Spools may be generated by a mainframe -AS/400
or RS/6000- or any other source. This information
is then compiled and fulltext indexed banning
words such as “the”, “this”...
and other non relevant terms you frequently
find.
In order to avoid indexing the whole contents
in fulltext mode, the administrator can also
use specific areas (lines or columns) as indexes.
Once it is indexed, the whole of this information
is at any authorized user's disposal. The users
can access the information from their local workstation
or from a distant site -using a modem, an Intranet
or databases duplication on CD ROMs in other
sites. Master indexes may be defined for each
media in order to reduce search time.
You can very easily view directories' pages
thanks to assciated page overlays and copy them
into a word processor or spreadsheet program.
With GARGANTUA COLD you can restore, index,
store, retrieve, disseminate and protect your information
capital.
1) How
it works
Installing and parameterizing GARGANTUA
COLD system is very simple. With the
administration module you can define within
a few minutes: index source and structure,
page overlays, the security level for each
directory or page –for a specific user
or workgroup. Then you may proceed with the
indexing. A log file allows the traceability
of archiving operations. If an error occurs,
you can find the file that generated it.
Index templates can be modified
even after spool indexing, for example in order
to add forgotten criteria. Just modify the incomplete
template and run again the indexing operation.
Your GARGANTUA COLD system
goes on working as it used to except the directories
are automatically “printed” in its
indexing engine, then indexed, compressed, stored
on optical or magnetic media.
Documents are classified within
a tree structure:
- Families and templates (directories)
- Spool files
- Pages
Any authorised user can consult,
print or export documents in Windows Cipboard
in order to use them in a word processor or a
spreadsheet program. Users no longer have to
wait for files comming from another department,
they obtain the files they need immediately!
2) Fulltext
searching with GARGANTUA COLD: performing
and rapid
GARGANTUA COLD administrator
can define up to 22 index fields for each template. GARGANTUA
COLD integrates a very powerful and
rapid indexing engine. It indexes the contents
of the directories after deleting all non-relevant
terms (eg: the, this, that...). Thus, search
time is really short, whatever the searched term
is. Specific areas may be excluded from fulltext
searching thanks to a simple manipulation with
the mouse.
Boolean search is also integrated
with standard boolean operators and comparison
operators: AND, OR, =, etc., as well as truncation,
wild cards and spelling variance functions. Such
queries may be applied to a single directory,
to a set of directories or to the whole database.
There are many search criteria:
directory names, page names, sentences, words,
numbers, dates, pre-parameterized criteria. The
last 100 queries are saved.
Moreover, standard COLD systems
carry out searches in each media one by one,
which make search time longer.
Conversely, GARGANTUA
COLD proposes several functions intended
to help you make a search, such as the list
of directory names, the list of most frequently
searched indexes as well as the date these
indexes were entered. Thus, the search is consistently
oriented which allows the system to load the
media where the data is supposed to be. You
can then browse in a few seconds hundreds of
reports, thousands of pages, located on several
media.
When you open a spool file,
you can easily zero in on a single page or field,
or switch from one hit to the other in order
to extract the information and use it later within
a word processor or a spreadsheet program.
3) Easy
access and optimum security
GARGANTUA COLD offers
a totally flexible security that you have neither
with paper documents nor with microfiches, nor
in standard systems.
Security levels can be defined
for each directory, each page and/or each user
workgroup.
4) Storage
With GARGANTUA COLD you
can store the whole of your information on-line
on CDs so that your collaborators are able to
access any page of a directory in a few seconds,
with no need to move over.
That has just nothing to do
with print-outs stacked on desks or with microfilm
bands only available for consultation far away
in another department.
Data archiving on CD-ROMs is
carried out exclusively within the software,
no need for any extra module. However, other
storage media can be used.
The type of storage media that
should be used depends on:
- data consultation frequency
- legal obligations concerning specific data
- requiered security level (eg: breakdown tolerance)
For non frequently consulted
documents (eg: older) it is possible to load
the right media only when the search is lounched.
Conversely, for frequently consulted
documents, or in order to make consultation of
data stored on CDs easier to any user, it is
possible to put all the CDs in a jukebox.
5) Page
overlay management
s which allows the user to view
and print again – if necessary, or to fax
reports generated by mainframes exactly as if
they had been printed on original forms. GARGANTUA
COLD deals with page overlay.
Page overlays may be displayed
or removed even when you print.
When a page overlay is changed
it is possible to dissociate former and new archives
thanks to a word which is into the page.
It is possible to link a page
overlay library to each directory so that the
user can select the right page overlay among
those proposed in a drop-down list, in order
to apply it to a document
6) Viewing
tools
GARGANTUA COLD integrates rapid
and performing tools:
- page overlay designing tools
- intuitive online help
- horizontal scrollbars (for documents with
rows) and vertical scrollbars (for documents
with columns), to easily “leaf through” the
directories
- scrollbar for search results to jump from
hit to hit
- assisted search
- search criteria put in relief for easier
viewing
- add notes
- highlighted passages
- creation of explainatory diagrams on the
right side of a directory
- page overlay archiving with just one clic
7) Printing
Documents can be printed with
a local or a network printer. You can print the
whole of a document or only specific pages, both
with or without a page overlay.
Those printed issues are generally
of much higher quality than a copy of the original
document.
8) Databases
GARGANTUA COLD runs with Access
or Oracle relational databases, and Fulcrum for
full text functions.
9) Evolutions
of the system
With GARGANTUA COLD you can:
- easily switch to a new company organization,
the software may even help achieve such project
- add new users by purchasing new licences
- archive as many new types of documents as
you wish
- take into account new page overlays
- tackle increasing volumes of documents to
be processed
Optional modules offer extended possibilities
for your COLD system:
- EDMS Image module (eg: for mail management)
- email
- Workflow...
