By Bob Zagami

Editor's Note: This is the complete text of Mr. Zagami's four part series, which began in the January issue of Document Management Magazine:

Despite the proliferation of computers in every aspect of our business environment, and an abundance of ever-changing software product offerings, we manage to generate an incredible amount of paperwork in our world of drafting, engineering and architectural documentation.

Realistic, productive, and cost-effective document management systems are still not the solution for many companies who are mired in confusion about their existing systems (often referred to as legacy data) and the role they will play when they are ready to install digital imaging and enterprise-wide engineering document management systems.

Everybody wants to talk about legacy data. You see it in vendor literature, you hear about it at industry trade shows, and find it used in many trade publication articles. Just what is "legacy" data?

According to the dictionary, legacy means:

Something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past.

A synonym to legacy is heritage. The dictionary gives us this meaning for heritage:

Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

That is true when it comes to engineering drawing systems and procedures. Companies have simply passed down to the next generation of managers, that which was passed down to them. That system worked reasonably well in the slow paced days of hand drawn and paper-based management tools. Many of those same systems have created problems when companies moved to automation, computers and digital imaging of engineering drawings and support documentation.

As many in our industry will attest, each company has their own traditions when it comes to engineering documentation systems. Some of these traditions are hanging on for dear life as the industry is besieged with better and faster computers, new operating systems, improved software programs, and systems integration requirements for the enterprise.

Many companies refer to legacy data strictly in computer terms, meaning information stored in older computer systems that must be integrated with new computer systems. Legacy data can also mean the paper or microfilm based information systems that are found in most engineering departments.

Let's take a look at some of the legacy systems that are still the mainstay of how we are handling engineering documentation today. As we do, we will provide suggestions that you may want to consider when planning for future systems and implementations of larger, more complex, engineering document management systems.

Drawing Creation

It's real simple - you either draw it by hand or you draw it on the computer. Although most companies have now installed CAD systems, we still find many companies who are doing manual drafting to create original or revised drawings. The output of both systems is usually another piece of paper.

Many companies using CAD workstations run them in a standalone environment and have not networked the department to take full advantage of the computer technology at their disposal.

Although many drawings are created in the computer, we still produce paper plots to begin the process of document distribution. Key personnel must have the information on a recently released or revised drawing.

In most companies, paper copies must now be made for internal and external distribution requirements.

Suggestions:

If you are still creating your drawings manually, get out of the dark ages. You must take appropriate steps to automate your process and get into the world of computers Y quick!

There is just no excuse for any company doing manual drafting today, certainly not a company that expects to compete and grow in their respective markets.

If you have standalone CAD workstations, take the necessary steps to install a local area network (LAN) and share your system resources. The time and efficiencies gained by your new network will more than offset the investment.

If you have a well-established CAD environment, then you are probably ready to explore the world of EDM/PDM solutions that can bring you to the next level of document management solutions.

Drawing Reproduction - Paper

Most companies have advanced to plain paper copier systems for the reproduction of their engineering drawings. We still find diazo machines in use at several companies and this print process has strong supporters who have no intention of changing until the last diazo machine comes off the assembly line.

Although most in-house users have installed plain paper systems, we find that print shops and reprographic firms still prefer the less expensive diazo print process and have been slow to switch to the more advanced plain paper systems.

Suggestions:

If you are still using a diazo machine to reproduce your drawings, you must plan to replace it at your earliest convenience. There is an excellent selection of plain paper engineering copiers on the market today and there is just no excuse for not having one in your company now!

Analyze your true cost of producing engineering documentation requests - including people, process, supplies, machine costs and service maintenance agreements. This information will be very valuable as you start to investigate the potential benefits of enhanced printing and digital imaging systems that will save time and money when it comes to copying, storing, retrieving and distributing engineering drawings.

If you are using an outside print shop or reprographics firm to make copies of your drawings, then you may want to re-evaluate these charges and see what your cost would be if you purchase a plain paper copier, or drawing scanner, for in-house use. There are many inexpensive copiers available that can adequately handle all in-house print requirements if you have low to medium print requirements. Medium to heavy users will also find an excellent selection of copier and scanning products that will automate and improve the process. If you have not reviewed this technology in a few years, this would be an excellent time to do it again.

