ImageLink FAQs

News
Products
Company Profile
Services
Strategic Partners
Contact CIE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

  1. Where are documents stored?
  2. Where can I get ImageLink information specific to my accounting system?
  3. How much space do documents take?
  4. What scanners can be used with ImageLink?
  5. What kinds of documents can be controlled by ImageLink?
  6. How are documents stored (what format)?
  7. How many pages can a document image contain?
  8. How many documents can be associated with an accounting item?
  9. How do I place an order for ImageLink?
  10. What are the hardware and system requirements for ImageLink?

1.  Where are documents stored?

Documents are stored in Windows folders (directories).  This provides a convenient way to access the documents and allows any document to be stored in its native format (e.g. image, word-processing and spreadsheet).

Some imaging systems store documents as binary large objects (BLOBs) within the same database that is used to index the document .  This technique is not used by ImageLink.  It inherently places restrictions on the management of documents and significantly increase the time necessary to back up the database.

Back to Top

2.  Where can I get ImageLink information specific to my accounting system?

The following links will take you to information that is specific to the accounting systems that ImageLink has been integrated into.

Microsoft Business Solutions: Dynamics GP

Microsoft Business Solutions: Dynamics SL

Sage Software: MAS90/MAS200

Back to Top

3.  How much space is required to store the image of a document?

For scanned documents, a good estimate is 50K bytes per page.  This is based on the following:

bullet8½" X 11" page
bulletWhite paper with black print
bulletGood contrast (not gray, not newsprint)
bulletScan density of 200 dots per inch
bulletScanned as black & white

With the above assumptions, one gigabyte of storage would hold 20,000 images.

 

Other document types (such as Word, Excel, etc.) will take as much as they would in a normal Windows environment. That is, ImageLink does not compress these document types.

For each document, ImageLink also takes about 400 bytes within the SQL database.
 

Back to Top

4.  What scanners can be used with ImageLink?

ImageLink communicates directly with scanners that comply with the TWAIN standard.  Low-speed and medium-speed scanners and other imaging devices (such as digital cameras) typically support this standard.

Devices may be connected via parallel, serial and USB interfaces.  Serial interfaces are usually not recommended due to performance considerations.

 

Scanner Resolution

Most contemporary scanners can support resolutions from 100 to 1200 DPI. We recommend black and white with a resolution of 100 or 150 DPI for daily business documents such as invoices and receipts. This would include documents that contain signatures. This resolution is consistent with typical FAX quality and meets the needs of reading pages and verifying signatures and date stamps. This resolution will typically allow a scanned page to be stored in 50KB.

 

Color and 300 DPI or greater should selectively be used for photographs and quality reproductions of product brochures. This higher quality is usually required to properly represent such documents.  When scanned with these higher resolutions, they can take from 200KB up to 40MB of storage. For this reason, care should be taken when processing at these resolutions to scan only special documents (like employee or product photos), not daily transaction documents.

 

Multiple Pages

ImageLink handles multi-page documents very well. If you do not have a sheet feeder, ImageLink allows additional pages to be scanned and appended to an existing document. If you do have a sheet feeder that supports the sheet feed THROUGH THE TWAIN INTERFACE, then ImageLink will handle the multiple pages as well.

 

Sheet-feed Scanners

We have not found an inexpensive (TWAIN) scanner with a reliable sheet feeder.  Precision handling of pages is an expensive component. This is why most FAX machines do not reliably handle multiple pages and to insure that there are no multi-feeds, you have to stand at the FAX machine and feed the pages one at a time. For this reason, we continue to recommend Kodak scanners.

Back to Top

5.  What kinds of documents can be controlled by ImageLink?

Any document germane to your accounting needs should be considered as a candidate for document imaging.  If it can be scanned, it can be controlled by ImageLink.

Non-scanned files, such as emailed images, spreadsheets and word processing documents, can be brought into ImageLink's control using the "Drop Zone" feature.

Back to Top

6.  How are documents stored (what format)?

Image documents are stored in TIFF format.  Other documents are stored in their native format.  For example, Microsoft Word documents are stored as .doc members and Excel spreadsheets are stored as .xls members.

When ImageLink imports non-image documents, they are copied into ImageLink's data repository.  The original instance of the document remains in its original location.  If the original document is modified,  ImageLink will not know of the changes.   

Back to Top

7.  How many pages can a document image contain?

Document images are usually stored in TIFF format.  There is no limit to the number of images (pages) that can be stored in one TIFF document.

Back to Top

8.  How many documents can be associated with an accounting item?

There is no limit to the number of documents that ImageLink can associate with each accounting item.   

Back to Top

9.  How do I place an order for ImageLink?

Contact your authorized Dynamics GP and/or Dynamics SL reseller.

If you do not have a relationship with an authorized reseller or are an authorized Dynamics GP reseller that is new to ImageLink, please contact our sales department.
   sales@compinfo.com
   (949) 263-0910 x231 or x232

Back to Top

10.  What are the hardware and system requirements for ImageLink?

There are no unusual requirements for ImageLink.  The server and workstation computers that support the accounting system are fast enough and have enough memory to support ImageLink.

 

Workstation

Windows NT, XP, 2000 or 2003

Video display: 800X600 minimum, 1024X768 or greater recommended

Memory: 128MB minimum

Disk: 50 MB available

 

Server

Windows NT, 2000 or 2003

SQL Server for index information (350 bytes per document)

Disk space for stored documents (black & white scanned documents at 200 DPI require 1GB for 20,000 pages)

 

Scanners

TWAIN or PaperPort compatible

Recommendation: Kodak

Back to Top