Congrats Geoff!!

Our theme of ‘Go Green With Blue’ was derived based on our expanded ECM solution capabilities to include all aspects of the infrastructure from architecture design through installation and support. The influence of the highly successful Jeskell team was evident as they drove a significant increase of IBM customers and solution providers through our booth. We also reduced the volume of paper brought to IOD and increased communication via video presentations and use of eLiterature. The response to the automated presentations, screen cams, and live demonstrations was very positive. We reduced the volume of paper brought to IOD by 75% compared to last year and easily serviced the 40% increase in booth traffic.

Based on our IOD experience we expect the coming to year to be fruitful for our team and customers who will enjoy increased staff productivity and lower cost of ownership for their IBM ECM systems.

Click on the link below to see how easy these work together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTb3TW-GDrc

Audience - this discussion is oriented towards Technical Managers, Project Managers, Business Analysts, Systems Analysts, and the FileNet or ECM or EDMS system owners.  It is not intended as a detailed technical explanation.  RSCA (RS Computer Associates, LLC.) welcomes technical input and is well prepared to collaborate on these topics at any level.  It is; however, our intent to help the overall system ownership community to make an informed decision related to an IBM P8 4.x migration.

Why history is relevant to your P8 4.5 migration. The question is not really should I migrate but when?  If you are a FileNet customer today then you have been through the process of researching and selecting an ECM solution for your organization.  The good and bad news is that nothing is forever.  In the world of software solutions we accept and want them to change over time with the goal of becoming increasingly feature rich.  This is certainly the case with FileNet.  FileNet has been a leader in the document management, enterprise content management and business process management space for decades - yes, decades.  FileNet began in the 1980’s delivering leading edge solutions using propriety hardware and software - in some cases down to the operating system.  FileNet moved with the times and established foundational principles to be as agnostic as possible to the underlying IT infrastructure.  In the 1990’s FileNet produced a full suite of products to meet customer’s needs.  In the case of Image Services (IS) platform independence was achieved.  Content Services on the other hand was a necessary product that remained Windows reliant.  This small amount of history is relevant in that it explains very much why we are where we are today.

So the good news is that FileNet as a brand has a long history of vision.  The vision for FileNet software has been more than instrumental in keeping the broader user community in front of their competition.  Yes, that’s right - many organizations consider their use of FileNet to be a competitive edge within their industry.  That is why many companies can be mentioned as users but remain reluctant to share details of how FileNet is specifically used to support their business.

The bad news is that some changes (by this we mean new software releases) require more planning and effort than others to deploy - especially when a migration is involved.  When we talk about migration what we mean is the software can not be upgraded in a way that all of the content, security and configuration remain in place.  A migration generally means that a new installation is conducted and then the configuration and content from the old system is transferred to the new system.  A fresh software installation is generally concurrent with a new hardware; thus, even more effort, cost and planning.  So the bad news is there is additional risk and cost associated with an upgrade that includes a migration.  Our job (and goal) is to mitigate risk and contain cost.

This brings us back to the history lesson.  In the 2000’s FileNet P8 was born.  The vision of P8 was to be the unified platform for true enterprise business process management and content management.  Moving to P8 as a new platform was a big step (and risk) for FileNet and many Content Services users were concerned.  I was at the FileNet user convention (UserNet) session when the release of P8 was discussed; I would say the temperament was unsettled to be polite.  FileNet assured the user community that Content Services would remain a supported platform (for the foreseeable future).  Looking back now I can confidently say that I believe FileNet was right in making the jump to P8; that decision was visionary and has kept the FileNet brand as the leader when looking to a unified platform for ECM and document centric BPM.  And yes, to keep this discussion concise I am purposely staying out of the whole Workflow Desktop, to Visual Workflow, to Eprocess, to BPM history also going on over the past two decades.

