Paragon Software International, Inc.
Product
Announcement
CRMERPT3.5
CRIME E-Reports 3.5
Paragon Software International, Inc. announces availability of CRIME E-Reports 3.5. E-Reports is a program that runs on your Windows desktop and takes advantage of your PC printer. E-Reports prints well formatted reports edge-to-edge on the paper providing a crisp, well spaced, easy to read report, unlike other printing solutions that bunch up the lines and use small thin hard to read fonts. Special fonts created by us produce crisp bold output without confusion over similar looking characters (such as I, l, and 1). E-Reports runs on your desktop and provides immediate previews of your output and local control for deleting, saving, and reprinting reports. Reports can also be saved in PDF format for distribution through email. The highlighted new features in this version include the ability to perform redaction on reports based on search text and the ability to annotate a report. More details can be found below.
Below is a picture of E-Reports running with one of our custom skins on Windows XP.
Enhancements Summary
ü Reports Have Meaningful Names
ü Copy Spool Files to Other Storage
ü Drag and Drop Reports
ü Enhanced Security Options for PDF Documents
ü Annotating Reports
ü Advanced Text Redaction
ü Redacted Text is Removed from PDF
ü Rename Spool Files
ü User Control of Redaction Color
ü Printer Output Scaling
Enhancements Detail Explanation
Reports Have Meaningful Names
The report names seen in the lists have been changed to use meaningful descriptive names instead of internal object names. In addition, the number of pages the report contains has been added to the list.
In this diagram below, a sample report name has been enlarged and the various parts of the name were given labels. Although the internal report number is a bit ugly, it serves the purpose of keeping reports in the order in which they were generated. If left off, the reports would sort themselves by the report description.
On the tail end of the report name is the report type which in this case is SPOOL, which means it was intended to be a report printed on paper. While most reports you will see will be SPOOL, E-Reports also supports PDF, XLS, HTML, XML, CSV and several others.
Copy Spool Files to Other Storage
Reports in any of the tabs (Ready, Printed, Trash, or Saved) can be copied using the Copy button below the report list. Simply, left click a report in the list and click Copy. Once the report has been copied, use the built in Windows Paste ability to paste the report to any desired location. For instance, right click on the desktop, click Paste, and the report will be pasted to the desktop.
Drag and Drop Reports
Reports which have been previously copied to another storage location can be dragged and dropped onto the report list in the “Ready” tab, and E-Reports will process it like a new report. If preview is checked, the dropped report file will be shown in the preview window.
Enhanced Security Options for PDF Documents
In previous releases, all PDFs were created with an internal password and secured against update. As of this release, the use of a password is optional and defaults to not being used. Additionally, options are available for controlling the level of security of the PDF. In this picture of a portion of the Options form, the various security options have a check box for selecting which ones to apply. These settings will be used when saving a report to PDF format. Be sure to provide a password and select the “protect saved PDF” if security is desired. We recommend securing all PDFs sent outside your agency.
Annotating Reports
In the report Preview window, notes can be added to the report. In the tool bar at the top of the window there are two new buttons. One for adding a note, the other for deleting a note. You can add as many notes as desired. The picture below shows a note added to an incident report.
Adding a Note
After clicking on the “Add Note” button, the cursor will change to a cross-hair. Use this to mark the upper left corner of where the desired note box will be drawn, hold the left mouse button down and drag the mouse down and to the right. A box will appear as this is being done. Lift the left mouse button when the note box is the desired size. This mouse operation is called dragging a box and is a common technique and should be easy to use. After letting go of the left mouse button, the box will change appearance and look like the one in the picture below. Next, key in the text of the note. To add another note, click on the “Add Note” button again, and repeat the above procedure.
To save the notes after they are created, the report must be saved as a PDF document using the “Save” button on the tool bar at the top of the window. Failure to save the report will result in all the notes being lost.
Changing a Note
To change a note, left click on it to activate it and the cursor will appear in the note text. Alter the text as needed, then click somewhere off the note. When a note is activated, sizing handles (small black squares) will appear in the four corners.
Moving a Note
To move a note, left click on it to activate it. When a note is activated, sizing handles (small black squares) will appear in the four corners. Move the mouse to the yellow bar at the top of the note and hold down the left mouse button, then drag the note box to the new location. When it is in place, let go of the left mouse button.
