Distributed Capture Solutions
The last decade has witnessed comprehensive automation of
processes across industries. However, contrary to the expectations, automation
has not resulted in elimination of paper. Banks, insurance companies, and
financial institutions extensively use paper for carrying out their operations.
Similarly, other industries, too, use paper in their processes. Automation of
processes is directly linked to capturing documents in their electronic form
and then using these electronic or digitized documents throughout the process
flow.
Due to prohibitively expensive bandwidth and scanning
hardware, organizations have preferred centralized document capture to save
costs. Today, however, due to lower cost of bandwidth and scanning equipment,
organizations are discovering that distributed capture is a much better option.
Distributed document capture offers improved speed, process efficiencies and
lower costs, the key requirements for customers.
Key Challenges in
Distributed Capture
Despite its several advantages, distributed capture has its
own set of challenges. The foremost challenge in distributed capture is
ensuring compliance to standards and ability to centrally administer control
environment. Change in configuration setting must be automatically applied to
all the branches where distributed capture is taking place. Also, while
transferring the scanned images, the documents need to be converted to a
standard as per centrally maintained definitions.
Another challenge lies in scalability. All the locations or
branches for distributed capture must be fully geared to handle increased
workload. This is necessary, as over a period of time, certain branches may
expand to become full service centers, and therefore, must be fully geared to
handle processes level changes and increased volume of documents.
The low-end scanners are meant for document creation rather
than document processing. This means that these scanners support
high-resolution color scanning as default. The documents created are large and
are difficult to transfer and process.
Also, for distributed capture, the central location must be
able to efficiently distribute the workload among the various branches and
departments. Requirements for specific branches might change over time, and
this needs to reflect in the workload distribution.
Once the strategy for the distributed capture is adopted,
physical document tracking becomes very important. It has to be ensured that
all the documents that have been scanned and transferred are later available
for safe keeping and referrals.
Essentials of a
Distributed Capture Solution
A distributed capture solution must offer a comprehensive
solution for large, multilocation organizations. The
solution should be scalable enough to handle millions of pages and hundreds of
branches, which can operate using a simple browser interface, a Multifunctional
Peripheral (MFP) device or production grade scanning.
The solution must enable high-volume branches to quickly
scan large number of documents and seamlessly connect to the central server for
transfer of the scanned documents. On the other hand, low-volume branches can
be equipped with a browser-based interface for scanning documents.
The captured documents are released into the following:
* Document Repository: A part of Document Management Systems
(DMS) for central storage and archival
* Workflow
Solution: A part of Business Process Management (BPM) system to automate the
processing of document as per various business rules and defined process flow
*
Distributed capture solutions are further strengthened by
their ability to monitor and track the documents while in transit. The
documents and files are chronologically numbered, are packed in boxes and
shipped to the central location. These boxes and the associated documents are
tracked by the built-in document tracking system.
Capture Server
Features
At the heart of the distributed capture solution is the
capture server, which centrally controls the capture of documents for the
multiple branches. It must essentially have the following components:
* Schedule
definition for transfer: Different schedules and priorities may be set for
transfer of document images from various branches to leverage the slack hours
and optimize bandwidth consumption.
* Centralized
administration of the configuration files: The configuration files which
provide the information regarding document scan resolution, quality and whether
the documents would be auto-recognized or manually identified, are maintained
at the server and synchronized to various branches.
* Document pull service: This ensures that document images
are pulled from the branches as per the defined schedules as well as supports
ad-hoc upload of images.
* User authentication: LDAP integration with existing user
domains must be leveraged to allow only authorized users to scan and/or upload
document images.
* Bandwidth
management: Optimum utilization of limited bandwidth is critical to the success
of distributed capture solution. It ensures document upload happens as
scheduled, and/or as per priority without choking the bandwidth.
* Document
tracking: This allows reconciliation of the documents at the central site.
Extensive tracking of the boxes and the documents from the branch to the
central location helps maintain a log of documents.
Benefits of a
Distributed Capture Solution
By implementing a distributed capture solution, the biggest
benefit is obtained in highly reduced document availability time. Whereas in a
centralized capture solution, it's normal to expect that the document would be
available only in 2-15 days or even more, with a distributed capture solution
the scanned image of the document is instantly available and ready for
processing. This eliminates a substantial amount of delay involved in the
processing of document.
Also, as the documents are electronically captured as soon
as they arrive, the problem of missing or lost document is resolved to a large
extent. Even if the physical copies of the document are damaged or lost during
transit, the data is available in the form of corresponding scanned image.
With the ever-increasing geographical spread of
organizations, distributed capture solutions provide greatest bang for the buck
by offering various benefits to the customers, such as faster turn around
times, reduced costs, improved customer service, better information security,
simplified IT administration, uniform implementation, and adherence to policies
and standards and real-time document access.
Distributed capture solutions, with centralized
administration, optimum bandwidth usage, user management and scalability,
enable enterprises to expand without compromising efficiency for their
paper-intensive processes. Therefore, distributed capture is the clear way
forward for capturing documents.
- the
author is MD of Newgen Software