| Volume 2016 Issue 3 |
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This month's topic is health of your ECM system. The three areas where health may fail are: Index Information, Document to Page Relation and the actual Page File.
Index Information is something that needs to be addressed at the time when documents are added to the system. A future column will address that issue. If the ECM system is designed with a Document to Page Relation setup to empower the system to have different Page File types (TIFF Images, Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets etc.), then the link between the two can be broken. This means that the system can have documents without pages, or worse the system can have orphan pages that have no documents. When it comes to the actual Page Files, the system can have Page Files that can't be found, or Page Files can't be opened or read. The most common issue is that the ECM system is setup for scanned images, most likely that means compressed TIFF files. Then one day, IT is reporting that the ECM system is running out of Disk Space. How can that happen? In the design the system was planned to hold five or ten years of scanned files, and now only two years later the system is running out of Disk Space. The answer in most cases is that the scan operator setup has been altered. Instead of storing small, around 25 - 50 Kb, compressed TIFF files, the system has been storing larger, around a couple of mega bytes, BMP files. NTS sees this issue popping up every month from installations around the world. Applying a simple software solution that will convert the BMP files to compressed TIFF files can be applied and thereby regain the much need Disk Space. Complicated? Yes, but we can help you! return to top |
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Let's talk health. No not yours, since we know that you are trying to take care of yourself. If something is not right, or you are not feeling well, you go to the doctor. The doctor performs tests until they have found what is wrong, and then they try to fix it.
The same goes for your car; something wrong, you take it to a garage to be fixed. OK, the IT department ensures that it is running every day. The hardware it runs on is constantly monitored, and should a drive go down, IT will replace and restore your data. What about the health of the actual data in your ECM system? Most ECM systems are created with a document database table, or tables, and some stored Image files. If broken down into pieces, then many systems have a document database table with document information plus a link to a page database table. The page database table then has pointers to Image files. If the page database table includes one record per document page, then each page can be of different file types: TIFF images, Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, etc. This means there are three areas where the ECM system can fail: Index Information, Document to Page Relation and the actual Page Files. If the ECM Index Information does not follow a syntax pattern, then Index Information can be all over the map; misspelling of names and transpose of numbers as an example, which makes it impossible to find all documents. In the following months, we will address some of these issues. See sidebar for more information on Document to Page Relation and the actual Page File issues. For more information, technical guide and case stories call NTS 707-258-8086 or visit us on the web @ www.go2nts.com to down load promotional material and user guides for NTS products. return to top |
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Contact: Phone: US 707-258-8086 Mail: PO Box 254807 Sacramento CA 95865-4807 Email: sales@go2nts.com TxtMsg: 4152351566@sprintpcs.com  NTS on Facebook
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