simplest, quickest and most effective ways for businesses to convert their piles of paper documents into readily accessible and highly mobile, usable digital files. When documents are scanned in to a device, ShareScan document management software gives users the ability to easily edit them, extract data (for accounting systems for example or for use in content management systems or other document management applications) and store them in a safe and efficient way.

The latest innovations from Nuance, the makers of eCopy, give the ShareScan document management package and ShareScan users even greater powers. The eCopy Forms Processing Extender allows for greater automated extraction of data for seemless, straightforward incorporation into Microsoft Excel and other commonly-used applications. The ShareScan 5 document management solution also features a connector to Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Software. Furthermore, the eCopy Highlight Extender uses keywords to automatically find and highlight specific parts of a given document. Nuance OmniPage Optical Character Recognition instantly transforms paper documents into fully formatted and editable Microsoft Word and Excel documents and can save users vast amounts of time. The improved scanning accuracy of the latest version, means data loss with ShareScan v.5 document management software is truly minimal.

Falcon looks forward to the release of this latest version of eCopy ShareScan document management solution which is expected in the UK sometime early in 2011.

Canon’s Helix Production Workflow 2.0

2010 also saw the latest version of Canon’s leading production workflow management software, Helix Production Workflow 2.0 released, which offers improvements in the previous edition’s job submission process, as well as increased workflow management features and more options for large format printing users.

Canon Helix Production Workflow management software has been leading the way in providing Central Reprographics Departments (CRD’s) and print-for-pay businesses with a more powerful package of workflow management solutions, delivering superior performance to many competitor packages and truly paving the way for many companies towards much lower costs and/or higher potential revenues.

Along with improved job submission, with this latest version of Helix Production Workflow workflow management software, Canon has been able to introduce significant improvements to the on-demand production process, personalising shorter-run printing as well as integrating the print ordering and production processes for better, more effective workflow management in busy print rooms.

As for the job submission process, Canon provides Workflow Authorisation, which gives administrators much greater control. Workflow Authorization can prevent users exceeding their allotted budgets, volume limits or company purchasing options, so administrators don’t need to worry about any shocking bills at the end of the month. Helix Production Workflow’s improved job submission screen provides greater flexibility and more sophisticated pre-flighting, so executing workflows is made as simple as possible.

Variable Data Printing (VDP) document design and page previews are now more intuitive – providing quicker, easier and more accurate soft-proofing.

Enhanced Workflow Management – Helix Production Workflow v.2.0 now offers improved support for multi-tiered cost centres for more precise budgetary control, which has become a much more important requirement for many Central Reprographics Departments (CRD’s) especially in more vertical markets, such as busy legal departments. And better print queue automation facilitates automatic transfer of print jobs from the network to the print room.

With improved Document Make-Ready Capabilities – Helix Production Workflow v.2.0 provides greater support for scanning; the image manipulation and editing tools enable hard-copy content to be converted into high quality digital format.

Advanced Imposition templates with Helix v.2.0 support a broader range of document types and provide an expanded selection of offline finishing options. And improved tab handling, means more complex jobs can be completed quickly, formatted and then sent to print.

As noted, Helix v.2.0 Production Workflow also brings enhanced support for large format printing users. There’s automatic price calculation and accounting and additional support for native documents and custom media sizes.

Canon Launches the ScanFront 300 and 300P Network Document Scanners

Later in 2010, came Canon’s launch of the latest models in the ScanFront network scanner series. Offering even faster scanning than the award-winning smaller 220 and 220P models, the ScanFront 300 and 300P desktop network scanners are set to be another big success for Canon - especially within the document management solutions setting, where faster scanning as well as intuitive access and ease of use has become almost as important.

Among the array of features Canon offers with these new ScanFront network devices, both the ScanFront 300 and the 300P network scanners come with embedded eCopy for easy conversion of hard-copy documents into digital formats, a network port for straightforward connectivity and a Duplex function for double-sided scanning functionality. The ScanFront 300 and 300P network scanners also scan directly to a network location without any additional requirement for software or hardware. The other great advantage of these ScanFront network scanners is that they require very minimal configuration and the great security features give administrators a very high level of control.

Scanning speeds as mentioned are the quickest in the ScanFront scanner series to date, with 30ppm scanning in black and white and 25ppm in colour. Improved media handling capabilities means users spend much less time sifting through and sorting through documents prior to scanning and an ultrasonic double feed detector prevents mishaps when the scanner in left to complete large workloads without constant supervision.

The ScanFront 300 and 300P network scanners also provide much larger user interfaces, with intuitive 8.4” touchscreen displays and plenty of personalised job options. Furthermore, these network scanners will scan directly to multiple locations, including email addresses, FTP sites, USB devices or external hard drives, shared folders, fax scanners and printers.

An improved web platform allows users of the 300/300P network scanners to display, update and monitor devices simply and remotely. Security features, such as individual user authentication and fingerprint authentication which is available on the 300P ensure the ScanFront’s advanced scanning technology can be safely controlled.

Being Energy Star and RoHS compliant, the ScanFront 300 and 300P desktop network scanners also help minimise energy consumption and can contribute to a reduction in your company’s energy bills and your carbon footprint. Other features include auto colour detection, text orientation correction, folio mode, long doc scanning and the ability to include meta data with scanned images.

Print Audit 6

2010 also saw the release of Print Audit 6, the latest version of the unique, award-winning print audit solution, which shortly after its release, received a prestigious Managed Print Services Association (MPSA) Award.

While many of today’s managed print service solutions tend to focus more on helping office equipment providers and resellers manage their fleets by controlling how jobs are spread across devices on a print network, very few have been able to provide those dealers and the equipment’s eventual end-users with the very specific level of usage control which Print Audit can offer.

Print Audit’s print management capabilities allow office equipment dealers to truly optimise their client’s print environments, by analysing printing behaviours very precisely and establishing controls which can be implemented through Print Audit, based upon those behavioural findings.

The Print Audit 6 Facilities Manager function enables supplying office equipment dealers to automatically collect their client’s usage readings, dramatically simplifying the supplies fulfilment process and reducing customers’ printing downtime, as well as the associated costs.

Crucially, Print Audit 6 gives individual end-users the ability to monitor the whole of their print environment. The software’s three key components – Analysis, Rules and Recovery can be set up in a variety of configurations, depending on the needs and the budgets of the organisation in question. By holding employees within a workplace accountable for the documents they print – and where and how they print them - companies are enabled to dramatically improve their overall printing habits and reduce their printing costs by attacking the issue bottom-up. The ‘Analysis’ component of Print Audit gives administrators the power to examine user habits up-close and ‘Rules’ gives them the ability to implement user-specific controls to ensure printing habits stay within the prescribed terms. Print Audit Recovery ensures an organisation will never be in the dark about stray prints – every job can be tracked and depending on the type of organisation involved, also billed for.

It’s incredible just how much has happened in the world of document management in the space of just twelve months. Other items that we haven’t had space for here include the release of Canon’s updated print management software, uniFLOW v.5 and also the announcement from Meditech, one of the leading developers of software platforms for use within clinical settings, that Canon devices would now be supported by their technology. Finally, there was the news later in the year that Canon scanners had received the largest ever number of nominations in the Document Manager Awards, with the ScanFront 220/220P network scanners coming out on top for ‘Network Product of the Year’ and again news of another slew of awards for Canon scanners, in the ‘BERTL’s Best 2010’ Awards. Falcon is already on the look-out for developments in 2011, so keep your eyes peeled for all the latest document management news in the year ahead.