The provider of scanning services delivers the files of scanned documents and the index files containing the metadata. During automatic routing, the scanned documents (objects) are assigned an ID while being stored in the IMiS/ARChive Server; data from the index file and the IDs of saved objects are stored in the SAP record. A connection is established between the archived object and the SAP record via the ArchiveLink interface.

In the event that we do not scan the documents ourselves, but have an external service provider do it for us, the provider will forward to us the files of the scanned documents and the index files with the metadata electronically (e-mail, FTP) or with the use of optical media, as agreed upon.

During the automatic routing of documents to the SAP system the incoming data are obtained from the XML file (bar codes, metadata, a link to the source objects). While being saved to the archive server, each object file (one- or multi-page document or file) is assigned a unique ID. The archived object ID and bar code data are entered into the SAP record via the standardized SAP transactional RFC function: ARCHIV_BARCODE_INSERT_RFC.

After establishing a connection between the waiting SAP record and the archived object, the document is accessible to users via the standardized ArchiveLink interface. IMiS/ARChive Server enables the saving of an unlimited number of objects, independent of the SAP databases.

By opening a document the SAP user can, depending on the settings, select and view the scanned document (PDF, TIFF) using a menu function. When the attachment is clicked, SAP uses the ID to acquire the electronic document from the archive of IMiS/ARChive Server via the ArchiveLink interface and displays it in the integrated SAP viewer.