02
Sat, Nov
2 New Articles

inFORM Decisions Wins in the Gaming Industry with Document Automation and Management Solutions

Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

 

With document automation, what used to be a mountain of paper and a headache-provoking job for numerous people becomes a streamlined process.

 

Written by inFORM Decisions

 

It's no accident that inFORM Decisions has over 30 hotel casino companies in the United States utilizing one or more of its document automation products. With inFORM's iDocs suite, these companies effectively reduce costs, streamline document and report workflow, and receive ROI. In the highly competitive casino and hospitality marketplace, these benefits are essential.

 

 

"If you think about it, a single hotel and casino property can typically have hundreds or more locations where documents need to be distributed—printed, emailed, faxed, or archived and retrieved", says Dan Forster, president of inFORM Decisions. "For a modern gaming property to keep up in this new millennium, a flexible and affordable electronic document automation solution must be in place."

 

iDocs from inFORM Decisions is an iSeries-native, ERP application-neutral electronic forms management suite of products that works at the spool or database file level. No application interfaces, APIs, secondary PC, or black box–based devices are needed to professionally format, transform, and distribute documents. iDocs products run seamlessly with all IBM i (iSeries, System i, and Power Systems) software applications.

 

Continues Forster, "Our gaming and hospitality clients begin to achieve ROI very quickly after installation. Once companies see how our products work, paper-based or older legacy forms solutions give way to a more state-of-the-art, yet native IBM i document processing solution."

 

Further increasing ROI for document applications is the use of inFORM's SmartRouting module. The term, coined by inFORM Decisions, basically means the ability to intelligently distribute documents and reports, on a page-by-page basis, based on conditions that a user can define for data residing within a spool file. Many casinos find unexpected benefits when they apply SmartRouting.

 

Says an applications manager at a major gaming company: "With iDocs, our casino was able to apply conditional business rules to ensure a page or a burst-and-group of pages are sent to the right people via any number of inFORM's defined output queue targets, including email, fax, printers, archives, and more. inFORM's iDocs offers a number of popular formats for us to distribute our documents, including intelligent PDFs in color and even password-protected, Excel, HTML, ZIP, and more."

 

Casino Applications Automated by inFORM's iDocs Suite

When iDocs is installed along with associated automation options (email, capture, archive, laser print, or fax), casino clients are able to quickly automate many of the more popular casino applications, including (but limited to) the following:

 

Gaming

  • Customer Counter Checks
  • Cage Markers
  • Front Money Markers
  • Foreign Currency Exchange
  • Front Money Deposits and Withdrawals
  • Marker Transfer Requests
  • Marker Transfer Credit Slips (Confirm)
  • Marker Payment Receipts
  • Pit Credits
  • Pit Fills
  • Return Check Payment Receipts
  • Safekeeping Deposits
  • Safekeeping Withdrawals
  • Statements
  • Write-Off Payment Receipts
  • Front Money Markers
  • Pit Markers
  • Comps

 

Players Club

  • Comps
  • Receipts
  • Mystery Prizes
  • Redemption Vouchers
  • Redemption Voucher Points
  • Redemption Voucher Promos
  • Win/Loss Summaries

 

Slots

  • Jackpot Slips
  • Cancelled Credit Slips
  • Slot Fills
  • W2G Forms

Says another inForm Decisions casino customer, "We use iDocs to create and route dozens of different electronic forms throughout our establishment. The amount of time iDocs has saved us thus far over manual document processes we used in the past is easily many hundreds of hours."

 

Replacing Legacy Document Management Technology

Many of the older laser form solutions involved hardware devices, a PC-based "black box" of some sort, and/or a complex array of APIs that are complicated to use. inFORM has continued to enhance, develop, and improve its flagship iDocs suite of products to track with the latest and greatest features the IBM i platform and OS have to offer. There are no downloads to a secondary device or box that is slower, less secure, more expensive, and most costly to maintain and update.

 

It's an obvious benefit to work toward paperless workflows, but the benefit is even greater when the solution is fast, efficient, and easy to use!

