OpenText Archive - FME US, llc

AI Takes the Spotlight at OpenText world 2023

by Dirk Bode | Oct 15, 2023 | Digital Transformation, OpenText

Alright, let’s talk about the buzz that’s been going around after OpenText World 2023 in Vegas. First off, OpenText made a bold move by switching their domain to opentext.ai. It’s not just a name change; it’s a statement that screams, “We’re all in on AI!”

The Game Changers: Generative AI and LLMs

Now, what’s getting everyone talking is the power of Generative AI and those nifty Large Language Models (LLMs). Imagine being able to pull content from anywhere, structured or unstructured, and then getting precise answers to your burning questions. For those of us who’ve been in the game for a while, finding the right info has always been a bit of a chase. But with LLMs, and the new tools by OpenText or tools like fmeGPT, it’s like having a secret weapon that just gets context and produces relevant content to the user this way.

Chatting with your Data? It’s Happening.

Think about this: soon, we’ll be having smooth, ChatGPT-like conversations with our corporate data. It’s not just about asking a question and getting an answer; it’s about doing so securely. And speaking of secure and innovative approaches, that’s exactly where opentext’s new tool sets and solutions like fmeGPT shine. Integrating such technology can genuinely revolutionize how you interact with your organization’s data. OpenText demoed this impressively many times during the conference.

But hey, all the AI in the world won’t help if your data’s a mess. You’ve got to have a solid foundation. You need that sweet spot of great information and automation management. And if you’re wondering where to start, OpenText, with its array of tools and platforms, might just be your answer.

AI’s Next Move: Doing the Heavy Lifting

Here’s the exciting part: AI is gearing up to do a lot more than just answer questions. We’re talking full-blown automation of processes with just a dash of human touch when it really counts. This is where Artificial Capable Intelligence (ACI) steps in. If you’re looking for some deeper dive reading on this, check out Mustafa Suleyman’s “The Coming Wave”. It paints a picture of AI handling everything from making decisions to sealing deals.

Picture this: An AI that can pick products for drop shipping, negotiate contracts, set up an online store, run marketing campaigns, take orders, handle payments, and ship products. No need for a ton of meetings or back-and-forths. Sounds like the future, right? Well, it’s closer than we might think.

In a nutshell, OpenText World 2023 was more than just a conference; it was a glimpse into a future where AI isn’t just a tool—it’s a game changer. Time to get on board & contact me!

The Time Has Come to Replace Documentum Webtop

by Manuela Bernhardt | Sep 19, 2023 | Digital Transformation, Documentum, ECM, OpenText

In the world of Enterprise Content Management (ECM), OpenText Documentum has been a popular choice for organizations seeking a robust and scalable solution. Webtop has been the primary interface to leverage the power and flexibility of Documentum, and for many years it has served this purpose very well. However, technology advances and user expectations evolve. Just like our phones, it’s critical to reevaluate the tools we rely on to maintain productivity and efficiency. In this blog post, we will delve into the reasons why it’s time to replace OpenText Documentum Webtop and to explore alternative options that can better meet the needs of modern businesses.

Outdated user interface (UI)

Webtop was originally designed more than a decade ago, and its interface is highly reminiscent of that era. The design came from a “more-is-better” time, trying to incorporate every possible functionality into the UI, overloading the client with options that are not relevant for the majority of end users. The flow, usability and reactiveness of the client UI are outdated, not intuitive and “fun” to work with, and do not meet today’s expectations, making it difficult for users to effectively interact with the application. In an age where user experience is paramount, it’s crucial to take advantage of well planned, modern, and user-friendly interfaces that are targeted to support efficiency in the daily work.

Lack of mobile compatibility

In today’s mobile-first world, employees increasingly rely on smartphones and tablets to access information and collaborate on the go. Unfortunately, OpenText Documentum Webtop does not offer a seamless mobile experience. Its interface is not optimized for smaller screens, making it veritably unusable for mobile colleagues. By replacing Webtop with a mobile-friendly solution, organizations can provide device and location flexibility required by today’s environments and empower their workforce to access and contribute to their content from anywhere, at any time.

