Adlib Software Blog

Everybody does PDF Conversion – Right?

the author — 2010-01-28T14:54:00Z

PDF creation has become ubiquitous. Many common business systems can now generate PDF as part of their normal operation. The problem is they often don’t do PDF conversion properly.

Many of the PDFs created are extremely important to the consumer or the systems they have been created for. The shoddy creation of a PDF can significantly impair the intended benefit that an organization could achieve from an automated document workflow.

By way of example, many companies have deployed multi-function devices (MFDs) which can scan, copy, print etc. Scanned images can even be routed via email as PDF attachments. There are significant limitations though. One example is that the PDFs created are often too large in size, overloading networks and storage systems. Even worse, they are sent as non-searchable image documents. We’ve seen many customers who bypass the limited image to PDF capabilities of their MFD devices choosing instead to seamlessly integrate superior conversion and recognition (OCR) capabilities into the process. Server-based tools like Adlib Express render the images to high quality, searchable PDFs that are compressed and optimized for distribution and consumption.

A second example relates to high-end payroll systems which can also generate PDF output. The functionality is, again, very limited which caps the potential benefits the organization can achieve. These systems might create a single PDF output containing payroll information for all employee payrolls instead of as individual PDF's that can be distributed or processed. To make matters worse the content for any given employee is scattered throughout the PDF. Our customers have discovered that they can automate the process of splitting up the document merging employee specific documents back together then instantly delivering them as PDF email attachments. This gives employees the benefit of having an electronic copy to store. It also eliminates costly manual processing and print/mail distribution.

ECM vendors have long had PDF capability - as long as the customer purchased, integrated and maintained the software separately. Many ECM vendors today have embedded PDF conversion, stamping, recognition capabilities tightly integrated into their solution. Look under the covers and you’ll often find Adlib software working transparently in the background.

Be wary when choosing a system. Most will have the 'PDF Conversion' box checked on the feature sheet. Be sure you know more about the depth and breadth of what that means and ensure it meets your current and future needs. If you don't you're limiting your options for extracting maximum benefit from the automation of key business processes.

Scott Mackey
Director of Product Management

Collaboration in SharePoint, it doesn’t mean you can edit my document

the author — 2009-12-21T14:54:00Z

Collaboration is a word that is often used to describe the core capabilities of SharePoint. It makes documents readily available to all employees working on a project and prevents multiple people from simultaneously making changes to them. However, just because we are collaborating on a project, doesn’t mean I want to allow anyone working on the project to make changes to my documents. One way to prevent this is to maintain a parallel library of PDF versions of source documents. These can be made available to anyone that needs to access the information but is not (or should not be) involved in updating this information. This process can be automated using PDF for SharePoint document transformation workflows. A “Convert to PDF” workflow can be configured to automatically convert documents to PDF and deposit them into a separate document library whenever a new document is added to the source library and/or whenever a document is updated. This will automatically maintain a library of secure, non-editable versions of your source documents for collaboration.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager
Adlib Software

Adlib Software’s virtual booth at Power Up With SharePoint

the author — 2009-12-07T14:54:00Z

Adlib Software’s virtual booth at Power Up With SharePoint

Power Up With SharePoint is an online one-day conference for developers, administrators, managers and users of SharePoint taking place on December 8, 2009. Adlib Software will have a virtual presence at the show, along with other well-known SharePoint technology vendors such as K2, AvePoint, metalogix, and Quest Software. Please drop by our virtual space and learn more about how using PDF for SharePoint to automate rendering of documents in SharePoint to PDF can help your business. You can register for the show at www.officesharepointpro.com

Virtual events like are relatively new and offer some key advantages, we are interested to see how effective these shows are for you the consumer. As someone who has done their share of tradeshows and conferences, I will miss the face to face discussions that happen at live events however, I won’t miss is the travel, bad food, and aching feet.

Power Up With SharePoint information and free registration.

Regards,

Paul Dyck
Product Manager
Adlib Software

How to Add Flexibility and Customized Logic in your Automated Document Transformation Workflows

the author — 2009-12-02T14:54:00Z

When implementing a server-based Document Transformation solution, the simplest approach is a ‘Watched Folder’, where you configure your Transformation Application to monitor a folder, and whenever a document appears in that folder, apply the same actions against that document.

Many modern server-based transformation engines such as Adlib Express can provide the ability to create multiple ‘Watched Folders’, but when you have more than a few variations on the transformation requirements, it can become difficult to manage through this approach.

Perhaps we want to have options enabled or disabled based on the file type, or date, or even based on values that are found in a separate file. In this case, we would need a better approach.

XML Job Tickets with Express is an excellent solution for problems like this because they are fairly simple to create, and provide the ultimate flexibility in defining your transformation parameters.

