Ever since IBM announced OS/400 V4R5 was the last release to support its OfficeVision product, companies have been searching for an alternative solution. Many decided to continue using OfficeVision until it became critical to update the OS version of their iSeries. IBM may have announced a clear migration path but many companies took the opportunity to evaluate third-party products which often offered additional features and benefits while reducing costs.

Patrick Race, MD of SpaceTec, says: “Although IBM’s announcement to discontinue support for OfficeVision after V4R5 was a while ago, we are finding many of our customers are only just tackling the issue. Companies preferred to continue using OfficeVision, until it became absolutely necessary to upgrade the OS beyond V4R5. Many of our customers have invested much time and money into their legacy systems and need to ensure any new applications are right and not just a quick fix.”

Kent Reliance Building Society was one such company. Using OfficeVision for the production of all its documents meant migrating to a new solution and converting existing documents could be costly in terms of labour and time. As winners of many awards for its services and the underlying technology, it was imperative to maintain its operating standards. 

“We could only do this by ensuring any changes to the technology went smoothly and were unseen to our customers. This was a big challenge as we need to ensure a seamless change from OfficeVision to a new application,” says David Clare, iSeries developer, Kent RBS.

Kent RBS is moving from a 720 on V4R4 to an i5 520 on V5R3 this month. The 720 will become a backup machine.

Kent Reliance is the only building society based in Kent. Incorporating the Chatham Reliance (established 1898) Dover District (established 1861) Herne Bay (established 1888) and Kent and Canterbury (established 1847), Kent Reliance has served the people of Kent for over 150 years. With assets of over £1bn, and a network of branches and agencies throughout the county, Kent Reliance is run for the benefit of its members, with no external shareholders.

For Kent RBS, finding a replacement solution was only the tip of the iceberg. It was crucial the solution would take existing documents and templates and convert these with the minimum amount of time and cost. The society had specific requirements for all its documents and no resources available to spend months on the conversion, which could also impact customer service.

Kent RBS contacted SpaceTec as the UK provider of InterForm400 software. It was also evaluating solutions from other suppliers but it considered SpaceTec to have the only application offering a complete solution.

“We needed not only a replacement solution but also one which would convert all our current documents and offer a print feature,” says Clare. “With SpaceTec and InterForm400 we could do all this with the one vendor.”

A single vendor application meant the solution could be implemented quickly with no issues regarding compatibility of different modules. SpaceTec has implemented InterForm400 for many customers in the same position and knew it could meet all Kent RBS requirements.

“We wanted to show Kent RBS how InterForm400 would meet its requirements in terms of converting documents, providing a stable product to move forward with and the flexibility of the print feature. To prove this we provided the society with contact details for Newcastle Building Society -- which uses InterForm400 for the same reasons as Kent Reliance -- to act as a reference site,” says Race. “Kent RBS was then able to see how quickly and accurately InterForm400 could be deployed and implemented.”

New rules devised by the FSA regulatory body meant mortgage lenders and advisors had to take a different approach to the procedures and documents they were currently using. For Kent RBS this required an overhaul to its systems, procedures and marketing literature. After a brief discussion with SpaceTec, it became obvious Kent RBS would be able to use the already-installed InterForm400 to make the necessary changes.

“This saved us a great deal of time when we were faced with the issue of making changes to comply with the new FSA Regulation rulings,” says Clare. “Two days consultation from SpaceTec showed us how we could address the problem.”

“SpaceTec has a number of customers who have migrated from OfficeVision to InterForm400,” says Race. “The product is stable and offers many additional features.”

Frank Booty