Lately by Copia

Join the Contest!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:15:00 +0000

Many of our customers never contact our support lines, and if we contact them, they tell us that their CopiaFacts System "just runs". It sits on a machine somewhere, perhaps with the screen turned off, and sends and receives faxes and e-mails with the minimum of fuss. That's exactly how we like it to work, and so do our users.

If your system works like this, we would like to hear from you! We are having a competition to see whose system has been running longest without attention. Please send us a screen-shot showing the top right section of your CopiaFacts screen, so that we can see the "Uptime" value (displayed in days/hours:minutes:seconds). Email the screen shot to Steve@copia.com and put the words "Screen Shot" as the subject. Just be the longest running system and you could be the lucky winner of $165 credit that can be applied towards your maintenance or any Copia product purchase. The competition will close on the 15th of June.

We're excited to see who wins and which CopiaFacts system has run the longest!

Microsoft Patch for Remote Desktop

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:57:00 +0000

Although many of our users make use of our CopiaTech remote support utility (which is based on UltraVNC), we are aware of several who prefer us to log in with Remote Desktop for support purposes.

If you have Remote Desktop enabled on your CopiaFacts server (or any other), we suggest checking that you have installed this week's Microsoft patches KB2621440 and KB2667402, which are rated critical by Microsoft. Without these patches, there is a vulnerability in Remote Desktop which may allow the bad guys to access your system. For more info on this, go to Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-20.

CopiaFacts Version 8.1

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:54:00 +0000

CopiaFacts version 8.1 is now available to customers whose maintenance is current (if not, please contact Copia Sales). With this version we have made two administrative changes in addition to the ongoing software enhancements and new features:

First, we are now using a standard four element version/build number (at the time of writing, this is 8.1.0.79). All CopiaFacts components in a build will now have the same version details: we no longer have to maintain version lists showing separate numbers for each item, and you no longer have a struggle to work out what version you are using of each component.

Second, we have moved the 'change history' into Appendix M of the CopiaFacts on-line manual, and will no longer be updating the FFCHANGES database. The old Appendix M listing separate version numbers is now redundant. This change allows us to continue with the searchable change history, but in addition each entry can have links into the manual topics which describe the changes in more detail.

We hope that you will find the new version information easier to use. In upcoming blog posts, we will highlight some of the new features in CopiaFacts 8.1, which are summarized in the new Appendix M of the Reference Manual.

Server Down? What are your Plans?

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:43:00 +0000

Some of our customers are still using Windows versions that Microsoft no longer supports, such as NT and Windows 2000. XP and Windows Server 2003 are now joining them. So some of you may experience the inability to revive your server if it goes down. With the advent of Windows 7 and 2008 some of the older boards and drivers may not be compatible with newer machines running these operating systems. Compatibility with your hardware in the coming years may find you scrambling for a solution.

Why wait? Copia can help you determine your current, as well as future, needs to insure that you have a plan B.

Most computers sold on the market today no longer have available expansion slots for fax boards. So if you’re looking to upgrade your system, Copia can provide you with a computer and the necessary hardware to have a perfect solution whether its fax, voice or email.

We have already helped a number of current customers with a plan B solution, so don't delay; call your salesperson here at Copia to find out more, 800-689-8898 or 630-388-6900.

Fax is Still a Core Business Solution

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:42:00 +0000

Fax is still a proven communication vehicle for business, even in the 21st Century! Our active and growing customers for fax include:

- health industry, e.g. hospitals using fax to transmit patient records in a secure fashion
- lending institutions and banks
- government installations

Fax doesn't get sidetracked with spam blockers like email does. You no longer need an old fashioned fax machine to send or receive, you can do it direct from your desktop. Copia provides a boardless solution, FoIP (Fax over IP) for SIP-based telephone systems, such as TeleVantage, Asterisk, and Trixbox. We support T.38 and G.711 FoIP fax protocols.

