Information Systems:Exploring a migration to internet faxing (outbound faxes)

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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 be a very poor practice to physically connect these (or even newer) modems to virtual hosts when we virtualize, as that will impose restrictions on some virtualization technologies (e.g. memory reservation, vMotion), and compatibility is not ensured.

Esker On Demand

Esker, the makers of VSI-Fax, offers an eFax/cloud fax service called Esker on Demand. Technically, it is simply 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 servers (via HTTPS), 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 when the print driver is not installed on the computer. This same web portal is where the central address book would be managed. A central address book is possible in addition to user/personal address books.

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.

Pricing structure

Esker on Demand is a subscription-based service:

  • $0.05 USD per page
  • $75 USD per month for maintenance and support

The per-page cost is quoted as per our estimated current monthly outbound volume of 1800 pages (for VSI-Fax outbound faxing only). 

Currently, Xerox printers STEIN and ELAHO state a number of ~7,000 and ~27,000 embedded faxes sent. The start date of these printers will need to be confirmed to estimate monthly volume of manual faxing.

Summarizing the benefits of migration to outbound internet faxing

  • Able to virtualize VSI-Fax.
  • Able to fax directly from desktop (no having to print the document first).
  • Redundancy of outbound fax lines. Esker fax infrastructure comprises many lines throughout the continent.
  • Web-portal fax administration.
  • Avoid incompetent fax implementation often found in multi-function copiers (hint: ELAHO fax address book).
  • Avoid having to look for the job summary printout to confirm faxes.
  • Ability to conveniently re-send a fax to a subset (e.g. failed sends) of the original batch job.
  • User-based faxing. Currently we have central faxing stations. People cannot (or do not, out of inconvenience) maintain their own address books.
  • Higher availability - people don't have to wait on other people's jobs. People can still fax if the Xerox is under repair.
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