Case Study:

A hospital needed to convert physical, tabbed documents into electronic PDF, but they needed to retain the navigation of the documents that was previously possible with the material tabs. They knew that with Express they were able to retain this function by converting the documents into PDF Bookmarks.

The challenge was to then identify the location of the tab sheets, and replace them with a bookmark in the PDF that points to the page immediately following the tab sheet.

Here is how Express and XML Job Tickets solved the problem:

The tab Sheets were replaced with slip-sheets which contained two barcodes. One barcode identified the sheet as a ‘Bookmark’, and the second contained the text that was on the tab. (This became the text of the Bookmark)
The documents were then scanned with the resulting multi-page TIFF documents being directed automatically to the input folder of Adlib Express Server.
Express was configured to find all of the barcodes in the document, and export a file containing all of the pages that contained the ‘Bookmark’ barcode as well as the text that was on that document.
Express Server was also configured to launch a post-processing script. This is a simple script in VBScript that reads the resulting file and then generates an XML Job Ticket based on the first scan.
The new XML Job Ticket instructed Express to create a bookmark for each of the pages, perform an OCR of the text found on all of the contents, and to remove the physical barcode pages, so the bookmarks could navigate directly to the first page in each section.

From this example you can see, using XML Job Tickets in addition to VBScripts, adding flexibility and customized logic to your Document Transformation workflow is easy.

Jeff Brand
Senior Technical Account Manager

Express in the Financial Industry

the author — 2009-11-11T14:54:00Z

In my day to day work I come across many stories from our customers about how they are using Adlib Express in their businesses. I would like to share a series of articles that highlight some interesting solutions throughout a variety of industries, each with specific problems. This week I introduce the Financial Industry.

Sitting atop a heap of seemingly endless files and forms is the financial industry. In financial services, being able to provide proper documentation quickly to a client delivers peace of mind, assuring them that their investment is being efficiently taken care of. Speedy service and customer relationships are the cornerstones of profit in the financial industry; however, internal business synergy is vital to a company’s success.

With over a thousand employees unable to share files created on different software applications, document accessibility was a major challenge for Assurant, a provider of specialty risk management products throughout North America, Latin America, and Europe. The inability to share files between employees can often lead to confusion, delay, and an overall drop in productivity. Adlib Express brought Assurant a one-stop solution that empowered employees to easily convert multiple documents from any original format to universally accessible PDFs which could then be easily forwarded to colleagues or customers. Adlib’s centralized solution eliminated the cost and IT hassle of multiple desktop licenses, and dramatically reduced the workload of the document preparation center. Employees at Assurant were able to quickly convert and share documents, ensuring high efficiency within the office.

Assurant also took advantage of Express’ publishing capabilities and applied watermarks and headers/footers to their converted documents.

Next time we will take a look at an example of Express within the government industry.

Scott Mackey
Director of Product Management

Multiple Document Assembly to PDF in SharePoint

the author — 2009-10-02T14:54:00Z

One problem that we hear about from customers when we talk about document conversion to PDF in SharePoint is the inability to merge multiple documents into a single PDF file.

There are a lot of uses for document assembly, the most common being the creation of proposals for RFPs (Requests for Proposals), and Meeting Books for Boards or Trustees. Creating a single, cohesive PDF file from a collection of documents in different formats such as Microsoft Word, financial information in Excel, engineering data in AutoCAD DWG format, PowerPoint presentations, etc., produces a more professional looking result, and makes it much more efficient for the reader to use this information. The merged PDF file can be made much easier for users to navigate through its contents with the addition of a table of contents and PDF bookmarks for the entire document, and an index of terms used along with a hyperlink to the exact location.

PDF for SharePoint includes a workflow that enables the merging of documents in a document library into a single PDF file. A “Merge Documents” column is used to include/exclude documents in the library from the merge. A “Merge Order” column is used to define the order of the documents to be merged in the resulting PDF.

Using this method, instead of extracting documents from SharePoint to merge them using a desktop application, will make multiple document assembly of SharePoint content much more efficient and reliable.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager
Adlib Software

Transparent Technology Makes Lives Easier

the author — 2009-09-30T14:54:00Z

I’m a technology fan. For personal use, computers, home theatre, digital photography all require endless (but enjoyable) research to figure out which new toy offers the best value. For business use, technology requires no less research but, the process tends to be less enjoyable. This could be because technology is an ever moving target.

Whether you’re talking about hardware and software for the office or the latest in home theatre technology – it seems the product evolves faster than it can be implemented. For an IT Administrator it can take months or even years to deploy and get users to actually adopt a new technology. By the time they become proficient it has become out of date. It is also a frustration for the knowledge worker being asked to change from the familiar. Spouses often react the same way when a new TV appears at home but, I digress.

