Innovative document processing solutions

Forms Capture

Forms processing is one of the most widely used applications for document scanning and OCR/ICR technology. This is due to the significant time savings that can be made, the level of automation that is possible and the variety and volume of forms used by companies today.

Most companies use a variety of form types and the data held on them is often critical to the operation of the business. These could be application forms received from new customers, change request forms from existing customers or internal forms such as expenses claims, request forms, time sheets and HR records. Because forms usually have a fixed layout they are ideally suited to processing with document capture technologies.

To be processed automatically most forms require either one or a mixture of character recognition technologies. These include OCR for machine printed text, ICR for hand printed text and OMR for check boxes and signature box verification. When choosing a document capture solution for forms processing it is important to check that it offers the appropriate character recognition technology.

Unlike other documents, forms are often just used as a temporary method of transferring information from person to person or to a business system. Therefore, once the data is captured from the form it is often no longer needed. Survey forms are a typical example. Other forms types, such as an insurance policy form containing a signature, may need to be retained as a record for audit or legal purposes. If both the form data and image need to be retained then a system for storing and retrieving images, such as a document management or content management system, will also be required.

Benefits of Automated Forms Processing

Speed up data entry

Once set up correctly, document capture systems are extremely good at capturing data from forms at high speeds and feeding this into CRM systems and other company databases. This not only reduces the manual effort of keying data, which saves time and money, but it also makes business critical data available to the organisation much sooner.

Improve customer service

Having access to information faster means staff can respond to internal and external customer requests and enquires improving efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Increase data accuracy

One of the most significant, and often overlooked, benefits of forms processing technology, is the increase in the accuracy of the data acquired from the form. Today’s character recognition engines have a high degree of accuracy, especially with machine printed text, and can be configured using read confidence thresholds to highlight a potential error to a user. In addition, database lookups and validation rules can be set up on or between data fields to guarantee a high level of accuracy.

Forms Processing