Reprinted from November 2006 issue of System iNews, published by Penton Media

Conditional Document Distribution Meets Multiple Demands

by Claude Rosay
ACOM Solutions, Inc.

Technology has brought many productivity and economy options to business back offices in the form of high speed networking and laser printing, the Internet, fax, email, electronic data interchange and electronic archiving. But this proliferation of choices potentially can neutralize the blessings conferred -- case in point: when it results in separate, redundant production runs for printed forms, fax and email distribution, PDF, EDI, post-to-web, and electronic archives. 

One answer to the dilemma is Conditional Distribution, a back office software feature of ACOM’s EZeDocs/400 document output management solution that is simple in concept but which successfully addresses this complex problem. 

Conditioning Documents

Conditional distribution allows users to preconfigure the distribution parameters of documents that are directed to individual trading partners (e.g. invoices/customers; purchase order/vendors) right within the spool file. During the production run, each "conditioned" document is automatically channeled to the distribution medium indicated in the single spool file, including to multiple distributed printers. Handling is reduced a minimum and sender and receiver preferences are fully accommodated.

EZeDocs/400 resides transparently on iSeries-AS/400-System i platforms, bolted tightly to whatever application software solution the user has chosen – for example, Infinium or Mapics. Both have fields for storage of document distribution details. Setting the conditions for document distribution within a single spool file is function of the software -- just a matter of entering information in the proper field. The Conditional Distribution feature knows what to look for and where to find it.

For example, your customer preference survey indicates that some like to be invoiced in the conventional manner, that is, through the mail. Others like to get their bills by fax and others by email.  Does that mean that you have to have separate invoice runs to accommodate each class of customer? Not any more.  Each customer’s preference can be recorded in its master file as well as in a couple of other places (see below) and indicated as an invoicing “condition.”  At the time of the invoice run, the software identifies the conditions place them in the spool file.  When the run is executed, the invoices are directed to their respective output media: to printers for copies to be mailed or manually faxed, to the automated fax interface or to PDF conversion to be formatted as email attachments for automated email delivery.

Figure 1:

ACOM's EZeDocs/400 lets users distribute output to a variety of media and locations

Conditioned Document Output

The default output mode normally is a laser printer but customers, vendors and others can be offered the opportunity to “opt-in” to receive their documents via other types of distribution. The e-mail and fax numbers can be automatically retrieved and used from the existing Vendor and Customer Master files without any programming changes. Because the fields are part of the database, a single entry suffices for all related applications.

Other options are available as well. eMail addresses and eFax phone numbers, for example, can reside in any of several places that can be accessed by the spool file: within the spool file itself, in the master file for retrieval at the time of the production run; in an external database that also resides on the iSeries platform; or on an EZeDocs/400 address book that has been set up on the software. The address book would contain the email address and/or fax number along with the vendor number, and can be accessed for the production run by a “key field”, typically the vendor/customer number.

At the time of the production run, the Conditional Distribution feature directs the EZeDocs/400 software to examine each vendor number in the spool file to determine how the document should be distributed: to a central laser printer; to one of several distributed laser printers; to a fax number for automated delivery; to an email address, or even out to the IFS for a Web Archive solution (EZContentManager) with the copy of the document attached after being automatically converted to a PDF file.

Applying Conditional Distribution

Advance shipping notices (ASN), purchase orders, invoices and internal reports are documents that stand out as activities where companies can benefit significantly by using Conditional Distribution. All are issued frequently, they can be predictable and periodic in nature, and because of their volume they can represent significant cost burdens in terms of paper form handling, post processing and mailing/postage.

The Advance Ship Notice or ASN is a powerful example of potential application of Conditional Distribution processes. Those of us who purchase from Internet vendors – from books and records to airline passage – are accustomed to receiving acknowledgements of our orders almost immediately, followed sooner or later by validation of our purchase or notification that product has been shipped. While these are consumer applications, they are representative of the process. In a business-to-business application, we well might expect that acknowledgement and/or shipping information would be batched and placed in file for a scheduled production run. While the immediacy of email distribution makes it the preferred method of ASN delivery by far, Conditional Distribution still allows the option of delivery by mail or fax.

Purchase orders also attract a high enrollment for automated alternative document delivery for the simple reason that vendors like to get orders in quickly, ship quickly and collect quickly. Virtually instant, delivery by automated fax and email accelerates these processes and for that reason, an opt-in rate of 50 percent or more is not unusual.

Another is invoicing, which so far seems to have a somewhat lower opt-in rate, probably because paper copies don’t have the same implied level of urgency as do electronic delivery methods. The time between production of the invoice and its delivery can be a matter of days, extending the “float” before a customer company has to transfer funds to its payables account.

Internally, the distribution of monthly, quarterly, yearly and other periodic and ad hoc reports represents a major opportunity.  Frequently, these are voluminous and require extensive production runs, separation of copies and distribution. By printing only those that must be mailed and scheduling the rest for electronic delivery over the company network or as electronic files or email attachments to remote locations, most of the time, labor and expense connected with conventional paper-based distribution processes is eliminated.

Any company with high volume document distribution can benefit from exploring the possibilities available in applying Conditional Distribution processes.

Figure 2:

EZeDocs/400 enables print distribution to multiple printers via a simple list

ROI: Sources and Expectations 

To calculate ROI, it is of course necessary to contrast the costs of your current methodology with its potential replacement.

Assume that it costs $.60 to send a document manually by fax, and $.80 to mail the document. Correspondingly, it costs about $.03 for an emailed document, and $.25 to send the same document by fax directly from the iSeries platform.

All you have to do is establish the volume of the various types of printed documents you now send manually, determine how many of each it is practical to send by automated alternate means and obtain recipient buy-in. If you want to get more complex, you can build in such factors as compounded annual company growth rate, other projections and variables and extend your savings projections out five years or more.  ACOM has summarized all of these variables into an Excel Spreadsheet that spans 5 year on the one page ROI analysis. It’s a popular tool and free for the asking.  For a copy of the ROI spreadsheet, email me with “ROI Spreadsheet” in the subject of the e-mail.

If there is a back office solution purchase required, prorate its costs over the years of the projection, establish your continuing costs under your current methodology, and project the difference in costs under the respective systems against the savings to be realized under the optimized solution.
           
The Payoff

Conditional Distribution affords benefits both to the document originators and the document recipients.  Using electronic methods, particularly automated email, is extremely low cost, followed by automated fax.

Workflow improvements include printing and managing preprinted forms and continuous form alignment, post-processing such as bursting and decollating, manual distribution and reprinting.

Customer service improves through the ready availability of electronic copies for inquiry response and for easy redelivery of diverted or questioned documents. Lower costs on both ends of the transaction mean increased profitability, and even fiscal compliance is enhanced through the utilization of hands-off processing.

Blended back office document systems that apply technology most appropriately for the preferences of both originators and recipients are the ideal in today’s technologically diverse business environment.  Conditional Distribution supports that ideal by consolidating the multiple distribution processes enabled by a variety of technology options into a single automated activity.