{"id":661,"date":"2012-09-18T16:29:23","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T23:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/?p=661"},"modified":"2013-10-06T09:53:41","modified_gmt":"2013-10-06T16:53:41","slug":"capture-with-confidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevinneal.com\/blog\/capture-with-confidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Capture … with Confidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prelude:\u00a0 I\u2019ve included many screen prints in this post and there is a lot of detail that may be interesting to you.\u00a0 Click the thumbnail images for a larger view.<\/em><\/p>\n

I wrote a story the other day about\u00a0Frankie-the-Frustrated worker<\/a>\u00a0and his frustration dealing with the lack of automatic data entry in his daily work activities.\u00a0 In Frankie\u2019s case I admittedly way over simplified the solution to illustrate the point that technology such as advanced data capture is a reality, yet can still be easy to use.\u00a0 In other words, we don\u2019t have to sacrifice automation for a pleasant user experience or vice-versa.\u00a0 One of the nice AIIM commenter\u2019s on the story rightfully pointed that Frankie would soon be known as Frankie-the-FUDer due to the fact without the all-important \u201cdata verification and\/or validation\u201d step in the process.\u00a0 Frankie would soon be Feared because of the Uncertainty, as well as, Doubted in the accuracy of data that he was contributing to his organizations business systems.\u00a0 This made me consider that maybe many of us haven\u2019t seen advanced capture software capabilities in action or even know what sort of capabilities are possible with modern technology.\u00a0 Therefore, for this reason, I would like to provide a bit of a deeper drive into what makes Data Capture solutions highly effective and give you very specific details, with many screen prints, so that hopefully we can help Frankie to become Frankie-the-Fabulous worker that he desires to be.<\/p>\n

There are several factors that contribute to a successful document capture solution.\u00a0\u00a0 While each vendor\u2019s exact terminology might vary a bit, the truth of the matter is that the \u2018process\u2019 of data capture is quite similar.\u00a0 If you carefully consider each step and how it can contribute to improving data accuracy and quality, you will recognize that there is quite a lot of moving parts to make this \u201cmagic\u201d happen.\u00a0 The key point I would absolutely like to stress before this deeper drive into technology is this; so much of this process can be done automatically which is totally transparent to the user.\u00a0 I would like to detail a few techniques so that we can be aware of the technology available to make the user experience the best it can be.\u00a0 Once the system is configured for production then all the user has to do is basically capture images and verify data which translates directly into a very easy and simple experience for the users themselves.<\/p>\n

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The logic of Automatic Data Capture<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The very first thing to do when considering designing an effective Data Capture solution has nothing to do with the technology itself.\u00a0 An absolute, must-do, critical step that you will hear from all the experienced professionals in the capture business is to gather as many document samples as you possibly can.\u00a0 Gather all the different types of documents you wish to capture such as invoices, agreements, surveys or whatever, but gather as much volume and as many varieties as you can.\u00a0 Also, do not just gather high quality original documents that someone might have just printed on a pristine piece of paper from the laser printer in the office.\u00a0 Gather the ones that that have been in filing cabinets for years and ones that have coffee stains with wrinkles.\u00a0 The idea is that you want documents that are going to represent a true production Data Capture environment.<\/p>\n

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Initial document analysis and index fields<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

After gathering as many documents as you can then the first step in configuring the Data Capture solution is to import the sample documents.\u00a0 Scan them at\u00a0300 dots per inch<\/a>\u00a0(300 dpi) which is the optimal output resolution for automatic recognition accuracy.\u00a0 Next, you will want to run an initial document analysis on your documents.\u00a0 In this analysis the software will make its best guess on the structure of the documents.\u00a0 You should not expect that this analysis will be absolutely perfect but in many cases this step can do a good portion on settings up your solution that typically took a lot of time and effort.\u00a0 As seen in the screen print below (click the image to zoom) the software can automatically detect form fields such as \u201cFirst and last name\u201d and draws an extraction zone around this particular area.\u00a0 The software can also detect Groups such as the \u201cCompany Business\u201d and automatically create index fields for all the available options in this group (i.e. \u201cIT, Healthcare, Education\u201d, etc.)\u00a0 So after the initial pass you will want to check each field and apply some logic to improve the accuracy of the data captured and there are many useful techniques as you will see below.<\/p>\n

