Keeping doctors informed about new drugs, distributing automated purchase orders, sending mobile or SMS messages from Microsoft Exchange, and alerting operators of system problems via pager, are just a few of the ways that Aventis uses Fenestrae® Faxination® Server. So many possibilities, you would almost forget it is also used for sending and receiving faxes.
The company
Aventis is a leading pharmaceutical product innovator. During 1998, Aventis made euro21bn in sales, while gaining a reputation as an early adopter and technology pioneer. Aventis Pharmaceuticals uses messaging and communication to keep hospitals, doctors and other healthcare professionals up to date with its latest product developments. The company continued to optimize its messaging environment, while simultaneously handling large-scale mergers with Hoechst Marion Roussel and Rhône-Poulenc Rorer.
Today, 'state-of-the-art' is a company standard. Aventis leverages the latest information and communication tools to optimize the efficiency and productivity of its 90,000 global employees. Microsoft Office, Adobe and Visio are the productivity tools of choice and SAP® is key to effective resource planning and management, while Microsoft® Exchange and Fenestrae take care of the company's messaging, scheduling and collaboration demands.
Aventis and messaging
"When we chose Fenestrae Faxination Server it was the only product on the market that offered us every technical capability we needed," says Andrea Westrich, global e-mail administrator, Aventis. Westrich's six-strong e-mail and messaging team takes care of the company's messaging infrastructure. Messaging capabilities are broadly available throughout the Aventis organization. Among the heaviest users of the Fenestrae solutions are the departments that send regular updates to doctors, and the SAP Purchasing module that sends out thousands of purchase orders each year.
Fenestrae Faxination Server and SAP® R/3
Documents, such as order-confirmations, invoices and reminders can be faxed directly from SAP. "In North America we mainly send purchase orders - up to 10,000 a year from four locations. Our operations in Frankfurt are looking at using SAP Workflow in combination with Fenestrae Faxination Server for things like invoice auditing.
"SAP is one of our most important faxing applications. For the integration between SAP, Exchange and Fenestrae Faxination Server we use both the standard R3-Exchange integration provided by SAP and Fenestrae's Faxination Server-SAP connector," says Westrich. "The server configuration may differ by geographical location, for example we have a combined inbound/outbound fax server hooked up to our SAP server for North America, while we have separate servers in Germany, Italy and Indonesia."
Tracking
Fenestrae Faxination Server facilitates the tracking of messaging traffic, enabling users to allocate transmission costs to specific projects or departments. Westrich says: "It improves person-to-person communication by delivering documents directly to and from the user's desktop. To make this process even more seamless we configured the delivery notifications for the faxes sent from SAP to be delivered directly to the user's Exchange inbox instead of back to SAP."
Receiving faxes and mail
Fenestrae Faxination Server also supports the routing of faxes directly into the user's inbox. "Once people receive a fax in their Exchange inbox, they absolutely love it. It is especially useful to our global team members, who travel extensively. Having a single fax number that allows them to receive their faxes anywhere in the world is very useful and increases productivity," says Westrich "Unified messaging is also something we are testing for global standardization. Optical character recognition for inbound faxes works beautifully. And the ability to scan-in traditional paper mail for distribution to world travelers' inboxes would further enhance our use of Fenestrae Faxination Server."
Wireless messaging
Fenestrae Faxination Server proved to be the right choice for Aventis' office-based employees and road warriors alike. "The mobile paging facility is frequently used when users are roaming the building or are away from the office. Messages can be sent directly from Outlook to their Pager or SMS-enabled phone. Westrich explains: "We set up the Fenestrae mobile connector to use an Outlook form. Our form utilizes the user properties in Microsoft Exchange, eliminating the need for custom recipients." The mobile connector enables wireless messages to be sent while the Fenestrae Mobile Data Server™ provides users access to their e-mail and calendar from their GSM phone. "I also see an excellent opportunity for the Mobile Data Server - the US does not provide standard GSM coverage for us at this time, but in Europe it could prove to be an tremendous asset for us."
Three tier
"Right now we have 65,000 entries in our global address list," says Westrich. "Our Exchange environment is a multi-tiered hub and spoke design, to minimize WAN traffic. We have a three-tier messaging infrastructure with central backbone and connection servers connected to several local users servers. The central SAP Server for North America is connected to the Fenestrae Faxination Server in Kansas City. We use performance monitors to maintain a high service level. As SAP is such a crucial application we watch it a little more closely and automatically send a test fax every hour. In the event of a problem, we're immediately alerted by e-mail. But generally we don't have a lot of problems."
Subscription based
The Aventis roll out of Fenestrae Faxination Server in the US and Europe is based on what Fenestrae calls an 'unlimited key' plan - a usage model that only charges customers for users of the software.
"Such a subscription deal enables a company to seamlessly scale up when needed - rather than having to commit to the whole environment at the outset," says Frits Bakker, account manager, Fenestrae . "For Aventis, we work on a request-by-request basis - access packs enable the Aventis team to extract necessary information from the Exchange environment when needed. In addition, the specially designed package was bolstered by unlimited phone-based support and a standard software maintenance plan."
Implementation
Fenestrae's close relationship with Microsoft and SAP proved invaluable in ensuring seamless integration with Aventis' IT environments. The company worked alongside
a dedicated Microsoft consultant to create a total solution, which delivered the desired functionality and simplified the entire messaging process. Aventis continues to work closely with both Microsoft and Fenestrae - for example it's a participant in the early adoption program for Exchange2000.
Moving forward
The recent mergers mean many of the company's messaging plans have had to be temporarily put back. But even as restructuring plans are still being implemented,
Westrich looks forward to exploiting Fenestrae Faxination Server's potential even further. "Least-cost routing and the support for Exchange2000 are just a few of the features we're looking forward to taking advantage of," Westrich concludes.
- Success story
- When we chose Fenestrae it was the
only product on the market that
offered us every technical capability
we needed;
- We can fax standard forms directly
from SAP. In North America we
send 10,000 purchase orders a year
from four locations. Our operations
in Frankfurt are looking at using SAP
Workflow in combination with
Fenestrae Faxination Server for
invoice auditing;
- The mobile paging facility enables
users to roam the building or work away
from the office. Messages can be
sent directly from Outlook to their
pagers or SMS-enabled phones;
- SAP is one of our most important
faxing applications. For the
integration between SAP, Exchange
and Fenestrae Faxination Server we
use both the standard R3-Exchange
integration provided by SAP and
Fenestrae's Faxination-SAP connector.
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