User Guide
Automated forms processing: step by step
Personnel training
Processing cycles
Working with ABBYY FormReader requires minimum special
knowledge and training. The data capture system is usually run by
operators responsible for entering data from
forms and an administrator who sets up and monitors the system.
Depending on how data capture is organized, the operator's
job can be of two kinds
all operations are performed on one computer, the opera
tor loads forms into the scanner, and oversees the scan
ning, recognition, and verification processes;
in the case of ABBYY FormReader Enterprise Edition, dif
ferent operators are responsible for specific processes
scanning, document assembly, verification, and export.
The program is set up by an administrator. In the case of
ABBYY FormReader Enterprise Edition, the administrator
deploys the system, allocates processing roles to operators, cre
ates templates and descriptions of multipage documents. The
operator also oversees the flow of information within the sys
tem
It takes from several hours to 23 days to train the operators and
the administrator*.
All the practical knowledge required to operate FormReader can
be acquired within this time period thanks to a carefully thought
out training course
* The administrator's training course includes the following topics :
1) production capture;
2) designing new forms;
3) creating form templates;
4) installing ABBYY products (including network installations);
5) setting up scanning, recognition and verification options;
6) allocating processing roles to operators;
7) creating validation rules and document assembly rules;
8) monitoring the operation of the program and creating reports.
For a better understanding of how ABBYY FormReader works, let us
take a closer look at the main processing cycles.
1.
Creating a batch.
A batch is a collection of similar documents
which must be processed and saved both as images and as text
data captured from the fields. Batches can be opened either by
an operator or automatically by the program.
2.
Adding images to a batch.
Images of forms that need to be
processed may be added to a batch in one of the following
ways:
by scanning paper forms;
by adding prescanned images from a special dialog box;
by dragging and dropping document icons in
Windows Explorer.
3.
Recognition.
Recognition is an automated process whereby
the text in the data fields is "read" by the program and con
verted into electronic form. First, the program selects the right
template for the form and detects blocks from which data have
to be captured. Next, the block images are converted into elec
tronic text.
4.
Validation and verification.
Once all the images in a batch
have been recognized, some pages may contain characters
about which the program is unsure. These pages are passed on
to the operator for verification. The verifier either confirms the
characters or corrects them. Similarly the operator corrects any
errors detected by validation rules (the program marks pages
with errors with special colour flags).
5.
Export.
Finally, verified and validated data are saved to a file
or exported to a database. All the operator needs to do is to
click the "Export" button.
Throughout the entire data capture process the involvement
of the operator is kept to a minimum. More importantly, the oper
ator's actions are strictly circumscribed, which greatly reduces the
chance of errors. Therefore, automated forms processing is not
only much faster than manual data entry but produces much
more accurate results. The quality of resulting data is paramount
and the following section describes various mechanisms used in
ABBYY FormReader to ensure the high quality of captured data.