Introduction to Digital Workflow Ticketing

Transcription

1 WhitePaper Introduction to New concepts for enabling dissemination of digital workflow technologies across the enterprise Notable Solutions, Inc. 600 Jefferson Plaza Suite 500 Rockville, MD ph: fax:

2 Table of Content Introduction 3 4 What are tickets? 4 Steps to choose a Digital Workflow and create a SMARTicket? 5 Who can get a ticket? 5 SMARTicket Overview and their use within Digital Workflow 5 Example of SMARTicket ID For printing documents 6 Benefit of SMARTickets to users 7 Benefits of SMARTickets to System Administrators and Workflow Designers 7 ASDW SMARTickets architecture 8 Conclusion 9 Table of Figures Figure 1 - Pull Printing Example using the SMARTickets 6 Figure 2 - Digital Workflow Architecture 8 Powered By AutoStore 2 Information content of this document is NSi confidential and proprietary and shall not be shared without prior written consent by Notable Solutions, Inc.

3 Introduction Digital capture workflows are concepts and techniques that can be implemented around the digital capture technology which is provided through Content Capture server technology. The concept of digital workflow consists of a three tier approach: 1. Digital capture Capture of paper documents, files, s, voice recordings, digital video or any other content in digital format. This includes capturing from MFP devices, scanners, PDAs, Digital Cameras, mobile phones and any other device that can produce digital content. 2. Business rule compliance The core of Digital Workflow and the value this technology brings to organizations is in the implementation of automated business rules and the application of these business rules to the captured content. The act of collection, processing and management of content is the core value of Digital Workflow technologies that the Content Capture applications provide. 3.Centralized management This layer allows the Automated Server-based Digital Workflow (ASDW) to: Administer content capture services centrally Manage distributed capture servers Provide centralized and repeatable intellectual property around the creation and design of the automated business processes Digital Workflow (DW) technologies provided by AutoStore (ASDW) include: Unified Capture: Device capture Allows capturing of content across all device types from MFPs, Scanners, PDAs to cameras and even cell phones. Desktop capture Using the desktop capture clients is a key element in ease of use and faster, more reliable capture into the DW. Using desktop capture, users can capture files into defined Digital Workflows directly from their desktops thereby reducing the need for additional steps in printing, scanning and conversion into PDF. capture This type of capture includes SMTP Tunneling and POP3 Mailbox capture as key features in addressing an increasing need for capture and compliance in various industries. Use this type of capture to apply content based business rules and to become increasingly efficient in ways to comply with regulatory requirements in records management and records retention. Batch Processes Reading of digital files from network drives or other sources into workflows plays a key role in back file conversion and ability of an organization to use outside resources in conversion and maintenance of large volumes of information. Powered By AutoStore 3

4 Processing Services: The ability to add processing services to automate the steps that normally are done manually is the most valuable segment of the ASDW. Utilizing some of the standard content processing services such as OCR, ICR, forms recognition and content categorization increases ROI rate of the Digital Workflow implementation. Some of the most common processing services for automation of content capture include: - Processing engines such as: OCR/ICR/OMR/ Zonal templates - Forms Recognition and automation of forms data entry - XML and support for various messaging interfaces - Server based image clean up and image optimization - Content categorization and automated indexing capabilities Some of the more comprehensive ASDW applications also support (DWT). DWT is normally created to represent one or more content capture workflows. The DWT can be viewed as Tickets that provide the user with a mobile permission to use a particular workflow from any source (MFP, Desktop, etc.) within the organization. Think of as an application that is capable of issuing tickets for Digital Workflow processes. The added benefit provided by the DWT is the fact that the captured documents are required to have a Ticket or more specifically a Ticket number. What are Tickets? A ticket is a permission to use a workflow containing all of the required meta-data values to properly process the content. Tickets are identified by a ticket number. A ticket number is an integer that uniquely identifies a single ticket. Steps to choose a Digital Workflow and create a DW Ticket? The following describes the typical steps users go through to create a DW Ticket. Please keep in mind the creation of a DW Ticket can be fully automated and hidden from the user by an application. 1. Select the right Digital Workflow Process from the list of available workflows 2. Fill out a few required fields for the workflow to process the content 3. Get the ticket that represents your selected workflow with meta-data values Use and re-use the ticket every time you would like to send content into that Digital Workflow. Powered By AutoStore 4

5 Who can get a ticket? The following represent a sample of common and simple ASDW Ticket users: A user on a ASDWT client Example: User walks up to a web client, prints a Ticket (Already created in PDF format for him), uses it as a coversheet on his documents and sends it to be processed. A user on a Printer or MFP Device Applications can directly request and issue tickets to users or to other applications (without any human interactions) Example: A banking application can automatically print paper tickets for every loan application so that the clerk can use the paper coversheet and scan in the supporting documents The concept of Digital Workflow Tickets is a unique and powerful concept. Capture Workflow Ticketing provides the ability to control, track and administer the Digital Workflow usage through the use of DW Tickets. Additionally, more advanced ASDWT applications allows for Digital Workflow definitions as well as the DW Tickets to be managed and administered centrally. This provides the added value of central Digital Workflow management of all business rules. Powered By AutoStore 5