Drawing Reproduction - Microfilm

Companies who have advanced beyond paper-based systems, adopted industry standard microfilm formats. The two most popular formats are the engineering aperture card (usually found in active aperture card systems) and 35MM rollfilm (used for simple long-term storage and security back-up.)

The engineering aperture card has retained its position as the most cost efficient method for capturing and storing large volumes of engineering drawings in a secure, legal and easily used format.

With the introduction of advanced digital imaging systems, the engineering aperture card has actually grown in stature. Aperture cards provide an economical storage medium, in addition to being the input and output of advanced engineering information systems.

Do not let a computer vendor tell you that microfilm has no place in today's engineering environment. If they do, they just don't understand the technology. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The most frequent argument you will hear about continuing the use of microfilm in an engineering environment is the low cost and high capacity of computer storage devices. Remember this: just because you can put all your information in the computer, doesn't mean that you should put all your information in the computer!

Suggestions:

If you still have a paper-based system, then you should have all your engineering drawings microfilmed, both for security but more importantly, to get your company ready to scan this information -as required - into a digital imaging system.

If you are thinking about scanning your paper drawings, investigate your options. You will probably find it less expensive to have your drawings microfilmed and then have the engineering aperture cards scanned than just having paper drawings scanned. This procedure allows you to have a legal, eye-readable copy of all your documentation on industry-standard aperture cards, and provides you the input medium that you will need for a full backfile conversion or a scan-on-demand application into an engineering document management system.

If you have an aging in-house microfilm department, investigate your outsourcing options with a professional service bureau. Select a service bureau that is proficient in both micrographics and digital imaging. Have your drawings microfilmed and scanned at the same time, creating an instant archival back-up system and electronic images of your engineering documentation.

If you are currently using a microfilm service bureau that can not provide you with digital imaging services, you may want to investigate alternative vendors. It is absolutely critical that your outsourcing partners understand every aspect of engineering documentation systems, and that includes paper, microfilm and digital imaging.

Support Documentation

In addition to engineering drawings, we can not forget the related support documents that become a critical part of the documentation flow in your company. These systems have probably been computerized for quite some time given the early advances in word processing, spreadsheets, desktop publishing and integrated office suites.

However, despite the early adoption of computers, we have actually managed to increase the amount of paperwork we generate in all industries.

If you are like most companies, this is a major area of concern as you investigate enterprise-wide documentation management systems and move toward full implementation of EDM/PDM solutions.

When we talk about legacy documents in this area, we are usually talking about rooms full of four-drawer file cabinets with the entire history of your company only minutes away from total destruction. Scary thought isn't it? In most companies, these documents are at the bottom of the information totem pole and you must begin to address this problem.

The problem isn't going to go away Y you just keep putting more paper in more file cabinets and at some point, you will have to automate some, or all, of this information. Remember this: it will never be cheaper to start automating this information than it is right now. Whether you select microfilm or digital imaging, you face a monumental task of capturing and indexing this information so that it can be used appropriately in an enterprise-wide document management systems.

Let's talk about that phrase: "document management." Once again we have the potential for confusion with terminology used by vendors in our industry. The confusion is not deliberate; it is just the technology of given companies that force them to look at document management from different perspectives.

There are many vendors who represent themselves as document management vendors and are mainly interested in managing existing computer files already on your system. This type of company usually does not want to get involved with the conversion of legacy data that is in a paper or microfilm system presently in use at your company. In many cases, they simply tell you to find a local service bureau to assist with the conversion process and adopt a "hands-off" policy with respect to anything that is not already in your computer.

On the other hand, companies normally associated with microfilm and document imaging systems also consider themselves to be experts in the area of document management. However, in most cases, these companies are talking about the actual documents that may reside on paper in a file cabinet or as an image on a roll of microfilm or engineering aperture card.

As you can see, depending on the type of company your are speaking with, you may get totally different perspectives on what a document management system comprises, and what it should do for your company.

Suggestions:

Get an inventory of your paper-based files that contain pertinent engineering information.

How many file cabinets? How many file drawers? How many file folders? How many pieces of paper? Before you investigate options to automate your company, you must understand the gravity of the problem and have a good idea on just how much paper you are talking about. As a rule of thumb, you can estimate approximately 2,500 8.5" X 11" documents per file drawer.

