Put Documents to Work as Part of an Enterprise Content Management Solution with FatWire Software

As a large amount of corporate data is stored in documents, many enterprises are focused on effective document management. However, managing documents is only valuable if documents can be used to support business goals.

FatWire Software helps workers easily manage the business documents that they create and share everyday. Managing such documents centrally, rather than storing them on scattered PCs and file systems, makes them available to support a wide range of Content-Centric Applications, such as HR intranets, product catalogs, call center applications, and partner portals. The FatWire Content Server product suite includes business user-friendly capabilities for document production, importing, workflow, access control, version control, delivery, and storage. FatWire enables its customers to manage documents alongside other assets, including Web content and multimedia files. Leveraging a common Enterprise Content Management (ECM) infrastructure across diverse content types and business initiatives allows organizations to improve usability, decrease costs, reduce inefficiencies, and streamline content management processes.

Facilitates Document Production
FatWire enables business users to author documents using the desktop tools they already know, like Microsoft Office. Authors can create documents in Microsoft Word and store them directly in the FatWire Content Server repository. Users can also use Windows Explorer to drag and drop documents between their local drives and the Content Server repository. To edit documents, authors simply drag them out of the repository and then use Word to make edits. Whenever a document is changed, Content Server tracks revisions and versions. These tools make it easy for non-technical content authors to be part of the document management process without learning new systems.

Easily Applies Metadata
Document metadata is an important component of managing documents. Using Content Server, authors can add metadata to new documents. Metadata fields can be optional or they can be required to ensure consistency. Metadata can also be automatically extracted from documents. Metadata managed by Content Server can be used to track content usage and personalize content delivery.

Allows Document Importing
Most enterprises need to be able to leverage existing documents in addition to easily creating new ones. FatWire enables bulk importing of existing documents. Rules can be established to dictate whether or not documents should be added to the repository based on factors such as file type, size, and metadata. Content Server will then analyze new documents before accepting them into the repository. Imported documents are also indexed for search purposes.

Organizes and Stores all Types of Documents
The FatWire Content Server product suite provides a managed environment that allows all types of documents to be managed, tracked, shared, and disseminated. FatWire enables business users to put everyday business documents into a controlled environment, rather than storing them on individual PCs and scattered file systems. Managing documents in a common repository that is used across content and document types avoids costs and inefficiencies caused by redundant documents, repositories and management systems, while increasing ease of use.

FatWire stores documents in a hierarchical framework that looks just like directories that business users are accustomed to using. Documents and folders inherit attributes from parent nodes in the hierarchy. This means that attributes assigned to a folder are automatically assigned to the documents in that folder and can also be assigned to subfolders. This reduces redundant data entry and ensures important metadata is not omitted. This structure also allows for tremendous flexibility and efficiency in managing large numbers of documents, especially during the initial stages of importing large existing repositories.

Applies Management Services and Supports Business Processes
FatWire provides the workflow capabilities needed to support the business processes associated with producing, managing, and delivering documents to multiple channels. Workflow tools can be used in the document creation, approval, and production processes, with revision tracking and other content services applied. Using Content Server's user-friendly interface, users can easily see documents they need to review, approve, or add to the repository. Applying a common workflow infrastructure across different types of content creates efficiencies as users don't have to work with multiple systems.

Tracks Publishing Dependencies to Ensure Quality
One of the benefits of managing documents alongside other types of content in Content Server is that publishing dependencies across different file types can be tracked and enforced. This helps ensure quality as it reduces broken links and missing files. Content Server allows business users to see where managed documents are presented to users, so they know in advance what will be affected when changing or deleting a document. When changes are made and approved for publishing, those changes are held until all documents and Web pages on which the content is used are reviewed and published. Content Server's transactional publishing model publishes all new or changed content at the same time to ensure that content is always consistent and there are never any broken links.

Delivers Documents to Multiple Channels
FatWire helps organizations put documents to work in support of myriad content-centric applications. FatWire can convert multiple document types to PDF, HTML, or XML, ensuring content is accessible to all intended audiences. Converting documents to XML can also make them available for delivery to other channels such as sharing with partners or storage in external systems. FatWire's multi-site architecture makes documents readily available for use across multiple sites, which is an effective way to re-purpose content.

Personalizes Content and Document Delivery
All content assets managed by the FatWire Content Server product suite can take advantage of its powerful features for personalizing content delivery. Using Content Server, business people, who are most familiar with the content, define the rules that dictate who sees what content under what conditions. They define segments of users and create relationships between content and user segments. FatWire's personalization tools can be applied to documents, as well as other content and file types, so that the right content is delivered to the right users at the right time.

Ensures Document Security
FatWire provides extremely flexible and highly secure access control so that documents can be secured according to directory, file type, or content repository. Administrators can create access policies that define which roles have which functional privileges such as Edit, Copy, Delete, Checkout, Approve, Inspect, Preview, and Rollback. Policies that are set at parent folders in a hierarchy can be inherited by documents in those folders and subfolders. This provides the security needed to ensure that content authors, approvers, and viewers are only accessing those documents they're allowed to edit and/or view.

Includes Full-Text Search
Enterprise content is only valuable when it works for the organization and it won't work if users can't find it. FatWire includes an integration with Verity to provide site and repository index and search capabilities. Content owners can search the full-text and metadata of documents stored in the repository to find documents. Site visitors can also search the full-text of documents as part of a site search.

Integrates with Existing Systems
FatWire can integrate with pure-play document management solutions, if required. Content can be stored in existing document management systems and still leverage the personalization and dynamic delivery capabilities offered by FatWire.