Utilising Document and Data Capture Services to Serve your Business Needs
Production scanning sites are usually designed with data capture or document capture as their primary objective. The difference between the two processes is quite basic. When it comes to a data capture installation, the documents are generally forms and it is not necessary that the images be saved after the scanning is done. On the contrary, every field in the document needs to be extracted and the data thus acquired is then stored as part of a database or as a business application.
On the other hand, a document capture installation enables that the documents are scanned and then archived for future reference. Only a part of the data is extracted from a particular image and it serves as a kind of an index, which are to be retrieved later.
Production capture takes into account a complicated flow of processes that comprises scanning and several other activities. Production capture comprises six different procedures and these include document preparation, scanning, recognition, data validation and indexing.
Document preparation is the first one of the integral steps of an effective production capture process. Some of the key tasks that form a part of this stage and need to be carried out manually include the determination of the beginning and end of the document, categorisation of the documents and separating them based on their grouping.
The next step is obviously that of document scanning. This is the stage where the paper documents are actually transformed into digital images. In order to ensure that the process of scanning is carried out smoothly it is necessary that you possess appropriate scanning equipment. It is also necessary that you set the controls right when it comes to the scanner and the scanner settings. These include contrast, duplex or simplex operation, resolution, and advanced thresholding options.
Data can be automatically procured from images through an embedded recognition process or even manually through a keyboard operator. In any of the cases, the data may need to be verified and validated at times by a second independent operator.
The next step in the process is that of quality control and rescanning. Quality control includes systematic review and constant checks to make sure that the scanned images are legible. The QC process is carried out in order to identify the bad images and offering an explanation about how images should be ideally scanned.
The final stage of the capture process is termed as the release stage and comprises of releasing batches of images along with the associated index data that is to be sent to the backend business application. This is the time when the document images are written on a long-term storage device. The associated data, or index data, is combined with a document database in order that the documents can be later retrieved by the user. The release of a particular document may initiate a workflow process or even initialise the process of filing documents.
It is necessary to choose the appropriate service to match the requirements of your business. You need to choose an established vendor who has adequate experience within the industry.
Author Bio: Bruce Chable is a business consultant. He offers advice on how businesses need to manage their documents. He advocates the use of methods such as document capture in this regard.
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