PPDM

[KenB]

Hi,

Just wondering... Is anyone installing the "free" copy of PPDM that ships with most of the new model Ricoh family products?

If so, are you charging for the service?

I ask this because it does come up from time to time, and I'm trying to get a handle on how it's being addressed.

In case you haven't tried it yet, PPDM is absolutely NOT an install for the faint of heart, and it contains a TON of "gotchas".

Thankz!

[unisys12]

I haven't had a chance to install it and since I wont have a chance to do it in the shop, we probably wont charge for the first install. But, as a general rule, we charge for these installing and setting up these services in 5 hr blocks for a set price.

What bothers me though is I signed up for a NFR license and keep getting these e-mails about "NEW" Windows 7 compatible releases of Omni Page and Paperport. I'm seeing more and more Win 7 PC's out there in the field. Are the versions that come with PPDM "not" win7 compatible? If not, what the hell do we do then?

[Vulkor]

I'm not even touching the PPDM situation. If the customer isn't aware of it, then there is no issue. The Machines work just fine without the extra frills.

[unisys12]

I have played around with the software and love it. I'm not a fan of PaperPort, but PDF Converter and Omni Page can do some amazing things.

The Omni Page Batch Manager is worth it's weight! Basically you set up a work-flow, through Batch Manager, tell it what folder to watch. Then, anytime a doc comes into the folder, it applies the workflow to the doc. I have played around with turning a normally scanned PDF to a Searchable PDF, turning all Word docs into a Searchable PDF and even Redacting a document. All of this is done on the fly with little to no intervention from the user. It all depends on how the workflow is set-up.

As for PDF Converter, besides the typical PDF edibility, it has Form Typer. A small, quick little wizard, that will automatically turn a PDF doc into a PDF with Form Fields that can be filled in on a PC. Then print out the doc with professional looking type throughout. At that point, if you need to have a digital copy of the doc, then just use the PDF Converter print driver and you will then be able to save it as a PDF. What's even better? Since the document now has fields, you can name the fields and apply tags with instructions. Even apply math with any of the fields. Basically it turns the PDF into a big spreadsheet.

So, even if you don't enable the PPDM on the MFP, there is alot of very valuable software here! Think about it! What's the number one question we all get asked when training clients on Scanning with our MFP's? It's, "So what can I do with it now?" or "So, how to edit it?" Instead of replying with "Well, that depends on weather you have software that will edit a PDF.", now I can say, "Well, let me show you this..." and proceed to show them apps. Then, if they like it and want others in the office to have the software as well, we can sell them more licenses. Actually, there is a discount on the licenses if you purchase them at the time of the MFP. So, it's definitely worth getting the sales people to talk about this with clients more upfront.

[KenB]

Sorry, I should have been a bit more clear in my original post.

While the client installation is pretty straight forward (albeit bloated and time consuming), it's operation is relatively simple, especially for those users already familiar with the Nuance products it contains. It truly is a sweet suite (clever, huh) of very useful apps. Purchasing these separately would cost way more than the PPDM package.

The server install, however, is a bit more of a beast, with all the considerations for IIS, ASP.net, privileges, and so on.

And Unisys, you're right about Windows 7 - it's not supported yet, although Vista is - and XP 64 bit is outta luck, too. In addition to that, the server piece won't run on 64 bit platforms.

Whatever you do - if you install the server component - DON"T put in on a machine using DHCP, or change the IP address for any reason after installation. You'll need to edit three xml files, as they will contain the original IP address of the server. And, oh, BTW, one of those xml files is on the Java SD card in any MFP which has been configured. (Uninstalling PPDM and reinstalling on the MFP doesn't overwrite the old address with the new.). There is a page in the admin manual which speaks to this but it doesn't seem to work very well. (We just did this in the demo room yesterday and needed to change the IP of our server.).

[Fearless V K]

Whatever you do - if you install the server component - DON"T put in on a machine using DHCP, or change the IP address for any reason after installation. You'll need to edit three xml files, as they will contain the original IP address of the server. And, oh, BTW, one of those xml files is on the Java SD card in any MFP which has been configured. (Uninstalling PPDM and reinstalling on the MFP doesn't overwrite the old address with the new.). There is a page in the admin manual which speaks to this but it doesn't seem to work very well. (We just did this in the demo room yesterday and needed to change the IP of our server.).[/QUOTE]

This is probably why PPDM is one of the least expensive of the solutions offered. I have tried it in the shop and it works fairly well, but I found it buggy, and it's not perfect; you still have to do a lot of tweaks for some of the conversions . There is also no really good method for easily indexing or tagging documents. Also, I can see customer support spiraling out of control here (Unless you charge them for support, of course!), but then again it may be a good selling tool for those wanting to go "paperless".

[Vulkor]

Anyone care to maybe link some setup guides or make one. I've seen what Omnipage can do since I have it installed. But I don't have it linked to a Copier.

One of the reasons I've avoided it is it is more features I don't have time to support with our small crew and boss won't hire more, so I'm in a bind there. It's a pain in the but working with custom Lanfax Coversheets, popup driver integration etc.