Think of fax when you need to communicate to your list of customers or prospects; and if you'd like an additional guarantee that your message will be received we can provide fall back to email also. Call your salesperson here at Copia, 800-689-8898 or 630-388-6900 who will be happy to discuss your needs and give you a quote on the best solution for your business.

Showing Transaction Result Details in a Trace File

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:53:00 +0000

We have recently added a feature to bridge the gap between just showing the dialed number or e-mail destination in the trace file and showing a full set of trace lines. You can now define a set of RESULT variables and use them to choose what information to display in a single trace entry for each call.

A typical set of variable definitions, added in FAXFACTS.CFG, would read as follows:

$var_def    RESULT_FAXOUT "Fax to @RCVRFAX (@OC_DESC) @OC_CODE {@FSNUM} Pg=@OC_SENTPAGES"
$var_def    RESULT_EMAIL "Email to @EMAIL_TO (@OC_DESC) @OC_CODE {@FSNUM}"
$var_def    RESULT_VOICE "Voice to @DIAL_DIGITS (@OC_DESC) @OC_CODE {@FSNUM}"
$var_def    RESULT_FAXIN "Fax in @DNIS ANI=@ANI (@PR_FAXFILE) @PR_OUTCOME Pg=@PR_FAXPAGES"
$var_def    RESULT_WORKER "Worker @OC_CODE {@FSNUM}"

After adding these variables (or as many as are relevant to your operations) you will find that as each outbound fax completes, the contents of RESULT_FAXOUT will be expanded and the trace will show a single line which might read:

13:58:06.48 Result:   Fax to 16417416000 (Success) 0 {00447144} Attempts=1

This new feature will allow you to see the results of calls if you look at the COPIAFACTS display, but without the clutter than is often present if you turn on full tracing. Although it is useful to keep a consistent set of result texts by defining these variables in FAXFACTS.CFG, you can of course override them for specific tasks, such as when you have used a pre- or post- process, or for special worker-box operations. The full set of available RESULT_... variables, and of course the variables you can use inside them, are listed in Appendix D of the Copia Reference Manual.

For new users, we will arrange for the initial set-up to place a standard set of result variables, similar to the above, in FAXFACTS.CFG. Please try adding the above variable definitions to your own configuration file and let us know of any variations to the default output line which you find particularly helpful. You will need to upgrade to a current release to use this feature.

New PDF Conversion Options

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:40:00 +0000

We are seeing an increasing number of reports of issues with converting PDF documents for faxing.

First, there is the increasing bulk and complexity of the latest Adobe Reader X. Although you can be reasonably confident that any valid PDF can be opened with Adobe Reader, including the ones that Adobe actively prevent other software from processing, the principal problem we have seen is its habit of popping up message boxes asking you to check for updates. Not a good idea if your system is doing lots of document conversions on an unattended server! Adobe do an excellent job of shading colored pictures and logos, but this also creates a problem for faxing: it creates good quality TIF files but they are huge, and so take a long time to transmit.

For many years, our recommendation for users who had problems with Adobe products in Document Converter has been to try Ghostscript. Although a little klunky to install, and subject to some variation from release to release, this at least does not attempt to 'phone home' for updates, and generally does a good job. We have also added a few specialist options, such as the ability to create high-res faxes (300x300 and 400x400) from PDFs. However Ghostscript also suffers from issues that have proved to be dealbreakers for some of our users: font rendering can be of less than perfect quality, half-tone and colored images and logos can easily become blocked white and black, and Ghostscript cannot handle a document which contains both portrait and landscape pages: the latter are truncated and occupy only part of the page.

