Greetings!

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Jacana eNews our new initiative to keep you - our customers - informed. 

Quite a few of our customers have encouraged us to produce a regular communication to both improve awareness of features in our products and also to keep them abreast of new releases and product enhancements. 

We are structuring Jacana eNews so that you can easily link to more static information about contacts, releases, our JuMPZone etc using the links on the left. In addition, within each issue we will look to highlight Product Tips and FAQs in our "Ask the Expert" segment, JuMPs in "JuMP into the JuMPZone" and one main product area, in this edition the "Product in Focus" is JacanaForms. We will also include an "Industry News and Links" section.

Jacana eNews is intended to help you in using our products so let us know if there is anything you would like to see included, send us any questions you may have or any suggestions for future editions. 

We will be aiming to issue Jacana eNews every month and you will be able to view archived copies on our website under www.jacana.com/enews/ccarchive.htm. 

If you wish to unsubscribe, update your areas of interest, or better still recommend colleagues to sign up for Jacana eNews. Please use the links at the bottom of the email or refer to our subscription and privacy link on the right.

Rachel Brooks
Editor, Jacana eNews
Momentum Utilities

In this Issue
	Product in Focus - JacanaForms Jump into the JuMPZone Ask the expert - Jacana Tips Technical FAQs Industry Links

Product in Focus - JacanaForms

'Shell shocked from 2001, business will approach 2002 conservatively, focusing on short term return on investment, acquiring quick payback products and services, and cutting back on new IT spending' extract from Gartner Top 10 predictions for 2002. If your company reflects the attitude encapsulated in this statement then JacanaForms may be a solution that fits your short term needs. The ROI and efficiency gains easily underpin the investment.  Look at it this way. Most of us think of the sales force or customer service representatives when we think of customer relationships. But in reality, the most common customer touch point is the document: purchase orders, invoices, statements, advertising literature. These types of documents are the primary, and in many instance the only, mechanism a business uses to convey its message, brand and image to its customer.  Enterprise systems are great at handling business processes and managing data, but they are not designed for customer-focused output. To get the most out of your system you need to be able to generate documents that support bar codes, graphics, multiple printers, dynamic forms, multiple languages, signatures, calculations and validations. Some companies have used expensive and inflexible custom programming to create better-looking and more effective printed output. Others have used pre-printed forms that require inventory management and distribution, and must be carefully aligned to work correctly. These approaches do not provide dynamic customer-focused output or address the need for electronic document delivery.  JacanaForms embraces functionality to meet the majority of output management requirements. With JacanaForms you can now take data directly from your enterprise system and merge it with a form or template. The template dictates where the data should appear in the document and what standard elements (such as boxes, lines or standard text) should be printed. The template also defines how the document's appearance should change based on the data being printed.  This combination of static and dynamic layout allows for the production of high quality, high-image documents that still adhere to legal and regulatory requirements. Reading from existing printed output the data can be mapped to any layout.  Easy-to-use, what-you-see-is-what-you-get design and mapping tools enable creation of document templates that include graphics, logos, color, barcodes, watermarks and multi-part forms. One data stream can support several document variations so you can deliver customized documents to specific customers if you want. A single invoice can be produced in multiple languages, with different terms and conditions, with varying logos or with fields in different locations.  Investing in a complete solution that lets you dynamically generate high quality printed output gives you the means to reflect your professional image and respond to your customer and internal needs. Getting the right information in the right format can be made easier if you're using JacanaForms.  What challenges do you face? Would you like to save costs by eliminating pre-printed business documents? Are you tired of the printing hassles you face using pre-printed stationery?  Do you want to achieve competitive advantages over your competitors? Do you need to provide your business documents in multiple formats: Print, Web, PDF, Fax, Email?  If you answered YES to any of the above click here for further information on JacanaForms.