6 DW Ticket overview and their use within the Digital Workflow The DW Ticket is an essential part of organizational and enterprise digital workflow implementation. The more comprehensive ASDWT applications are capable of storing their ticketing information within a centralized database. The capability and use of databases to store DWT information allows applications to provide key features such as: 1. Digital Workflow version control Without version control the ability to administer, modify, track and maintain workflow definitions will become very cumbersome. As the system grows across the enterprise, the need to manage and maintain DW definitions, modify workflow attributes and timing of all the changes within a workflow will require the administrator to maintain multiple versions of the same workflow to implement phasing out DW processes before modified DWs can be phased in the business processes. 2. Workflow Combination Combining workflows to create additional workflows allows the administrator or the user the capability to manage a set of low-level workflows that can be combined to create more complex workflows. Allowing users to create workflow combinations is another key feature that enable users to select their workflows os needed from the list of available defined DWs. 3. Workflow Reporting and usage tracking This is a key feature to look for in DWT based systems. The notification and tracking of tickets are both valuable to users looking for confirmation of their operations and to the administrator managing the ticket usage. 4. Workflow management The ability to create multiple workflows, test prior to updating a workflow, manage workflow usage, access level control and integration with corporate infrastructure such as Active Directory integration of workflow tickets are key areas to look for within a ASDWT application. 5. Workflow User management An ADSWT application that issues DWT to users and organizations cannot do that without capability of managing workflow users. Workflow users and related user management features must be integrated with the existing corporate infrastructure of Active Directory to take advantage of existing corporate resources and reduce administrative tasks. Powered By AutoStore 6

7 Uses of DWTickets When using the user can simply provide the DW Ticket ID at time of submission to trigger the corresponding Digital Workflow. The DW Ticket can be used to trigger any predefined workflow such as: - Get a document printed (brochure information) - Get scanned document routed to a remote printer - Get document faxed and at the same time archived in PDF format - Apply Digital Rights to the document - Apply Digital Signature to the document - Create multiple routes to distribute the document Practically any pre-defined business process involving multiple steps can be automated and triggered based on a single DW Ticket ID. Example of SMARTicket ID For printing documents An example of a SMARTicket ID for managing a printing process is to design a print driver that will prints files into a file location and generates a SMARTicket ID. Digital Workflow Example for Printing Document 1. User Prints document 3. A SMARTicket is returned to the user (user has control over Ticket attributes) SMARTicket ID: User uses the CAC card To login to the printer. User can see the SMARTicket Print Jobs accessible to him. SMARTicket Refero 2 server CAC card used to authenticate the user. User Selects SMARTicket ID: Print file is sent to a queue on the server AutoStore Server Print Job is Sent to the MFP Document Figure 1 - Pull Printing Example using the SMARTickets Powered By AutoStore 7

8 The DW Ticket is then assigned to a specific user or group of users. These users can walk to any printer that has the capability to lookup DW Ticket ID values and request the print files located on the folder to be routed to the printer they are on at the time. This implementation (depicted in figure 1) provides the ability to use to securely pull print jobs from any location within the network. Benefits of DW Tickets to users The users of DW Tickets get direct benefits from the system. The ASDW drastically increases their efficiency and productivity. Listed below are some of the common benefits of the DW Tickets to users: Reduces the error rate and shortens the time to trigger workflows Allows the user to create workflow requests (DW Tickets) once and use the tickets repeatedly, thereby reducing the time to trigger workflow and increasing efficiency of content capture The usage of a DW Ticket requires no training and no system learning curve. Simply use the ticket and the most complex business rules are applied in the background. Summarizing these complex business rules in a simple ticket provides a true benefit of DW Tickets in common business environment. All DW Tickets are independent of the method of capture which means they can be used for printing, scanning, archival, fax or any other means of capturing Digital Content. The DW Tickets give users the capability to combine one or more digital workflows into one simple DW Ticket. This allows the administrator to define the Digital Workflows centrally and at the same time, give users control over the usage. Benefits of DW Tickets to System Administrators and Workflow Designers The benefit of Automated Server-based (ASDWT) to the Administrative and IT staff consists of: Central management of workflow rules and steps. The ASDWT systems allow the digital workflow designers to create a database of workflow rules. The DW database is then re-used across the organization and creates repeatable values across the enterprise. The ASDWT can be used within a larger enterprise consisting of vendors, suppliers, customers and partners. Through the fact that DW Tickets are independent and autonomous entities that can travel with a document (embedded or coversheets), any corporation can use the DW Tickets to better control the flow of content across the larger enterprise entities. Powered By AutoStore 8

9 As an example, an insurance company can publish a list of reusable DW Tickets in form of PDF files that must be attached to any fax or sent to the company by its agencies. All agencies then will start participating within the centrally managed Digital Workflow processes simply by including the DW Tickets on their communication with the company. ASDW SMARTickets architecture The DW Ticket architecture provides a solid and uniform method to interface with the digital workflow processes. Digital Workflow Architecture Client App User User Interfaces Interfaces Device Device Interface Interface Vertical Vertical Application Application Workflow Workflow Engine Engine Application Application Interface Interface ASDWT Server Security Security Rules Rules Engine DW Ticket Database Workflow def. Workflow def. Access rights Access rights Digital Ticket Digital Ticket Tracking Tracking Benefits Benefits Define Once Use Many Compliance enforcement Reduces Risk Secured digital workflows Tracking & accountability Figure 2 - Digital Workflow Architecture Through use of a defined API, all applications can request and interact with the centrally managed workflow processing server, allowing the administrators to centrally control and manage the DW Ticket usage, security and activities. Powered By AutoStore 9

10 Conclusion The concept of ticketing and use of is a necessary tool for allowing the current Digital Workflow technology to expand out of its current shell of IT corner and into a wider audience of large enterprises. The key elements in the success of such technologies remain to be user focused attributes such as simplicity and ease of use and the Digital Workflow Technology can easily satisfy them all. Notable Solutions, Inc. Corporate Headquarters 600 Jefferson Plaza; Suite 500 Rockville. Md ph: Fax: Western U.S / Canada ph: fax: European Office Gebr.-Wahl-Str Braunfels, Germany ph: fax: