A New Way to Fax
(AS/400 Magazine, March 1997)
by Gary Langton

Faxing from your AS/400 offers the promise of saving time and money. Yet a heavy backlog of user requests and application improvements prevents event the most ardent management information systems (MIS) manager from implementing a fax technology.

With the best intentions, many MIS departments have purchased both the IBM Integrated Fax Adapter and Facsimile Support/400. Their hope is divine backlog intervention, but they're stymied by the lack of resources to fax-enable their key applications.

The problem is the process necessary to implement AS/400 fax across multiple applications. Although not rocket science, the process for installing, implementing, and maintaining AS/400 faxing capabilities has almost always involved programming. Changes must be made to an applications source code, but they can't affect or be affected by future projects or new releases of the initial code. Today, several third-party software vendors are offering software that changes the process needed to fax-enable applications. These so-called extractor products require no modifications to the application or the fax and leave project control in the hands of end-user departments.

FROM SPOOLED FILE TO FAX

AS/400 faxing capabilities have become a necessity because of the dramatic growth in stand-alone and computer-connected fax machines. There's also been an acceptance of faxes as legitimate and timely forms of business-to-business communications, which is projected to result in a 10-fold increase in the number of fax servers over the next few years, compared with the combined total shipped in the last three years.

Whether examining the old process or the new extractor products for implementing AS/400 faxing capabilities, the starting point for outbound faxing is the AS/400 spooled file. After all, a spooled file is what winds up on a printer.

Faxing from an AS/400 can be viewed as simply printing to a remote printer. But faxing is a little different. An AS/400 fax can't print to a remote printer unless it knows the remote printer's address - its fax number. More information also is required, including the form the fax will merge with, the time it's going to be transmitted, and whether it needs a cover page.

All told, there are probably 30 or so additional items that can be defined as part of printing a fax, versus simply printing the spooled file on an AS/400 printer.

Therein lies the problem when trying to fax-enable an AS/400 application that generates a spooled file. The spooled file doesn't contain all the additional information needed to successfully transmit a fax to its intended location. In many shops today, the MIS manager assigns a programmer to modify the original application that generates the spooled file. There are basically two methods used to create a fax - and they're programmed right into the application.

The first involves embedding special fax commands directly into the spooled file itself. The AS/400 fax product then processes the fax commands, which are later stripped from the faxed data. This method, though quite flexible, is undesirable because the original spooled file no longer exists (it's permanently modified with embedded fax commands). The original application also must be monitored to make sure it doesn't interfere with the fax application or vice versa.

The second method, used by Facsimile Support/400 and other vendors, uses control language (CL) commands or programs that don't embed commands in the spooled file. This method has two major pitfalls. First, a batch spooled file often contains multiple documents going to different locations. As a result, the original code that generates the spooled file must be modified. Second, changes to your applications must be monitored by your staff because they could be affected by program temporary fixes (PTFs) delivered by your vendor.

BUILDING A FAX TEMPLATE

The new extractor products don't modify either the fax or the application. No programming effort is required when using them, and the ability to create custom faxes from applications is transferred to the user department requesting the fax automation. Extractor products eliminate the need for scarce programming resources and, at the same time, deliver time-and money-saving improvements to the user community.

When using an extractor product, an extractor fax template is created that defines all the details necessary for faxing multiple documents from a single spooled file. The fax template gives the AS/400 fax product the location of the required fax information on the documents in the spooled file.

A user chooses a fax template for a model spooled file that represents the production spooled file. This model spooled file contains a variety of the documents that will be faxed, including documents of different page sizes that are going to different fax locations. Once the extractor process is started, most extractors prompt the user for all the necessary fax information, such as the fax number and the recipient's name. The user follows the script by using the cursor to point to the location of the fax information in the spooled file.

For example, to fill out a cover sheet properly with the name and address of the recipient, a user specifies that line 3, positions 20 through 50, contain the recipient's name on each page of a spooled file. Line 4 in the same position has address information. Operated in a point-and-click environment, a fax administrator points the cursor to the beginning and ending positions for each field to create the template definition.

Some necessary fields may not be located in a spooled file. For example, one of the most obvious pieces of missing information is usually the fax number. In this case, a key field from the document can act as a link to a master file where the fax number is stored. So a vendor number on a purchase order can be used to link to a vendor master file.

Most extractor products can distinguish between a local, toll, long-distance, or international call, and they automatically insert or delete the proper digits to complete the call. This helps ensure a successful transmission, eliminating the need to add any digits to a stored number.

Optional prompts from extractor products let you establish page breaks; merge forms with data; include cover-sheet information; choose the date and time to put the template into production; and track the fax before and after it transmits. The built-in intelligence of most extractor products also determines which documents to fax. They can usually bundle documents that are destined for the same fax number.

Once the extractor template is tested, it's put into production. You can then create multiple faxes from a single spooled file. Once put into production, the system is completely automated, from the creation of the fax to the confirmation that it was sent. The system will log its success and can delete old faxes that have been stored for a certain length of time.

Extractors can be used for almost any AS/400-based applications, such as invoices, purchase orders (the primary application for AS/400 faxing), and order acknowledgments. It also can be used for industry-specific applications such as pick tickets for distributors; bills of lading and waybills for transportation companies; and transcriptions and medical reports for the health-care industry.

The end result of using extractor-based AS/400 fax products is a completely new way to implement faxing into applications. They don't require development time, project tracking, or constant monitoring. And extractors shift the fax implementing responsibilities to the departments that need its applications fax-enabled. So if the purchasing department wants to fax its purchase orders, the MIS department can roll out an extractor to the purchasing manager. The purchasing manager can then enable the purchasing application with minimal assistance from MIS, much the way Query/400 allows users to pull their own reports without assistance from the technical-support staff. The difference means faxing responsibility, with control being shifted from the MIS department directly to the end user.

FAST FAX/BLUE

ONE FAX EXTRACTOR PRODUCT ON THE MARKET TODAY IS FastFax/Blue from Quadrant Software of Mansfield, Mass. FastFax/Blue utilizes Facsimile Support/400 and the Integrated Fax Adapter to make Facsimile Support/400 easier to implement, use, and manage. It simplifies the fax-integration process and gets end users involved in the fax automation process. Features of FastFax/Blue include bundling of faxes going to the same fax number and the merging of forms, signatures, and letterheads without Advanced Function Printing (AFP) programming. It eliminates the need to enter all dialing codes, such as a 1 for long distance or 011 for international calls. It also has control features to identify faxes by user-defined fields, such as purchase-order or vendor number. It also includes a tool for sending faxes from Microsoft Windows. FastFax/Blue can be added to an existing Fax Support/400 installation without affecting any applications that have been fax-enabled with Fax Support/400. In addition to integration features, FastFax/Blue offers several pre-programmed interfaces for the point-and-click sending of spooled files, OfficeVision/400 documents, queries, captured screens, and ad hoc memos. It's designed to give end users complete control over sending and receiving faxes, including confirmation messaging and activity logging. Most extractor products can distinguish between a local, toll, long-distance, or international call, and they automatically insert or delete the proper digits to complete the call.