Limited collaboration capabilities

While one of the flagship capabilities of OpenText Documentum Webtop is locking documents to ensure sequential editing without overwriting previous versions, this approach limits the potential for real-time collaboration. As we all know, collaboration lies at the heart of efficient and effective content management. In today’s business world, it is common to share documents across teams and work in parallel to contribute, review and approve. This is extremely challenging using Webtop’s technology. Interfacing seamlessly with MS Office 365, allowing collaborative work in parallel and even simultaneously, is expected nowadays. Modern ECM clients offer these advanced collaboration features enabling seamless teamwork and boosting productivity.

Documentum Webtop’s integration challenges

As businesses grow and diversify their technology stack, integration becomes crucial for seamless workflows. OpenText Documentum Webtop’s integration capabilities are often complex and time-consuming. It lacks – nowadays common – out-of-the-box integrations with popular tools, making it difficult, and therefore expensive, to connect with other critical business applications. By transitioning to a more flexible ECM business application, organizations can benefit from predefined, seamless integrations with various systems, streamlining processes and increasing efficiency.

Limited scalability and maintainability

In today’s dynamic business landscape, scalability and easy maintenance are essential. OpenText Documentum Webtop’s architecture and design create several issues:

It is challenging to scale up or down to meet changing business needs.
Documentum Webtop’s implementation model only allows for a small level of configurations; the majority of application adjustments are made through customizations and code changes.
Implementing new releases or additional requirements can be a time consuming and expensive task.

According to OpenText, Documentum Webtop has reached an application stage where no further product enhancements are being provided – the focus is now merely on keeping the application framework running with modern, more secure, Java and browser versions. As organizations expand, through organic growth or acquisitions, or undergo digital transformations, they require an ECM business application that can easily adapt and grow alongside them, and that can be easily maintained. This capability is required to ensure scalability and future-proof their content management strategy.

Next steps: Going beyond Documentum Webtop

As the leading solution for many, many years, we should thank OpenText Documentum Webtop for the long and fruitful journey! It has certainly served us well, but it’s time to acknowledge that the time has come to explore modern alternatives. Today’s ECM business application options provide a modern user interface, mobile compatibility, advanced collaboration capabilities, seamless integrations, and high scalability and maintainability. With these features, businesses can unlock new possibilities for content management, boost productivity and efficiency, and stay ahead in today’s fast-paced digital world. It’s time to bid farewell to OpenText Documentum Webtop and embark on a new era of content management excellence.

To learn more about what options are available beyond Webtop to increase the accessibility and value of your content contact our fme team. As long-time Documentum partners, we have over 1,200 combined person-years experience and are also certified partners with today’s alternatives from OpenText, Veeva, Generis, and others. We’d love to help you get the most from your existing content library, and prepare your business to get the advantages in technology’s exciting future.

Update: Critical dates for OpenText Documentum solutions entering maintenance mode

by The fme Team | Sep 11, 2023 | Documentum, OpenText, Technology Services

On September 1st, OpenText made an important announcement regarding the product versions that will transition into “sustaining maintenance” as of September 1, 2024. (Read January 2023 list here.) Given that many organizations are now gearing up for their 2024 Budget & Planning phase, this presents an excellent opportunity to align your strategic initiatives and future plans with the changing landscape of OpenText products. It’s time to assess your options: do you stick with your current systems and opt for an upgrade, or do you take this moment to break free from inertia and explore ways to streamline and modernize your infrastructure, aiming for increased agility, performance, and return on investment (ROI) from your IT spending?

Solutions entering maintenance mode

Here is a selection of important dates, as well as OpenText’s upgrade recommendations.

Selected previously announced items expiring December 2023

OpenText Documentum D2 16.5 → CE 22.4
OpenText Documentum D2 Advanced Publishing Services 16.5 → CE 22.4
OpenText Documentum for Capital Projects 16.4 → CE 22.4
OpenText Documentum D2 +Pack 16.5 → CE 22.4

Expiring May 2024

OpenText™ Documentum™ eTMF Solution 16.6 -> CE 22.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Quality and Manufacturing Solution 16.6 -> CE 22.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Research and Development 16.6 -> CE 22.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Submission Store and View 16.6 -> CE 22.3

