BENS Server – Digitization of documents
BENS is a powerful, flexible and scalable network server, which enables process automations in the document processing and provides a management of print jobs by the use of various programs – so-called filters and plugins.
The BENS Server is delivered with a WEB-based administration tool. The intuitively operable interface serves the administrator for the network configuration, definition of the targets, administration of licenses, filters and plugins and configuration of automation processes.
Available versions
- BENS Lite
- BENS Hardware Appliance
- BENS Virtual Server (for VMWare and Microsoft Hyper-V, others by arrangement)
- BENS PP Spool (virtual for VMWare and Microsoft Hyper-V)
- BENS as an Output Management System certified by SAP (OMS according to BC-XOM 4.0)
BENS Lite
BENS Lite is a small, cost-effective hardware appliance for decentralized use. Typical areas of application are branch offices to which prepared print data is transmitted from the head office. The data can be compressed by a plugin on a virtual BENS server in the head office before the transmission to the branch office and decompressed in the branch office by the BENS Lite plugin. With the BENS Lite Printserver, up to 5 printers can be operated. Some functions of the BENS Hardware Appliance are not supported (e.g. Hotfolder).
BENS Hardware Appliance
The hardware appliance is used:
- For customers who do not have a virtualized environment.
- For customers who use the BENS Hardware Server as a Printserver for up to 50 printers and prefer a hardware solution over a virtual solution. The hardware appliance can be coupled with a second hardware appliance for failover in the so-called master / slave network. If the master fails, the slave automatically takes over the productive operation. The administrator receives an e-mail notification of the incident.
BENS as virtual server
The virtual BENS server is used:
- For customers who have a virtualized environment (VMWare, HyperV or other).
- For customers who use the BENS Server as a Printserver for large printer landscapes – from 50 to several hundred printers.
The virtual BENS Server is scalable. The system can be provided with any available resources:- Processor cores
- Hard disk memory
- RAM
BENS PP Spool (virtual only)
BENS PP Spool is based on the BENS virtual Server and provides an operator interface for the administration of print jobs for production machines, among others
- Display of page numbers of incoming print jobs (PCL5, PCLXL, Postscript, PDF, IPDS, AFP)
- Display of job info
- Display of print preview for PCL5, PCLXL, Postscript and PDF files
- Sorting of print jobs according to various criteria
- Multiple selection of print jobs for the same processing type
- Cloning and renaming of print jobs
- Manual and automatic archiving of print jobs without printing
- Reactivating print jobs from the archive
- Delayed printing
- Job tickets with processing instructions for a print job (e.g. stapling)
- Display and exchange of job parameters by the operator (e.g. change of tray numbers)
- Free choice of the target printer by the operator
- Reprint on any target printer
- Reprint with page accuracy (page from … to)
- Current printer display information (e.g. status, low paper, etc.).
- Current printer page counter and continuous display of the actually printed pages
BENS as an Output Management System certified by SAP (OMS according to BC-XOM 4.0).
The external Output Management System (OMS) takes over the administration of the print jobs created by the SAP system and reports their current status back to the SAP system.
The plugin “BENS OMS/BC-XOM” implements the BC-XOM interface defined by SAP together with the extension for the administration of SAP printers outside of the SAP system, i.e. that every printer created on the BENS is automatically also created on the SAP system. The SAP printers can be created, listed, changed or deleted via the BENS interface. An import function of printers with their properties from Excel is additionally implemented, so that the creation and administration of large printer landscapes is enormously facilitated.
The printers defined in the SAP system use the connection type) “E”.
All other features of the BENS Server (filters, plugins, process automations) can be used together with the OMS.
Working with BENS Filters
In the context of digital document processing, filters on the BENS server can be used to perform many tasks at the same time:
- The merging of print data and digital templates, such as letterhead or logo.
- Adding a page with general terms and conditions to the print data. The terms and conditions can be printed on the back of selected pages or as an additional page.
- Creating electronic copies of individual pages or copies of entire documents.
- The application of various watermarks to individual carbon copies or copies.
- Management of paper control for different pages, copies or carbon copies. Automatic selection of paper types or paper trays for individual pages or copies of a document.
- The final processing of documents at the printer, e.g. stapling or punching, output to different trays.
- Converting the print files into PDF files and storing them in a hot folder
- Distributed sending of document copies to different destinations, e.g. printing a copy of an invoice in the mailroom and on the printer in the accounting department.
… and much more.
weiterführende Themen:
Converter (Conversion with BENS Filters)
With the appropriate filters for the BENS Server, various data conversions can be carried out:
- IPDS/AFPDS to PCL
- IPDS/AFPDS to Postscript
- Postscript to PDF
- PCL to PDF
- Prescribe to PCL
- ZPL (Zebra) to PCL
- PCL to ZPL (Zebra)
- Almost all input data can be converted into a graphic format (PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP etc.)
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