Next year is 2010 so we are a blink away from a new decade and the future of Content Services is certainly a question to ponder.  Content Services is clearly on life support with no new features being added for some.  In addition, a large percentage of the Content Services user community has converted to P8.  With FileNet now being an IBM brand the future of Content Services is rumored to be under evaluation.  And, should you own an IBM repository such as CM8 or Content Manager on Demand (CMOD), or FileNet Image Services there are even more questions to consider related to a P8 4.5 migration.

Migration Scenarios

As briefly mentioned above we are referring to the ‘upgrade’ to P8 4.5 as a migration in this discussion since the target audience is user communities with content repositories that will require migration.  Certainly not every organization needs or warrants a migration so we will briefly define the most prevalent migration scenarios:

• CS to P8 CM - Content Services is functionally replaced by P8 CM (Content Manager). CS does not integrate OOTB (Out Of The Box) with P8. FileNet offered the ‘Accelerate to P8′ program for about two years after the introduction of P8. These programs are long gone.
• IS to P8 CM - Image Services (IS) is available as the updated IMAE (Image Manager Active Edition). IMAE allows your IS environment to integrate OOTB with P8 via CFS (Content Federated Services). Some scenarios exist where customers choose not to use IMAE and instead choose to migrate to a single P8 CM repository.
• P8 CM to P8 CM - some customers inherited multiple P8 systems and wish to consolidate. There was also a major platform change with the release of P8 4.x to standardize the P8 suite on a J2EE platform. Some aspects of these configurations constitute a migration since a fresh installation is required.
• Combinations - organizations with multiple repositories (primarily IS and CS) are considering consolidation to a single P8 solution. Factors involved in this analysis include business needs, support requirements, and total cost of ownership.

Image Services users enjoy many features including high volume capacity and a highly secure archive solution.  Many communities need the feature set of IS; however, there are also many cases where P8 alone meets all the needs and offers additional features.  In these cases a migration to P8 Content Manager with a migration of content from IS to P8 makes sense.

Content Services is the Panagon content management solution that is functionally replaced by P8 Content Manager.  Custom built applications, satisfaction with the current solution, and cost are all good reasons that customers have delayed moving from CS to P8 Content Manager.  IBM now essentially has Content Services on life support with no major enhancements planned.  The expanded features of P8 (including but not limited to records, email, and business process management) are simply not available without a migration.  Add to this that many Content Services customizations were developed using visual basic which is now unsupported by Microsoft.

P8 Content Manager has now been out for about seven years (originally released in 2002 as BrightSpire).  The current situation is that many customers are working with a very stable and productive 3.5.x platform and skipped the P8 4.0.x upgrade.  The primary reason for the delay is that P8 4.0 included the rewrite of the remaining components so that P8 is now a homogeneous J2EE architecture.  Due to the architecture changes 4.x upgrades essentially became a reinstall with a migration of configuration files and content.  This ‘heavy lifting’ combined with the risk of moving quickly to the new architecture caused many organizations to stay with their existing FileNet solutions.  With P8 4.5 the 4.x architecture is mature and all organizations with FileNet version from P8 3.5.2 and early should be seriously considering an upgrade.

Finally we come to organizations with multiple of repositories.  Many customers own Image Services and Content Services or in some cases Image Services and a separate P8 Content Manager system.  There are many good reasons to use IS side by side with a content management solution.  We will not cover the details of the evaluation here but suffice it to say that there are a number of organizations can consolidate to a single P8 Content Manager solution.  P8 is a highly secure and scalable platform that meets the need of many organizations for image capture, archive, and content management.

Legacy IBM ECM solutions may also be part of this equation.  The IBM ECM family of products also includes CM8 and CMoD.  If your organization owns multiple IBM ECM solutions (CS, IS, P8, CM8, and CMoD) then you should consider a consolidation or perhaps methods to leverage the benefits of each system through a single user interface.  The point is that multiple repositories may be costing your organization money either in direct cost or indirectly through lost staff productivity.  Either way it is worth the investigation because a consolidation project either for the back end repositories, front end user applications or both often reaps more in savings than the cost of the project.

