Documents are a part of every business enterprise. Every day, every hour, the employees work, process, print, forward, a huge number of documents containing various types of information ranging from invoices to receipts, materials list to analysis charts, details of orders to financial statements.
Most enterprises have administrative ERP systems in place that handle the basic administrative processes of the business. But, it will still be a complicated process for the employees to manually track, process, attach, delete, print the various documents that come from different sources within the enterprise and from outside the enterprise such as from the suppliers, vendors, etc.
To make things easier and reduce the workload of employees, thereby minimizing the error caused by human interference, companies have come up with additional output management solution system. Document distribution solutions are a part of the output management system that effectively handles collection, segregation bundling, filtering, delivering documents in various formats.
The output management system can be seamlessly integrated with any of the ERP systems, including the Siemens PLM Teamcenter. It helps in automating and pre-defining the distribution orders while keeping track and regulating the exchange of documents and information.
Let us look at some of the advantages of opting for the document distribution solutions to integrate it with Teamcenter.
Full Integration
Designed in a way to be compatible with most systems, the output management system can be fully integrated with the existing Teamcenter in enterprises.
Automatic Compilation
The documents are compiled automatically or gathered interactively; over structures and objects, and are compiled into delivery packages.
The delivery packages are also called as transmittals.
Batch/ Workflow-Based Job Resolution
The interactive system handles the task based on the pre-defined instructions or depending on the workflow.
Control the Parameters
The parameters for compiling, converting, bundling, delivering can be defined by the administrators from the enterprise.
The parameters can also be changed based on the specifications or requirements for that particular job.
The process can be taken care of from the Teamcenter. The changes will be synchronized and updated in the output management system.
Reuse Templates
Templates are used to define the parameters for an order delivery.
A single template can be edited and reused by the enterprises after the previous one is no longer needed.
This makes the compilation process for delivering the packages easier and saves time.
Automatic Distribution
The most important advantage of using the document distribution solutions is that the documents can be delivered to various recipient groups.
The documents can be sent over in an email, or stored on the FTP server or web portal (with browser access).
The documents can be printed at the desired printer locations as all the printers are connected to the output management system using a central printer database.
The documents can also be stored on offline devices such as the shared folders, CD/ DVD, or the mobile devices (memory cards, flash drives, etc.)
Prior Conversion of Documents
Converting the documents before delivering them to the respective recipient groups make it easy for both the sender and recipient to understand the data and information on the documents.
Files of all native formats such as CAD, Office, etc. are converted to neutral long term formats like PDF or PDF/A, 3D PDF, SecurePDF, TIFF, etc.
Storage of the Documents
The delivery packages created are stored directly in the Teamcenter making it easier to access them anytime.
Delta Replication
Delivery of differential or complete packages is possible using the output management system.
Document Delivery Confirmation
This is another important aspect of the document distribution solutions.
The feedback from the recipient is directly reported in the Teamcenter and stored for future references.
At any given point in time, the administrators can access the database in the Teamcenter to retrieve the details about a particular delivery package.
It will show the date, time, and documents delivered to the recipient along with an acknowledgment taken from them for the delivery.
The output management system is indeed a profitable investment for enterprises.
James Dean is a content handler and blogger who loves to write as freelancer for their readers and followers. Dean has a fantastic ability to make the most complex subject matter easy to understand.