Coincidentally, there are approximately 2,500 images on a roll of 16MM microfilm. That means that every file drawer full of paper can be converted to microfilm, providing a legal, archival back-up copy of your documents. The microfilm can then be converted to digital images in a production environment or in a scan-on-demand application using a microfilm or hybrid scanning system. Microfilm images can be indexed in a computer-assisted-retrieval (CAR) system. A CAR system maintains a computerized database to locate the images on microfilm.

This paper can also be scanned using a high-speed document scanner to convert paper images to digital images. In many cases, your legacy information does not lend itself to automated indexing systems and you will incur manual document preparation and indexing charges that will be the same as a microfilm-based system.

Large volume document conversions are excellent candidates for outsourcing to a professional service bureau. It is very important to select a vendor who is well versed in paper, microfilm and digital imaging so that the best technology can be employed with your application.

In the last issue we reviewed drawing creation, drawing reproduction from paper, drawing reproduction from microfilm and the support documentation that goes along with our large format drawings.

The digital era is upon us and I=ll bet you didn=t want me to tell you that piece of information.

The question of the day is simply:

How do we get all this information into our computer systems? We are of course speaking about that Alegacy@ information that may still be in paper or microfilm formats.

The answer of the day is simply:

Scanning.

Major advances in both paper scanners and microfilm scanners have enabled many companies to once again get serious about populating their advanced document management systems with legacy data.

In recent years, many document management companies and EDM/PDM vendors chose not to get involved with discussions about populating the vaults and data warehouses that would become the controlled repositories of Aall@ of their engineering information.

The reason for this was quite simple Y it was very expensive. It was not unusual for customers to find out that the cost of converting legacy data was more than the information management system that they were installing.

Consequently, many document management and EDM/PDM vendors did not discuss the conversion of legacy data and would use the Aday-one-forward@ approach or only talk about the digital data that was already in your computer system (traditional business applications, data management, and CAD drawings.)

The Aday-one-forward@ approach just means that they don=t want anything to do with your document conversion problems when it comes to paper or micrographic formats for legacy information.

The problem for the customer is quite simple Y they don=t live in that kind of environment. The justification for automating the document management process is the availability of Aall@ information Y not just what you do from today going forward.

We have another problem in our industry when talking about document management and EDM/PDM solutions and it deals with the understanding of the terminology used by various vendors and how it relates to the customer=s business process.

We have many so-called document management software vendors who specialize in the vaulting, control, management and workflow of information that is already in a digital format. Many of these companies do not deal with legacy data in paper and microfilm and are unfamiliar with the entire document conversion process.

On the other hand, we have EDM/PDM vendors who can provide a digital information management system for total control of CAD and supporting digital documents. However, many of them are not well versed on the document conversion technologies and services that will be required by their customers to take full advantage of their software offerings.

Let=s take a look at some of the document conversion strategies that will provide answers to many of the questions you may have on the input process to get legacy information into your computerized document management system.

Document Conversion Strategies

How do we actually get legacy information into the document management or EDM/PDM system that you company is currently installing or planning in the near future? You scan it.

Paper Scanning B Small Documents

The document management industry does not lack for cost efficient and productive tabletop paper scanners. Many of the small document scanners are capable of automatic document feeding, image enhancement and will be packaged with an OCR software product that will be compatible with your new document management system. The leading vendors in this marketplace are Fujitsu, Panasonic, Bell&Howell, Kodak, Canon, Photomatrix, BancTec, VisionShape and Xerox.

These units are usually designed to capture information from your general business documents that are 8.5@ X 11@ up to 11@ X17@ in size. These systems can range from $5,000 to over $100,000 in cost, so it is imperative to do your homework and match the product and software to the application.

Paper Scanning B Large Format Documents

Major technology advancements in the area of large format engineering drawing applications have drawn attention back to total scanning conversion projects of major in-house scanning installations to begin the process of populating the new or proposed document management system.

Large format scanners are available from well-respected engineering vendors such as Xerox, Oce=, Vidar, Ideal, Contex, Vemco and WideCom. Most of the large format scanners produce TIFF or CALS formats that are compatible with document management systems.

Recent improvements in resolution and total throughput, including concurrent work process technologies connected to digital laser printers, have caused a dramatic increase in the number of requests to convert legacy data into document management and EDM/PDM software systems.