Resizing a Note
To resize a note, left click on it to activate it. When a note is activated, sizing handles (small black squares) will appear in the four corners. Place the mouse on one of the sizing handles and hold down the left mouse button, then drag the sizing handle to shape the note box (as shown in left picture below). When it is at the desired size, let go of the left mouse button and it will expand or shrink to the new size and adjust the note text in side the box (as shown in the right picture below).
Deleting a Note
To delete a note, left click on it to activate it. When a note is activated, sizing handles (small black squares) will appear in the four corners. Then click on the “Delete Note” button.
Advanced Text Redaction
This is a very powerful new tool added to E-Reports that enables searching for any text anywhere in the report and redacting it. E-Reports already had a tool that could be used to manually draw a redaction box over a name or other details in a report. That redaction tool requires the person to read and manually search for any items that required redacting. This new tool called “Text Redaction” does the reading and searching for you. Just fill in the search words such as a victim’s name, and it will find and itemize everywhere it occurs in the document, and present the itemized list to you for approval. If there is nothing on the list to be excluded, a simple click on a button will redact all occurrences in the blink of an eye. The itemized list includes the entire line of text the search word(s) were found in, providing context for the information. If a search word was found in a line that is not to be redacted, click the line to exclude it. The itemized list of occurrences can be scrolled through one item at a time using the arrow keys for review. As it moves to a new line, the matching text in the report will be highlighted and brought into view on the page. It is very powerful and very easy to use.
Starting Text Redaction
Text redaction is started by clicking on the “Text Redact” button in the tool bar at the top of the E-Report Preview window. The Preview window and tool bar are shown below.
Clicking on the “Text Redact” button will cause this window to appear. From here you can key in the words or names that are to be redacted from the report. Multiple searches can be done together at the same time. Each line will cause a separate search through the report.
Using Search Words
On the Text Redaction window there is a grid for entering the search words. Each separate word to be located in the document should be keyed on a separate line. Each line in the grid will cause a full search of the report starting at the top through the end of the report with the results of the search shown in the Text Redaction Matches window.
Operating Text Redaction Matches Window
To demonstrate, the above words were searched in this test incident and produced the following results in the Text Redaction Matches window. The matches list will include any block of text that contains the search text.
While the Text Redaction Matches window displays a list of what was found, the active item in the list is highlighted in yellow, and that item is then displayed in the preview window. The specific search word found is highlighted with a blue box around it. The block of text the word was found in is also outlined with the standard object selection box.
The active item in the matches list can be moved up and down using the cursor movement keys, or by clicking on a specific item.
Using the down arrow key and moving the highlighted active item down the list as shown below, causes the preview window to follow along and display the corresponding matching text.
Here is the matching text in the preview window.
Searching for Full Names
To more reliably find a specific person you should use a first and last name and use the second column for a second word of the name as shown below. When a word is entered into the first column and the second column, they both must be found next to each other in a block of text for it to be considered a match and included in the match results window.
In the above search demonstration, “wagner” was searched by itself and found several instances of both “Al” and “Catherine” in the report. To locate just “Al Wagner”, key in both the search words on the same line as shown below.
By default the search is performed without matching the case, but there is a check box on the form to force an exact match by case. In this example “WAGNER, AL” (all upper case) was found while the search words were typed all lower case.
Having both names as search words will narrow the search results to just those blocks of text that contain both “wagner” and “al” as shown here. The search words can be in any order, the search engine will look for both words near each other in any order.
Redacting Located Text
Using the above example of locating “AL WAGNER” in the report, we will now demonstrate the simplicity of mass redaction. Click the “Redact ALL” button, to permanently and completely remove the found search words from the report. As of this release, the redacted text is not just covered up by a colored rectangle, it is actually expunged from the report. In fact, if you perform the same search after redacting, the search will not find the redacted items. Upon clicking the “Redact ALL” button, a confirmation window will appear because once the text is redacted it cannot be undone.
Below is what the Preview window displays after the text is redacted. By default, the redacted area is covered with a pink rectangle to make the redacted text area noticeable. This color will show up grey on a black and white printer. As of this release the redaction color is a user selectable option.
