Print Stream Conversion
It is just the starting point
Looking for a Reliable Method for Print Stream Conversions?
Compart’s proud 23 year history began with creating a new method for print stream conversion. Tasked by IBM to find a way to convert graphics on Big Blue’s OS2 operating system manager, Harald Grumser and Christof Mayer invented what would eventually become known as DocPonents.
DocPonents make it easy to convert a document to pdf. But it goes much deeper than that. Converting documents to pdf is only the beginning of the Compart journey, as you will see.
Convert PDF to AFP (PDF2AFP)
They began with AFP conversion. AFP is a useful file format that was very well thought out by IBM. So PCL to AFP (PCL2AFP), or PDF2AFP is an important capability for many organizations.
Eventually they created a robust data conversion matrix that allows the transformation of data formats in a revolutionary way. Now, thousands of document professionals use Compart DocBridge Mill to convert, for example, AFP to PDF (AFP2PDF) or AFP to PCL (AFP2PCL) or AFP to PostScript (AFP to PS).
The conversion table has grown exponentially since that time but the method has largely remained consistent. So if one wanted to transform PDF to AFP (PDF2AFP) the method of conversion is brilliant and quite simple. More important, it keeps the objects intact and does not compromise their existence (i.e., from rasterization) for a smooth-looking representation.
The objects therefore are still available for use in the future, which is especially important when one is interested in the conversion of a native print stream (AFP or Postscript or Metacode or PCL or IJPDS) to PDF/UA. As good as it is, the Acrobat reader cannot read anything but data, so raster images—even of fonts, words, sentences, paragraphs and documents—cannot be rendered into intelligible language.
That is the beauty of DocPonents. With DocPonents, one of the simplest business problems you need to solve is how to transform PDF - how to convert files to pdf?
The menu is vast and extremely useful. It is possible to convert PDF to AFP (or PDF2AFP) or PostScript to PCL (PS to PCL or PostScript2PCL) or PostScript to PDF (PostScript2PDF or PS to PDF).The matrix contains 21 input file formats and 19 output formats, making it simple to convert PDF to PCL (PDF2PCL) or PDF to PS (PDF2PS). Just run your finger down the chart to your input stream and follow the row across to get to the output stream of choice.
Print Stream Conversion and Modification
Powerful solution for universal document processing for all formats and all channels.
Learn more about DocBridge Mill Plus
Additional choices are available: for example, you might have a need to transform PS to AFP (PS 2 AFP). What makes it possible to transform PostScript, what makes PostScript Conversion possible is DocPonents. The conversion matrix shows you what you can accomplish using the most basic DocBridge solution.
But that is just the beginning. Converting documents to pdf, or a single document to pdf, or learning how to convert files to pdf, and using our software to convert a document to pdf is a useful endeavor but it is not all we can do. The manipulation of a document is often more important than the document conversion of it from one format to another. Just as movies are filmed out of sequence and later edited in a way that tells the story so too can we allow you to make the most of your time and your equipment. Sorting documents in any order that makes sense, for example by size or importance or any other criteria, is an important consideration. So is document archiving.
The Business Need for Archiving
Archiving documents in an easy-to-retrieve manner is often the difference between a good customer experience and one that is a disaster for your organization. Ask anyone who attends an Xplor webinar or Graph Expo or another conference: the key to success is agility. Omnichannel document delivery (or multichannel document delivery) can be done in several ways. But the best way to make use of alternative delivery channels is to keep the document intact, metadata as well as the fonts, graphics and other elements or objects.
The ADF Model and Print Stream Conversion
The automated document factory (ADF) concept grew out of the need for the organization to apply mass production techniques, including Six Sigma, to the multi-channel document production. Print stream transformation, print stream modification, print workflow tracking are all the result of this approach, championed by Gartner and Infotrends and Forrester and Madison Advisors and Doculabs and translated into action by several companies.