\"1_index<\/a><\/p>\n

Useful tips and tricks to improve data capture accuracy<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"2_types<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"3_general\"<\/a>General<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

From the General tab in your data capture application you can provide a useful field name for each individual field you wish to extract data. This configuration tab will allow you to decide such basic functionality such as if the field is Read Only or Cannot be blank.\u00a0 Also, you can decide whether to Export field value because sometimes you might wish to recognize some information such as a line item amount but do not wish to export the line item, just overall total amount.\u00a0 The most commonly used functionality is enabled by default.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"4_data<\/a>Data Type<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Data Type configuration is an extremely valuable function to allow for field-level recognition accuracy.\u00a0 For example, if the field is a Number only field then you can enforce the recognition to only output numbers.\u00a0 Or if the field was an Amount of Money then you can enforce an output in the form of an amount.\u00a0 You can also add custom dictionaries and other useful validation rules<\/p>\n

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\"5_recognition\"<\/a>Recognition<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the area were you would fine-tune character level accuracy.\u00a0 In the Recognition tab you can select which type of recognition you wish to perform on a certain field whether it might be Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) for handwritten text, Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for machine printed text or even the font type.\u00a0 The more information that is known about your documents, and if you can apply that logic to your capture system, will make the overall accuracy much greater.<\/p>\n

\"6_verification\"<\/a>Verification<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

While pure processing speed of getting images captured and recognized is important, the importance of uploading accurate data is often the most important consideration in a data capture solution.\u00a0 So, therefore in an effective data capture solution there is a \u201cverification\u201d step in the process where you can set certain character confidence thresholds.\u00a0 If these thresholds are not met then a human will view and\/or correct the data, if needed.<\/p>\n

\"7_rules\"<\/a>Rules<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is one of the most critical-steps in the data capture process.\u00a0 With Rules configuration options, this is where the Data Capture system starts to use logic, and lookups into other systems, to compare data fields for any contradictions in the data captured.\u00a0 For example, just imagine if a Social Security Number was captured incorrectly by one digit.\u00a0 The system can do a Database Check and look into a different system to check the SSN based on a different field such as Mailing Address.\u00a0 In this case if there was a mis-match then the user can easily and quickly correct the data before sending to the back-end repository.\u00a0 Another great example is to read line item amounts from an invoice and then use the Check Sum option to validate that the total amount is equal to all the line items combined.\u00a0 This is incredibly effective to catch any potential errors BEFORE they are committed to a system.<\/p>\n

\"8_custom<\/a><\/p>\n

Custom Action<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When standard capabilities or functions just aren\u2019t enough, or if your business process dictates customization, there are options to incorporate custom scripts.\u00a0 User scripts are custom scripting rule triggered by the user when viewing a field during field verification or in the document editor. The script is triggered by clicking\u00a0\u2026<\/strong>\u00a0to the right of the field value.\u00a0 To make the creation or modification of the scripts simple, there is a script editor available directly in the data capture configuration interface.<\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Putting it all together (Data Capture from the User Perspective)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"9_acquire<\/a>Now that we\u2019ve taken a look at a few of the ways to improve the quality of data in your Data Capture solution, hopefully you can have a greater appreciation for how all the moving parts can make this type of system highly accurate.\u00a0 These configurations are typically setup by system administrators or persons with specialized training.\u00a0 However, what really drives adoption of a particular technology for mass appeal and high adoption rates is a pleasant user experience.\u00a0 So, therefore, what I would like to do is show, in a few screen prints, how simple all this advanced technology is to use from the User Perspective.\u00a0 Please note that the screen prints might vary depending for many factors including\u00a0hardware capture device<\/a>,\u00a0processing\/verification user interface design<\/a>\u00a0and\/or the\u00a0ultimate storage destination<\/a>.<\/p>\n