GENERAL DESCRIPTION cyDOCS™ is a document management and control system designed to store, retrieve, view and manipulate a wide range of documents created in various formats. Documents in cyDOCS™ refer to the digital files captured by the computer either through scanning, OCR or by using desktop computer applications such as word processors, speadsheets, CAD/CAM, graphics, image editors, report generators and so on.

cyDOCS™ allows users to track, control, and distribute documents in a network environment and over the Internet. The system contains modules for image scanning, OCR, image manipulation, document management, drawing management, workflow, redlining, hyperlinking and text retrieval. The system is a combination of a structured and unstructured databases. While structured databases are used to capture structured information such as the document attributes (e.g. control number, title, author, type date ..etc.), the unstructured free text databases are used to index on the content of the documents. Free text indexing in cyDOCS™ is optional. Users can choose to index on selected documents or setup the system to automatically index each document as and when it is captured and registered into the system.

cyDOCS™ is designed as a generic system that can be tailored to wide range of applications covering different industrial segments. Some of the applications that cyDOCS™ is currently used for include: l Document Imaging and Text Retrieval l Drawing Management l Product Query System l Patient Information System l Document Management & Control (office automation environment) l CD-ROM publishing for Technical Manuals & Standards.

TYPES OF DOCUMENTS HANDLED BY cyDOCS™

cyDOCS™ is designed to handle a wide range of documents including multimedia documents, compound document, raster and vector images. For documents which cannot be viewed by cyDOCS™ internal viewers, cyDOCS™ provides facilities for configuring and integrating external viewers that can be used to view and manipulate these documents.

Input of document in cyDOCS™ is supported through a variety of mechanisms:

Hardcopy, (print) Documents - Image scanning and OCR conversion facilities are provided to convert the original paper documents into digital form. cyDOCS™ support over 150 digital file formats. In addition to conversion and storage within the digital database, the system provides for pointers to the original hard-copy document's archival storage location.

Electronic Documents - Files generated by almost any computer application can be captured and managed by cyDOCS™. For example, documents generated by word processors, spreadsheets, CAD/CAM image editing applications can be captured and managed by the system.

cyDOCS™ also support document exchange formats such as RTF, SGML, HTML, PDF, and DXF. For formats that are not supported directly by cyDOCS™ conversion utilities, cyDOCS™ allows for the integration of external conversion and viewers applications.

DOCUMENT REGISTRATION & GROUPING The folder is the highest level of organization within the cyDOCS™ system. Within each folder, the user may define sub-folders depending on the application and requirements. Inside each folder or sub-folder, the document records are deposited. The creation of folders is optional, the user can create document records without folders. cyDOCS™ has the ability, depending on the file format, to bring up the appropriate viewer or application for viewing and manipulating the digital files. l The Document Control Number l The Version Number l The Revision Number l The Number of Pages

When creating new versions and revisions the user will not be able to change the document control number. The user may, however, link multiple digital files to one document record. Upon modifying any one of these digital files cyDOCS™ creates a new document record allowing the user to change the version or revision without changing the document control number. The modified digital files are then automatically attached to the newly modified records.

DOCUMENT CONTROL

cyDOCS™ provides the user with a number of powerful options to create and manage the document collection. Options under document control enable users to create, update, and delete folders and document records, index and modify document content using free-text or controlled indexing, and then link and delete digital files attached to the document records.

cyDOCS™ provides a simple and easy method for organizing and grouping documents. Document records can be created with or without folders. The document record consists of the document's attributes such as the document number, title, authors, dates of creation ..etc. Attached to the document record are all the digital files or the electronic documents. These documents can be in any formats.

VERSION CONTROL

cyDOCS™ provides a secure, enterprise-wide environment for editing and updating the organization's documents. The system ensures that appropriate version control procedures are followed. This capability meets functional systems requirements necessary for ISO processes and certification.