P8 4.5 Stimulus Program

RSCA recognizes that businesses in general are working very hard to contain costs.  In an effort to assist, RSCA offers our own stimulus packages to IBM ECM users.  The current offering related to P8 4.5 upgrades is simple:

If RSCA conducts your content migration
we will install and configure your
P8 4.5 system for FREE

RSCA has been conducting content migrations and system implementations for 15 years.  We have tools specifically designed to facilitate the export, mapping, and import process.  In addition our project processes include the analysis techniques to evaluate you migration and establish a fixed timeline.  Contact us to learn more about how we will reduce project risk while containing cost.

Contact us for a free consulting engagement to determine if a migration to P8 4.5 is advantageous to your organization

About RSCA - RS Computer Associates, LLC. (RSCA) is long term ECM and BPM solution provider specialized in IBM ECM technology.  In our 17 years of experience we have delivered thousands of solutions saving our customers millions of dollars.  RSCA has leveraged our past experiences to build turn key solutions that are rapidly deployed and tailored to the user needs using advanced tools.  RSCA is a ValueNet partner, Value Added Reseller as well as installation and first level support certified IBM FileNet business partner.

Disclaimer - This article is written based on actual experiences gathered over 17 years of industry experience supplemented by research.  Any errors are unintentional.  Many details are excluded to support concise discussion.  Please contact info@rscompass.com to provide input or pursue personal discussion.

]]> http://www.rscompass.net/p8/migrating-to-filenet-p8-45.html/feed http://www.rscompass.net/ibm-iod-2009/ibm-iod-2009.html http://www.rscompass.net/ibm-iod-2009/ibm-iod-2009.html#comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:43:16 +0000 admin http://www.rscompass.net/ibm-iod-2009/ibm-iod-2009.html IOD 2009 dates are 25-Oct thru 29-Oct

• RSCA and WeWebU will be hosting events to win prizes throughout IOD
  • Come see the new feature demos and register to win
  • Follow us on Twitter for chances to win
• We are excited to return to IOD and look forward to seeing you there
• Booth #903

eMail to:  info@rscompass.com

Is your organization thinking of upgrading your legacy FileNet ECM solution to IBM FileNet P8? If so, you need to ensure all content is properly migrated, tracked, reconciled and verified to ensure usability in your new environment.  RSCA has migrated millions of documents from legacy content systems to P8 and has the tools and experience to mitigate your risk.  Our proven methods are expedient and will efficiently manage your team’s effort.  And now, not only will we lower your risk and effort, if you let RSCA migrate your data to P8, we’ll install your P8 suite for free.

If you are in the planning stages of an upgrade to IBM FileNet P8 or in the middle of making this change, itis time to contact the RSCA team. In addition to discussing the migration and available content usability options, we can share with you performance and usability enhancements that make the move to OpenWorkdesk, as your User Interface, an attractive return on investment (ROI).

OpenWorkdesk is a world-class application that provides a productive user interface to P8 with file management, integrated case management, automated business processes and access to data of different IBM ECM systems. Let’s schedule a brief, web based, demonstration and you can see how little training effort is required to make your users successful.

Most importantly, the free P8 installation is part of RSCA’s economic stimulus package to lower your risk and cost. Contact Team RSCA, and speak with one of our ECM experts about your free P8 installation and other RSCA stimulus programs.

The idea of generating content from a stand alone storage repository may not jump out at you as a good idea.  But when document centric workflow processes are used is when the use cases become prevalent.  Thus, perhaps the question should be modified, “should Business Process Management (BPM) systems create content or remain pure play BPM?”

What is the problem?

There are many legacy correspondence systems in place that are outdated, difficult to use, and expensive to maintain.  These solutions are great for high volume batch processing and control but lack many user friendly features such as viewing documents in context or the ability to edit easily.  The legacy systems were created to provide consistency and integrate into line of business (LOB) applications used for large volume customer service applications.  Many of these systems require a system administrator or developer to create and manage the letter templates.  The templates commonly have structured paragraphs that are combined to produce a complete letter.  Personalization is provided by merging name, address and other fields of information from the LOB system to the letter.  Letters are then typically batch printed for outgoing processing.  These systems still work for many organizations; however, it is clear that technology has significantly improved.

