System i Software

VRTech Case Studies

Find out how businesses use LinkIt to solve real world problems..

Kerakoll chose LinkIt and EasyPDF400 products for digital signature and printing solution
Kerakoll logo

Kerakoll is a building concern that focuses on producing green products for the construction industry. Kerakoll operates many branches and logistics centers all over Italy. Customer's trucks come to these centers to pick up goods and to deliver them to the ir final destination. When truck drivers come to pick up the goods from the logistic center, they need to sign the transportation form, which consists of 3-4 pages per order. After signing, the drivers receive one copy of each form, and the others copies are scanned, cataloged, and archived in the Kerakoll digital archive. As a green company committed to ecology, Kerakoll wanted to reduce the time and cost of this process and save unnecessary printing.

To do so, Kerakoll sought a solution with the following requirements:

  • Display the driver's list of orders on screen and allow him to sign on a digital sign pad
  • Convert transportation forms (character-based spool files) into designed PDF documents that include the driver’s signature
  • Submit the PDF documents to the printer in 5-6 seconds at most
  • Automatically archive and catalog the produced PDF file based on spool data
  • The solution must interact with the Kerakoll IBM i (AS/400) legacy system

The solution based on VRTech products, LinkIt and EasyPDF400, represented by Proxima, met these requirements.

VRTech’s LinkIt is a unique tool that makes possible the integration of PC applications and the IBM i or Mainframe emulation screen. LinkIt allows quick and easy integration between Kerakoll’s legacy system and the sign pad at the counter.

VRTech's EasyPDF400 provides a comprehensive and seamless solution for all business IBM i-to-PDF documentation needs. EasyPDF400 allows the conversion of IBM i spool files to designed PDF documents, adding a signature from the sign pad, printing the document, and automatically archiving it in the company archive.

Digital sign pads were installed at all Kerakoll branches. When the drivers approach the counter, they check the content of the orders on the IBM i screen, and when they are ready they sign on the signature pad using LinkIt. After signing, the clerk submits the transportation forms to printer. EasyPDF400 captures the spools and converts them into formatted PDF files, combining the driver's signature with the PDF documents. The PDF files are sent to the local printer, archived in the Kerakoll digital archive, and cataloged automatically based on spool data. The entire process, from the moment the spools are sent to printer until the printing is started, takes between 2-4 seconds.

La Gioiosa purchased LinkIt to export tabular data from any application screen directly into excel spreadsheet.
La Giosa logo

La Gioiosa stands out as one of the most important wine companies in Italy as well in turnover and in volumes and is the main one in Prosecco production. La Gioiosa users requires for their daily tasks the ability to export updated data from the IBM i (AS/400) application into Excel spreadsheet.

Instead of writing an export program and integrate it into the application, or use external software tool for database download, La Gioiosa used a unique integration tool – LinkIt.

La Gioiosa purchased 55 license of LinkIt and installed it in varios organization departments. Using LinkIt La Gioiosa users can easily export accounting, statistics and warehouse queries from IBM i (AS/400) application to excel.

LinkIt is designed to supply a quick and easy method of integrating information based on data displayed on emulation screens. In a several minutes of definition, the subfile in business application can be exported to Excel easily by end user, without no programing or code changing.

With LinkIt La Gioiosa have the ability to export tabular data from any application screen directly into excel spreadsheet in a simple way and in short time.

La Gioiosa's system Information manager, Giuseppe Gallina, says "The advanced integration software LinkIt is incredible and I found Vrtech team also very punctual and expert".

Delek Motors, importers of Mazda, Ford and Cadillac in israel, have chosen Vrtech LinkIt as the solution for importing and displaying documents in their Garage Management System.
Delek Motors logo

Delek Motors, a leading automotive importer in Israel, operates more than 40 garages all over the country, all of which use an AS/400 server-based Garage Management System. The system is located at the company's main office, and users access it by AS/400 Emulation over the Web.

In the past few years a new demand developed for adding photos of damaged vehicle parts in the Garage Management System and display them on demand. Administrative workers in the garages complained that they cannot view the photos directly in the Job Card on the system and demanded to replace the existing iSeries system with a new one that supports this functionality.

With Vrtech LinkIt the IT department solved the problem easily, without any code changes in the software and without replacing the existing iSeries system. LinkIt was installed in the company's main office, where the photos arrive from the various garages by e-mail. End users in the main office use LinkIt to import the photos from the e-mail boxes into the Garage Management System and automatically index them.