Version control also ensures that mistakes such as overwriting, deleting or changing content, or elimination of the document without authorization will never happen. Each document record ID in cyDOCS™ is unique; this means that only one document record can be created under any document ID. The ID number format in cyDOCS™ consists of:

WORKFLOW AND ROUTING Workflow processes within cyDOCS™ allow users to route documents over the network in a close group, controlled and safe environment. Only authorized users with workflow routing rights are allowed to set up routing tables. In the workflow environment users can send, view, process, and track documents moving through the system according to these tables.

ANNOTATIONS AND REDLINING

Redlining allows users to create annotations on a "layer" displayed above the image of the document. The original image remains unchanged, the effect being that of pasting a "sticky-note" over the screen display. The annotation or the entire layer with several annotations can be printed with or without the original image. Annotations enable several people to comment on the same document without changing its content, and are normally used to show errors corrections, or comments.

Combing cyDOCS™' routing and annotation functions, several people can add their comments to a document at different times without affecting the original information in the document. For example, the author of a document can route it to a selected list of users for comment, and then incorporate the comments as desired after reviewing the annotations.

Redlining allows similar comments with manipulation of the original text. In cyDOCS™, modifying documents is controlled according to the access rights assigned to individuals; only authorized users can modify the original documents routed for review and comments.

Those who are not authorized to modify or change the content of the document can use the appropriate tools to reflect their comments and route the documents electronically back to the author or editor.

DOCUMENT SEARCHING AND RETRIEVAL

cyDOCS™ provides users with a number of options for searching and retrieving documents. An attribute option is available to enable the user to search on primary attributes associated with the document records and folders. Searching on the textual content of the document is provided through the use of either Boolean or fuzzy-logic searching. Searching on full-text content of documents is often best-supported by employing fuzzy-logic searching with relevance ranking. Users more familiar with the traditional Boolean search logic can use these tools effectively to locate indexed documents.

Very few systems support the variety of searches available in cyDOCS™:

Known-item Searches - Document Number, Folder Number, Folder Title, Document Title, Author, Subjects, Publisher, Call Number, Notes etc. Term/Phrase Searches - Folder Keywords, Document Keywords, Full-text Search (Boolean or Fuzzy).

SECURITY

cyDOCS™ provides two types of security levels, users level and document level security. Users level security include: l Read-Only (Viewers) l Read-Write (Update) l Read-Write (Workflow Managers)

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR Read-Only viewers can carry out functions such as searching, printing, viewing, redlining, hyperlinking, and some routing of documents. They cannot create, modify, or delete documents. Read-Write users on the other hand can create folders, create documents, modify documents' contents, and attach digital files to existing document records. Workflow Managers can create workflow processes, document routing, and other system tasks. System administration users have access and management rights to all facilities within

cyDOCS™ including management of other user rights. Document level security is provided through access denied and access allowed privileges at the document level. This can be applied to one user or a group of users depending on the requirement of the application.

WEB INTERFACE

cyDOCS™ allows user to access cyDOCS™ databases using the popular Web Browser such as Netscape, Microsoft or any other web browser available in the market. The integration of cyDOCS™ with the Web Server provides an open system document management solution over the Internet and the Intranet. Accessing documents remotely enables organizations to deliver timely, consistent and accurate information to their employees worldwide.

SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION

cyDOCS™ provides a wide range of internal housekeeping, operational audit, and archiving facilities. Reports can be generated in a variety of formats employing an ODBC compliant Report Generators such as Crystal Report. Archiving documents and database can be done using normal search criteria employed by cyDOCS™. In this case, all digital files attached to the document will be removed from the database(s) and archived off-line. cyDOCS™ also provide facilities for creating smaller databases which can include the archived material. These databases are searchable by the cyDOCS™ software similar to the original database. This facility enables the user to extract and publish CD-ROM titles.

SYSTEM ENVIRONMENT

cyDOCS™ supports multi-user operation in a client-server environment. The clients run on PCs running Microsoft Windows 95/98, or Windows NT/2000 for high-performance environments. The server operates on multiple platforms including Netware, Windows NT, Unix, R6000 and HP9000.