Bottom line, technology is confusing. Open OfficeTM for example showed a lot of promise against the mighty Microsoft office. Adoption; however, has been slower than many expected. Now, new products are entering the fray in an attempt to become the productivity environment that business users ‘live in.’ There are new online alternatives to Microsoft from Google Docs, Adobe Buzzword and even Cisco. We all simply want the best tool to get our jobs done without having to think too much about it.

Transparent technology makes everyone’s life easier. Success can be achieved by implementing technology that adds efficiency or functionality without affecting a one’s daily job. The challenge for vendors and the IT staff who wade through all the marketing – is to determine which products will give the most benefit to users, without disrupting the core work process. They also need to be able to do this with shrinking budgets and project timelines.

As a server software vendor, our success is partially due to the fact that we provide a tool with broad functionality and flexibility that is tightly integrated with whatever core business applications the knowledge workers are used to - even if it changes over time. It is often transparent to the user that anything has been installed - they get the functionality they need without changing the way they work.

Might I also suggest switching to a digital TV signal at home? You’ll see how a little 'transparent technology' upgrade can enrich your life away from work too.

Scott Mackey
Director of Product Management

Adlib Software at the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009

the author — 2009-09-16T14:54:00Z

Are you heading to Las Vegas in October for the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009? Adlib Software will be there so be sure to come by booth 816 and see us. I will also be hosting a breakout session about (you guessed it), “PDF Conversion in SharePoint – Make Content More Accessible Through Automated Document Transformation.” If that’s not enough of a reason for you to spend five days in the desert, then you should also know that this will be a great opportunity to learn about SharePoint 2010. It looks like this release is going to include some interesting new features like the ability to select and perform operations on multiple files at a one time. I am tremendously interested in learning more about SharePoint 2010 so that we can be ready to support it and take advantage of all the new capabilities found in this new release.

Hope to see you in Vegas.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager

Maintaining Your Investments

the author — 2009-08-28T14:54:00Z

When thinking of the benefits associated with software maintenance, two often prominently come to mind; free upgrades and product maintenance. With these two benefits, staying current with the latest software is virtually cost-free and in the event of a technical issue, there is the support to fix the problem. Software maintenance also brings the added value of customer support that can aid in the integration of the product and the way you operate it.

What you may not know is that there is often additional support available beyond that of your standard maintenance for an additional fee. Adlib for example has onsite training available which is a great way to maximize your investment. Personal, interactive training can optimize your software use by uncovering features you may not have noticed before. Another way to get the most out of any product is to know as much about it as possible. Online presentations are a great way to learn more about a product and the support that comes along with it. Webinars are one presentation type and are used by Adlib. To learn about the next upcoming Webinar, contact your Account Representative.

I hope I’ve shown that whichever way you slice it, having and maintaining your software maintenance is a great way to have support for any issues that could arise.

Peter Jonak
Customer Loyalty Representative

Making it possible to search for PDF files in SharePoint using a PDF iFilter

the author — 2009-08-20T14:54:00Z

There are 2 issues with the way SharePoint 2007 handles PDF files out of the box that significantly reduces the value and usability of PDF files which are stored there. Fortunately, both of these problems are easily solved, and the solution is readily available and documented on the web.

Let’s say that you have finished setting up a document transformation process in SharePoint to automatically convert your Microsoft Word files to PDF for publishing on the web, or to create searchable PDF files from scanned images using OCR. At this point, you may have experienced some problems because of the way SharePoint treats PDF files.

Problem #1 – The icon for PDF files is a generic blank document instead of the usual icon for PDF, making it difficult to quickly scan document libraries and visually identified them. This problem is easily solved by getting a .GIF version of the PDF icon and registering it in SharePoint.

Problem #2 – PDF files are not showing up in search results. This is because by default, SharePoint 2007 search indexes only the document metadata, and not the contents. This negates the value of using OCR to convert scanned documents or image-only PDFs to searchable PDF and makes finding information in SharePoint much more difficult.

To enable full text searching of PDF documents, a PDF iFilter must be installed and configured. There are several options, including a free PDF iFilter from Adobe and the purchasable Foxit PDF iFilter.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager
Adlib Software

Why some software leaves you validating results after converting from Word to PDF

the author — 2009-08-14T14:54:00Z

When selecting your server-based conversion technology, make sure it has the ability to identify any of the issues up front, so that they can be dealt with as needed. The resolution to the challenges I will review later in this article, are usually a matter of installing a font, or copying a linked file. In the event a document is from an older version of Word, simply opening it, and setting the margins to match the intended output usually corrects the issue but, can waste an awful lot of time and if not caught can reduce the credibility of the document.