Microfilm Scanning B Rollfilm, Microfiche and Microfilm Jackets

As mentioned in our last article, microfilm is enjoying renewed interest in the area of document management systems due to its longevity, legal and archival qualities. A tremendous amount of legacy data is available in a microfilm format.

General business and small document applications would be put on 16MM rollfilm, inserted into microfilm jackets, or filmed on a step and repeat camera that produced microfiche. All of this information can now be scanned into a document management or EDM/PDM system.

Hybrid imaging systems such as the popular Minolta MicroDAX 3000, afford unique opportunities for scanning-on-demand from legacy data currently available in a microfilm format.

High speed, high production scanners are available from Fuji and Sunrise Imaging. These systems can usually be found in professional service bureaus and large in-house applications.

Microfilm Scanning B Aperture Cards

Almost fifty years since the first commercial application of the engineering aperture card at Hamilton-Standard in Connecticut, it still remains the media of choice for valuable engineering drawing information.

Scanning aperture cards, either on-demand or in a production environment, is one of the fastest growing segments of our industry as companies realize that they must get this legacy information into their new document management environments.

Tabletop single card scanners are becoming popular computer peripherals for scanning on-demand applications. Hybrid imaging systems are also being installed in this application because they can do aperture cards and all other microfilm formats.

High production, high volume, aperture card scanners such as Photomatrix and Wicks & Wilson are in use at many service bureaus and large in-house applications.

Scanner Software

The key to any scanning device is the software that will capture and enhance the image prior to storage in a target directory, vault or data warehouse. Scanning and conversion of paper or microfilm images is not to be taken lightly. You are dealing with legacy data that must be in a readable format and file structure that will enable requesters to find and use this critical information in your new systems.

Study the various software products that are used with each scanner. Observe the scanning process and evaluate the digital images for readability and printability. Review the inspection and quality control procedures used by the service bureau or your own in-house scanning group.

Scanning is absolutely critical to a successful legacy data conversion project, but is often one of the most misunderstood parts of the conversion project.

Quite often, when outsourcing, you will find that is actually less expensive to microfilm and scan your documents than it is to do the scanning from the original, or duplicate, paper copies. The reason for this is advanced microfilm camera technologies and scanning automation that we do not have in our large format paper scanners.

It would be advisable for anyone considering outsourcing of a major conversion project, to evaluate both paper and microfilm scanning options and procedures before making any final decisions.

In the next installment of this series we will look at various viewing, editing and mark-up software products that are often an interim step for many companies prior to the installation of a full-fledged document management or EDM/PDM system.

In the first two installments of this series we spoke of the creation, duplication and distribution of engineering drawings in conventional paper and micrographic technologies that have been in use for almost fifty years.

If you are like the majority of business people today, you probably have a computer on your desktop or certainly can see one from where you sit. As technology has advanced, we find ourselves with the ability to present engineering drawings and related support documentation on the desktop and throughout the enterprise.

Technology solutions that allow for the conversion of paper and microfilm images present unique opportunities to catalog legacy data in digital form. Once converted, the digital images can be viewed, annotated, redlined, edited and managed with cost-justified systems from several different vendors.

Conventional large format paper scanners and aperture card scanners produce a TIFF raster image of the document or microfilm that was scanned. Working with industry standard formats such as TIFF and CALS, allows end-users to consider systematic large-scale conversions of legacy data prior to implementation of full-scale enterprise-wide document management systems.

This approach also allows for systematic planning of the conversion process in anticipation of future imaging systems that can, and will, dramatically change the way you present engineering information to everyone in your company.

Conversion projects can start months in advance of total system integration and allow for an orderly transition to digital imaging through cost allocations that eliminate significant lump-sum payments for large conversion projects.

Viewing

Viewing options are plentiful when working with TIFF images and other formats for raster and vector files.

Simple viewing of TIFF images can be accomplished with the Eastman Software imaging product that is shipped with most Windows 95 operating systems. This product can also be purchased from the Eastman Software web site at www.eastmansoftware.com. You can have your engineering drawings scanned by a professional service bureau and store them in a working file and directory structure that will allow for easy viewing at the desktop. Clicking on a TIFF image in the directory will automatically launch the Imaging for Windows software and allow for viewing the engineering drawing. You may want to consider having the scanned images placed on CD-ROM's for easy distribution and viewing from a jukebox on your network.

