Minimum Computer System Requirements and Compatibility
The software, right from the outset, was designed to run on a minimal computer specification, thus lessening the financial impact of introducing our document management system. The general rule is that it will normally run on your existing computer hardware. There are a few exceptions to this which may require some upgrading. See below for a more precise answer.
There are two main concerns when storing documents electronically;
The first is the storage space required to hold all the scanned documents. Each time you scan a piece of paper an image is produced a bit like the pictures your digital camera produces but much, much smaller with a better compression ratio.
The second issue is the viewing of the scanned images. If you have a small screen you will see small images.
The first issue of storage space is not as big an issue as it may first appear. Approximately one standard sized four drawer filing cabinet takes up the equivalent space of a CD on your server’s hard disk. This means 20 filing cabinets would equate to 10 GB of space (approximately).
The second issue of screen size basically boils down to (depending on how good your eye sight is) the ideal minimum of a 17inch size screen running a resolution of 1024×768. To find out the resolution your computer’s screen is running at; right click on an empty bit of your desktop, select properties, then the Settings tab. The screen resolution is shown as something like; 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1278×1024 or more. Anything less than 1024×768 is too small. Most computers can be set to 1024×768 without any hardware changes.
Server
The server’s specification all depends on how many people will be using the system at any one time and how much paperwork you estimate you will want to store. The system will run alongside Microsoft’s Exchange and SQL Server. One cautionary note is that sometimes these 2 applications tend to grab all the available memory. We require a minimum of 512MB of free RAM for the database system and OCR indexer to work in.
Scanner Requirements
A scanner which is plugged directly into your computer using a USB cable needs to be TWAIN compliant or compatible to work. If you are unsure contact your supplier to find out this information. Our recommendation for an inexpensive and fully functional scanner would be the Fujitsu Fi-6130c or equivalent. These are about the size of a small inkjet printer, scan in duplex (both sides) at 30+ pages per minute and are very reliable with a very good ADF (Automatic Document Feeder). Volume™ fully supports multi-functional devices (or network printer/scanners). Processing the output from these devices in TIFF image format can be fully automated for the user. No intermediary software is required to upload images to, for example, Terminal Servers (Microsoft Terminal Server 2003 or above required unless a WAN is available).
Client (desktop, workstations & laptops)
The client machines, your desktop workstations, require much less resources. Just about any computer which is capable of running Windows 2000 and Microsoft’s Word is capable of running our software. See the point made earlier on screen size. Thin clients used in Terminal Server and Citrix environments are also fully compatible. Volume™ is fully compatible will all current Windows variants: Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7, Windows SME, Server 2008 in both 32bit and 64bit variations.
Volume™ is also fully compatible will Microsoft’s Terminal Server 2000 through to 2008, Windows Server 2000 to 2008, and Citrix.
