EDMONTON, Alberta, Oct. 21, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Shana Corporation, a leading provider of XML-based eForms management solutions, today announced the General Availability of Informed Quadra(tm), its next-generation eForms solution. Informed Quadra is an enterprise level solution that offers both desktop eForms and HTML eForms in rich XML with the ability to design the form once and deploy to different platforms. Informed Quadra is also the first eForms management solution built to take advantage of the strengths of the .NET platform, delivering superior scalability, maintainability and performance.
Informed Quadra is a web-based eForms management solution designed to streamline forms management by unifying the design, deployment and processing of eForms into a coherent process. Intelligent web forms are an intuitive way for knowledge workers to effectively participate in business processes. Informed Quadra helps enterprises save money by automating and managing forms-based processes -- reducing the time it takes to complete a process, increasing the accuracy with which forms are completed, and leveraging digital signature technology.
"Informed Quadra is the next evolution of eForms management technology," said Don Murphy, President, Shana Corporation. "Informed Quadra leverages our market-leading Informed(r) core products into an integrated solution that enables our customers to easily manage their enterprise forms and form content, significantly reduce overhead costs, and drive greater organizational efficiencies."
With Informed Quadra, customers can create clear, intuitive, highly automated and intelligent eForms without having to become trained application programmers, web developers or JavaScript experts.
"For enterprises with more than basic eForm requirements, buying an eForm application from an established vendor can result in greater efficiencies and cost savings than building it yourself," said Garth Landers, Research Analyst, Gartner, Inc.**
Next Generation eForms Management Solution
Informed Quadra consists of four integrated components: Informed Designer(r), Informed Quadra Server, Informed Quadra eForms Workplace and Informed eForms.
Informed Quadra's four components work together seamlessly to provide users with the best and most effective experience possible, and also to help ensure that processes are followed correctly and efficiently.
Informed Designer: Shana Corporation's award-winning eForms design software, combining the graphical strength of desktop publishing with the calculation power of a spreadsheet in an intuitive point-and-click environment.
Informed Quadra Server: The Informed Quadra Server is the nerve center for all eForms activities. It provides a hosting framework that manages all eForms deployed to the Informed Quadra eForms Workplace as well as the data collected by those forms. Informed Quadra's rendering engine can present that information in a variety of formats including rich XML, HTML, or PDF for printing and archiving.
Informed Quadra eForms Workplace: The eForms Workplace is the user interface for Informed Quadra. Driven by the Informed Quadra Server, the eForms Workplace is a website where users can easily find and use any eForms deployed by their organization. The eForms Workplace supports both Desktop and HTML eForms and provides each user with a My Forms directory where they can store their completed or partially completed eForms. The eForms Workplace will also host most other types of documents including Word, PDF, Excel, as well as links to web pages.
Informed eForms: Whether displayed in the web browser or downloaded to the desktop, Informed eForms combine the intelligence of electronic forms with the familiar look and feel of paper.
Key Features of Informed Quadra:
-- Pure HTML eForms: Intelligent web eForms are delivered to the web
browser as pure HTML with dynamically generated client-side
JavaScript.
-- There is no need to distribute third-party software or plug-ins to
users.
-- Rich XML: eForms and form data are stored in rich XML format, with
on-demand rendering in HTML or PDF.
-- Unified Deployment: Forms designers need only design an eForm once
as it can be deployed in multiple formats (desktop, web, PDF) to
multiple Workplaces with a simple click of the mouse.
-- Out-of-the-box Intelligence: Form designers can configure database
lookups, auto-increment, pre-fill and advanced calculations, all
with a click of the mouse - no programming required.
-- Superior Design Environment: Informed Quadra's intuitive eForm
design environment is modeled on graphic design software. No HTML
or Windows UI coding is required; no back- end scripts are
required.
-- Informed Desktop eForms: Desktop eForms support enables forms to
be downloaded for offline use anywhere, any time.
-- Multiple Workplaces: Multiple workplaces can be created with
separate security settings to make forms available to customers,
suppliers, internal employees or the general public, all off of a
single Informed Quadra Server.
Informed Quadra First eForms Solution Delivered on Microsoft's .NET Platform
Informed Quadra has been designed exclusively for the Microsoft(r) .NET platform. Built with Visual Studio(r) .NET, Informed Quadra represents the next generation of Shana's eForms management solution.
As a platform and development environment, Microsoft .NET has helped shape Shana's vision to provide open, XML web services.
The .NET platform was instrumental in enhancing Informed Quadra's enterprise-level quality. By building with .NET, the product is stronger, more secure, and scalable to meet the needs of enterprise customers.
About Shana Corporation
Shana Corporation is a leading provider of XML-based eForms management solutions that unify the design, deployment and processing of electronic forms at the enterprise level. Shana's eForms solutions empower businesses and governments to automate and manage the thousands of forms that drive their critical business processes. By enabling users to interact with information from any place, at any time, Shana is the face of eBusiness(r). Founded in 1985, Shana is a privately-owned corporation with offices in the United States and Canada.
Shana has several strategic technology partnerships with industry-leading companies, including Microsoft, FileNET Corporation, and Entrust Technologies that are an integral part of its enterprise-level Informed eForms solutions. Shana also maintains formal partnerships with Apple Computer, NCR, Oracle, Sierra Systems and Sybase.
** "eForms: Dramatic Changes Highlight Demand," July 5, 2002.