ABS Document Manager
Document Management Systems acquire, store and organize photos and documents so information retrieval is quick and easy. ABS Document Manager can acquire images directly from scanners or digital cameras, or you can import standard formats like .tiff, .gif, .jpg, .png, .bmp, .wmf, and more. The difference between ABS Document Manager and off-the-shelf software is the integration with ABS Agency Builder. This offers incredible organization and ease of information retrieval.
For
starters, acquired images are instantly, and automatically linked to the
client’s account. They can also be linked to
any family member or policy in the account. For
example, this photo was taken with an inexpensive digital camera, and shows
unrepaired damage of an automobile. Not only is it linked
to the household, it is also linked to the policy.
This doesn’t sound like such a big deal, but it is. Let’s say the rated driver for this vehicle moves out of the household. The ABS Split Household utility (part of ABS Agency Builder) automatically moves the policy to the new household. When the policy is moved, the linked images are also moved. So the big deal is this, with one quick transaction you actually perform three tasks that other programs require you to do individually.
Before starting a document management program, understand that images eat hard drive space and require a pretty powerful computer. If you’re short on hard drive space, any imaging system will soon require an upgrade. You will be dissatisfied with the performance of any processor less than a 300 MHz Pentium II. Naturally, the more RAM you have, the better everything works. Backing up to diskettes will require more and more floppies as your database grows. An alternative such as a Zip Drive, or CD backup should be considered.
ABS Document Manager works with industry standard Twain devices. Some manufacturers advertise Twain compliance but actually build the Twain driver into their software. That means other programs such as ours can’t use it. Some packaged systems, and some multi-function devices that print, fax, and scan fall into this category. Because of this, we can’t guarantee hardware compatibility. Manufacturers who openly comply with Twain standards are your best choice. To find out if your equipment is Twain complaint, read its documentation or contact the manufacturer.
Various methods of image compression are used to save disk space. They are categorized as Lossy, or Non-Lossy. Lossy compression results in very small data files by throwing away unimportant parts of the image which results in slightly degraded images. For example, a house photo could show a shingled roof, but without detail. Your mind “sees” a shingled roof even though you can’t see the shingles. An underwriter might reject the photo for the missing details.
ABS Document Manager does NOT use lossy compression. This results in a higher quality image, but uses slightly more disk space. The up-side is that today’s hard drives are larger and less expensive than ever before, and the quality of your images will be determined by your printer, scanner, and/or camera — not by limitations in our software.