To solve some of these issues, we have now added a built-in PDF converter to CVSINGLE, which requires neither Adobe or Ghostscript software to render PDFs to TIF. And like Ghostscript, it does not need to use the Document Converter printer driver. As well as creating compact and high-quality TIFs from text-based PDF originals, it is also highly customizable for optimizing color and gray-scale images, with many options which are selectable using the QPDF_OPTIONS variable. You can adjust the brightness or gamma of the image before dithering it to monochrome, choose various dithering methods, and force selected background levels to white. There is also edge-sharpening capability, and a de-speckle option. Mostly, these optimizations will more useful for fax 'applications' where you need to handle specific styles of PDF: for these, you can tune the parameters to balance readability and speed of transmission. But for all PDF document conversions, you will find that the new option is simple to use and provides a high-quality result. Customers have used these options to create faxes which are not only easier to read in TIF format but can also be transmitted in a fraction of the time taken by Adobe output from the same original PDFs.

So how do you select the new built-in PDF conversion? There are basically three ways:

You can select it globally by adding an environment variable CVTOPTS with a value of 'Q'.
For use in job administration jobs or for general document conversion applications, add a $convert_options QPDF command to the UJP or USR file controlling the operation.
Finally, for single conversions, you can use a -Q command-line option when you run CVSINGLE.

You can use the third method to experiment with different conversion methods: and using -G instead of -Q will select Ghostscript if you have it installed. The renderer options can be selected with a CFG, UJP or USR variable QPDF_OPTIONS.

For complete documentation of the CopiaFacts built-in PDF converter, refer to this topic in the reference manual.

Text-to-Speech support

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:59:00 +0000

Technical Note #2

From COPIAFACTS build 8.062, Text-to-Speech is supported as an optional feature for voice calls. Currently this uses Microsoft Speech Server, which is a free download for Vista, Windows 7, and Server 2008. Microsoft Speech Server supports over two dozen voices in various languages, including several voices for different national versions of English and Spanish. We also support the original ‘Microsoft Anna’ voice used by the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) although this is not of the same quality as the voices provided with Microsoft Speech Server.

Text to be spoken can be directly included on a new $tts_text infobox command, or can be included in an external file referenced from a $tts_file command. These files can either contain plain text or can use any of the SSML markup supported by Microsoft Speech Server.

The power of the new text-to-speech feature comes from the ability to include CopiaFacts variables in the text to be spoken, making it easy to set up an IVR session which is responsive to earlier entries by the caller, or to variables in a voice-broadcast list. Spoken text can also include conditional text, controlled by $if, $else, $endif commands embedded in the text to be spoken.

We recommend that when a voice application uses text-to-speech, you should replace any of the CopiaFacts Standard Voice Prompts that you need with matching prompts spoken by the same voice. To do this, run the FFTESTTS utility, which can load either individual phrases or a list of text files, and convert them to WAV files spoken by the selected ‘voice’. There is a set of XML files available for installation which contain the texts of all the standard voice prompts, which you can use with this utility.

You can find technical information about using Text-to-Speech in CopiaFacts here. This topic has download links for Microsoft Speech Server and links to the commands you will need in your infobox logic.

To evaluate or add the text-to-speech option to your CopiaFacts license, please contact Copia Sales. For help with implementation, please contact Copia Support.

Scheduling calls by ‘Time at Destination’

noreply@blogger.com (Tim) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:26:00 +0000

Technical Note #1

CopiaFacts now allows automatic scheduling of calls based on the time at the destination. This feature has obvious applications for broadcasts, where a list may have numbers in a variety of different countries and time-zones, but even for single transmissions you may want to have a call made in office hours without having to look up and calculate the times.

The scheduling is controlled by new parameters on the $fax_send_time command, which you can find described here.

As an example, for a voice broadcast which you wish to spread over weekday mornings only, all you need to do is add to your template the command:

$fax_send_time 09:00:00 12:00:00 12345 DEST

Here the 12345 selects days Monday to Friday, and DEST indicates that you want to use the time at destination. Time zones in the USA and in Australia are determined from the area code in the phone or fax number, and for other international destinations from the country code. Daylight saving time is automatically taken into account.

