Actually Wirt the first thing I thought of was when I was doing that
review and you put up that faxback system overnight because someone had
said something you didn't like (them's fighting words).  What you
describe is a slick elegant solution, however what I have is a huge
library of tax forms that clients call in and request and then we fax
them out, so what we are going to do is just scan everything and store
it as a TIFF or something and then use the dial up faxback solution.

I have been looking at IBEX and something that RightFax just bought out,
and I think our new phone system might support something, but this whole
digital phone switch thing is starting to confuse me.

I appreciate your help, and am anxiously awaiting the end of the Wirtian
month of May so I can start trying out QCTerm.

Best Regards,
Shawn

Wirt Atmar wrote:
>
> Shawn Gordon writes:
>
> > I don't care what hardware or software it's using, but I am looking for
> >  a way to integrate this into our enterprise fax server for requesting
> >  forms and documents, possibly reports.
> >
> >  Anyone have to deal with this or have any suggestions?
>
> Shawn,
>
> Because you reviewed QueryCalc for Interact a few years back (again thanks
> for the kind words; I put your final check is in the mail just yesterday),
> I'll embarass you and post my reply pubicly. Putting an interactive
> telephone/faxback solution on the HP3000 is surprisingly simple. A good
> portion of the answer is using something like QueryCalc. Be warned that you
> are hereby and forever after severely chastised for not thinking of this
> yourself :-).
>
> All kidding aside, one of our customers, The Order Fulfillment Group (TOFG)
> of Indianapolis, IN, did exactly this a few years ago and had it up and
> running almost immediately. TOFG runs a 927 as an order fulfillment group,
> exactly as their name suggests. Their largest customer is RCA/Thompson. When
> you fill out a warranty card for an RCA product, you send it to TOFG. They
> then enter that information into the computer. Each night, they automatically
> run a QueryCalc report in batch to accumulate the nightly, weekly, monthly
> and quarterly information and fax that report to RCA, without any human
> intervention.
>
> Because QueryCalc uses PostScript as its primary printing language -- and
> because PostScript fax printers allow a very simple mechanism to redirect
> PostScript output that would have otherwise been intended for a PS printer to
> a remote fax machine -- creating elaborate graphical reports (with logos,
> lines, boxes, and graphs) that can be transmitted to any fax receiver
> anywhere in the world, rather than a local printer, is surprisingly simple.
> And because TOFG had been doing this part of the faxback solution for some
> time, creating the telephone interface was only a small additional step.
>
> The client for which TOFG created their faxback solution is very much like
> Amway and Tupperware in that they use a hierarchy of distributors who work
> out of their homes. It is my understanding that TOFG unfortunately no longer
> uses the faxback solution because their relationship with their client has
> come to an end. However, while the system was up and running, it seemed to
> work very well. The only other part of the solution necessary of course is
> the interactive telephone device. That was provided by Frank Solutions. I
> gather it was a small PC-like device that connected to the HP3000 as a simple
> serial terminal at one end and a telephone line at the other.
>
> Once the remote user's touchphone-entered information was complete, the Frank
> Solutions device would cause that information to be written to a simple flat
> file and stream a QueryCalc job. QueryCalc would then use that parametric
> information to extract the user's sales and profit information as a detail
> list report, simultaneously merging it with a good-looking form that TOFG
> created, and print it to a PostScript fax printer (an Apple LaserWriter 360
> with fax option), connected as a simple termtype 18 printer to a DTC.
>
> The remote user's fax machine would generally ring within 60 seconds after
> the user had completed his entries and the report would be in his or her
> hands in one or two additional minutes. Most of that delay was simply
> inherent to the properties of the telephone and fax.
>
> This general solution works so extremely well on an HP3000 that it's a shame
> that more people aren't using it -- but there simply doesn't seem to be the
> demand out there to sustain a vendor who must supply the necessary equipment.
> Fax is clearly a dying information distribution mechanism (at least in the
> minds of the cognosceti), but it nonetheless remains a far more pervasive
> medium within most businesses than the internet -- and is likely to remain
> that way for another five to eight years.
>
> Wirt Atmar