The ADF model allows a company to leverage its legacy systems to process documents regardless of type, format, content and source for output over every conceivable physical and digital channel. Scalable and platform-independent software solutions such as those in the DocBridge suite help analyze, classify, index, merge, and split documents as well as convert them from one format to any other. For example, by converting documents to pdf for archiving the document becomes an asset to use and re-purpose for Customer Service or multi-channel delivery. Compart has expertise in how to convert files to pdf and can help you convert a document to pdf from any print stream or data stream format.
The ADF is made stronger with a document output hub such as that created by DocBridge Pilot. DocBridge Pilot is a platform for document output. It can convert CRM or ERP database driven customer data into a centralized hub for inbound and outbound document management. The flexibility of DocBridge Pilot gives it great power in the right hands. The handlers can grab data, use DocBridge Mill for data stream modification and data conversion and do hundreds of other things as well.
Customer Communication Management (CCM): A Growing Field
But wait—there’s more: CCM or Customer Communication Management is becoming better known in document output circles. It’s a way to convert a simple transactional statement, the bread and butter communication vehicle you have with your customers, into a promotional tool capable of allowing you to up-sell or cross sell other products or services in order to get more wallet share from each of your customers. Remember the Pareto Rule: you get 80% of your business from 20% of your customers. Providing a good customer experience helps make that true and gives you an edge over competitors who are trying to steal business from you. A CCM multi-channel document or omni-channel document is like having home field advantage.
How does CCM happen? From having the ability to do data stream conversion in a manner that allows you to send the bill or statement via the channel of the customer’s choice by converting AFP to HTML5 (AFP2HTML5) or PCL to HTML5 (PCL2HTML5) or PostScript to HTML5 (PostScript2HTML5) or (PS2HTML5) and deliver the document according to the preferences of the recipient. That is the essence of Customer Communication Management. But the “M” in CCM stands for Management. One aspect of managing the document process is Quality Assurance. Document Quality Assurance used to be a matter of an eye check or in some cases a light table upon which documents were placed—one of top of another—to see if they are a perfect match as far as the eye can tell.
Automating Document QA: The “M” in CCM is “Management”
Automated Document Quality Assurance is a more accurate, more speedy way to manage the quality of the document—especially if variable data messaging is part of your marketing strategy. A variable data document may have one of one thousand possible offers embedded in the white space. There is no way to ensure that the message is the right message, going to the right customer, placed in the right white space on the page with no displacement occurring or graphics or address blocks pushed out of place, no bar codes accidently covered or compromised, and no problems with the metadata that drives the process. Making sure that print stream modification is a positive and not a negative is the role of automated document quality assurance.
DocBridge Delta, the software solution that is the choice of so many top service bureaus and in-house organizations, is the leading document automated QA solution on the market. DocBridge Delta examines data content, graphics, pixels, fonts and white space management. It is a must have tool for ADF, CCM, and document output management (DOM).
Stay flexible – with reliable print stream conversion and print data preparation from Compart
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All formats
Compart has the most extensive matrix of input and output filters (AFP, PDF, IJPDS, PCL, etc.). Companies that use the solutions from the DocBridge family are able to flexibly and reliably process any conventional data stream in use today for input and output.
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Powerful performance
The DocBridge family of solutions is designed for high-volume batch processing as well as for transaction processing.
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Comprehensive expertise
Compart is one of the most experienced specialists in data stream optimization. The company handles virtually every popular format, relieving users of the burden of acquiring specialized knowledge.
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Innovative and future-proof
Compart solutions are based on state-of-the-art technologies (HTML5, XML, SOA), are scalable, and are able to produce barrier-free documents in PDF/UA format. These technologies make possible device-independent document processing on all physical and electronic channels. They also support generating metadata in XMP, in turn promoting automation in document processing.
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Investment security
Compart solutions are easy to integrate into existing (legacy) applications, thereby building a bridge between the old word and the new in multi-channel document management.
Compart Matrix
A complete overview of all supported input and output formats is provided in the Compart Matrix. Compart software solutions enables highly complex, single pass operations with flexibility and reliability for high availability, high volume environments.
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