Atlanta, GA— At the Xplor 2003 Conference and Exhibit, Group 1 Software today announced the anticipated release in the current quarter of DOC1 Series 5, its next-generation customer communications management system. DOC1 Series 5 is the only integrated system that manages every aspect of a company's critical business documents, from data acquisition and content creation through multi-channel delivery and web-based customer care. DOC1 Series 5 is composed of modules that can be deployed individually or as part of a complete customer communications management (CCM) solution. The release incorporates significant enhancements to both the document composition and electronic document management modules. DOC1 Series 5 can be previewed at Group 1's booth (#701) at Xplor, October 27-29 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The enhancements to the document composition modules of DOC1 Series 5 include powerful new role-based user interfaces to provide the appropriate GUI for both the user and the task. Business users will be productive within minutes using an intuitive word-processing style interface. Application developers can create complex, logic-rich transactional documents quickly using new power objects such as transaction tables and user-defined, portable business logic. All content is stored in an industry standard relational repository to optimize work group collaboration, security and content reusability across the enterprise. The new Series 5 Work Center centralizes all user administration, data and design editors, as well as environment and production job set-up. A Quark extension, which enables users easily to personalize Quark-created documents within the DOC1 design environment, is among the enhancements that provide even greater design flexibility. DOC1 Series 5 also provides for faster composition and generation of multiple output file formats, such as AFP and PDF, during a single production run. The composition components are .NET-based to provide unmatched scalability and connectivity in distributed computing environments. The new architecture will enable Group 1 to release new functionality to the market faster while supporting an expanding array of output devices. "Users can benefit from a single source solution for data acquisition and integration, document composition and management of all their content," said Andrew Warzecha, senior vice president and service director at META Group, Inc. "Such a holistic approach can help businesses realize a lower total cost of ownership and minimize compliance and legal risks, while providing the ability to communicate effectively with customers, partners, and suppliers across a number of delivery channels.” With new data integration functionality through the recently acquired Sagent Data Flow technology, DOC1 enables users to connect to any source of data regardless of its location or complexity. Enhancements in this area include multiple database input, which simplifies production of consolidated bills and statements. Users also have direct read/write access to a variety of campaign management, enterprise content management (ECM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), CRM and other related line of business systems. Additionally, greater flexibility in data usage provides the ability to create easily personalized documents using a variety of different data sources without changing the document's underlying layout and design. The electronic document management (EDM) modules of DOC1 Series 5 have also been enhanced substantially to provide better support for both DOC1- and non-DOC1-generated documents. DOC1 now offers a visual mark-up tool to manage non-DOC1-generated print streams and the ability to repurpose data from Metacode, AFP and line data formats in an XML format. A new Web design tool and application programming interface (API) set enable users to quickly and easily customize Web sites to include electronic presentment and payment capabilities. The DOC1 system also features a new module, named DOC1 Query, which enables users to make more informed business decisions and create ad hoc reports from hard copy output. This functionality enables users to leverage information that has historically been available in print format and therefore could not be utilized in the business intelligence process. “DOC1 Series 5, in development for two years, can help businesses redefine how they communicate with their customers today, while providing a technology platform that can be leveraged continuously for future growth,” said Alan Slater, president of Group 1's DOC1 Division. “This release represents a substantial move forward for Group 1, our more than 600 DOC1 customers and the industries and markets we serve. DOC1 Series 5 is designed to ensure that we remain the solution of choice for customers who need enterprise-wide control of important customer communications.”