FileNet acquires Shana for $8.5 million

Content management company FileNet has bought Shana, a maker of electronic forms software, for $8.5 million in cash.

As part of the purchase, FileNet has acquired all the stock in privately owned Shana.

The purchase is intended to boost FileNet’s presence in the market for forms management technology, according to a statement released by FileNet on Wednesday.

Electronic forms, or eForms, enable users to capture information, electronically, in the same manner as paper forms capture hand-written or typed information. Unlike paper forms, however, eForms can validate the data that is entered and link it automatically to other business applications and back end systems.

Based in Edmonton, Canada, Shana was an early innovator in the market for eForms. The company’s Informed product was first released in 1991 and ran on Apple Computer’s Macintosh platform.

Since that time, Shana has broadened the Informed product line to run on both the Microsoft Windows operating system, while continuing to support the latest versions of the Mac OS, including OS X.

Shana has been partnering with FileNet, based in Costa Mesa, Calif., for the past year. The two companies sold an integrated electronic forms management product, according to FileNet.

Shana’s eForms technology will be sold alongside FileNet’s enterprise content management technology, offering FileNet customers technology solutions that encompass data capture through forms as well as business process management and connectivity to other business applications and back-end systems.