Stevens Graphics and txt2pdf
October 25, 2000 - Reading time: 2 minutes
Stevens Graphics, Inc, a leading US Directory printer, uses a legacy UNIX based integrated Management Information system, designed for medium to large printing companies. The system is character based, and most of the reporting is plain text.
In an initiative to "E-tize" the business, we started off looking for a tool which would convert and store the text based reports, and have them be available for viewing and printing by multiple users. One software package that we started to justify, had a price tag of $15,000 including a new server to run the application.
We discovered txt2pdf from Sanface software, and from the moment that the trial version was installed, we were hooked and sold. Using this tool, we are now converting many of the text reports that are distributed to PDF, and publishing then on our Intranet where they can be accessed by users using the free Adobe Reader. The user can then reap the benefits of PDF, being able to scale the screen image on the screen, search for text, and print a scaled version to their attached PC printer.
One of the biggest uses that we have currently, is the suite of Day End reports that are generated by our Management Information system every night. These are around 6 inches thick each night, and were printed on green bar paper on a high speed line printer. The amount of storage that these reports required deemed that we could only keep a certain amount before the older ones were discarded to reclaim storage space. Now with txt2pdf, we can save electronic versions of the reports indefinitely, as they are of small size, users can view and search the reports from their desk without making a trip to the records storage room, and we have been able to retire the aging high speed line printer and cancel our maintenance contract. Not only a huge cost saving for a tiny investment, but a major change in efficient access and use of the information.
Formatting reports from legacy systems
October 11, 2000 - Reading time: ~1 minute
QDC Business Engineering is using txt2pdf in Intra- and Extranet client projects.
In particular txt2pdf provides invaluable support for formatting reports from legacy systems to the level that can be served through WWW-portal solutions.
Proper page breaks and the wide variety of formatting possibilities are key features in rejuvenating age-old reporting systems.
Butler Manufacturing Company and txt2pdf
September 19, 2000 - Reading time: 2 minutes
Butler Manufacturing Company, Inc., -- the world's leading producer of pre-engineered metal building systems and architectural products for the nonresidential construction market -- uses SANFACE Software TXT2PDF to generate immediate reports to its network of over 1,200 Butler Builders around the world.
Butler Builders receive automatic e-mail notices providing them with a link to the online .PDF Bill of Lading report for each truck shipped for a given order.
Builders typically receive this e-mail within 2 hours of the loading of the truck, giving them very timely notice of the pending delivery of materials to their job sites.
The Bill of Lading report is the same one that is delivered on each truck, and includes a list of all parts on that truck (if the truck has parts for more than one order, the report shows a grouped list of parts for each order).
An OpenVMS system in place at each of Butler's six North American plants generates the initial text file (which is still used to laser-print a paper report for loading on the truck).
Each ASCII text report file is then converted to Acrobat files on a Windows NT server using TXT2PDF; the resulting .PDF files are then placed on a web server and the filename/URLs are e-mailed to each builder registered on the company's extranet to receive such notices.
Butler was very pleased with the high level of support and personal attention provided by the TXT2PDF creators during the implementation of the project, and we continue to receive positive comments from builders who now have a way to monitor the status of their orders as they move through the manufacturing and shipping process.
DLT Transportation Services and txt2pdf
April 25, 2000 - Reading time: ~1 minute
DLT Transportation Services of Kansas City, MO, a premier freight pre-audit and payment service, selected txt2pdf to convert text reports generated for our clients into PDF files.
This solution provides the transition necessary to support imaging for internal usage, allow access of reports by our clients through our web site and distribute reports via CD-ROM.
Our clients demand timely professional management reports assisting accounting and transportation to control and reduce shipping expenses.
txt2pdf provides us the solution to make this possible.
To develop a web based report reading application
March 18, 2000 - Reading time: ~1 minute
At the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a regional newspaper in Wisconsin, we have been printing a huge volume of reports from our system for years, in addition to newpapers. Over a million pages a month come off of high volume printers in our computer rooms and a large ammount of labor is dedicated to managing these reports and delivering them to users.
We were looking for a way to make these reports readable online. PDF files seemed to be a good option in attempts to make an uneditable, online readable file.
We found txt2pdf through pdfzone and tried it out. This was a program that we had talked about building ourselves, but that would have taken a lot of time. With just a small amount of programming to clean up the files that were comming off of legacy systems.
We are now using txt2pdf in a major project to develop a web based report reading application.