Introduction
Manually copying and
entering image metadata to databases and forms?
Needing to automate your information capture and extraction
processes?
Looking to share image information with the rest of
the enterprise?
It's something we have all had to deal with time
and again: transferring data from documents
to computer applications makes up a
significant share of day-to-day office work. Whether
it’s completing forms on the Web, typing data into
an ERP application, indexing documents into an archiving
system, or entering the content of a customer transaction
into a CRM system – the time of highly qualified employees
is frequently spent on menial activities. Not only
does that result in unnecessary costs, it's also a
source of frustration for employees.
Organizations are processing ever increasing volumes
of document images daily to manage and grow their
business. Manual data processing of images can be
labor intensive and costly, affecting speed and efficiency.
Customers are looking for solutions that allow easy
manipulation of text and information.
Using OCR software to extract the metadata from
document images for indexing has been successful in
reducing problems with manual processing. KeyFree
easily analyzes and extracts metadata text from images
using OCR software to populate line of business applications,
Web forms and Microsoft Windows application forms
for indexing, enterprise search and workflow's.
What Is It?
KeyFree, a best-of-breed product leveraging the
OpenText SingleClick Entry product, which gives users
the ability to capture, extract and index information
from document images and quickly populate SmartSearch
with the selected data. So rather than keying off
of the image, the data entry user simply clicks on
the word within the image they want to capture and
the field is dynamically populated into the SmartSearch
field. Data entry key-from-image has now been replaced
with “key free” indexing by simply clicking the word
on the image.
Once data is extracted and populated to SmartSearch,
a business process is typically started, which may
include data exchange with a core business application.
“KeyFree Indexing will revolutionize the way SmartSearch®
users file documents electronically, especially non-structured
documents like vendor invoices or sales orders,” said
Stephen Young, President and CEO of Square 9 Softworks.
“KeyFree Indexing dramatically reduces the time and
effort needed to index documents, resulting in lower
costs and a greater return on investment for our customers.”
How Does It Work?
KeyFree Indexing (KFI) allows for keyless data entry with an extremely easy–to-use point and click interface. KFI is especially useful in low to moderate volume unstructured document environments like sales order processing and accounts payable applications.
To start indexing with KFI, open any document for indexing as you normally would. With the document open and ready to index, click the KeyFree button (Fig.3.11) on the Indexing section of the Viewer tab.
 Fig. 3.11
Note: KFI can also be used with documents that have already been indexed. In this case, you can skip the indexing setup steps and go directly to clicking the KeyFree button. The KeyFree button will prepare the document for KeyFree Indexing. After a brief setup cycle, the mouse cursor will change when it is inside the document viewer. Notice that there is a flag bound to the mouse cursor with the text of the first index field within it.
As the mouse cursor hovers over text elements on the page, notice that the text the cursor is hovering over becomes highlighted and the cursor flag expands to show the text. Note: The field indicated in the cursor flag is bound to the field highlighted in the indexing window of the document viewer (Fig. 3.14).
 Fig. 3.14
If you click on the desired word, that data will be transferred into the highlighted index field. The cursor flag and the highlighted field will move to the next field in the indexing window. You may continue to click words to fill the rest of the index fields with the appropriate data. When the last field is indexed, the document viewer will come out of KFI mode and standard viewer functions will become available. When in KFI mode, if you click on a field in the indexing window, all of the KFI components will reset to that field.
Note: Clicking the Pan button in the Orientation section of the Viewer tab will exit KFI mode at anytime.
If you click and hold the left mouse button you can drag a box over multiple words and all words will be displayed in the Cursor flag. Letting go of the left mouse button will send all highlighted data into the active KFI field. To select multiple words that are not in sequence, use the Shift key while clicking on the individual words to build the index value.
If multiple documents were selected for viewing, as the last field of the first document is filled via KFI you will automatically be moved to the next document in the viewer selection. The text within the cursor flag is an OCR representation of the text the mouse is currently hovering over. Note: Remember that KFI is using OCR data from the image to pull its data results. OCR technology is not 100% accurate and is largely based on the quality of the scanned image. If you intend on using KFI in your day to day indexing operations, ensure your documents are of the highest quality possible by scanning at a resolution that delivers a crisp and clean image. Use image cleanup functions where necessary, or utilize image cleanup tools like Kofax's VRS or Kodak's PerfectPage to ensure high quality scans.
KFI requires documents be black and white tiff images. This is no problem for SmartSearch. Even if you are scanning documents as color PDF files you can still take full advantage of KFI. If you are using color images, KFI will convert the image to a black and white tiff when the KeyFree button is clicked. This is only a temporary
conversion used for the duration of the KeyFree Indexing process. The original document is not changed and remains in full color when saved to the Archive. For similar reasons, KFI cannot work with documents containing annotations. If a document has been annotated, KFI will temporarily remove those annotations for the duration of the KFI process.
Target Market
From small businesses to the Fortune 500, organizations that rely on document-intensive processes use SmartSearch to manage documents electronically and streamline their workflow as they eliminate inefficient paper-based filing systems.
This unique software solution is ideal for businesses such as law offices, physician practices, accounting firms, trucking companies and mortgage and title companies that are looking for a cost-effective way to eliminate their paper-based filing systems.
Benefits
• View document images received from various import
systems such as MFP's, scanners and faxes
• Image collaboration and information parsing solutions
help ease the pain of managing manual processes
• Analyze and extract metadata text from document
images using OCR software
• Populate line of business applications, Web forms
and Microsoft Windows application forms for indexing,
enterprise search and retrieval
• Enables automated routing or repository insertion
• Quick recognition allows automated information collaboration
and workflow
Note: KeyFree comes standard with all versions of SmartSearch
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