Delek Motors also installed LinkIt on user workstation in garages all over the country. As soon as the photos are imported, the system can display them to every user in the garage. Using Web service technology to display photos, the system ensures secure access to the main office server. Every employee in the garage can now view the photos directly in the system, which put an end to demands for the replacement of the iSeries system.

After this successful implementation, the IT department used LinkIt abilities (rather than e-mail) to distribute internal leaflets and documentation among remote garages. The leaflets and documentation are displayed directly in Word format, within the Garage Management System.

LinkIt contains many additional integration capabilities, and Delek Motors employees now also use it to export data to Excel. Data displayed on the emulation screen can now be exported to Excel with one click. This ability saves both time and IT resources, and enables end users to export authorized data to their Excel spreadsheet on demand.

LinkIt was implemented at Delek Motors in 30 days

Shirbit Insurance Company uses V.R.Tech's LinkIt to issue and distribute mandatory car insurance certificates via email to agents and customers.
Shirbit logo

VRTech was selected by Shirbit Insurance Company to provide printing servers for their IBM i operating system. Shirbit was looking for an automated system that could easily email mandatory car insurance certificates to their various customers. The complex process of issuing the certificates includes a large number of tasks that are all supported and activated through the EasyPDF400 system.

First, the system automatically receives the file from the IBM i operating system. Then the content for printing is integrated into a pre-defined PDF template. The relevant email address is configured using an easy-to-use program activated directly from within the EasyPDF400 system. The certificate is then stamped with the relevant date for payment and sent automatically to the pre-defined email recipient.

VRTech's EasyPDF400 has been integrated into Shirbit's systems without the need to change or modify their original IBM i-operated application. The system enables a more efficient working process for the insurance clerks and eliminates the need to manually print and scan the insurance certificate and then send by email to the relevant customer.

In addition to completely automating the certificate-issuing process, using EasyPDF400 has enabled Shirbit to shorten customer-handling time and significantly reduce clerical errors.

Maccabi Health Services purchased the Vrtech LinkIt utility as a solution for creating service agreements with physicians and other medical staff.
Maccabi logo

Every month Maccabi must renew agreements with physicians and medical staff. Producing the agreements used to require a great deal of time and human resources. The existing iSeries system that manages the agreements was not capable of supporting the activity adequately, and many complains reached the IT manager. Users demanded a solution to the problem or a new system.

Maccabi examined many products, but only LinkIt supplied a quick and easy solution. After LinkIt was installed in the medical staff department, end users were able produce agreements efficiently by merging attachments in Word format with data from Maccabi's AS/400. The process has become quick and easy, and it saves many hours of hard work.

David Amital, IT Manager at Maccabi Health Services, says: "LinkIt integrated easily with the medical staff management system, without requiring any special training for end users. Documents produced from system data are displayed on the end user screen effortlessly, with one click. Employee pressure to replace the existing system has stopped completely."

Yana Riahi, Joint CEO at Vrtech: "LinkIt was introduced to the market three years ago and it has been a great success with AS/400 users. Over 1,500 copies have been sold to various companies all over Israel. LinkIt has been implemented in many different applications in numerous industries, including health care organizations, manufacturing, real estate, automotive, and more. The product protects the investments in existing AS/400 systems and enriches the application with many integration capabilities for PC and Office applications."

Menora Insurance Company uses V.R.Tech's EasyPDF400 to design and issue various documents from their IBM i operating system.
Menora logo

Menora Insurance Company is one of Israel's leading insurance providers. The company boasts a large base of insurance agents who mostly use the company’s systems to issue various insurance documents.

Menora sought a system that could easily handle a large volume of printing needs with various configurations and settings, used by both their insurance agents and printing houses.

To answer their need, Menora Insurance Company selected VRTech's EasyPDF400 printing server. Using the EasyPDF400 printing servers has enabled Menora to implement a system that issues print jobs and then routes them to a virtual mailbox according to relevant agent details and policy numbers.

The EasyPDF400 printing servers automatically integrate the printing content into pre-defined PDF templates. The printing details then undergo an upgrade process that allows the addition of various values such as; postal codes, P.O.B numbers and barcodes that didn't appear in the original version.

Print jobs for printing houses are accompanied by an additional file that includes the printing key, file name and PDF name. The printing systems also use the additional file to print the documents more efficiently and integrate them into envelopes together with other relevant documents.