Expiring September 2024

OpenText™ Documentum™ Administrator 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Branch Office Caching Services 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Composer 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Content Storage Services 16.7 -> CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Classes 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Services 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ High-Volume Server 16.7 -> CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Reports 16.7 -> CE 22.4
OpenText™ Documentum™ REST Services 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Server 16.7 -> CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Trusted Content Services 16.7 -> CE 21.3

Newly announced items expiring December 2024

OpenText™ Documentum™ Administrator 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Branch Office Caching Services 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Composer 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Content Storage Services 16.7 → CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Classes 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Foundation Services 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ High-Volume Server 16.7 → CE 21.3
OpenText™ Documentum™ Reports 16.7 → CE 22.4
OpenText™ Documentum™ REST Services 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Server 16.7 → CE 23.2
OpenText™ Documentum™ Trusted Content Services 16.7 → CE 21.3
OpenText™ Extended ECM for SAP® Solutions 16.2.10 → CE 22.4
OpenText™ Extended ECM for SAP® SuccessFactors® 16.2.10 → CE 22.4
OpenText™ Extended ECM Platform 16.2.10 → CE 22.4

Opportunity for improvement

Use these expiration dates as a way to encourage new decisions and actions to improve, augment, or upgrade existing solutions. This is a good time to review current infrastructure and identify opportunities for effective streamlining and modernization to achieve new agility, performance, and ROI from IT spending.

Commonly addressed frustrations reported by fme clients include:

Upgrading to latest system versions to take advantage of fixes, improvements and enhancements;
Replacing underlying OS or database versions (for example exchanging Oracle with PostGres or similar);
Migration to/system consolidation on the latest/cloud-based version of a current platform;
Implementing new and modern desktop and mobile user interfaces that will truly engage end users working on-site and in remote locations;
Strategic content archiving designed to free up capacity, reduce costs and boost system performance of core, critical business systems;
Retiring legacy systems altogether and starting over with a new application.

Here’s a practical plan

First step: Understand your current state

Begin by gaining a comprehensive understanding of your current systems, including which solutions will be affected by these changes, their interconnections, and their significance to your business processes and workflows. We recommend conducting a thorough review and analysis of your existing technology ecosystem to define and prioritize your environment, identify potential risks, and explore various solution options. As a trusted partner in OpenText and Documentum implementation, fme offers specialized workshops that can guide you through this process and provide a range of options for your next steps. Armed with this knowledge, you can evaluate emerging opportunities and unmet technological or business needs.

Next: Plan for the future

An in-depth analysis is crucial – perform a comprehensive IT health check before committing significant resources to your initiatives. Some companies delay IT investments for as long as possible, often at the risk of higher long-term costs, increased potential for risks, and greater internal resource consumption for ongoing maintenance. Many find that a strategic investment now can prevent future issues and ensure their systems meet future requirements. Others may opt for a larger initiative to reap the benefits of new solutions ahead of their competition. Regardless of your chosen path, keep in mind that implementing the new setup and migrating designated content may take several months. Hence, early awareness and informed decision-making are essential for a smooth transition.

Now: Engage the experts

fme is uniquely positioned to assist companies in evaluating and navigating the forthcoming OpenText Documentum upgrades. We have a longstanding partnership with these companies and possess expertise across all associated platforms. Our credentials include:

Over 100 experienced Documentum consultants
Over 1,200 person-years of Documentum project experience
Multiple Industry awards: Documentum Partner of the Year, EMC Top Service Partner, OpenText Technology Partner, OpenText ECD Silver Partner, OpenText Partner of the Year Finalist, DELL/EMC Partner Innovation Award, Rising Star Award Finalist, and more.

Moreover, fme is a pioneer in the industry with our proprietary platform solution, migration-center. This solution is designed for highly automated, large-volume migrations, ensuring minimal downtime during complex migration scenarios. It empowers our customers to reduce costs, mitigate risks, enhance productivity, and expedite the go-live of enterprise content management (ECM) applications.

We offer comprehensive solutions

We offer a full suite of end-to-end services to solve your current and future challenges. With our talented and experienced team of experts we can:

Execute discovery and roadmap workshops
Analyze existing IT estate and identify improvement opportunities
Implement or update systems and solutions
Integrate data silos across systems
Migrate complex data and content
Provide ongoing support, whether on-premises or in the cloud

For more details about our approach to ensuring your success, please visit:

No matter the scope of your OpenText Documentum-related projects, consider letting us assist you by lightening the load and ensuring a successful transition. Your journey to a more agile and efficient IT environment begins here.