An excellent viewing package from TMS, Inc. was introduced at the AIIM show and conference earlier this year. The ViewDirector Prizm Plug-In is available in Mac, Unix, and Windows versions. A plug-in adds new functionality to a web browser and allows you to view file formats that may not be handled by your system. Information on this product is available from the TMS web site at www.tmsinc.com. This becomes an important product because it allows you to view TIFF, JPEG, PCX/DCX, BMP, GIF and other black & white and color images over the Internet or your corporate Intranet.

The product, when loaded on your workstation, would allow someone to e-mail you an engineering drawing that could be viewed using your Internet browser. This type of software will complement a document imaging system, document management system, or engineering drawing system on your corporate Intranet.

A TIFF image is opened seamlessly within your browser. You have the full functionality of the product to work with the viewed image. Some of the interesting features of this product include: zooming in and out; displaying the full image; displaying the image to fit the window; display in a full window; scale to gray; save the image to a local drive; save the image as another file type; use annotations and save the image with these notes; copy the image the clipboard; rotating the image left or right; magnifying glass; creation of lines, boxes, circles and text, an optionally displayed tool bar and printing.

Now if you are unique to our industry, and have ALL your information in a CAD system, then you may want to check out Dr. DWG at www.drdwg.com. This company has software (Dr. DWG QuickView and Dr. DWG LiteView Standard) that are compact stand-alone software products allowing you to view and annotate drawings that have been saved in DWG, DXF, Binary DXF, HPGL, PLT and SAT file formats. The software loads and displays AutoCAD R12, R13 and R14, 2D and 3D drawings and AutoCAD LT. The products are ideal for previewing and redlining drawings.

Viewing and Markup

Beyond the viewing type of software are several products that allow you to view, redline (markup) and edit the digital images of your engineering drawings.

Informative Graphics (www.infograph.com) has a series of innovative products designed to facilitate viewing, redlining, and printing of scanned engineering drawings and related support documents.

One of the most popular products in our industry is Informative Graphic's Myriad Engineering Viewer. This well-established company has set the standards for the industry when it comes to working with scanned images. Their popular Myriad product allows for viewing of CAD drawings, images, documents and even 3D models.

Myriad provides various viewing options including a bird's eye, eye glass zooming and pan. The software will also handle CAD layers, attributes and hyperlinks. New features also include side-by-side and overlay comparison views.

The ability to redline a scanned drawing allows you to significantly improve engineering change cycle times. The Changemarks feature of Myriad allows the user to highlight the proposed change and have that entry tagged with their name and time stamped. This feature allows other reviewers to know what has been changed, and who changed it. Changemarks redlines record the zoom level, the page, the view, author, and other notes about the proposed or approved changes.

Local, remote and batch printing is offered, along with watermarking and banner output to identify the user or recipient of the changed drawing. You can also publish thumbnails to include in HTML pages for web applications.

Integration with other high-level software programs include Auto-trol, Documentum, MatrixOne, Motiva, NovaSoft, Parametric Technology and PCDOCS. There is also an Internet web interface that allows you to use Myriad inside Netscape and Internet Explorer Y and as if that wasn't enough, they include an option for the Adobe Acrobat Exchange License to use Acrobat inside Myriad.

The Myriad Document Viewer includes many of the same features as the Engineering Viewer and is designed for related support documents and traditional office documents.

Other enterprise-wide viewing and markup software products are available from Kamel Software, Inc. (www.kamelsoft.com) and Cimmetry Systems (www.cimmetry.com).

Viewing, Markup and Editing

Another popular product that allows you to work with scanned engineering drawings and documents is Spicer Corporation's (www.spicer.com) Imagenation software. This is a viewing, markup and editing software that advances you to another level of functionality

Paper documents can be scanned directly into Imagenation from large-format and document scanners. Cleanup of the document can be done after batch scanning or in "on-the-fly" mode that allows you to "rock" the original at a specific point while adjusting scan settings to get a cleaner image.

Images can be viewed from over 130 industry-standard of file formats by displaying the native files. This means that you do not have to start the originating software. Imagenation opens vector, raster, text and hybrid file formats for office documents and engineering drawings.

Easy navigation of the image is accomplished through scroll, zoom and rotation tools. Two specialized options are their Reference window that provides a bird's eye view and the Detail window that gives a close-up view. Imagenation also includes a full-text search function that locates text anywhere in a document or on a CAD drawing.

