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Ways to deliver test output (paperless)...


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Warpig

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Joined: 26 Jul 2010
Posts: 3
Location: Kansas City

PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:26 pm
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Hello, this is my first time posting in here. I am wondering if anyone knows of an efficient, paperless way to deliver output?

My current situation is that we have a branch in KC, MO. and another in Indy and we currently print off stacks of reports for the customer to view.

We are trying to find a way to send the data to and fro between us and the clients. Some of the ideas being kicked around involve RPTWEB (report web), INFOPAC (?), NDM transmissions, or FTP.

Right now I think we are leaning towardds the report web idea. But I was curious if there was a better, more efficient, cost effective way.

Has anyone heard of ODS (output delivery system)? Is that something I might be interested in?

Thanks!
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Robert Sample

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Joined: 06 Jun 2008
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Location: Dubuque, Iowa, USA

PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:38 pm
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Seasoft's TRMS has a web component, and it supports extensive output management options.
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superk

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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
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Location: Raleigh, NC, USA

PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:43 pm
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The question is, do they still need the paper? My first thought would be to just post the reports as html or pdf on a secure website, and have them access them there. Then they could print whatever they wanted at their cost, not yours. I used to work in healthcare, and we had to setup and provide fax machines and/or printers in hospitals and doctor's offices in order to securely deliver lab results. Or, you could route them the raw data and have them deal with it.
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Warpig

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Joined: 26 Jul 2010
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Location: Kansas City

PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:46 pm
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superk wrote:
The question is, do they still need the paper? My first thought would be to just post the reports as html or pdf on a secure website, and have them access them there. Then they could print whatever they wanted at their cost, not yours. I used to work in healthcare, and we had to setup and provide fax machines and/or printers in hospitals and doctor's offices in order to securely deliver lab results. Or, you could route them the raw data and have them deal with it.


We are trying to do away with the paper portion of it (trying to go green I guess). What you describe is pretty much how we have it now. We have huge greenbar printers all over the place and a lot of these reports use up a whole box of paper.

So I'm assuming if we can find a way to send the data electronically, there would be a way of archiving the data on file so they could keep it however long as required. Microfiche is not an option in this case.
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superk

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Joined: 26 Apr 2004
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Location: Raleigh, NC, USA

PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:46 pm
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Warpig wrote:
Has anyone heard of ODS (output delivery system)? Is that something I might be interested in?

Thanks!


ODS is a component of SAS, and is used to prepare SAS data for a variety of output formats (i.e. csv, rtf, pdf, html, xml, etc.).
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Warpig

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Joined: 26 Jul 2010
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Location: Kansas City

PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:53 pm
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superk wrote:
Warpig wrote:
Has anyone heard of ODS (output delivery system)? Is that something I might be interested in?

Thanks!


ODS is a component of SAS, and is used to prepare SAS data for a variety of output formats (i.e. csv, rtf, pdf, html, xml, etc.).


Would this be an option for what I need? We currently have a client called ODSE (wonder if they are similar) which uses server based output (FTP and such). I had mentioned that in our meetings but it wasn't received very warmly.
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Bill Dennis

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Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 562
Location: Iowa, USA

PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:55 pm
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I have used IBM ContentManager on Demand to store reports from the mainframe and other data (MP3, TIF, PDF, etc). It has a Web viewing component so the data stays in-house but client can login from anywhere to view.

Reports are indexed, stored in DB2 tables and archived as objects for later retrieval.

Many similar products are available.
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