Excluding Found Text From Redaction
If the Text Redaction Matches list contains items that are not to be redacted, click the check box on that line to de-select the item. In the following example only the last name of “wagner” is being used and E-Reports locates 4 matches and one of which is for “Catherine”.
To redact all the items except for “Catherine Wagner”, click the check box to de-select the matched item (note: a check box can be toggle on/off by using the space bar also). Then when the “Redact ALL” button is clicked it will only redact the three selected items, and leave the de-selected items alone.
In actual daily usage, your matched items list will typically be longer and reference more complicated text such as portions of a narrative. For this reason, the Text Redaction Matches window provides the mechanism for indicating the active results item (yellow) and causes the Preview window to follow along and display where in the report this searched item was found. You can use the down arrow key to move down through the list of matches and review each item in the context of its location in the report. Upon reviewing an item in the Preview window, you can choose to de-select the item in the matches list (note: a check box can be toggle on/off by using the space bar also).
Arranging Windows
The windows can be arranged in different ways depending on the size and resolution of the monitor in use. The smallest and default layout for the windows is shown below and applicable for a basic XGA (1024x768 pixel) monitor. We do not recommend trying to use E-Reports Previewing on anything smaller than XGA, it will run but be too small to read.
For those people with a wide screen monitor or a larger square monitor with better resolution than XGA, other layout options can be used. What ever arrangement of windows you choose, E-Reports will remember how you like it and retain your arrangement on subsequent usage of the windows. Below is an example of an arrangement for WXGA or wide screen XGA monitor. A larger monitor provides much more space to see the report and a longer list of matched items. NOTE: the figure below has been shrunk to fit on the page, on a larger screen it would be just as readable as the previous arrangement.
Rename Report Files
Report files that you have saved into the SAVED tab can be renamed. If you are saving the report, it is probably special and you may wish to add some information to the report name to help identify it later. If you click on a report in the SAVED tab the rename button will be enabled, then click on the rename button a pop-up window will appear for changing the name.
Below is the rename form. Key in the desired new name of the report and click the OK button for the change to take affect.
User Control of Redaction Color
On the Options form the color of the rectangle used during redaction can be selected.
Clicking on the drop down arrow of the redaction color picker will display a standard color grid from which a new redaction color can be chosen.
If you don’t see the color desired, click on “more…” and an extended selection window will appear (as below) from which literally any color of the rainbow can be selected.
Printer Output Scaling
Some less expensive ink jet printers do not faithfully reproduce characters in their specified size. This can produce reports that are slightly larger than the paper and will then cause odd results. This could include trailing characters on a line being dropped, or perhaps shifted to the next line. If you encounter problems like this with your printer, try adjusting the scaling. Typically, in portrait mode the slight differences do not cause a noticeable problem. Landscape mode is usually more noticeable. To compensate for printing that does not fit, adjust the scaling down 1 or 2 percent and retry the report. Repeat this until it fits properly.
The scaling property is attached to the specific printer name selected. So if one printer in your office is causing a problem, while the others are not, making the scaling adjustment for that printer will not affect the usage of the other printers.
E-Reports Features
E-Reports List of Features
ü Print preview
ü Document redacting
ü Automatic Management of Reports
ü Save reports to PDF format
ü PDFs are secured to prevent alteration
ü Save and reprint reports
ü Embedded logos and art work in reports
ü Embedded signatures for form letters
ü Custom font for crisp output
ü Edge-to-edge printing to maximize readability
ü Ultra fast PDF creation
ü Drag and Drop Documents
ü Copy Spool Files to Other Storage
ü Enhanced Security Options for PDF Documents
ü Annotating PDF Documents
ü Advanced Text Redaction
ü Redacted Text is Removed from PDF
ü Spool Files Have Meaningful Names
ü Rename Spool Files
ü Redact Other PDF Documents
ü User Control of Redaction Color
ü Automatic Management of Reports
ü Ultra Fast PDF Creation
Report Sample
This is a close up view of a sample report so you can see the clean bold lines of the characters.
Report Preview
The report preview program will display a report if the preview check box is checked. Below is an example of the report preview program. From within the preview program you can decide to print or save to PDF. The preview program provides several tools for easily and quickly redacting information in a report.
