Tom,
I believe SMAT has always saved the messages in this way. If I recall, SMAT kicks-in just after processing the message through the protocol threads. I’ve always had to click on EBCDIC encoding within the SMAT tool when dealing with TIF/RTIF messages. However, there is an issue with going into EDIT mode from the Client SMAT GUI; it re-displays in EBCDIC making it essentially impossible to edit an EBCDIC message. I don’t know if this is still the case with 5.3, but I know it was in previous Platform V versions.
Hope this helps.
Jim Cobane
Henry Ford Health