The Imagenation product allows working on different layers and offers various redlining and markup tools such as arrows, sketch, polyline, arc, box, circle, ellipse, polygon, dimensions, symbols, and annotation for comments. Using Imagenation's File, Save As command, users can convert image files opened in one format by saving them in another format.

Spicer is also staying up with web technology with their Web Plug-in that works in conjunction with Netscape Navigator and Communicator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The plug-in allows for enterprise-wide document distribution and viewing via the Internet or an internal corporate Intranet.

Viewing, Markup, Editing and Conversion

Stepping up from these products finds us at the GTX Corporation web site, www.gtx.com. GTX provides a sophisticated suite of products that are too numerous to mention in one article. Of interest to those who have scanned paper drawings or aperture cards would be their GTXRaster CAD and GTXImage CAD raster editing and raster-to-vector conversion software.

The GTXRaster CAD products are designed for bringing legacy data into an AutoCAD7 environment. This process will allow you to enhance scanned raster files within your AutoCAD environment. This is a series of products that are easily upgradeable with various software modules that take you from hybrid raster/vector editing to full automatic CAD conversion. All commands are consistent with AutoCAD, creating a productive and easy-to-learn user interface.

An exciting feature of this product is the Edge Rasterization process that will automatically create an outline from any solid-filled raster object. This is very beneficial for architectural plans, sign-making and logo art.

A patented feature of the GTX product line is their Intelligent Object Picking (IOP) technology that allows users to work with raster entities as intelligent objects. You can use this feature to isolate and select raster entities and apply any AutoCAD-like operation to the selected text, such as move, copy, rotate and cut/paste.

An additional module allows you to extend the product capabilities to include automatic raster-to-vector recognition and conversion. This feature allows you to convert the entire image or a selected portion into rectified and accurate AutoCAD entities.

The GTXImage CAD series is functionally the same as the above products but is designed for a non-AutoCAD environment as a stand-alone series of products.

GTX has certainly changed the playing field when it comes to productive employment of raster editing and raster-to-vector conversions from scanned engineering drawings, related support documents, microfilm and aperture cards.

Another interesting company to look at would be Trix Systems (www.trixsystems.com) that has several interesting products for working with raster and vector images in different applications. Their TracTrix raster-to-vector software is an excellent product for converting raster scanned images into DWG, DXF or HPGL files. They have just announced a new product, Trix RasterServer, that will automatically convert DWG, DXF, or HPGL files directly to the new government JEDMICS C4 raster file format now being requested from contractors.

TracTrix and RasterServer also both have the capability to convert CAD images into an industry-standard JPEG file for easy viewing over the Internet or corporate Intranet through your installed browser software package.

Raster-to-vector conversion software is also available from Arbor Image and you can find their information at http//ic.net/~aborimg.

Distributed Images

Inevitably you will want to catalog and distribute the TIFF or CAD images via a jukebox on your Intranet, LAN or WAN, or make such images available to your customers, suppliers, or for government submittals.

One of the best products we have found for this application is IMR's Alchemy Gold and Gold/Pro. Their web site is www.imrgold.com.

We provide many customers with images captured on a CD with a fully searchable Alchemy search engine that provides unlimited, concurrent use on Novell or NT networks. Although this is an excellent product for TIFF images of engineering drawings, you call also use it for any COM, COLD or source document application that may require scanning and distribution of digital files.

The software is complete with 250+ WYSIWYG file viewers including HTML. It also provides for PDF viewing and indexing. Support is provided for new drive systems: CD-RW, DVD, M-O, Jaz, Zip, PD and others.

Alchemy allows you to automatically copy all necessary files directly to the CD. No separate "publishing" steps are required. Every CD winds up with the exact information you want on it.

The built-in document viewers display retrieved files direct from the CD without launching another application. You can launch the application associated with various file types (TIFF, GIF, JPG, bitmap, WMF, PCX and more) if required.

There are two interesting add-on modules. Scan2CD enables documents to be scanned right into the Alchemy Contents window, automatically indexed with OCR for fast retrieval, and then copied directly to a recordable CD-ROM. CAD2CD is an AutoCAD module add-on that indexes DWG and DXF files, attributes, text and related project data, copies the files to CD-R and completely manages file retrieval, viewing and printing.