Today there are a significant number of correspondence production solutions to choose from.  Some are web based and some are modern improvements of the legacy solution.  Thus editing can be friendlier and administration is enhanced with more logical interfaces.  So what is the issue with these systems?  The answer is nothing – they fit the needs of many businesses, but they are another system to maintain, integrate with, and pay for.  They produce correspondence, but they do not manage it or simplify the user interaction in the workplace.

How does ECM and BPM fit in?

• What if you could open your letter templates from BPM with a click?
• What if you could edit using MS Word (or another editor) that is fully featured and commonly used?
• What if the documents were indexed, stored, and delivered automatically?
• What if all of this was low cost, easy to use and supported?

… all organizations that understand the significance would want it immediately.

With the advancements of BPM and ECM these features are within the realm of reality.

The construct of a work item entity in BPM provides the ability to gather and temporarily store information pertinent to the business process from a variety of business systems.  Since the workflow step is relevant to a specific business process, that step may query an ECM system and filter the results to present only the correspondence templates pertinent to that part of the process.  The user then simply selects the template from the list.  This is not a difficult process to manage if the BPM system is already closely coupled to the content repository that stores the templates.

Managing the templates themselves is a simple task for a good Content Management system.  They can not only be stored within their own document classification but also indexed in a manner that relates to their use.  These indexes may then be used to filter and expose the relevant templates during the workflow processing.  The other obvious advantage of using the Content Management system for templates is that the update and publish process may be easily managed using the core functionality of the system.  Updating templates is a straight forward document update and approval process that may be distributed to staff workers based on their skills and expertise.  By using the available ECM features a developer or system administrator is not required to maintain or even create new templates.  Select staff may have security access to update only the templates applicable to their business function.  Just because they can update a template does not mean that template is released for use – a simple Create, Review, Approve, and Publish process is followed to promote an update to be the current template.  And of course, by using ECM the current published version is always presented to the user and a version controlled audit trail is provided.  This will help with eDiscovery since you will now be able to prove exactly what template was used in production at a specific point in time.

Using BPM that is closely integrated with ECM also trivializes the automated storage of outgoing correspondence since it should be a core function.  The BPM work item entity already knows who the letter was sent to and reason the letter was sent (based on template) so the outgoing letter would be automatically stored in the repository.  Simultaneous to letter creation the BPM work item it was sent from would go into a “pending” or “resubmission” state and initiate a timer (since the best practice is to follow up should a response not be timely).  This “outgoing correspondence” is now virtually related to the BPM work step (case, claim, inquiry, etc.) and stored in the content repository.

Delivery is just as easily managed by a BPM/ECM solution since the ability to print, fax, email, and trigger external processes should be readily available functions.  We should not assume today that everyone wants a printed and mailed letter.  Most of us prefer the use of email for correspondence and for the nay-sayers; yes, there are solutions to handle security.  Customers commonly include fax numbers and email addresses in their profiles today … we should be using them.

So, what about automated correspondence that does not require human intervention?  Well, system to system process automation is common and easier to do then ever.  If the business rules are documented then they can be configured and followed by the same BPM/ECM solution without human intervention.  A side benefit will also be the detailed audit trail and records management capability that is already inherent to the BPM/ECM solution will apply to the correspondence with no additional work.

Benefits to the user community

The user community benefits in more ways then just mere technical advancements.  The expense of transition management and training can not be overlooked.  Transition management includes all of the activities related to adapting an organization to change.  Based on our enterprise deployment experience we believe that more intuitive the system is and the less cumbersome the technology the easier the transition.

Organizations will benefit from the ease with which template changes can now be made since coordination and interaction with IT is not necessary.  The business community is truly empowered by providing them with a tool that once configured, they control.  The process of updating and creating templates is user driven provided the BPM work item entity contains the information that they wish to automatically plug into the correspondence template.