You can enable all of these features very simply in Adlib Express by navigating to the Conversion tab page in the Express Server options window, then clicking the ‘Enable Document Validation’ check-box. Then, bring up the Document Validation Settings window, and choose which features you wish to enable, and how you would like Express to automatically handle the issue.

With most conversion software, validating the conversion of a file from one type to another is a daunting manual process with a wide variety of things that could go wrong. This is mostly due to the fact that various file formats have different features and translating a certain feature from one format to another can often be tricky.

When converting files from MS Word to PDF, there are occurrences that can alter the appearance of your document. When this happens it is important to make the correction in order to retain the credibility of your document and business. Having thousands of documents converted to files riddled with errors is completely counterproductive. So what can go wrong?

Missing Resources

Additional resources like linked tables from an excel spreadsheet, or any other object that aids a document, needs to be present at the time of the file opening or an error can arise. If that additional resource is not linked, the authoring file will have missing information.

Re-Flow Text

Particularly with older documents created in Word versions prior to 2000, re-flow can occur when documents are opened causing content to shift to different pages and into different alignments. This is due mostly to the fact that old versions of MS Word used the printer specifications to automatically calculate margins. This is no longer the case as different printers have different printable regions.

Missing Fonts

When designing a document in Word, you have a large number of fonts on your system that you can choose to take advantage of, to highlight a point, show your style, or attract a reader’s attention to a particular area of a page but if you open that same document on a different machine without those fonts installed, Word will not know how to render the document correctly and will substitute another font that is closest to the original. This sometimes shifts content from one page to another or changes the alignment.

These and other issues may appear when performing batch conversions of documents, and they may go un-noticed, often times until it’s too late - you’ve sent the output to a client, a vendor, or even worse, a regulatory body who has little patience to figure out why when they click on the Table of Contents item, it does not take them to the correct section of the document.

Finding a solution that can handle these and other format changes can save an incredible amount of time and embarrassment from poor quality documents. To learn more about Express’ conversion capabilities click here.

Jeff Brand
Senior Technical Account Manager

Optimize scanner output to PDF - storage is more expensive than you think.

the author — 2009-07-31T14:54:00Z

Most offices are equipped with MFD (multi-function devices) that allow employees to scan paper documents and create an electronic version in PDF or image format. I have heard horror stories of scan-happy employees that create high resolution, colour scans of 70-page documents and then upload the 100MB result into SharePoint. Before long, they are using Terabytes of storage space. So what’s the problem, storage is cheap isn’t it? Well, not really. Corporations don’t buy the $200 USB hard drives on sale at your local Best Buy. They purchase enterprise quality hardware, and that hardware needs to be supported with backups and remotely-stored disaster recovery. The real cost of storage is closer to $4,000 a Terabyte. When we consider the ecological costs of the extra hardware, power, and storage space, storage is much more expensive than most people think.

Another problem with this scenario is that the content of the scanned document is in image format, limiting the ability of other users to search for it. SharePoint, or other document repositories, will have little information to index the document with.

Storage costs can be minimized either by training people or making it difficult for them to make these types of mistakes. Providing a centralized solution for converting image files created by MFDs to searchable PDF allows businesses to set up a process that does not require users to understand how to create the optimal file output using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to create searchable PDF files which, are much smaller and will be far more valuable to your business. If you are using SharePoint, this can be achieved using automated document conversion workflows that will process new files as they are uploaded into SharePoint.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager
Adlib Software

Using OCR and SharePoint Metadata to make image files searchable

the author — 2009-07-23T14:54:00Z

Many of our discussions with customers using SharePoint have been about making content searchable using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert image files to PDF. The converted PDF file looks like the original but also includes a text layer that can be indexed by SharePoint so that the document can be found using the search engine. Some examples of image files include scanned invoices, image-only PDF files of research material, and legal documents. In many cases, the original image files are discarded after the rendition is created to save storage space because the converted PDF file retains the look of the original as well as the recognized text.

This approach isn’t acceptable for all industries. For example, in the insurance industry the original files must be retained in the event of litigation – a common occurrence in their line of business. Since SharePoint does not support the concept of document renditions [an alternate representation of a document], establishing a relationship between the original and the searchable PDF is a challenge. They would also like to avoid storing multiple versions of files to keep storage costs down. One company we spoke with had over 1 million documents in SharePoint and were required to keep them available for long periods of time because claims typically involve large sums of money and take years to settle.

