Paperless invoice and pay statement system provides great savings in the time and cost of issuing various forms

NTT Advanced Technology Corporation (hereafter referred to as NTT-AT, headquartered in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President: Kimio Tazaki) has in recent years been promoting the paperless office. It has now introduced a Form Issuing System as part of the pay notification system for its employees, starting with the pay statements for September 2002. The Form Issuing System is now sold by NTT-AT's group company, NTT-AT SYSTEMS Corporation (hereafter referred to as NTT-AT SYSTEMS, headquartered in Suginami-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President: Takaaki Sato). The system generates electronic forms, such as invoices and pay statements, which can be sent by email or browsed on a Webpage.

NTT-AT SYSTEMS offers system integration of the Form Issuing System for a variety of customers from businesses to local governments. The system will be built around the e-Bill technology of DynaComware Corporation (hereafter referred to as DynaComware, headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; President: Naruie Omori), a leading company in the field of e-documents.
 By using this system, the customer can greatly save both the time, and the postage, labor and paper costs incurred in issuing numerous kinds of forms. NTT-AT SYSTEMS began selling the system on September 24 this year.

Background to the development

As more and more types of business office work are becoming computerized, there is an increasing demand for promoting a paperless office, with the numerous forms and documents replaced with electronic data in order to reduce the time and costs needed for paper work. In particular, now that the Internet is widely available as a means of communication, there has been a call for a highly reliable form issuing system that can replace the costly and labor-consuming delivery of forms by post. In light of such a demand, NTT-AT SYSTEMS has exploited its advanced communications software and networking technology, long nurtured as a member of NTT Group, to develop a form issuing system based around a platform from DynaComware, which has a good track record in this field.

Outline of the system

Basic functions

The form issuing system offers two basic functions: (1) delivery and (2) data retrieval.

(1)

The delivery function can be used to delivery various forms and documents as attachments to email messages. Form or document files are encrypted for secure delivery.

(2)

The data retrieval function allows the customer to access a website to browse the forms and documents he or she needs. Again, such form or document files are encrypted for security.

Basic functions

The system consists of a database server, a file generation server, a mail server, and a Web server. Except for the file generation server, respective existing servers can be used.

Main customers and applications

• General companies: issuing of orders, invoices, specifications, pay statements, etc.
• Local governments: issuing of resident cards, certificates of seal impressions, proofs of earnings, certificates of tax payment, various guidebooks, etc.
• Public utilities: issuing of telephone, water, electricity or gas usage statements.
• Credit companies: issuing of payment statements and usage statements
• Securities and investment trust companies: issuing of bought and sold notes and information about a specified stock.
• Banks: deposit and payment statements, account balance statements, and maturity notification.
• Others: applicable to any businesses that provide customer-specific information.

Main characteristics of the system

1. High security
   Since any attached file is sent in a special data format (WDL format), the alteration of data is extremely difficult. In addition, since it is encrypted with a password, no one but the owner of the password can open it.

   *The attached file can be of either WDL format or exe format. A WDL file can be browsed by installing a special reader (free) in advance. An exe file contains a built-in viewer.

2. High-speed delivery
   A WDL file is a highly compressed file, its size being about one-fifth that of the original file. It is thus suitable for high-speed delivery over the Internet. Moreover, a WDL file can be generated much faster than other types of file; 2000 WDL files can be generated per minute, speeding data generation work considerably.
3. Flexibility in the format of the forms
   A form created using Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel ¹ can be converted into a WDL file with its form layout retained. Also, special kanjis (Japanese characters) outside the JIS kanji set can be included in the file without resulting in the display of garbage characters.
4. Extensive supplementary functions
   It is possible to paste illustrations, photos, logos, advertising banners, bar codes, etc. into forms. For example, a bar code can be included in an invoice. If the invoice is printed, it can be brought to a convenience store for easy payment.
5. Convenient data retrieval function
   It is possible to build a system in which the data retrieval function not only extracts individual forms for browsing but can also extract all forms for a specific month or for a specific customer.

Price

From 5 million yen (Please inquire for details).

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