Content Federation Services for Image Services overview
Content Federation Services for Image Services (CFS-IS) combines the capabilities of
Image Services (IS) systems and Content Engine servers. CFS-IS acts as a bridge that enables you to use FileNet P8 applications
on Content Engine and Panagon applications on Image Services to store content
on Image Services systems. You can then retrieve and view that content on Content
Engine servers using FileNet P8 applications such as Workplace.
Using FileNet Content Federation Services for Image Services, you can access
content from heterogeneous repositories anywhere in the enterprise and federate
this information to provide a single enterprise source for critical business
content. You can search, catalog, classify, secure, retain, comply, activate,
update and delete content residing in repositories across the enterprise.
Benefits
Content Federation Services for Image Services provides the following benefits:
- Direct access to existing Image Services documents from Workplace and any
application built on the FileNet P8 Platform. This provides many benefits,
including use of the cataloging capabilities provided by FileNet P8 Content
Manager, access to Image Services documents within FileNet P8 Business Process
Management applications, and the use of IBM InfoSphere Enterprise Records to manage
the lifecycle of Image Services documents.
- Existing documents remain in Image Services; there is no need to export,
convert, or modify them. This is a cost benefit and ensures that document
integrity is maintained.
- Continued use of all existing applications that enter documents into Image
Services systems; that is, HPII, MRII, COLD II, DW SAP, Capture, and independent software vendor
applications. There is no need to incur the cost of rewriting these applications
to take advantage of the FileNet P8 capabilities.
- Use of Image Services to store new Content Engine documents. This provides
the added benefit of leveraging investments in Image Services storage capacity
and supports storing Content Engine content on optical media (WORM or rewritable),
MSAR, and tape silos (through a FileNet Professional Services offering).
- A mechanism for cataloging Image Services documents in Content Engine. The
connections between Content Engine and Image Services systems tolerate network
outages and system restarts on either side of the connection.
- Support for full text search of text-based IS documents in Content Engine 4.0 and higher. If the P8 Content Engine object store is configured for full text search, also known as content based retrieval (CBR), the federated document content can be searched in the same way as native Content Engine document content.
Capabilities
Content Federation Services for Image Services enables FileNet P8 applications
and servers to communicate and work together with Image Manager applications
and servers. You can initiate work through the applications of either system.
For example, you can capture documents through FileNet P8 Platform applications,
store them in Image Services, and view them with other FileNet P8 applications.
Or you can capture documents in Image Services, send the cataloging information
to Content Engine, and view the documents through an Image Manager viewer such
as IDM Desktop or a FileNet P8 Platform application such as Workplace.
Converting from Image Services to Content Engine
During the transition from the Image Services catalog to the Content Engine
catalog, you can maintain dual catalog entries for existing documents stored
in Image Services; that is, one catalog entry in the Image Services catalog
and one catalog entry in the Content Engine catalog. The dual catalog entries
are both masters and are kept synchronized. This means that during the transition,
you can run FileNet P8 Platform applications and Panagon applications on documents
stored in Image Services
Transition period
After you have verified that the conversion is complete and the applications
have been successfully switched from Panagon applications to FileNet P8 Platform
applications, the Image Services catalog entries are no longer necessary.When
the FileNet P8 Platform applications have been running successfully for a period
of time, Image Services cataloging can be disabled for the relevant Image Services
document classes, and the existing catalog entries for those document classes
can be deleted. At that point, the catalog export is permanent.
NOTES
- After documents have been federated, it is not possible to unfederate them.
You cannot delete Content Engine catalog data without also causing the corresponding
Image Services catalog data and content to be deleted. In the same manner,
you cannot initiate a deletion from the Image Services server without also
causing the corresponding Content Engine catalog data to be deleted.
- EMC Centera, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, NetApp SnapLock, and other NLS-based storage solutions
attached to Image Services systems are currently supported with Content Federation
Services for Image Services only where documents are input with an Image Services
client application such as Capture, HPII (High Performance Image Import),
or IDM Desktop where documents are cataloged in both Content Engine and Image
Services. Using FileNet P8 applications on Content Engine, you can commit
documents directly to ECM Centera, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, NetApp Snaplock,
and other devices, but you
cannot commit documents to these devices through Content Federation Services
for Image Services.