A solution for this business problem is to use our document conversion workflow to perform OCR on image files loaded into SharePoint and use the extracted text to supplement the original file instead of making a PDF rendition. The text extracted by the Express Recognition engine is added to the original image file as SharePoint metadata. This makes it possible for users to easily find the file based on its (previously hidden) content.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager
Adlib Software

pdyck@adlibsoftware.com

What is the quickest path to converting word documents to PDF to ensure compliance to regulatory requirements?

the author — 2009-07-13T14:54:00Z

Companies often struggle to identify the best method for creating a high-quality, PDF/A compliant, PDF from a word file. Likely the most efficient way to achieve this goal is to use a server-based PDF rendering solution that operates in the background and automatically controls the quality of output by creating renditions of all key documents based on a predetermined, user-defined set of criteria.

On a business level, this solution delivers the following benefits:

Improved document access across the enterprise.
Reduced work and lowered costs through process efficiency.
Uniform control over enterprise standards of document formatting.
Better service to internal and external customers.

Additional advantages of using high-end conversion software include:

Automated workflows and hundreds of converted file types, including CAD, to PDF without the need of the native application.
Converted images to accurate and searchable PDF files and leverages document assembly and stamping functions.
Assurance that documents adhere to the PDF/A standard, maintaining accessibility over an extended period of time. (This allows the documents to be consistently and predictably viewed at a later date.)

If your work environment requires quality creations of PDF versions of existing documents in a timely manner, you should consider looking at Adlib Express as a total rendering solution.

Peter Duff
President and CEO

Green IT - Save paper and time with electronic signatures for company forms

the author — 2009-07-02T14:54:00Z

In a previous post about using the power of PDF for a greener world, we discussed how to thwart printaholics in your office with non-printable PDF files. Another way to save reams of paper is to replace physically signed copies of common office forms like vacation slips, expense claims, etc., with electronically signed versions.

Most companies make forms available on their corporate intranet. These are usually completed electronically using Microsoft Word or Excel and then printed, signed, and placed on a manager's keyboard for another signature before ending up in HR or Finance. Along the way, everyone will make a copy for their records resulting in at least three paper copies for each request. When you consider that each employee will make several requests per year, these simple tasks result in an enormous amount of wasted paper, storage space, printer resources, and time to print, as well as wasted time walking these forms through the approval process.

A simple electronic signature process could be used to save paper and time for approving office forms. Forms in Microsoft Word or Excel could be converted to PDF along with the employee's electronic signature. An electronic signature can be as simple as applying the employee's name and the date. The form would then be sent to the manager for approval, who would apply their electronic signature and forward the form to the appropriate department and copy the employee. Everyone would have a copy of the signed form. If your organization is using SharePoint, this process can be implemented as a simple workflow using Express for SharePoint to perform the conversion to PDF and the application of electronic signatures.

Now you can take your vacation with a clear conscience, knowing that no trees were felled in the process.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager
Adlib Software

Looking for the most reliable PDF to PDF/A Conversion?

the author — 2009-06-17T14:54:00Z

In the latest release of Adlib Express, we enhanced support for PDF/A with the ability to convert PDF files to PDF/A for long-term archiving. As part of the development and QA (Quality Assurance) process, we tested the quality of our PDF/A capabilities using files from the Isartor Test Suite, which was developed by the PDF/A Competence Center. The Isartor test suite includes 204 PDF/A files that do not conform to the PDF/A standard. Express 4.7 successfully converted 186 out of 204 (91%) to valid PDF/A-1b format. A score of 91% sounds pretty good, but how does it compare to other products? Earlier this year, Solid Documents announced the results of their PDF/A conversion testing. According to the press release, their product fixed 90% of cases in the Isartor Test Suite. They also tested Adobe® Acrobat® 9, which only converted 46% of the test files correctly. As humble Canadians, we generally do not like to brag about these things so we’ll let the numbers speak for themselves.

If you are using SharePoint to manage documents, automated PDF to PDF/A conversion is also available within our Express for SharePoint product.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager

Converting CAD files to PDF in SharePoint

the author — 2009-06-04T14:54:00Z

CAD (Computer Aided Design) software is used to bring most products from concept to reality. This includes everything from buildings, consumer products, industrial machines, and automobiles. Inherent in any design process is the need for collaboration to reach the right design solution. For example, large industrial projects require different contractors to coordinate their designs to ensure that they fit together in the final assembly and architects need their customers to review and approve their designs before proceeding. However, simply sharing the original CAD drawing file is typically not the best solution. This approach is fraught with problems:

There are many CAD software packages in use (AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, SolidWorks): reviewers may not have access to the software or even the expertise to use it.
The size of CAD files makes it difficult or impossible to share them, especially via email.
Trouble protecting intellectual property contained in the CAD file.