We also know that training is expensive.  This expense is minimized by using a common editor such as MS-Word.  The standardization on a common tool that is so prevalent in the workplace, at educational institutions and at home helps with user adoption as well as minimizing training cost.  User adoption is the level of acceptance for the business community.  Acceptance by the user community is critical to the true measures of success since no one really wants a system that functions, but is not used to it’s full extent.  Leveraging software knowledge and familiarity eases the burden of user adoption.

Proposition for ECM/BPM based correspondence management

We propose that basic content creation, distribution and management from ECM/BPM is not only feasible, but desired and eminent.  We have been asked about these features from higher education, financial, government, insurance, and retirement systems.  In all cases the user community is looking for a solution that is easy to use and minimizes the effort to send and store outgoing correspondence.

RS Computer Associates, LLC. (RSCA) decided to explore the concept of correspondence generation in a technical and hands-on approach by conducting a Proof of Concept (POC).  RSCA has constructed a fully integrated ECM/BPM based automated correspondence generation solution based on a common customer service use case.  IBM FileNet P8 Content Manager and Business Process Manager where combined with OpenWorkdesk and Zero Installation Office Integration (ZIOI) from WeWebU to build this solution.  These products were selected because they are fully integrated out of the box and jointly provide most of the required features.

The result is a fully functional live demonstration that includes calling customer/employee/student/etc. information from an external system, pulling a template from within a work item, generating the letter, storing the letter, sending the letter, and pending the work item … all within the blink of an eye.  This is not a full production solution; however, we did prove every concept described in this document.

The OpenWorkdesk user interface in front of IBM FileNet P8 4.5 allowed the team to conduct rapid solution development with tight integration between content, process and MS Word.  The result is a user interface that is intuitive and productive from the user perspective.

The concept was also expanded to include adding advanced PDF417 2D barcodes to the letters.  The purpose of the barcode is to facilitate incoming processing consistent with ECM best practices.  FileNet Capture Professional 5.2 was configured to read the 2D barcode during the scanning process and use the information to bypass manual indexing.  The document is then stored in the P8 repository and automatically matched up with the originating work item.  The work item is also updated with a status change from “pending” to “correspondence received” within BPM.  This action alerts the sender that their correspondence has been returned with the additional information requested.

This POC for automated correspondence was fully successful.  It has been shared with a select user group and the WeWebU Product Management team.  We agree that there are many features provided by third party correspondence solutions not included in this POC; however, based on our review of customers from a variety of industries this solution is well suited to a large number of use cases.  Although these features are available now on a project basis it is inevitable that correspondence generation and management will be readily available as a plug in product offering for FileNet P8 in the foreseeable future.

In short, RSCA led the charge to enable the paperless transition. Here are the highlighted, immediate, successes:

• Before EAMS: The paper case file is needed for any review of case information, which means only one person at a time can access the file
• After EAMS: Multiple users in multiple locations can simultaneously access the case file. For example, a disability rater in Oakland and a supervisor in Van Nuys can simultaneously review and make decisions on a case

• Before EAMS: The judge in each DWC district office courtroom needs the paper case file in hand to adjudicate a case
• After EAMS: DWC courtrooms are equipped with computers to allow judges and case participants access to EAMS

• Before EAMS: Paper case files are housed in a single location, whether a DWC district office or the State Records Center, and it takes time to retrieve and physically transport the file
• After EAMS: Case file is electronic and accessible instantly by anyone needing it

• Before EAMS: Case files can comprise hundreds of sheets of paper and are heavy and difficult to move 
• After EAMS: Case file is electronic and requires no lifting or postage to transport

• Before EAMS: Each DWC district office has a single calendar book for court cases, and only one employee in that office can use it at any time
• After EAMS: Any DWC employee can look up any court calendar electronically in EAMS

• Before EAMS: Case participants have to go to a DWC district office to see case documents
• After EAMS: Case participants in the e-forms trial can view documents on line in EAMS

• Before EAMS: Printing checks for injured workers receiving benefits from the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund or Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund takes four hours
• After EAMS: Special fund check printing takes an hour

To read the whole story:  http://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/dwc_newslines/2009/Newsline_24-09.html