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•  WebDelivery FAQ

WebDelivery Frequently Asked Questions

What is WebDelivery?
What are the advantages of using WebDelivery?
We use email to deliver documents. Why would we use WebDelivery?
What do we need in order to use WebDelivery?
How do our documents get into WebDelivery so recipients can view them?
What type of documents can we send via WebDelivery?
What is a co-branded site?
What is a WebDelivery recipient account?
How are recipient accounts created?
How may recipient accounts can we have?
How many members can be in a recipient account?
Who maintains recipient accounts and members?
What can recipients do with documents?
How do our documents get to the recipients?
What if our recipients don't view their documents or can't use the Web interface?
How do we know what is happening with our sent documents?
How long do our documents stay in WebDelivery?
How much does WebDelivery cost?
How do we pay for WebDelivery?
How do we get started using WebDelivery?

What is WebDelivery?
WebDelivery is a hosted subscription service providing Web-based document access, delivery, and management services to any document recipient having access to email and a Web browser. WebDelivery is used by companies to deliver unstructured (PDF, Word, PCL, PostScript, etc.) documents and structured (EDI/XML) documents such as purchase orders, invoices, statements, and reports to suppliers, customers, and employees.  Documents can originate from back-end systems such as ERP and CRM in high volumes and from desktop applications by individual users using secure Web forms, email, or Outlook.  WebDelivery also provides a Web-based means by which confirmations and document acknowledgements can be gathered from document recipients thereby closing the document delivery loop. As a hosted service, WebDelivery requires no hardware, software investment, or maintenance.

 What are the advantages of using WebDelivery?
WebDelivery provides seamless, secure, and immediate delivery and access to documents from any Web browser. This reduces or eliminates business process delays, manual receipt confirmations, and help desk calls due to lost or undelivered documents. It is less expensive than mail or faxing documents and more secure and reliable than email attached documents. Both document senders and recipients have a transaction record, document management, and visibility into document activity.

We use email to deliver documents.  Why would we use WebDelivery?
The problems that can arise using email attachments to deliver documents are that they:

  • have file size constraints

  • open security issues

  • are unmanageable for sender and recipient

  • get lost because of SPAM filter programs

  • fill up email servers

  • do not provide reliable receipt confirmation or structured acknowledgements  
  • WebDelivery solves all of these email related problems and offers many features that greatly enhance document exchange related business processes.

    What do we need in order to use WebDelivery?
    A Web browser, email, and local document viewing program (Adobe Reader, Word, etc.) are all that is required for senders and document recipients. The WebDelivery Web interface requires no proprietary downloads or plug-ins, and is very efficient and easy-to-use.

    How do our documents get into WebDelivery so recipients can view them?
    WebDelivery has several methods for transferring documents from your location to the WebDelivery submission service and for getting document activity status back to your users and applications.  How this is done depends on individual company security requirements and capabilities. The document experts at Merkur Group can assist with any integration requirements.  

  • Desktop users can submit documents via secure (SSL) Web form, Outlook form, and email.  Recipient document activity can be monitored by email alerts or viewed and managed via the WebDelivery Web interface.  
  • Programmatic document submission methods include:

  • WebDelivery Connector - Merkur provided utility that captures documents and securely (SSH)  transfers to the WebDelivery service. Recipient activity status is provided back as XML or other structured data type. 

  • SSH - Secure Copy or FTP.

  • Email - Documents are submitted to WebDelivery via email attachment by being addressed to the recipient account id (i.e. account_id@webdelivery.net). WebDelivery receives the email with attachment(s), converts to PDF if required, and submits the documents to the appropriate recipient account. 

  • FTP - A simple FTP can also be used to put files on the WebDelivery submission server and to retrieve document activity status.
  • What type of documents can we send via WebDelivery?
    Any type or size of documents can be submitted to a WebDelivery recipient account depending on recipient viewing capability. WebDelivery can also convert many document types (text, PCL, PostScript, Word, Excel, etc.) to PDF for convenient, consistent viewing using the free Adobe Reader. WebDelivery can also transform raw data types such as EDI or XML into into more human-readable form for recipient delivery and acknowledgements.

    What is a co-branded site?
    The specific WebDelivery Web site where document recipients go to get documents can be customized to present your company's image and needs. This includes logos, color schemes, and help files. his customization is included with your subscription.