We always try to keep our articles as generic as possible, however, I would be remiss in not directing you to the ImageMax web site (www.imagemax.com) where you can find information on several interesting software products now under the ImageMax Corporate umbrella of engineering information solutions. Among the products you will find there are DocuRom, ScanTrax, Intellect and our ImageTrax Engineering Document Conversion software.

As you can see, the options are varied and many, and we did not cover all of the excellent products you will find on the market today for your digital images that can be created by scanning your engineering drawings, support documents, microfilm and aperture cards.

Overwhelming - perhaps. Exciting - yes. Productivity enhancement - definitely. Explore the world of scanning and digital imaging for your engineering documentation.

The past three sections of this series dealt with capturing your legacy data, engineering drawings and aperture cards to create industry standard digital image formats that will be used with some type of information management system.

The first two sections dealt with paper and microfilm, two of the most common formats that companies use to capture, index, store, retrieve and distribute vital information throughout the engineering enterprise. Section three looked at the various ways you could deal with the digital image formats that were created during the scanning of engineering drawings, microfilm, or the very popular engineering aperture card that has been a mainstay in our business for almost 50 years.

A note of apology to Image Machines Corporation, who I inadvertently left out of the review of various software products in the third installment of this series. Image Machines can be found at www.imagemachines.com, and they have also set up a site for their IMageSite server-based Extranet (Internet/Intranet) application that allows users to put their business and engineering documents on the World Wide Web or corporate intranet. Users can browse, markup and print the documents using a commercially available Java-enabled web browser.

Most companies today have some type of information and image management system in place for workgroup, department or enterprise-wide applications.

If you ask, most companies would probably tell you that their first imaging application was in a non-engineering environment. That=s probably not true. The first use of imaging in most companies was their CAD systems, which have been available for nearly 30 years.

With CAD systems, companies were able to view pictorial representations of their computer generated engineering drawings. Despite the wide-spread use of CAD, more extensive use of raster and vector based images did not come to the market until the mid-80=s.

As we approach the 21st Century, we have a vast selection of viewing, editing, and management systems that will allow your company to take full advantage of all the information that is used in your day-to-day business operations. The capabilities of today=s computer platforms, operating systems, and application software provide companies with the power to automate the management of their engineering information in various ways.

If you are like most companies, you have probably heard the acronyms EDM, PDM, TDM, TIM MRP, and ERP in meetings that deal with changing the way your company wants to manage information in the future.

I am not an expert in the area of EDM, PDM or ERP systems; however, I will try to direct your attention to several resources you should become familiar with as your company tries to define what role these types of systems will play in your future.

A few years ago Tom Arant, an EDM/PDM consultant, assembled a group of engineering related consultants, hardware/software vendors, end-users, trade publications and industry-related associations in Raleigh, NC to discuss the state of our industry as it relates to EDM/PDM. We knew we were in trouble when we could not even agree on what EDM, PDM, TDM, TIM, MRP and ERP meant as acronyms. Obviously, this was B and in many cases, still is B a source of confusion for a lot of companies.

EDM might mean Engineering Document Management or Engineering Data Management; PDM might mean Product Data Management or Process Data Management; TDM could mean Technical Document Management or Technical Information Management; MRP was probably the most stable as Material Resource Planning; and the new guy on the block was ERP and that might be Engineering Resource Planning or Enterprise Resource Planning.

So, if you have some confusion in your company as to what these acronyms mean, and what these systems are supposed to do for your company B take comfort in knowing that you are not alone.

Let=s take a look at the resources available in our industry to help you sort through the volumes of data that you will want to research in your quest for the appropriate engineering document/data management system. These advanced systems will control the creation of documents; the control mechanisms for viewing, editing and release of changed documents; the change control process; the vaulting mechanism to be used for storage and retrieval; the integration of all business process functions affecting your operations; and the ability to have the right information, available to the right people, at the right time.

First stop for research might be AIIM International, the Association for Information and Image Management International. Within AIIM we have the Engineering/Manufacturing Member Council that is hard at work trying to bring companies with engineering document management systems, and peripheral hardware products, back into the annual AIIM show and conference.

It=s no secret that as the industry transitioned from paper and micrographic systems to digital imaging, the association lost many vendors who came to the AIIM show to serve the various industries that deal with large format drawings and related support documentation. Some will say the show became too big; others will say the show lost its focus; and still others might say that the smaller solutions oriented companies became lost in the crowd as large corporations such as Digital, IBM, Wang and other non-traditional document management companies became the focal point of the show.

