What is ICR, Data Capture?
ICR stands for Intelligent Character Recognition and is the technology
that allows software to interpret hand printed text on scanned images.
Forms Processing Software uses ICR technology to automate data entry tasks
involving hand-filled surveys, applications and forms. It provides interfaces for
scanning, recognition, data verfication and export, as well as management and monitoring
tools to track large volumes of documents and data through the workflow.
Forms Processing also includes OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology
to recognize machine printed text, and OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) for check boxes
and multiple choice bubbles.
Who can benefit from handprint recognition software?
Any organization that collects data on paper-based forms, surveys or
applications on a regular basis can get a very high return on investment by
automating the data entry with forms processing software.
You do need to have a significant number of forms to justify the expense--
at least a hundred forms per month or more depending on how much data is
being captured. If the data entry task can be done in under 100 man-hours
then it is not a good candidate for automation with ICR software.
Organizations that have many separate departments that collect data
on forms can share the budget for forms processing software by
re-using it for other projects. Your current project may not be big enough
to justify the expense, but when combined with one or two others it would be.
How much do Data Capture systems cost?
The total cost of a forms processing solution includes several items:
- Cost of the software
- Time to install and configure the software
- Forms may need to be redesigned for optimal recognition
- Recognition templates must be created for each data field on every type of form
- Data exports must be defined for each form template
- User and administrator training
- Labor required to verify the recognition results
- IT infrastructure and maintenance costs
If you have an IT staff that is familiar with document scanning and OCR
applications, it is possible to do most of the configuration and maintenance
in-house. If not then it is highly recommended that you use our
Consulting Services
to guide you through the setup process.
Contact Us to get a professional analysis of your project
requirements and a full time and cost estimate.
What is the typical data entry workflow?
The process of converting a hand-printed paper form to live data you can use
is as follows:
- Paper is prepped for scanning (unfolded, staples removed, etc.)
- Forms are scanned on a high-speed document scanner
- Scanned forms are recognized with ICR
- Recognized characters are assigned a confidence value and validation
rules are applied to check for valid results
- "Low-confidence" characters and fields that fail validation are presented to
the verification operators for manual review and correction
- Once all errors are corrected, data is exported to final destination
How do I find out more?
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