 

Every one of the 30+ hotel casino customers that came to inFORM over the past 12 years was the result of a decision to move to a software-based forms management solution in order to support the automation of print output for its enterprise-wide ERP solutions.

 

According to Forster, "Gaming companies evaluate several options but find ours to be easiest to use. iDocs monitors and manages our output queues to capture spool files, work with our database and XML files, and merges easily with data mapped and designed forms. The intelligent, automated routing of documents with SmartRouting was an unexpected benefit of this whole process."

 

Per another longtime inFORM Decisions customer, "When we did the math, there were literally thousands of different targets and variables for how we needed our documents and reports delivered. We used the conditional logic in iDocs to automatically burst, sort, route, and deliver documents within our inordinate number of variables. inFORM's iDocs, along with their SmartRouter module, offered centralized document management, while easily designating precise document destinations for any casino form type or circumstance."

 

Electronic Forms: Easy Design. Easy Implementation. Easy Deployment.

For many of inFORM's clients in the gaming and hospitality industry, the deciding factor is often that iDocs includes an easy way to create electronic forms and then map the spool or database data to forms. inFORM's iDocs offers two unique and powerful ways to design forms: 1) Automatically convert a scanned image of a printed form into an editable, intelligent, and compressed form overlay. 2) Use any Windows graphic design program to design the forms—e.g., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe products...whatever. Because iDocs is built on an "open designer" model, a user can import forms from any Windows-based application into the iDocs design and mapping process. From there, business rules are defined and set up for automated processing.

 

With inFORM's unique iMap data mapping tool, it's very easy to move, adjust, and define spool or database data to a precise location on any form. iMap allows the user to print to its driver and import the form from any Windows-based graphical form designer.

 

Says Forster, "A state-of-the-art forms designer is included in iDocs, but honestly, we don't care if the user wants to keep using their own graphics programs for designing forms. Our goal is simply to provide the quickest and easiest method for customers to design their forms and report graphics with the look and the data they require."

 

Says Ken Kramer, VP of Development for inFORM Decisions, "Over and over again, we have seen how our technologies have greatly sped up the design and implementation of casino and hospitality document applications. Once our clients implement iDocs to two or three of their properties, they discover how easily and effectively iDocs can 'cookie-cutter' their document, report, and check applications to all of their properties. Many casinos utilize the same or very similar formats, making a wider deployment highly simplified."

 

inFORM Decisions Document Automation Solutions—A Sure Bet for Gaming and Hospitality Industries

Without document automation, the complexity is mind-boggling. To get an idea, simply multiply the numbers of forms, document formats, and delivery options by the number of locations within the average hotel or gaming organization. When document automation from inFORM is in place, what used to be a mountain of paper and a headache-provoking job for numerous people becomes a streamlined process that takes a fraction of the time (and paper) to manage.

 

 

More Information

To learn more about inFORM Decisions and the benefits of going paperless, visit www.informdecisions.com or phone 1.949.709.5838.

 

Note: Due to the strong legal and privacy constraints in the hospitality and gaming industries, inFORM Decisions cannot directly quote users, which is why there is no attribution for the quotes in this article. Because of this, we understand there might be some possible reader skepticism; however, we can provide individual customer references to prospects upon request.

 

 

inFORM Decisions, Inc.

inFORM Decisions (www.informdecisions.com) specializes in document management, payment automation and modernization solutions for IBM i (iSeries). inFORM's acclaimed iDocs Suite make it easy to design, add intelligence, archive and/or intelligently distribute electronic documents, reports and checks to laser printers, fax, or email (in popular formats like PDF, Excel, RTF, HTML, TEXT and more). The company distributes the database modernization solution, Adsero Optima Foundation, to facilitate and automate the migration of all legacy (ISAM or DDS) databases to the latest DDL (SQL/SQE) implementation of DB2 on IBM i. To learn more, visit www.informdecisions.com or call 949.709.5838

To find out more about inFORM Decisions, Inc. and its products see their listings in the MC Showcase Buyer's Guide.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: