Catapult is a Client/Server product that automatically selects and downloads and/or emails iSeries - AS/400 spool files to any client computer on a network. Catapult does not require any programming changes to distribute reports. An administrator can set up selection criteria for choosing which reports to download, email, send as PDF, or report splitting, archiving... And so much more.

You can set up a polling interval to have the software regularly check for new spool files, or set up a specific time of day. Spool files are downloaded to a distributing PC that runs the client component of the software. This distributing PC can then automatically email reports across a network to any valid email address or groups of addresses. In addition, by utilizing the EZ-Pickin's autoscript feature, you can convert the spool file to a new PC file compatible with Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, etc. that is emailed.

Catapult allows you to define report splitting criteria in your grab rules, enabling you to extract specific sections from your downloaded reports. These sections can then be distributed by email using predefined distribution lists, or you can extract recipient email addresses from the files directly.

Use Catapult to automatically convert your downloaded spool files to Adobe PDFs before emailing the files as attachments. Files (of any type) can also be zipped.

Catapult includes both a host iSeries - AS/400 and a PC application to manage the distribution rules, email addresses, email groups, and audit trails of activities.

Email sent by Catapult can be received by any email product, including; Lotus Notes, Microsoft Outlook, Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Internet Mail, Eudora, etc.

Benefits

• Catapult provides easy and reliable distribution of reports through universal email functions (uses SMTP, the Internet standard email protocol).
• No programming is required to use Catapult.
• Great flexibility in selecting which reports to download automatically.
• Processing is offloaded from the iSeries - AS/400 to the distribution PC for actual emailing, minimizing the workload on the iSeries - AS/400.
• Security functions such as automated encryption ensure sensitive information can be viewed only by authorized personnel.
• Seamless interface to EZ-Pickin's means your users get the full power of the analytical capabilities of EZ-Pickin's.
• Uses proven Client/Server technology from a software company that has many years experience in developing iSeries - AS/400 to PC solutions.
• Low cost of ownership.
• Great technical support.

Features

• Poll any number of iSeries - AS/400 output queues (all, or a limited set).
• Set polling interval (system-wide) for checking for qualifying spool files.
• Or Set a daily time when the software checks for qualifying spool files.
• Define any number of grab rules used to qualify spool files for downloading.
• Options to define the selection criteria for qualifying spool file entries by:
  Report name
  User id
  Job name
  User data
  Forms type
  Output queue
  Any combination of these.
• Option to turn on or off any grab rule at any time
• Optional action to perform on a spool file after it has been selected for downloading: *SAVE *DELETE (after download) *HOLD
• Mail reports to a single email address to mail to, or a group of addresses, or a PC directory.
• Post reports to the web as HTML.
• Ability to define groups of email addresses, and use the group name attached to the qualifying report name.
• Option to run an EZ-Pickin's autoscript prior to emailing to others.
• Ability to split your spool files to distribute different sections to different email addreses.
• Option to convert downloaded files to Adobe PDFs before emailing.
• Option to specify name and extension of file to use on email attachment when distributing it.
• Option to include replacement values in file names for identification and uniqueness.
• Option to include embedded blank lines (as report would appear when printed).
• Option to compress and (optionally) encrypt reports in standard ZIP format prior to emailing.
• Option to select a page range to download.
• Optimized downloading: Can cache downloaded spool files on distribution PC so that same spool file does not have to be downloaded more than once if it qualifies for more than one grab rule.
• Ability to configure PC cache options- limit size of cache, and set expiry date for cached files.
• Extensive history/transaction tracking- when spool file was downloaded, how it was distributed, how many pages, etc.