Redacting Reports
Any information in a report can be covered up (redacted). This is very quick and easy to do and will make an excellent tool for releasing information to the public. All those situation where "White Out" or black marker is used to cover up a name or a date of birth and then run through the copier can be done using the redacting feature.
In this screen shot we see the previously shown incident (zoomed to 200% for easier viewing in this document). Redacting mode has been clicked which changes the cursor to this cross hair. Then you simply left click and drag the mouse to draw a box over the information you wish to cover up. In this example you can see the contacts name has a dashed box drawn over it as the mouse has been dragged to form the rectangle. When you let go of the left mouse button a grey box is drawn covering up the information (second screen). This was previously done to the phone number on this screen.
Saving as a PDF
To save as a PDF file, click on the "Save" button in the menu bar at the top of the preview screen. The cursor is pointing to the button in the following screen shot. Then fill out the save dialog screen to tell it where you want the PDF file stored.
If you wanted to save a report to PDF, but forgot to turn on preview, just click on the preview check box and re-print the report. To reprint the report, go to the "Printed" pane, find the report and double click it (or click on the report and click on the print button)
Example Reports
Here are some examples of what E-Reports can do.
This is a form letter generated with a color logo embedded in it. Art work can be used for backgrounds, letter head, or even signatures.
Here is a small sample of a standard CRIME query report. Notice the bold headings and large title. These are just standard output for the query, no special intervention is required to achieve this. The preview program automatically adjusts the window size to match the report layout.
This is a sample Weekly Statistical Report:
This is a sample state revocation form generated using E-Reports to insert data, check boxes, and place clerk signature:
This is a sample state report generated using E-Reports:
Other E-Report Usage Instructions
Setting Options
To set E-Report options, click on the "Options" button on the right side.
That will present the options window shown below:
Setting the Printer
From this window you can set the printer that will be used by E-Reports. Any printer your PC can see can be used here. Click the drop down arrow to see a list of printers installed on your PC, then click one.
Other Settings
The E-Reports Location will be set by someone from your IT staff. This is an administrative item that is required to be set before using E-Reports. It requires a password to change and you have to click the edit button to initiate it.
Likewise, the "Request Password" check box should only be set by someone from your IT staff. It is only to be used when the PC is from a different domain than where CRIME is placing the reports. If checked, E-Reports will ask the user for a user name and password to use to login to a foreign network.
Implementation Requirements
The announced product or product enhancement has the following listed requirements prior to, during, or after installation as indicated below:
[ NO ] Down time required to implement.
[ YES ] Requires additional training before installation.
[ NO ] Requires modification or preparation of data before installation.
[ NO ] Requires brief unavailability of the affected module.
[ NO ] Requires modification of data after installation.
Hardware Requirements
E-Reports and the new features that use the report Preview window are best viewed on a minimum screen size of XGA also known in pixel counts as 1024 x 768. It can generate the paper reports without this at any screen size, but anything smaller than XGA is hard to read. A larger display will be clearer and show more of a report at a given time.
Software Requirements
E-Reports will run on Windows 2000 and beyond. Users will require authority to the “All Users” folder in “Documents and Settings” for saving and retrieving various configuration items.
Training
Once this product is installed and setup by IS staff, minimal interaction is required. Most people will be able to learn how to use it after reading this announcement and trying out the program.
Pricing
This is where it gets tough. In this day and age when everything is priced per user or per PC, can you afford to buy this software with all these features? Yes, Yes you can, because it is supplied at no additional cost as part of the standard support agreement. It requires no additional software to run either (such as Adobe PDF software). Everything you need is built in. It is site licensed so you can run it on as many PCs as desired.
Status and Availability
E-Reports is available immediately and can be downloaded from our web site. Look for it on our downloads page under the help desk section. Click this link http://www.paragons.com/hddownld.htm to get to the down loads page if your browser supports this.
Installing
The software comes in a standard Microsoft Software Installation package or MSI file and is stored in a zip file on the web site for easier downloading. Run the package and follow the on screen instructions. If you have a previous version already installed, it is recommended to uninstall the old version first. Be sure to record the E-Reports Location path from the Options window before uninstalling. Use this when filling out the Options window on the new version.
Note to IT staff: Do NOT manually delete the “E-Report Location” directories associated with a particular installation as the user has reports in them.