Converting CAD files to a lightweight and widely accessible format such as PDF solves many of these problems. If you have a large number of CAD files to be converted, or are using SharePoint as a repository for these files, the new CAD Module available in Adlib Express 4.7, and Express for SharePoint, can help you overcome the cost and challenges associated with working with CAD files.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager

Automating OCR of Documents in SharePoint

Zach Pickering — 2009-05-28T14:54:00Z

Recent discussions with customers have indicated that there is a need in SharePoint to automate OCR of documents once they are already in a SharePoint library. One case where OCR was needed was with a research organization that deployed SharePoint to manage their research papers, reports and materials received from external sources. They moved their massive collection of existing content to SharePoint and continue to add new material to their knowledge base. Unfortunately, most of the legacy content is in image-only PDF format, making it impossible for SharePoint to index content and users to find it. Their existing solution was to process the material manually. Someone would scan the document and add keywords to the document metadata that would be picked up by the search indexer.

There are several solutions for paper document capture and storage into SharePoint from hardware devices, such as Knowledge Lake, but what about scanned documents that arrive via email or are already in SharePoint as in the above example? These documents will be very difficult to find unless there is some information available to be indexed for search. One customer that I spoke with recently told me that he tried to find an answer to this problem at the recent European Best Practices SharePoint Conference in the UK. He posed the question in an open session and no one could come up with a solution.

If you are looking for a solution to the problem of making scanned document image files or image-only PDF files searchable within SharePoint, Adlib has an answer for you. Express for SharePoint includes SharePoint workflows that automate OCR within SharePoint, enabling you to create searchable PDF files and make your content more valuable.

Paul Dyck
Project Manager

Benefits of Creating Searchable Documents Through OCR

Zach Pickering — 2009-05-11T14:54:00Z

As full-text indexing and search mechanisms become more and more sophisticated, organizations are finding that not all of their content is accessible to these technologies, even though there is a real and immediate need for them to be.

Information that is stored in image formats like TIFF or Image-Only PDFs (such as scanned documents, faxes, etc.) cannot be included in a full-text search because although the human eye can read the text on the image, it’s merely a bunch of pixels to the computer.

By processing these documents through an OCR engine such as the Adlib Recognition Server, the OCR engine is able to ‘Read’ the characters found in the image, and either extract the text found to an external file, or provide a “Text Layer” to the document, making it accessible to search engines.

This also has the added benefit of allowing users who are reading the document to be able to search for key words or phrases.

Jeff Brand
Senior Technical Account Manager

The Evolution of Regulatory Publishing Through Submission-Ready PDFs

the author — 2009-05-01T14:54:00Z

Few industries face record-keeping hurdles of the complexity and stringency faced by the life sciences industry. The business need to confirm and document the safety and efficacy of a new product, the potential threats of litigation if problems arise after a product is launched, and the documentary requirements of the regulatory agencies add up to a perfect storm of record-keeping demands throughout the lifecycle of a product. This documentary lifecycle extends from the earliest stages of research and development to many decades after the product is no longer marketed.

The weight of this task can be measured in the sheer volume of documentation required in regulatory submissions for new product approvals. Documentation for a single research study can be tens of thousands of pages with a full submission including multiple study results. Though cutting edge research is conducted using the latest technology, often the key results are compiled and maintained on unconnected MS Word documents and even handwritten notes. Extend this complexity over multiple regulatory jurisdictions, different languages, patent laws, joint ventures, subcontracted and outsourced research, and it is no surprise that paper submissions were often delivered by the truckload.

I invite you to read our white paper profiling more about the background and solutions that face this challenging industry “Optimizing Regulatory Submission Processing”.

Peter Duff
President and CEO

Document Conversion to PDF within SharePoint

the author — 2009-04-22T14:54:00Z

Microsoft SharePoint is a hot topic that is finding its way into many companies – as a departmental tool and increasingly as an enterprise-wide deployment. Express fills a gap in SharePoint’s capabilities, making automatable document transformation services available within SharePoint. Content transformation is an important part of a document management or ECM solution, getting content into the right format at the right time, and now it’s easy to do with Express.

Some examples of where businesses have benefited from automated document conversion within SharePoint are:

Automatically converting CAD drawings to PDF and storing them in a library where they can be accessed by partners and employees. PDF versions can be viewed without CAD software and their small size makes them more easily accessed by staff in remote locations.
Automating the publishing of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manuals for regulated industries. PDF renditions of approved manuals are created for reference by manufacturing staff, with appropriate controls printed on them such as “printed by”, “printed-on date” and “expiry date”.
As part of an invoice approval and payment process, scanned invoices are automatically converted to searchable PDF using Optical Character recognition (OCR).

As more companies deploy SharePoint to automate their business processes, there are increasingly varied examples of the ways that automated document conversion can be used to reduce costs and streamline business processes.