The EasyPDF400 servers also automatically export the PDF files and keys to an organizational archive which enables a more efficient archiving process and reduces human errors.

As some of the files are heterogenic, they may include several different printing configurations. VRTech's EasyPDF400 system automatically separates the content according to the configuration using a Splitter and then transfers each print job to the relevant system for printing.

The system's user-friendly visual configuration and management software has enabled Menora's IT team to easily and independently integrate EasyPDF400 into the Company’s technological environment.

The EasyPDF400 printing servers have been implemented by Menora for all their printing needs and provide a comprehensive solution for the dynamic needs of one of Israel's largest insurance companies.

VRTech's ExcelIt was integrated with the Aman Computers Group applications and distributed as an OEM module.
Aman logo

Aman Computer Systems is one of the leading computer firms in Israel. It provided numerous iSeries systems that serve hundreds of customers in Israel.

For the new version of the iSeries system, Aman wanted to have the ability to export data from legacy systems to Excel spreadsheets. The solution was required to offer control of logos, captions, subcaptions, and fonts. Spreadsheets were expected to be saved in user folders or sent by email.

VRTech's ExcelIt was selected to provide this functionality. ExcelIt is integrated with the Aman applications and distributed as an OEM module. With ExcelIt, Aman users can export data to Excel spreadsheets with one click. Exporting takes place on the server, rather than on the user station, to avoid exposing the database to unnecessary risks. Spreadsheets are saved in user folders or sent by email.

ExcelIt is activated by a command issued in iSeries, and provides all design control functions directly from within the iSeries applications.

Chemipal implemented VRTech's Spool2Office to obtain the spool files in Excel format.
Lubinski logo

Chemipal is a leading distributors of pharmaceutical products, including such brands ‎as Avent, 3M, and PHILIPS‏.

Chemipal has been using an iSeries legacy system for many years. End users of the ‎system requested to be able to obtain the spool files in Excel format in order to ‎manipulate data according to their needs‏.‏‎ VRTech’s Spool2Office application ‎provides users with this capability.

It took only a few hours to integrate the product, and no ‎‏code changes in the legacy ‎system were necessary. Today, end users create a spool file in a specific output queue, ‎and the corresponding Excel spreadsheet is placed in the user folder on the network.

In cooperation with Dun & Bradstreet , VRTECH created the solution for checking the client's ‎financial state directly from the iSeries emulation screen.
DB logo

The solution is based on ‎D&B's CheckIt and VRTECH's LinkIt products‎‏.‏

VRTECH's LinkIt serves as the basis for fast and easy integration between the ‎emulation screen and a PC application. D&B's CheckIt is a client application that ‎accesses the D&B Web service to check client's financial state using the client's ID‏.

As a part of the order approval process, LinkIt submits the client ID to CheckIt, and a ‎few seconds later the financial status of the customer is displayed to the user, who ‎then decides whether to proceed with the order. This solution also includes real-time ‎alerts to the user.

Baccara implemented VRTech's LinkIt to export subfiles to Excel ‎spreadsheets.
Baccara logo

Baccara is a leading manufacturer of such automation products as air valves, air ‎cylinders, solenoid valves, and nylon tubing for use in industry, agriculture, and ‎irrigation. Baccara's legacy system is based on a AS/400 server working with 5250 ‎emulators.

One of the main user requirements was the ability to export subfiles to Excel ‎spreadsheets. This functionality was implemented based on the Export to Excel option ‎of VRTech's LinkIt, which allows users to easily export data from subfiles to Excel ‎spreadsheets, and saves valuable IT personnel time.

Ledico using LinkIt to catalog and display the orders directly from the order form in the AS/400system.
bosch logo

Ledico Ltd. is an importer of professional work tools and the exclusive distributor of ‎Bosch in Israel.

Most orders are placed by fax and converted to email messages using the Fax2Mail ‎system. Orders are printed or kept in a user inbox for future reference. Inboxes used to ‎be very large, which created serious system management problems.

The problem was solved with VRTech's LinkIt: users export orders from Outlook ‎directly into the LinkIt archive. LinkIt automatically catalogs the orders by the order ‎number displayed in the order form on the emulation screen.

LinkIt can display the ‎order directly from the order form in the iSeries system. All orders are saved in the ‎LinkIt archive so there is no need to save them in the user inbox.


The software is available for a FREE Proof of Concept evaluation, for more details email [email protected] or call +61-3-9885-4877