RE: Encrypted Signature on Purchase Order -- BPCS-L

Alister,
If it is helpful, we have a solution that will overlay a purchase order
form, electronic signature (or you can image the document once it has
been signed), distribute it in a PDF format using PDF's form of
encryption and other security. This facilitates a couple of things: 1)
you can require the recipient has the appropriate password to view the
document and 2) you can further limit what can be done with the document
on the receiving end such as can not be printed, can not be copied, can
not be modified, can not extract text, etc. Essentially, anything that
Adobe Acrobat CAN do you can indicate the document privileges so these
options are not available upon distribution. Let me know if that helps
you get any closer to your objective.

Kind Regards,
Susanne States
sstates@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
S4i Systems, Inc.
800-231-5280
http://www.solution400.com
 
Your Complete Electronic Document Management & DASD Management Solutions
 


-----Original Message-----
From: bpcs-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bpcs-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Alister Wm Macintyre
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 2:07 PM
To: BPCS_L discussion
Subject: Encrypted Signature on Purchase Order


I wonder if anyone else already doing this and can tell us what
software, 
what cost, how reliable, what kinds of hassles, and perhaps point me at
a 
url for the vendor of that software.

    * Currently we create PUR520 form from BPCS 405 CD on AS/400 V5R1
mixed 
mode, which has been modified.  Some users on Green Screen (including
me), 
but growing volume, including the Purchasing Manager, now on PCs with 
Client Server/400.  The 400 is not directly connected to the Internet,
but 
people on the Internet can get to it via a variety of methods that I
will 
not say in a public forum for security reasons.
    * Our 400 security (level 30 and I doing audit to see if 40
practical) 
is setup so that ANYONE can do anything with any other co-worker spool 
content, if they know how, or have dangerous software on their attached
PCs.
    * We print out the Purchase Orders.
    * The Purchasing Manager adds his signature.
    * Some go into fax machine.
    * Some scanned back in, go to a Word document file which gets
encrypted.
    * It is attached to e-mail and sent to a foreign nation such as
China.
    * They also have Word and are able to unencrypt and process our PO
no 
problem.

We now have 10-15 a day like this and anticipate growth.
The user question was whether the 400 can automate some of the steps to 
reduce the hassle and provide assurances that no co-worker can mess with

the signature or content of POs or launch any unauthorized POs.

My reply ... I could further modify so that YOUR POs go to a spool file 
with security that blocks other users access, there is stuff, from IBM
and 
Foxtrot and other places, that can do ANYTHING but probably costs in
excess 
of $ 1,000.00 multiples, but with narrow focus needs there is share ware

that can be very powerful for $ 50.00 to $ 250.00 which I will look into

and get back to Y'all.

So long as we only need narrow slices of the total stuff available from
IBM 
and other places, then the shareware solutions probably make economic
sense.

A possible path is to do a PO run just for a particular vendor, import
the 
400 spool entry to a Word document, have the signature in an encrypted 
file, combine the two overlaid into a new encrypted file, which is then 
attached to e-mail.  I opined that with decent software, the user ought
to 
be able to point and click at the spool file entry containing the POs,
and 
at the e-mail it is to be attached to, with the software doing all the
in 
between work.

Meanwhile, I hope someone has a written opinion from company attorney
that 
the encryption we are using is not in violation of either US law or laws
of 
the nations we doing business with.  My idea of retirement does not
include 
spending any time in a Chinese prison cell, and I suggest that
co-workers 
get assurances they not at such risk either.  Ideal use of company
lawyer 
is to have some explicit questions in which part of the answer is that 
insofar as they say some encryption is legal, that this be reviewed at
time 
of software upgrades and new legislation, so that anything they told us
was 
legal, we are told as soon as it becomes no longer legal.

-
Al Macintyre  http://www.ryze.com/go/Al9Mac
Find BPCS Documentation Suppliers 
http://radio.weblogs.com/0107846/stories/2002/11/08/bpcsDocSources.html
BPCS/400 Computer Janitor at http://www.globalwiretechnologies.com/
_______________________________________________
This is the SSA's BPCS ERP System (BPCS-L) mailing list
To post a message email: BPCS-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/bpcs-l
or email: BPCS-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/bpcs-l.