Click here to find out more about Express for SharePoint.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager

Can PDF Rendering Make Us Greener?

the author — 2009-04-14T14:54:00Z

Do you have printaholics in your office? These are people that feel compelled to commit every document, web page, and email that they encounter to paper. They are easy to spot because their work spaces are littered with paper mountains and (ironically) their blue bins are always full at the end of the day. Not only are they wasting your company’s money, they are disproportionally consuming our collective natural resources. With some clever use of PDF conversion options there are ways to reduce paper consumption due to unnecessary printing.

Do you know that it is possible to disable printing of PDF files? With many companies using SharePoint for file sharing, documents can be made available to their employees in a central location. By making them available in PDF and using the “no print” option when converting documents to PDF, it will not only prevent unnecessary printing, it will also help avoid outdated copies of company documents from being used when a new version is available.

If you have other interesting ideas or stories on how to cut back on paper, hit the comment button and share.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager & Friend of the Earth

The Importance of Investing in IT during an Economic Slowdown

the author — 2009-04-07T14:54:00Z

Many companies today are taking an aggressive approach to improving efficiency; especially when it can lead to significant cost reductions. If you’re one of these companies, and are looking to improve your business process efficiency, then you should still be investing in IT. Many companies are braving the storm and plan on spending their hard-earned dollars in 2009. Check out what Information Week's recent post has to say about IT spending in 2009. Strategic use of technology can give a company strategic advantage in troubled times. But you have to do it more intelligently than ever before.

Buy the right technology for the job
Be smart about how you deploy it
Spend the time up front to understand the business requirements
Don't forget to involve the actual end users
Consult with peers and experts (you don't know what you don't know)
Don't force users to learn new processes or tools - it will kill your adoption rates and ROI

There is no doubt there has been a shift in thinking - big projects are being reduced or delayed, all spending is being scrutinized, ROI periods are shorter - but there are still plenty of opportunities. (See what CMS Watch thinks will be hot in 2009).

There are tools that truly reduce costs, automate and streamline existing processes and ultimately give knowledge workers the functionality they need to do their jobs better - all of which can have demonstrable effect on the bottom line.

Check out the article “Turning Patents into Profits” that details how Life Sciences organizations are automating their mission critical document processes and reaping the efficiency and financial rewards

Is it all wine and roses? Of course not. Companies are struggling and people are losing their jobs. But using technology strategically can help an organization weather, or even thrive in troubled times and it sets them up for great things when the economy recovers.

Scott Mackey
Director of Product Management

Document Conversion in the Cloud

Sangeeta Mehrotra — 2009-03-31T14:54:00Z

An event sponsored by the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) about cloud computing and Microsoft’s release of the Azure Services Platform has got me thinking about how the cloud could potentially affect our industry. The value proposition (promise) of the cloud sounds appealing – pay only for what you use, unlimited capacity for peak loads, reduced capital and maintenance costs of running your own server farms, etc. These would be valuable for server-based CPU-intensive applications such as high volume conversion of documents to PDF and using OCR to convert images to PDF.

What are the potential drawbacks? Fear? Many of our customers are in industries such as Life Sciences, Legal, and Financial Services that are justifiably sensitive about the security of information in their documents. I suspect that any business person would feel anxious about transmitting documents outside the “safe” confines of their network into what appears to be a publicly accessible cloud.

Should we be scared? A few years ago, wireless networks seemed to be a risky venture and we (especially the IT group) were worried that malicious hackers and industrial spies would park near the office and tap into our systems. Now, wireless networks are the norm at work and we happily sip a cup of java while getting work done over the wireless network in the local coffee shop. Most of us at Adlib Software only use the wireless network at the office. Can the cloud be less risky than the current day to day exposure of our business information? A recent study about laptop security from the Ponemon Institute sponsored by Dell reported that over 12,000 laptops per week go missing in airports in the U.S., many of these containing customer, business confidential, intellectual property, and personal information. It will probably be just a matter of time before we build up enough trust in the cloud to start taking advantage of it.

I’m sure that cloud computing will have its place in our business, sooner rather than later.

Paul Dyck
Product Manager

Overcoming External Hyperlink and Bookmark Restrictions in the ISO PDF/A Standard for Archived Documents

the author — 2009-03-24T14:54:00Z

Many organizations need to preserve documents for a long period of time, for example, decades or more. The challenge with this need is that hardware and software technologies continually evolve and may become incompatible with the documents preserved or archived. Fortunately, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defined a standard a number of years ago, for long term document archival based on the PDF format called PDF/A or PDF/A-1 (ISO 19005-1:2005). The ISO worked with representatives from government, industry, academia and Adobe to define this PDF/A standard.

