Questions and Answers

 

Q

What is the name of the product?

A

The end-user product is called flwplektur (pronounced Flowpix Lecktour) used to view Minipros.

For the sake of convenience we will be referring to Minipros as flwpx documents or simply documents in this Q&A.

Q

Why is this name used?

A

flwpx refers to the extensive use of graphics (vector charts, images and graphs) both for visual information, and for navigation within the document

lektur refers to the interactive transmission of information

Q

How can customers find out more?

A

www.flwpx.com

Q

Briefly, what is flwplektur?

A

lektur is a new experience in document viewing and interaction. Textual elements are presented much as with any other viewer, but there are many additional options for providing both graphical information and enhanced document navigation. In addition, lektur provides for intelligent and secure form data entry, with blockchain-like response management.

Q

In short, why would someone use flwplektur?

A

flwpx presents a new way to create interactive documents or books with extreme security and copy protection. Intelligence can be included through integrated spreadsheet calculation and graphing, while information can be vastly enhanced through vector charts providing both information and navigation options.

Q

Why would someone need flwplektur?

A

Authors wishing to provide a richer, better experience to their readers would use lektur to create graphics-rich display and intuitive navigation through their document or book, secure in the knowledge that it is impossible to obtain a working copy of the lektur document without paying for a licence.

Companies wishing to distribute sensitive information can use the extensive spreadsheet functionality in lektur to create highly informative financial and other data knowing that no unauthorised person can ever view the information.

Legal or financial forms can be distributed for completion, presenting specific individuals with limited ranges of entry permission, and use the blockchain-like security and version control to view individual or composite responses.

Authors wishing to protect intellectual property can release documents providing extensive calculating and graphing ability created in a spreadsheet, allowing a user to enter data and see interactive results, without any of the calculations being visible.

Q

Can you explain the flwplektur capabilities in simple terms?

A

The flwpx platform provides a comprehensive document composition facility, allowing an author to use :

·    Microsoft Word to create textual features of a document

·    Microsoft Excel to create tables, calculations, entry fields, output fields and graphs

·    Microsoft Visio to create vector charts including hyperlinks into the document for navigation

The Excel and Visio elements (tables, fields, graphs and vector charts) are integrated into the Word document simply by specifying a specially formatted bookmark on a Word text element. The author does not need to merge the documents in any way through copy and paste or any other technique, all the merging is done by the flwpx import facility.

Once created, an integrated document is distributed to the user in a single “.flwpx” file, which is encrypted and secured.

The user can only view the contents of the file once he has obtained a valid flwpx licence, which is machine specific – it only works for one PC.

If the document contains entry fields, the user can export his response form data into a custom, secured and encrypted file “.flwpx data”, which can be emailed back to the author for viewing and analysis in Lekturand can be merged back into the original spreadsheet.

Q

What are the components of the flwpplatform?

A

·    flwpx Import

The import facility allows the author to specify a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, and any number of Visio charts, which are imported and integrated into a single .flwpx file which may be viewed in lektur.

·    lektur

This is a free-of-charge viewer for .flwpx files with extensive display, navigation, calculation, graphing and data entry facilities.

·    flwpx Licence

The licensing facility allows an author or originating company to issue licenses for viewing and/or interacting with a .flwpx file through lektur. Licences are machine-specific, and can specify a wide range of permissions – expiry date and time, permitted draft prints, permitted final prints, viewing rights on specific Excel sheets, editing rights on specific Excel sheets, and more.

Q

What use cases are supported in the first release?

A

Graphics-rich Documents

Documents of arbitrary size can be created with unlimited graphics in the form of images, vector charts and graphs, simply and with ease. Vector charts also support an innovative navigation technique, allowing users to access information in the document quickly and intuitively.

Intelligent Documents

The author can create an arbitrary-complexity spreadsheet, with calculation, conditional elements, graphs and text. These can seamlessly and easily be integrated into a Word document by the flwpx import facility using only bookmarks in the Word document. The resulting flwpx document can do extensive data display in tables or graphs, potentially using key data entered by the user into fields provided.

Legal Dynamic Forms

An entry form can be created simply and quickly by combining text from Word and entry fields provided in Excel (including, if necessary, calculated output). Information entered by the user can be exported to a response file, with blockchain-like security and version control, for viewing by the author

Q

How does the flwpdocument platform work with existing document software?

A

The flwpx system does not replace any of your existing document software. It uses Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Visio files to create the flwpx document. All the author has to do is provide bookmarks where Excel or Visio elements are to be included. Nothing could be simpler.

Q

How is flwplektur sold?

A

flwplektur (the document viewer) is provided free of charge, and installs in a few seconds from a 4MB install file.

The flwpx import facility is also provided free of charge, and the author or company is free to create any number of documents using the system, without charge.

flwpx licenses are generated by the flwpx License Server, and are provided at a reasonable fee on a per-license basis.

