In Focus: What's in Store at AIIM 2005

Attending the AIIM OnDemand Conference & Exposition next week (May 17-19) in Philadelphia? Here's a brief sampling of what's in store, from vendor product introductions in the realms of content management and capture to notable conference sessions and city sidelights.

Enterprise Content Management

Open Text will announce that it is joining the business process management (BPM) market. The move boils down to a services-oriented implementation of Ixos workflow technology within the larger Livelink ECM architecture. This brand of BPM is closer to workflow with lipstick than a platform for flexible process change, end-to-end visibility and component reusability, but the company is staying focused on content-intensive uses such as accounts payable and invoice processing, insurance claims, account and loan applications, and classic case management.

Open Text is also implementing the Ixos high-volume, transactional (imaging and report management) repository in a services approach. Check out the Wizard-driven approach to defining document types and creating role-based user interfaces; I'd love to hear feedback on whether it's as unique and innovative as claimed.

Hummingbird will focus on recent upgrades aimed at ease of use through integrations with Microsoft Office tools, higher scalability through distributed cashing and content solutions including contract and correspondence management. The company's Content Drive is accessible from Windows and Microsoft Office applications like any other hard drive, but it provides all the profiling, versioning, security and access control of the ECM system. Hummingbird will also highlight its recent partnerships with Veritas to integrate that company's Enterprise Vault e-mail management and archiving capabilities.

Document Management

Xythos competes with the likes of Microsoft SharePoint, Oracle Collaboration Suite and IBM Workplace documents, yet this focused vendor keeps plugging away with a highly affordable, WebDAV-enabled engine for basic access and management. At AIIM, Xythos will unveil a packaged application approach that starts with the Xythos Digital Locker Suite 5.0 for basic Web-based file sharing. It moves up to the Xythos Enterprise Document Management Suite 5.0, which supports access, version control and newly added lifecycle management features. There's also a WebFile Development Suite for building custom content applications. Xythos pricing starts at $50 per user for 100-user implementations.

Also noteworthy is Xythos announcement next week of a big OEM deal with Oracle to license its Xythos Drive client for use within Oracle Files 10g and the Oracle Portal. The thick client has a simple, Windows-centric look and feel, yet it's packed with WebDAV file sharing and library services capabilities.

Ektron has long focused on affordable Web content management, but it recently announced DMS 400, a Microsoft .Net-based document management system available as either a standalone offering or bundled with the company's CMS 400 content management system.

What's the place for a low-cost .Net document management system when Microsoft itself offers SharePoint? Well, this system offers richer support for PDF, it's as at home with Oracle and open-source databases as it is with SQL and, according to Ektron, it's easier to implement and use. What's more, it shares the same interface, workflow and security model as the company's CMS system, so it's easy to publish documents to Web sites, intranets, extranets and portals. Prices range from $12,000 for a 10-user implementation combining CMS and DMS 400 up to $52,000 for an enterprise server CMS/DMS license with unlimited users, documents, Web sites and CPUs. Standalone DMS pricing had yet to be set.

Document & Data Capture

Abbyy is introducing FlexiCapture 1.5, an upgrade of its semistructured and unstructured forms data extraction and processing solution. This system is designed to automate the collection and cleansing of data from--and downstream processing of--variable documents such as accounts payable and receivable documents, contracts, proof of insurance forms and EOBs, and transportation documents such as bills of lading, declarations and certificates of origin. The upgrades are aimed at simplifying setup and automation of new form types and easing exception handling and the development and refinement of rules to continuously improve application performance and accuracy.

Among the most affordable unstructured capture systems, FlexiCapture is $9,500 as an add-on module to systems such as Kofax Ascent Capture or NSI Auto Store. For $30,000 you can get a six-user system that includes Abbyy's core FormReader Enterprise structured forms processing system.

Kofax last week announced its latest upgrade of VirtualReScan, and at AIIM it will introduce new versions of the Capio scanning utility and Ascent Capture 7.0. Ascent gains high-availability features including clustering with active backup and failover extending to all system servers, modules and distributed capabilities, not just the core server. The system's quality control station is now tied to VRS so that exception images are sent directly to QC in raw grayscale. Thus, scanning operations are never interrupted and QC operators won't have to request rescans or go back to paper.

To bring capture to business users, Kofax has linked Ascent to the simple Capio scanning client by exposing document types and workflows through the file tree. In addition, a new Collection Server provides a Web services interface for Ascent, making it possible to call batches, indexes and operations from other services-oriented applications.

Conference Tracks

If you're attending AIIM for the educational opportunities, there are 10 tracks and scores of presentations. If your interest lies in e-mail management and archiving, put presentations from ARMA Director Diane Carlisle, Attorney Thomas Allman or Pennsylvania State Archivist Linda Avetta on your short list. Those in government should also hear James Cartwright, e-Government Program Manager, explain the City of Philadelphia's blend of BPM and online access. For the ultimate in lifecycle management, Daryll Prescott and Mark Conrad of the National Archives and Records Administrations will explain that agency's electronic recordkeeping practices, while Frank Nemeth of EDS will present a more business-oriented plan. Carl Lubertozzi of Allstate discusses content integration and reuse. For advice on successful ECM implementations, seek out consultant Ann Rockley's chat on information architecture or Brian Trombley's discussion of "Eight Success Traits" of ECM implementations.

If you're not exhausted after AIIM, make time to visit the Philadelphia Art Museum to see the only American showing of a spectacular centennial edition Salvador Dali retrospective. And there's always the option of grabbing a cheese steak on happening South Street.

— Doug Henschen, Editor, Managing Content

Resources:

a. Open Text's Livelink Business Process Management Server
http://www.opentext.com/products/livelink/business-process-management-server/

b. Ektron's Web Document Management Software for Managing Online Digital Assets
http://www.ektron.com/dms400.aspx

c. Abbyy's ABBYY FlexiCapture Technology
http://www.abbyy.com/flexicapture/?param=31413

d. A Presentation on Kofax's Capio
http://news.kofax.com/webinars/capio/index.html?source=product

e. AIIM On Demand Conference and Exposition
http://show.aiimondemand.com/aiimondemand/v42/conference/schedule_glance.cvn?id=36