"AutoFORM LaserNet, simply the easiest and most cost
effective way of managing Baan documents"
Overview
Industry
Leading provider of engineer-
ing technology, to the world’s
automo ve, transport and
energy industries.
1800 employees worldwide
Turnover of £146m
Business SoluƟon
Document crea on and world
wide distribu on of all Baan
system generated output via
print, email and fax.
Future planned
implementaƟons could
include:
Cold Archiving,
Scanning and or XML import of
supplier invoice data.
Workflow based document
authorisa on and approval
system for incoming invoices
and outgoing purchase orders.
Architecture & SoŌware
INFOR Baan 5b
AutoFORM LaserNet
AutoFORM Fax and Email
Key Business Benefits
Ability to change documents
in-house, allows for cost
savings and to respond
more quickly to internal and
customer requirements.
Financial benefits from
distribu ng documents via
email & fax.
Mul ple language and variable
content.
All documenta on given a
company enhancing makeover.
EFS Technology, Tel: +44 (0)1223 872747, sales@efstechnology.com, www.efstechnology.com
"Winning through Technology" is Ricardo's mission statement and with three victories
under their belt for the robust, highly efficient engine design of Audi's championship 24
hour Le Mans car, their pedigree is clear. Not content with land based records, their work
with the Voyager Aircra , lead to the first nonstop round the world journey and pioneered
a new genera on of highly efficient, low carbon emission engines.
Using technology to improve efficiency is also a formula Ricardo apply to their business
systems. Ricardo were early adopters of ERP technology, implemen ng Baan in 1999, to
support its UK manufacturing opera ons. This fast became one of the benchmark Baan
installa ons in Europe. Yet there remained one area where they sought improvement:
Baan document output, distribu on and archiving. Marc Jenkins, Account Manager from
EFS Technology explains:
"Ge ng output from any ERP system into business documents is a specialist programming
skill. Ricardo had previously benefited from the services of specialist Baan consultants to
program their Baan reports. With their
help Ricardo have been 'bug free' since the
go-live date. However, as me has moved "AutoFORM LaserNet's
on Ricardo were finding it quite frustra ng, document management
not to men on costly, to have to call in tools are extremely powerful,
outside consultants just to make seemingly
modest changes to their documents, such
but easy to use. We can
as changing a logo, or a clause in their achieve great results in a
terms and condi ons. In addi on, Ricardo frac on of the me and cost
recognised that there would be other associated with tradi onal
advantages of using output management Baan coded programming"
technology such as automa cally delivering
Baan Systems Engineer (Ricardo UK)
invoices by email or fax and storing copies
in an online archive. These would also
reduce costs and bring Ricardo a number of business efficiencies and produc vi es too."
With these thoughts in mind, Ricardo asked INFOR to recommend a document management
suite that would help them to achieve their objec ves. Following a rigorous selec on
process, Ricardo chose AutoFORM LaserNet from EFS Technology.
Why AutoFORM LaserNet? The Baan data is simply dragged and dropped into the report
Marc Jenkins notes, "Ricardo were impressed that we used their to create a 'route map' of where you want it to appear on the
data rather than random sample data in the demonstra on. form. The process is very simple and requires no par cular
I also think Ricardo liked the fact that we develop our own scrip ng or programming experience.
so ware, which means that they will always receive high quality
support whenever they need it."
He also highlights that, "Ricardo's requirements are typical of
most Baan environments. Our suite of output and document
management solutions are perfectly suited for both their
existing and future Baan document needs". Key functions
include:
In-house design and ongoing management including laser
printable & electronic documents incorporating logos, Once the overlays and the data mapping is complete it's uploaded
variable language content and specific customer terms and to the LaserNet server to be converged with the Baan output.
condi ons – elimina ng the cost and difficul es associated LaserNet analyses the incoming data stream, collec ng triggers
with using external consultants. such as country codes or client status and uses these to switch
Electronic Delivery, automa ng the distribu on of purchase to the right overlay with the appropriate terms & condi ons or
orders and other me cri cal documents by email and fax. local office address.

(Future implementaƟon) Online Baan integrated archive AddiƟonal Powerful Features

& workflow to give staff instant desktop access to the AutoFORM LaserNet offers a number of ways to enrich &
documents they need, especially outgoing invoices for enhance Baan output without scrip ng. For example:
credit control and incoming supplier invoice processing &
• Inser ng pictures
authorisa on.
• Subtotals, totals and calcula ons
How it Works • Automated a achments e.g. terms and condi ons
AutoFORM LaserNet combines a high degree of func onality
• Word processor style
with ease of use. There are two essen al stages to be completed:
forma ng: fonts, font & line
design of the overlays and mapping the Baan data.
size, text wrapping,
1. Design of the templates/overlays.
• Automated switching of
Overlays contain all the design elements such as column
interna onal date and
outlines, plus sta c data such as the column headings and logos.
number formats e.g. d/m/
Variable addresses can be added from either the Baan output
yr to m/d/yr & 1.000,00 to
(as condi onal data), or as a separate overlay layer.
1,000.00.
Overlays can be created in any Windows design package such
Automated Email & Fax Delivery
as MS Publisher, Word or Adobe Indesign. This brings a number
AutoFORM LaserNet formats the
of advantages:
documents so that they can be
• Overlay design can be delegated outside of a me pressured readily sent by any fax server (such as AMS Castelle Faxpress).
IT department. LaserNet can collect the fax or email addresses from the Baan
output, or a separate database on the server.
• Foreign language documents can be created by na ve
speakers in Ricardo's international offices saving on Cost JusƟficaƟon and Business Benefits
localised transla on services. AutoFORM LaserNet was en rely cost jus fied on the basis
that Ricardo could reduce external consultancy fees for output
• If a company logo or address changes a new overlay
management. But over and above this there were addi onal
can be quickly created to reflect this without having
efficiency and produc vity gains as Ricardo began to use
to make any adjustments to the Baan output file.
AutoFORM LaserNet to replace labour and paper intensive
processes with automated electronic delivery and online
2. Data mapping of Baan Output (CondiƟonal Data). document viewing.
The overlays are imported into the AutoFORM LaserNet
developer. This uses a split screen arrangement showing the
sample Baan input on one side and the overlay on the other.

EFS Technology Ltd, 2 Burlington Park, Sta on Road, Foxton, Cambridge, CB22 6SA, England
Tel: +44 (0)1223 872747 sales@efstechnology.com

www.efstechnology.com