Information Systems:Exploring a migration to internet faxing (outbound faxes)
Overview
Faxing at uniPHARM is required for compliance (with what I believe is a regulation by the College of Pharmacists). There are multiple fax workflows at uniPHARM:
- Automated faxing of ERP documents (e.g. statements, remittance advices) via VSI-Fax
- Batch manual faxing (e.g. recall notices) through Xerox printers
- Individual manual faxing through 6 Xerox MFCs (e.g. Returns documents, ad-hoc document requests)
Considering the analog fax modems and analog fax boards of the Xerox, we have not embraced the modern practice of internet faxing (a.k.a. eFax, online fax etc.). As there are concurrent projects to virtualize our x86 infrastructure and migrate our PRI-based phone system to IP-telephony, it is an appropriate time to consider a migration to internet faxing.
Important note: This article discusses outbound faxing. While inbound faxing could also be done through the internet (e.g. fax-to-email), it is assumed that for now, uniPHARM's 2 main advertised fax numbers and inbound fax lines will be maintained (maybe even more than the 2 main ones). Migration of inbound faxing should be a separate project, as more change is involved.
Planning
Current costs
- For automated faxing through VSI-Fax, there is a USD$500/year maintenance fee to Iptor.
- There are 2 fax lines with Telus for use exclusively as VSI-Fax outbound lines, at ~CDN$40/month = $80/month.
- For manual faxing using the Xerox machines, there are 6 fax lines for the 6 main print stations, some of which may be part of the PRI, while others are separate analog lines and likely have the same charge as in the previous point. There is no per page fee for outbound faxing.
VSI-Fax
VSI-Fax is a form distribution program which, as indicated by its name, is focused mainly on fax distribution. Its function is quite basic - it will take forms generated by the ERP (processed through JetForm) e.g. invoices and remittance advices, and distribute them via fax. The software (and entire fax solution) was implemented as part of the UNITY project. Because it currently does analog faxing, there are two modems connected to the physical server (LUCY1). It will not be a good practice to attempt to physically connect these (or even newer) modems
Esker On Demand
Esker, the makers of VSI-Fax, offers an eFax/cloud fax service called Esker on Demand. Technically, it is basically an upload target/endpoint for documents (i.e. PDFs, .doc etc.) to be faxed. So desktop clients (e.g. Print to Fax) and the on-premise VSI-Fax server would both post documents to Esker on Demand, where they would be faxed out through Esker's fax infrastructure. There is also a web portal where you can upload documents to be faxed. This same web portal is where the central address book would be managed.
While there are many eFax/cloud fax services out there, because VSI-Fax is "integrated" into our ERP, it makes sense to consider Esker on Demand not only as the eFax solution to which we should upgrade our automated faxing, but also as a potential solution to migrate our manual outbound fax needs. It could then elegantly serve as a one-stop shop for all outbound faxing at uniPHARM, eliminating all outbound analog fax lines and enabling the modern practice of faxing from the desktop.
==Inbound faxing