Electronic Document Management Today

ENT, Oct 8, 1997 by Robert Smallwood

A vendor roundup showing how imaging, workflow and document management are exploding on the Windows NT platform.

NT or not NT? That is the question. In the document imaging and closely related workflow and document management marketplaces, Windows NT has become an imperative for vendors to support. rather than an option. Support for the Windows NT Server platform ranges from a simple port of a previous product to tight integration with Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange. Many newer players in the market have gone directly to the Windows NT platform, skipping support for a UNIX version or Novell NetWare. "In varying degrees, we have all the major players on NT in the document imaging, workflow and document management marketplace," says Rich Noffsinger, manager of this suite of product applications for Microsoft Corp. worldwide.

The companies that get the strongest support from Microsoft have been those that have made the greatest commitment to Microsoft. Some of the earlier companies that committed to Microsoft, such as Mosaix Inc. (Alameda, Calif., formerly Viewstar), the imaging and workflow provider, and PC DOCS Inc. (Burlington, Mass.), a leader in the data management marketplace, are still maintaining strong reciprocal relationships with Microsoft.

This rush to Windows NT first started with Microsoft's hiring of Noffsinger in early 1996. Noffsinger has, in short rallied the image, workflow and document management ISVs to the Windows NT platform, and is continuing Microsoft's penetration by pushing support for SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, ActiveX, Internet Explorer and the rest of the company's product offerings.

Microsoft has deftly managed a myriad of relationships among competitors, while quietly adding mainstream imaging and data management functions to its product. After settling a lawsuit with Wang Laboratories (Billerica, Mass.) in 1995, Microsoft agreed to package Wang's image viewer and annotation toolkit, Imaging For Windows, into Windows 95 and later Windows NT Server.

The data management marketplace began primarily in the legal vertical marketplace, because of a need for long file names and version control. Open up Office 97 today, and long, descriptive file names are allowed, and versions of Word or Excel documents can be tracked. This gradual raising of the bar for data management vendors will continue, and some market consolidation will occur. But Microsoft walks a thin line between managing niche applications ISVs and offering general capabilities that can be sold to millions of users.

Imaging has always been heralded as the technology that would create the "paperless office" and revolutionize the workplace. That promise is still awaiting fulfillment, as workers pour through ever-increasing amounts of paper to find information. According to Coopers & Lybrand (New York), on a daily basis in the United States alone, we create 234 million copies and file more than 40 sheets of paper for every employee. At the current rate of growth, this total amount of paper should double in 3 to 4 years.

Although it still has not proliferated like word processing or accounting software, the document imaging marketplace commercially began about 15 years ago, offering the ability to view electronic copies of paper documents scanned into a networked computer system. Once some initial applications had been installed, such as matching accounts payable documents or processing credit card applications, the need to route these electronic folders became readily apparent. Thus, workflow software was created.

Workflow became closely associated with document imaging technology, as the early imaging software developers were also the early workflow developers, although it soon became evident that workflow technology could be applied to all types of knowledge-based work. Workflow can facilitate the intelligent routing of reports, CAD drawings or even dynamic work prioritization based on generated data values. True workflow can provide metrics or statistics on the actual through-put of work in a production environment such as insurance claims processing or customer service requests.

Another technology to become closely associated with imaging is computer output to laser disk (COLD), generally a replacement for archiving and distributing Greenbar reports via computer output to microfiche. COLD technology has been enhanced to allow for report mining, which is the inquiry and linking of data fields in reports that previously may have not been linked.

On to Windows NT

The early pioneers in this field were FileNet Corp. (Costa Mesa, Calif.), Plexus Corp. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) and Wang Laboratories. These three firms piloted this promising technology that could change the way the world's workplace conducted business. Still today, they are leaders in the industry, although Wang sold off its imaging unit to Kodak earlier this year and renamed it Eastman Software.

These pioneers each had their innovations: FileNet claims to have originally invented workflow software with its FileNet WorkFlo product. Plexus developed the ability to store binary large objects, or BLObs, which could be images, video, data or voice, up to 2 GB in size, directly into the Informix database. This capability later was incorporated directly into Informix's On-Line product. Wang touted the ability to process all types of information, including data, text, image and voice, on a single computer system, the company's proprietary Wang VS minicomputer. Back then, all three vendors used proprietary hardware and network operating systems, although Plexus began and still operates on UNIX.