Document Management Talk

It was over 8 years ago we first introduced Document Manager to streamline the proof of delivery document processes of a major logistics customer. The system has then since been implemented at over 50 sites throughout the UK that handle over 80,000 deliveries a day. Late last year due to increasing volumes and problems with data backups (how do you backup 35 million images!!) they asked us to look at doing some development to improve system performance and cope with future needs. We were only too grateful to help them out J

The system was originally built using VB6 and has been reliably running that way since launch (good olde VB6!) In order to cope with the clients future demands we looked at re-writing some of the applications using Microsoft’s latest .NET technologies. The three main parts to the solution: depot scanning, server import and web viewing where all candidates for re-architecture as was the backend Document Manager database.

The scanning in recent months has gone round and round in circles. To start with they were using eight year old scanners; they then decided (due to maintenance costs on the scanners) that it would be a good idea to replace these with MFD devices, but due to various issues they finally decided to go with Kodak i1320 scanners using a twain interface. This meant we had to modify the current scan application and what we ended up with was a very slick and quick scanning UI which the client is more than happy with.

 The import and the web were both re-written from scratch using .NET 3.5 and include the use of technologies like Ajax and multi threading. The old import had a capacity of a mere 13 pods per second, whilst the new import on initial testing can hit upwards of 50 pods per second! The new website also features a new GUI which is enhanced by the use of Ajax technologies allowing users and customers to retrieve pods seamlessly. The database structure has also been optimised for quickness of import and retrieval, and has been reduced in size to aid with the backups.

So where are we at now?

Well over the last couple of months we have been updating, re-writing and future proofing the system to cope with the clients increasing volume of deliveries which we think might reach 150,000 per day soon! So in between tweaking the website to be the right colour! And some delays at the clients end due to hardware problems we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We are currently running some of the processes in parallel to their existing ones (all going well so far, phew!), and other parts are in testing. So we hope (fingers crossed) to have all the code running live at the end of this month. So an ageing old VB6 deployment has been brought into the 21^st century using the latest technologies Microsoft has to offer.

Well after all that customer work it is on to Document Manager 2.6 Enterprise development!

Steve

A bit too busy to stop and think this week. The development schedule is pretty packed. So I’m afraid there wont be a big blog this time. I just want to share some great development team news. One of our senior developers/architects  for the .Net product, who left us a while back for greener pastures and to find some new challenges (that were a lot closer to his home) actually quickly realised the pastures were not so much green (despite their proximity to his front door) – and now he’s back with us! He said something about missing us all, missing the commute, missing working on the markets favourite document management system – but it could just be the cream cakes we feed him!  

I’m saying no more on that subject other than as penance he is going to be writing the next big blog article. I will get him to share some of his experiences in developing our .Net product. Then maybe I will get him to share some insights into the challenges of DM Workflow design or maybe even a bit on Silverlight and why we chose to integrate it. 

The question has also been raised this week in the development team as to “why software sales people all seem to need to give each other nicknames?!” Answers on the back of an envelope please.