For Job Administration broadcasts, there is a dialog on the Schedule/Priority page which makes it easier to set up these parameters:

Please contact Copia support if you have any questions about using this feature.

October 2011 - Tax Credit

noreply@blogger.com (BG) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:54:00 +0000

TAX CREDIT - Invest in Copia Software Now
In order to stimulate business, Congress enacted Section 179 Extension for US customers. The Section 179 Extension gives you the option of not having to wait for your purchased assets (such as computer hardware and software) to depreciate over time, but allows you to deduct the purchase price in full, thus getting a tax break from your assets immediately. "Small businesses can expense up to $500,000 of the first $2 million of certain business property placed in service during the year."

A business that acquires Copia software and places it into service before January 1, 2012 can now claim a depreciation allowance of 100% of the cost of the software. This allowance is an additional deduction you can take after any Section 179 deduction.

So, Take advantage of these credits, purchase Copia software and/or hardware, and:
1. Expand your system before the end of the year;
2. Purchase that spare fax and/or voice board;
or 3. If your business relies on your a CopiaFacts system, build a redundant system.

For more information on this tax incentive you can view, www.irs.gov/pub/irspdf/p1693_11.pdf

Take advantage of this tax credit. We recommend that you speak with your accountant and then call Copia Sales 800.689.8898 to place your order.

Just a Reminder about Goldmine/OmniRush Users
Copia offers an alternative to FaxRush/Goldmine users with fax and email support for Goldmine SQL versions, including version 9. Copia also offers faxing from just about any contact manager: ACT, SalesLogix, Microsoft CRM and Open SQ, etc.

Call 800.689.8898 for more information on how we can help you fax from within your contact manager

Copia Rescues OmniRush Users

noreply@blogger.com (BG) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:40:00 +0000

Z-Firm announced an end of life (EOL) for most of its OmniRush product line, including FaxRush. Copia offers an alternative to FaxRush/Goldmine users with fax and email support for Goldmine SQL versions, including version 9.
Call Copia for more information on how we can help you continue to do faxing within Goldmine, ACT, SalesLogix, Microsoft CRM and Open SQL. Also, mention code # 07071946 to hear about a special introductory offer if you’re choosing FaxFacts as an alternative product to FaxRush.

October 2008 Lately Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (BG) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:56:00 +0000

Look what you can do using the Copia Fax Server!

When ALLDATA, the leading provider of manufacturers’ service and repair information, shop management software and customer relations tools for the automotive repair and collision industries, needed a 24x365 application to solve a critical business problem, they interviewed several companies before deciding on Copia.

“Customer service, reliability, turnaround time, cost benefit, and robustness were all factors which influenced our decision to choose Copia”, says George Cusack, VP of Production for ALLDATA. “Copia’s applications provide ALLDATA with the ability to offer improved service to our customers with reduced costs.”

The ALLDATA application has the unique ability to provide information by email or fax and to interact with the customer to choose delivery options or transfer to customer service if a person answers the fax line. All delivery attempts are logged to a database for reference by ALLDATA customer service and customer service is notified of any failures by email. Copia’s intelligent retry feature allows ALLDATA to fine tune the information delivery process without the need for human intervention, freeing people for other tasks and boosting productivity.

FROM THE SUPPORT DESK:
Separate Retry Delay Parameters for E-Mail

You can now specify a separate set of outcome classes and corresponding retry counts and delays for e-mail transmissions, and also set the maximum number of retries separately. The default outcome categories have been revised so that there is no longer a need to place e-mail outcomes into classes with names such as 'no answer' or 'fax error'.

E-Mail retry parameters can be specified at present in the configuration, user or transaction file. Both the fax/phone and e-mail outcome classes can be customized in the SMR file in the usual way.

Tip: SQL support for logging data

With the latest changes to the CopiaFacts Engine, we now support writing log data of your choice to any SQL database. You can also suppress the writing of the current DBF file. Please contact Copia Technical support for exactly how to move the logging data to SQL.