InterWord at Baxter Healthcare

Baxter Healthcare operates in 110 countries worldwide and supplies thousands of medical products and services to virtually every hospital in the UK. For the applications team within Baxter it is imperative to maintain operations to support their large workforce.

When Baxter Healthcare started the project to update their IBM i (AS/400) to V5R2 they hit the problem faced by many companies – conversion of Office Vision Documents.

The schedule and plans for the upgrade of Baxter Healthcare’s IBM i (AS/400) had already been authorised in terms of both budget and time allocations. As the time approached for the commencement of the project it became very clear to Baxter Healthcare that the initially created plans had not allowed for a conversion of the Office Vision documents to a format that was supported on the new Operating System.

For Baxter Healthcare it was looking as if this issue could bring the whole project to a halt, as it was necessary to convert all the Office Vision documents before the upgrade could take place. This put Baxter Healthcare in a position where they needed to find a solution quickly.

Solving the problem fast was not the only issue for Baxter Healthcare. They needed an application that would provide an easy conversion of their 3,000 Office Vision documents whilst also keeping within budget and integrating with existing software.

Gary May the Director of Global Datacentre Services for Baxter Healthcare said:

“We wanted a quick resolution to our problem but also needed to consider all other factors such as cost, training, stability and integrity of a new application. It was important to ensure we deployed a long term solution rather than a quick fix which may cause us problems in the future or need replacing.”

Baxter Healthcare considered moving the Office Vision to a remote IBM i (AS/400) running on an older operating system, however this would only have provide a temporary relief to the problem which would still need to be addressed in the future. They also took a look at various other Office Vision conversion tools before deciding on InterForm400. Many of the other tools were predominately server based applications which would have meant incurring cost in purchasing and maintaining a server. Together with a large amount of deployment and training time for the users.

Baxter Healthcare turned to SpaceTec for advice, a leading supplier of IBM i products and services with whom they have a long standing relationship. SpaceTec had provided Baxter Healthcare with a print management solution for the IBM i (AS/400) called InterForm400. Baxter Healthcare use InterForm400 to create business documents and forms without the need for pre printed stationary. They can distribute documents as print or email, the spool data is mapped according to the design of the form.

In addition to the base module (InterForm400) there is also a word processing feature called InterWord400. It was this add-on to InterForm400 that provided Baxter with the solution to their problem.

Using InterWord400 Baxter Healthcare was able to convert their 3,000 documents from Office Vision within three weeks.

Guy Hughes the technical consultant for Baxter Healthcare said:

“By using InterForm400 and InterWord400 we were able to complete the project within the original timescale allowed. If we had chosen a different solution the project would most certainly have been delayed. Delaying the project would have been costly not only in terms of the new solution but also due to extra leasing costs for the IBM i.”

InterForm400 and InterWord400 are used everyday and have become indispensable applications for Baxter Healthcare. A great advantage over the Office Vision product is the GUI front end as opposed to traditional Green Screen making life easier for the users. The users found the move to InterWord400 very easy and were able to use the product competently with only minimal guidance. It was found that no formal training was necessary for those familiar with Office Vision. This assisted greatly in the task to complete the project within the allocated timeframe.

Patrick Race from SpaceTec said:

“Baxter Healthcare is a true indication of how InterForm400 and InterWord400 can assist all Office Vision users whilst still maintaining control over budget and time allocations. It is quick and easy to deploy and integrates well with other products.”

“Now InterForm400/InterWord400 is up and running there is very little maintenance that we need to do. The Total Cost of Ownership for these products is very low. The decision to move forward with SpaceTec and InterForm400 has definitely been a positive move as proved when we were able to add the InterWord module to solve our Office Vision problems. We will be working with SpaceTec in the future to keep updated on this range of products” said Hughes.

SpaceTec are able to offer packages that run in conjunction with or will integrate into the InterForm400 application this was one of the reasons Baxter chose SpaceTec initially for InterForm400.


About Baxter Health Care

Baxter Healthcare supplies thousands of medical products and services to almost every hospital in the UK, as well as working on supporting more and more patients in the community. Over 1,350 people are employed in the UK to combine a virtually unparalleled ability to meet the demand of today and tomorrow’s healthcare needs.

Beginning more than 70 years ago, Baxter has been heavily involved in many medical breakthroughs we take for granted today: intravenous medicine, kidney dialysis, heart valve replacement; blood component therapy and haemophilia care.

Throughout its history, Baxter has capitalised on expertise in select core technologies to develop a steady stream of product innovations across businesses. Because many of these products are based on related technologies, they are produced in the same manufacturing plants. The company further leverages its expertise geographically, extending the reach of its life-saving products to patients around the world. Baxter currently operates in over 110 countries worldwide.

Baxter Healthcare Ltd. is the primary domestic operating subsidiary of Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX). Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, assists health-care professionals and their patients with treatment of complex medical conditions, including cancer, haemophilia, immune disorders, kidney disease and trauma. The company applies its expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to make a meaningful difference in patients' lives.