Complete the contact form below and we’ll schedule a time to discuss how we can help you eliminate your challenges, increase your IT ROI, and decrease your system TCO.

A Strategic Documentum Upgrade to Increase Efficiency and Stability

by The fme Team | Jun 8, 2023 | Documentum, OpenText, Technology Services

As a regional power company, it’s important to deliver electricity reliably, economically, and as environmentally responsible as possible. Having an up-to-date technology platform is a critical component to deliver on those goals.

In early 2022, our client was experiencing challenges that were causing reliability and stability issues in their system, and making it difficult to fulfill their mission.

They had multiple OpenTextTM solutions that were out of date and were no longer supported.
Their internal resource with knowledge of the Documentum systems had left the company, leaving them without in-depth historical knowledge of the system.
Lack of system experience created challenges maintaining the system and preparing for an upgrade.

They also did not have a development environment to work with, making any servicing or changes even more challenging. It was impossible to test if newer solutions would be able to interface with their older products.

It had come time to address these challenges that were hindering their business initiatives and impacting their company mission.

Working together for the solution

The first step for the fme and our client’s IT team was to collaborate in a series of comprehensive interviews with users and managers to understand and clearly define the challenges of the current system. It was vital to have a detailed understanding of the current state as well as current issues and future requirements in order to create a project plan.

From there, fme was able to work with our client’s team to upgrade their systems, and build a new environment that delivered immediate improvements across multiple solutions including:

Documentum Content Server
Documentum xPlore
Documentum Webtop
Documentum Administrator
Microsoft SQL Server
OpenAnnotate/OpenContent
OpenMigrate

fme also provided a complete development system that allows testing of new customizations as well as a basic System Administration training course tailored to specific company support topics.

Download the full case study

Throughout the project, fme worked with the client’s internal IT team to provide practical experience working with the updated system. To learn all the details, including the unique challenges and solutions implemented, download the full case study now.

Download Case Study

In each project we take on, fme strives to provide the most effective process and technology solutions to solve our client’s critical business challenges. Our mission is to be your partner for digital transformation to help you stay competitive, and our vision is for fme to be the company you love to work with. Contact us to discuss your current needs.

OpenText Extended ECM: Put your content into business context

by Manuela Bernhardt | Mar 23, 2023 | ECM, OpenText, Technology Services, xECM

OpenText Extended ECM (Enterprise Content Management) is a software solution that enables organizations to effectively manage their enterprise content across various channels and platforms. It allows businesses to streamline content creation, collaboration, and distribution to drive efficiency and productivity while mitigating compliance risks at the same time. Read on to learn more about the value of OpenText Extended ECM and how it can benefit your organization.

Improved Content Collaboration

Do your users struggle when they work on shared documents across different teams and different enterprise applications? Is it a challenge to make sure that everyone is looking at the latest version and making their editions in the right place? One of the most significant benefits of OpenText Extended ECM is that it improves content collaboration across teams and departments and most of all across different enterprise applications. No matter where users are located or what their primary document application is, they can contribute their part within their business context and collaborate seamlessly with other involved parties. Extended ECM offers robust version control and audit trail capabilities, ensuring that all changes to content are tracked, and nothing is lost or forgotten, mitigating compliance risks caused by incorrect content usage.

Seamless Integration

Wherever users are primarily working within an ERP such as SAP, a CRM such as Microsoft Dynamics, or an HR system such as SuccessFactors, and regardless of their role within the overall business process, OpenText Extended ECM is designed to integrate seamlessly across all their enterprise applications. Users can take full advantage of OpenText’s content management capabilities within the UI that they are used to. All integration happens in the background without the user having to take action or be aware that it is happening. OpenText Extended ECM also integrates with additional third-party systems like the Office365 platform, making it an ideal choice for businesses with diverse content management needs.

Enhanced Efficiencies, Compliance and Security

Without central content management there is a high risk of:

Duplicated content across multiple enterprise applications
Incorrect document versions being used
Inefficiencies caused by recreating content that already exists in another place
Access violations by sharing content outside the intended audience

All of these can quickly become critical issues, and will always impact your quality, compliance, timelines and budget.