A key feature of the PDF/A standard is that documents must be 100% self-contained. That is, all of the information necessary for displaying the document must be contained within the single file. This restriction is significant since, today, when creating a document, it’s very common to reference other documents using hypertext links. I understand this restriction is logical and necessary, but it makes it difficult to satisfy the PDF/A requirements.

One approach to meeting the standard is to remove all external hyperlinks and bookmarks from the documents. This, in my opinion, would not be viable in most cases since it may remove important content. An alternative is to directly embed all referenced documents within the main document. This is the approach taken by Adlib Express, it can automatically merge documents and converts the external hyperlinks and bookmarks to internal links since they can now be references within the same document. This approach achieves ISO’s “100% self-contained” requirement, enabling the resulting PDF/A to be compliant. Check out this link for more details on how Express can help support your document archival processes.

I invite you to comment on PDF/A as well as on what I proposed above. Let's talk.

Jean Ouellette
Chief Software Architect

Automating Your Paper-Based Invoice Process

Sangeeta Mehrotra — 2009-03-17T14:54:00Z

One of the most interesting aspects of being a Customer Loyalty Representative is the opportunity to communicate with our customers on a daily basis. Everyday, I learn about the numerous ways our customers use the Adlib Express document transformation software. I thought I’d share with you one of the most common customer applications of Express – automating a paper-based invoice process.

Most invoice document workflows involve the consolidation of volumes of information that are resource and time-intensive. With Express, organizations can collect information from source files and automatically merge or reassemble the data into a single PDF. By using Adlib Express’ powerful conversion, publishing and recognition features, the PDF retains all the required information in a secure format.

Another Express feature our customers leverage is Zonal Recognition. When creating an invoice, standard information is usually required. With Zonal Recognition, customers capture this standard data onto specific regions of their source files using Optical Character Recognition. The recognized data is then extracted from the region and embedded into the customer’s invoice template.

So what are the benefits of automating an invoice document workflow with Express? Customers cite the following:

A more streamlined, timely and reliable process that allows their workforce to become more efficient and productive
Greater cost efficiencies in processing a greater number of invoices
Standardized invoice output for enterprise-wide consistency
Increased customer satisfaction as a result of their customers receiving invoices on a consistent basis with fewer errors

I’d like to hear from you. If you are currently using Adlib Express to automate your invoice workflow – share your story. If you’re not using Adlib, tell me what your current invoice process is like. Let’s talk.

Peter Jonak
Customer Loyalty Representative

PDF Conversion Software: Not all PDF's are created equal

the author — 2009-03-10T14:54:00Z

PDF is a commodity like gasoline, or an internet connection right? Right.

There is no shortage of ways to create a PDF these days.

However - in the same way that the gasoline for your lawnmower is not the same as the fuel used by your favorite NASCAR team - or the quality of your home internet connection is vastly inferior to your bank's high performance connection - tools to create PDF's are not created equal. To believe they are can be a costly mistake.

The costs to re-think workflows or to recover from bad document rendering can be significant. Check out the following article for some (non-PDF specific) costs.

If you're in the Life Sciences industry the costs are not only direct $ spent doing it right, but the opportunity cost of slowing down your workflow. Check out this article on the impact of creating Submission-Ready PDF's.

I won't bore you with the details (in this post :)) but suffice it to say turning the myriad unstructured content lurking around your network into high-quality PDF output is not as easy as it seems.

Consider the following:

hundreds of different formats
versions that can span decades
special 'issues' that users introduce by embedding other files or leaving behind faulty document elements
fonts that may or may not be licensed
document structures that should appear as valid PDF bookmarks
header/footers/cross-references
tables of contents
hyperlinks

Trying to turn all of that user-generated 'gold' into the perfect PDF output using a 'commodity' tool is, to say the least, a challenge. In fact, many of our customers and partners have told us time and again, that this is a problem that cannot be solved by the commodity tools that plug up your Google searches.

Check out the AIIM blog on PDF if you want to see what others are saying. Or if you have a question of your own, let me know.

Scott Mackey
Director of Product Management

Welcome to the Adlib Blog

the author — 2009-03-02T14:54:00Z

Hello -

Welcome to our blog. Our goal is to discuss issues around document transformation and document workflow automation. Future postings will include topics such as:

how innovative companies are streamlining their business processes by automating document transformation
industry trends
technology innovations that we are thinking about
tips for Adlib customers on how to get the most value out of Adlib Express

The people that will contribute postings work at Adlib Software and represent a depth of experience and expertise in the business and technologies around document transformation. We hope that you will find our postings interesting, valuable, and sometimes provocative. If you agree, disagree or have opinions on these topics, I encourage you to engage in the discussion; please hit the comment button and let us know what you think.

Let’s talk.

Peter Duff
President and CEO