Q

What is the price of a license?

A

License fees are negotiated with the author or company and vary depending on use and intent.

Q

Who are the target customers and users?

A

The customers are authors and companies wishing to produce better, richer documents either for public or for private consumption. Most of what the customer does on the flwpx platform is free of charge.

The buyers may be the customer purchasing licenses for internal use (typically for sensitive or secret documents), or could be a member of the public purchasing a license to view a document or book.

Q

Who are the current field-trial customers?

A

Our first customer was G&A Compass Publishing and Training, a company specialising in company law. They have published two large books and several additional interactive documents using the flwpx system.  More recently, we have started developing intelligent documents for ZarX, the new stock exchange.  We are about to commence a pilot project with Mazars, the international auditing firm.  We are also currently busy co-developing a project reporting solution for Angola Telecom, working in collaboration with HOMT Spain.

Q

Are there competitors?

A

Not really. Although in the most primitive sense, the flwpx document is a substitute for an Acrobat PDF file, this only covers perhaps 20% of the capability of a flwpx document.

Just to mention a few examples of functionality supported in flwpxlektur but not provided in PDF :

·    Full, unrestricted spreadsheet engine which may be used for table display, calculation, conditional output, graphing, and much more

·    Dual display panels allowing navigational or information elements to be “flipped” to the left panel for ease of use and for detailed viewing

·    Enhanced navigation through use of Visio vector charts, integrated into the document mapping system

·    A flwpx document cannot be edited by a user, except where the author has created specific fields for this purpose, so ensuring the integrity of the document

 

Q

Is this an “open” product?

A

Parts of the system are open, in that the input document formats are completely open (Word, Excel and Visio).  

The remainder of the system cannot be provided in any open form, as there are security and encryption elements which, in order to provide their intended function, need to be proprietary.

Q

What types of companies would want to use flwplektur?

A

Several companies in a number of fields would benefit from the flwpx document platform.

·    Legal companies wanting to distribute information in an uncopyable format

·    Companies wanting to provide board packs using a secure and informative format

·    Publishing companies wanting to release innovative and informative documents without fear of document theft

·    Companies wishing to create interactive documents providing valuable calculations and graphs without exposing their intellectual property

·    Companies wanting to provide forms for user data entry which are intelligent and provide blockchain security and version control

 

Q

Why would customers choose flwplektur over other document formats?

A

There are no other document formats providing the key functional elements available in lektur. If the customer wants proper security and a high level of intelligence and interactivity in the document, flwpx is the only option.

Q

How difficult is it to install the flwpsystem?

A

lektur installs on the user’s PC in seconds from a 6MB install file. The document platform (including the flwpx import function and the flwpx licence key generation) may either be used directly from the flwpx web server, or a dedicated flwpx platform may be installed on the customer’s intranet. This can be done within days by the flwpx engineering team.

Q

On which computing platforms does flwplektur work?

A

lektur is strictly and only a Microsoft Windows product. Supported Windows versions include all releases from Windows 7 through Windows 10. Windows releases prior to Windows 7 are not supported.

Q

Is this an “on premise” solution?

A

The flwpx import facility can be provided as an “on premise” server. flwpx licencing remains centralized on the flwpx server, but this can be linked “invisibly” on the local server, merely executing a data request from the flwpx server when required, transparently to the user.

Q

Which OS versions are supported?

A

Microsoft Windows 7 through Microsoft Windows 10, all options, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Q

What is the size limit for a flwpdocument?

A

There is no hard limit – books of 1000 pages or more with up to hundreds of charts and tables can be supported easily without significant resource requirement.

Q

Is security part of this product?

A

Absolutely.

flwpx documents cannot be viewed on any machine without a machine-specific license. The 85 character alphanumeric document license includes multiple features to ensure that unauthorized viewing of or interaction with the document is absolutely precluded.

The flwpx document itself is also highly encrypted. A flwpx document can be set to expire at a pre-determined time, whereupon there is the option for it to be deleted whether having been viewed or not.

A flwpx document cannot be edited except for fields specifically provided by the author.

It is possible to provide for time-limited previews of a document, after which the document ceases to be accessible.

Q

How much computing space is required to run the flwpx platform?

A

The initial install of the flwpx platform takes a few seconds and 6MB download. As an example of the space required for a flwpx document let us consider a book by G&A. One of their 700 page books comes with 580 full colour images and 360 fully linked vector charts, it is an 80MB download and runs seamlessly without wait times. Printing the self-same book to pdf would result in a 145MB download and lose all of the interactive features and speed.

Q

Can one download a portion of a book to determine if you would want to purchase, as is the case with Amazon Kindle.

A

Certainly, again this would be determined by the author as to the size and portion of the sample and is not set. Additionally, the entire document or a sample can be made available on a time limited basis.