    What is a WebDelivery recipient account?
    A recipient account is where documents are submitted within WebDelivery. A recipient account has a unique identifier chosen by the host subscriber. This unique identifier can be a supplier or customer number, a fax number, an email address (for one-to-one deliveries), or any designator.  A recipient account can have one or many recipient account members each of whom have a unique login id (email address) and password. One or several recipient account members can be recipient account administrators if recipient maintained accounts are desired.

    How are recipient accounts created?
    Recipient accounts can be created en masse during implementation, manually, or created dynamically as documents are submitted.

    How many recipient accounts can we have?
    There is no practical limit to the number of recipient accounts a host subscriber can have. Some companies may have ten or twenty recipient accounts and others will have thousands.

    How many members can be in a recipient account?
    There is no practical limit to the number of members in a recipient account. Some recipient accounts will have only one member and others will have more. It depends on how many individuals you need to be responsible for receiving documents.

    Who maintains recipient accounts and members?
    Recipient accounts can be dynamically created during document submission. They can also be purged automatically based on inactivity or other criteria.  Recipient account members can be managed (added, removed, passwords reset, etc.) by subscriber members with appropriate security permissions or the recipient account administrator(s) (a recipient account member designated as administrator for that recipient account).

    What can recipients do with documents?
    After logging into WebDelivery, document recipients are presented with a familiar, email-like interface with new (unviewed or confirmed documents) documents listed.  Recipients can view or download documents, comment back to the sender, confirm a document with web form (if supplied), reject a document, search documents, and more.  All comments and document activity are stored along with the document in WebDelivery.

    How do our documents get to the recipients?
    Recipients can securely log into WebDelivery to retrieve documents or documents can automatically be sent to them via other secure and direct channels. There are five basic methods for recipients to retrieve documents. The options available to the recipient account are controlled by the host (sending subscriber) or are determined by document submission parameters. Regardless of how the document is retrieved or delivered, recipients can always log into WebDelivery when required to manage documents.  

  • WebDelivery Portal - Document recipient(s) receive an email notification with link to WebDelivery site alerting them of a new document's availability. They securely log into their specific recipient account using the WebDelivery Web interface to view and manage documents.

  • Secure Email Link - An email with hyperlink prompts a recipient to view the  document. The recipient supplies WebDelivery account id and password and the document is downloaded/displayed.

  • Direct Email Link - Same as Secure Email Link but no id and password are required to view document.

  • Email Attachment - An email with document attachment is sent to the recipient.
  • What if our recipients don't view their documents or can't use the Web interface?
    WebDelivery has customizable alerts called action lists.  These are easily configured by the sending subscriber's WebDelivery administrator to report on document activity including whether or not documents are being viewed or confirmed. Action lists can alert senders and recipients of a delinquent document or simply send the document by alternative means such as fax or email attachment.

    How do we know what is happening with our sent documents?
    Document senders log into the same site as recipient members.  The difference is that they see document activity from a sender's perspective.  Document senders have permissions set by an administrator which controls which documents and recipient accounts they can see and control.  WebDelivery action lists also send email reports to senders so they can quickly identify document receipt delays or problems.

    How long do our documents stay in WebDelivery?
    There is no practical limit to how long documents can remain available in WebDelivery. Each subscription level comes with a specific amount of storage space.  Additional storage space is billed automatically at a specified rate.  WebDelivery can also be configured to automatically purge documents after a specified time period or other criteria.

    How much does WebDelivery cost?
    WebDelivery has scaleable monthly subscription fee plans based on the number of document submissions (documents made available to recipient accounts per month).  Plan levels accommodate entry level use with only a few documents per month up to tens of thousands of documents per month. Fax transmissions are an additional per minute charge based on the location of the receiving fax machine.  Please contact Merkur Group with any subscription or billing questions.

    How do we pay for WebDelivery?
    Monthly automatic credit card billing or 30 day term invoice. Subscriber administrators can view real-time document volume activity.

    How do we get started using WebDelivery?
    Your company can be using WebDelivery in a matter of days. Merkur Group offers no-charge proof of concepts and limited recipient pilots of WebDelivery. Simply contact Merkur Group  with any questions you may have and get started with Web-based document delivery today.