Jump into the JuMPZone

We are keen to promote the use of our JuMPZone and the newsletter gives us the opportunity to spotlight a JuMP (Jacana Multi-media Presentation) from our JuMPZone. If you are wary of registering at the JuMPZone then this will provide an opportunity to review the kind of cameo presentations available.  If you are using the latest version of Jacana you will have access to the latest report template features. Have a look at the 12 minute session on 'Creating and Using Report Templates in Jacana'. Do you know the difference between 'simple' and 'rich' report templates? If not, this session will tell you all about the differences and demonstrates the creation and use of each type. It also shows how to easily modify an existing report template. To run JuMP's you will need to download a small codec file this can be done by clicking here this is a once only process. Click here to stream from the website  Click here to download to your PC

Ask the expert - Jacana Tips

We hope that you are all using Jacana for your report design these days. There are a host of features within Jacana and we will look to progressively mention these to you. We hope to make you more productive and aware. Here’s a few easy ones for starters.  Jacana Tip 1: You can learn about any command on a menu by highlighting the command and reading the text in the status bar at the bottom of the main window. For more help about a menu command, highlight the command and press F1. Show me Jacana Tip 2: You can print a list of the fields shown in the DataCrafter. Click the Print List button on the DataCrafter or choose Print List from the Data menu. Show me Jacana Tip 3: Like most Windows applications you can undo the last change you made by pressing Ctrl+Z. You can redo a change that you have just undone by pressing Ctrl+Y. To Undo or redo more than one change at a time, press Ctrl+Shift+Z or Ctrl+Shift+Y and choose the changes to undo or redo from the drop-down list. Show me Jacana Tip 4: You will be able to see more of your layout at a time if you maximise both the main Jacana Window and the report Window. You can also hide or resize the DataCrafter, hide the rule, toolbars and status bar, or switch to Full Screen view.

Technical FAQs

For the more technically minded who want to get under the covers we will publish more technically oriented material, starting with subsets. What is a Subset? The Subset is a "knowledge-base" covering a section of the DB2/400 database. It represents the Data base analysts's understanding of the file relationships. The Subset is the "data source" that you use in Jacana when designing reports.  A Subset can be thought of as a map of a part of the DB2/400 database. When the user designs data fields into a report, the product uses this map to "navigate" the data base, and assemble the necessary fields to produce the requested output. A Subset need not reflect an existing application, it can contain data from any files that can be logically associated, either directly or indirectly via other files, ie a new Subset can be created that covers an area that is already partially covered by an existing Subset. A Subset should contain as much as possible of the information that is likely to be required relating to a specific reporting purpose. A Subset should NOT reflect the requirements of a single report. New Subsets should not be created at random as this can lead to maintenance and security problems as they proliferate.  Data from the files is accessed based on the data file relationships defined using the Retrieval map function and the fields required to generate the output encompassed by the report definition. RPG/400 or RPG/ILE programs are generated to interrogate the data base files necessary to produce the requested output. How many subsets do I need? This will depend on the number and complexity of your applications, but here are a few guidelines: Because a given Subset is only one way of retrieving data, it is not usually possible, in other than the smallest application, to have a single Subset that will cater for all possible reporting requirements. For example, a Subset based on a Customer Master file may access a Product Master file by linking via an Order Detail file. However, this Subset design would not be well suited to the task of producing a complete list of products.  Most applications of moderate complexity will require at least two or three Subsets based on the most significant master files.  In very complex applications, the size of the Subsets (the number of file links) may be the limiting factor. A Subset cannot contain more than 99 file links but a Subset this large is difficult to manage and even more difficult to use. Subset design should be approached with a view to your organization's practical reporting requirements.  You should aim to include as much related information in the Subset as is practical and necessary to meet your reporting needs. However, there is no merit in idea of linking extra files into your Subset simply because you can. Often, a second Subset, which approaches the data base from a different starting point, will provide better overall access to information. Do you have any specific questions you'd like answered? Let us know momentum@jacana.com  Industry Links   http://hp.valued-resources.com includes valuable information on HP printing and methods for reducing printing costs. Please note that access to this web site requires registration http://www.ibm.com/iseries keeps you up to date with the latest IBM developments and services in the iSeries arena and includes links to the iSeries Nation and to information on IBM’s Greenstreak program  http://www.gartner.com provides access to research information on a wide range of IT topics

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