By keeping all content stored at one central location, while at the same time allowing the content to be accessible within enterprise applications, OpenText Extended ECM mitigates the above risks and increases overall efficiency and productivity. Users can more easily find the information they need, and granular access control will make sure that content stays safe and secure at the same time. Users will be able to access the right content at the right time at the right place – within their business context.

Conclusion

There are many ways to apply the power and control that OpenText Extended ECM provides. It is a powerful solution that aligns your content with your business goals to leverage improved collaboration, seamless integration, centralized content management, and enhanced compliance and security capabilities. Our team of experienced OpenText consultants can help you identify the most effective path to enable OpenText Extended ECM to help your business supercharge your efficiency and productivity across the business processes that drive your unique enterprise.

About the Author

Graduating in 2003 from Braunschweig, Germany with a Master’s Degree in „Computer Science in Economics“, Manuela directly joined fme AG as an Associate Consultant. She primarily worked with Java and Documentum development projects. Over the years she developed to the role of a Senior Consultant for Documentum and Deputy Business Manager for the Munich department. In 2010 Manuela moved to Connecticut USA to join the newly formed fme US as Senior Consultant providing Documentum and migration services primarily for the Life Sciences industry. Currently she is the Business Unit Director Technical Services and Deputy of Operations overlooking the Delivery team servicing the customer projects.

Always something new – A document management system in the change of time (1)

by Nina Rose | Jan 23, 2023 | ECM, OpenText

Overview of the blog post series

Modernization: OpenText WebTop to D2
Development of an individual administration client
Phasing out the OpenText WebTop
Interface to other systems
Change Management / Communication

Background facts

More than 100,000 users
More than 70 million documents
Used in numerous countries and companies

Part 1: Modernization – OpenText Webtop to D2

The OpenText Webtop is technology that has been outdated for several years. Both the user interface and the functionalities have not been further developed by the vendor, so users must adapt to the rigid web application. At the same time, the application reaches its limits and can no longer handle large amounts of data. The result: dissatisfaction, frustration and acceptance problems among users. The goal on the part of our client was therefore clear: user acceptance must be increased again and at the same time future security must be ensured.

What doesn’t fit is made to fit – the development

Existing technology

OpenText D2 21.4
OpenText Content Server 21.4
Oracle 19c
Red Hat Linux 7.9
Apache TomCat 5.5.

With OpenText D2, a standard application was available that was also set up for modern technology such as the latest browsers. This was a good starting point, but of course the standard did not take all the client’s needs into account. So, we developed and customized together with the client, got power users on board in an early pilot, and then successively expanded the pilot user base.

The result

A modern and chic interface – consisting of a wide variety of widgets
All necessary functions for normal and power users are available
Fast document display of numerous formats
Customizable interface
- User can switch between different interfaces (workspaces), depending on work style and focus
- User can customize individual interface according to his wishes and needs by selecting relevant widgets

Please find further information here: Datasheet Application Modernization

From development to user acceptance – with change management

The functioning technology is the basis, but it is essential to bring the users along with the change. Even if the new system obviously holds many advantages – most people do not like to change. For this reason, we supported the entire rollout with change management to explain the new options in an appealing way and to ease the transition. This included a custom design, information sessions, help documents and short videos. We will provide a more detailed insight into our change management approach in the last part of our blog series.

Last but not least, the most important question: Did we succeed and achieve our goal?

We remember, the goal was to ensure future-proofing of the document management system and to improve user acceptance. Against this background: Yes, the goal was definitely achieved. The system is secure for the future – new technology, compatible with the latest browsers and all relevant functions are available. And user acceptance has also increased significantly again. The new, customizable options are being actively used.

The attentive reader may have noticed that so far, we have only talked about the users. But what would a document management system be without comprehensive administration options? Since OpenText D2 did not offer the possibility to implement customer requirements in the standard version, we developed a customized administration client, through which the assignment of authorizations, preassignments, regular authorization confirmations and many other administrator activities take place. But more about this in the next part of our blog series…

To discuss your own document management system modernization journey, please fill out this contact form and we’ll put you in touch with our experts.

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