The issue today is not what=s wrong with AIIM, but how AIIM is changing to address the very concerns expressed over the past few years from the engineering/manufacturing community. You will want to do some research at the AIIM web site, www.aiim.org, and the EMMC section of this information packed resource, www.aiim.org/EnginCouncil/.

AIIM is also the home of many industry standards, reference books and information packets on various aspects of micrographic and digital imaging systems.

If you are interested in PDM, Product Data Management, then you will certainly want to check out the CIMdata web site at www.cimdata.com. Ed Miller=s organization has established themselves as a valuable educational and consulting resource to vendors and end-users. CIMdata publishes a series of market research studies and market analysis reports that are among the most respected in our industry. This organization also holds several PDM related conferences throughout the year. CIMdata is an international organization that can benefit companies with global requirements.

Kalthoff International is another excellent resource in the area of EDM/PDM Forums. These forums are end-user focused and are held each spring and fall. Customers like the format of a Kalthoff Conference because it is a conference first, and provides attendees with an opportunity to meet one-on-one with the hardware, software and conversion service bureau vendors who participate in the event. End-users will actually make appointments to spend an allotted amount of time with each vendor that they may be considering for their EDM/PDM solutions. While this publication is going to press they are finalizing the details for the Fall Forum that was held in Orlando, Florida. Check out their web site for information on the Spring =99 Conference B you can find them at www.kalthoff.com. EDM/PDM/ERP vendors who exhibited at the Fall Forum included: Access Corporation, Adaptive Media, Agile Software Corporation, Allegria Software, Altris Software, Inc., Auto-trol Technology Corporation, Baan Engineering, Cimmetry Systems, Inc., CMstat Corporation, CoCreate, DIVISION, Inc., Eigner + Partner, Inc., Emerald Intelligence, Inc., Engineering Animation, Inc., FileNET Corporation, Gateway Group, IBM, Ideal Scanners & Systems, Inc., ImageMax, Inc., Informative Graphics Corporation, InterData Access, Inc., Interleaf, Inc., International CompuTex, Inc., KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, MathSoft, Inc., MatrixOne Inc., MK Group, Parametric Technology Corporation, PC Docs, Inc., PLP Digital Systems, PSI Penta USA, Inc., RASTEREX, Scanning America, Inc., TSA/ADVET, Unigraphics Solutions, Wilbanks Technologies Corporation, Workgroup Technology Corporation and Xerox Engineering Systems.

Another useful web site jam-packed with PDM information is the PDMIC (Product Data Management Information Center) at www.pdmic.com. At this site you will find numerous links to the majority of vendors who offer EDM and PDM solutions. If you are just now beginning your search for information on this topic, you will be spending a lot of time here to learn about the various products that might meet your requirements. This site also contains an excellent glossary of terms for the EDM/PDM/ERP environment.

As you consider your EDM/PDM/ERP requirements, don=t forget one of the most important aspects of your project Y the conversion of paper, microfilm and engineering aperture cards into the digital formats that can be imported into the system you eventually install. This is one part of the project that you can begin to work on right now. Conversions are not as simple as some vendors would like to have you believe they are. Anybody can scan a document or an aperture card, but only a few professional conversion service bureaus understand the importance of obtaining a readable digital image with full quality control, inspection, and production disciplines to assure complete integration and integrity with your EDM/PDM/ERP system.

One of the important things to consider when evaluating a service bureau is their experience with microfilm and digital imaging systems. Many microfilm service bureaus are well-versed in micrographic systems but are just entering the digital arena. On the other hand, there are many people getting into the scanning business who just purchased their first scanner and a generic software package. It doesn=t take much to get into the scanning business. It takes years of hard work and arrows in the back to understand the conversion business. Microfilm is imaging, and it plays an important role in how you establish the strategy of your document conversion process.

This completes our four-part series on legacy data in the engineering environment. Hopefully, it provides you with some information that you didn=t have when we started this journey. You have been entrusted with the most valuable documents in your company B the engineering drawing and its related support documents. Do your research, talk to the vendors, visit the web sites for information, attend industry related trade show and conferences and make informed decisions on how you company will spend its money. Good luck, there=s a world of opportunity out there for you if you do your homework.