Paper form data capture

Each day we complete a variety of paper forms – questionnaires, credit applications, evaluation forms, benefit forms and many others. Typically, these forms are handwritten as an immediate response is needed in situ or an ink signature or hard copy is required.

To collect the data from paper forms, organisations have two options – labour intensive manual data entry or the use of OMR/ICR/OCR data capture software for automated forms processing.

Manual data entry is expensive and labour intensive. It is prone to human error and can be time-consuming when re-keying data or handling paper copies. OMR/ICR/OCR data capture software, such as TeleForm or ABBYY FlexiCapture, have become indispensable for collecting and processing information, as the data is automatically read and captured from form fields.

ePC combines the best high-volume scanning software with the following document recognition technologies to offer a range of solutions for automating data collection:

• ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) for reading hand printed text
• OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) for recognising when checkboxes have been filled in
• OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for reading machine printed text
• Page structure, graphic or logo detection for page classification
• Barcode recognition of all standard barcode types, including two-dimensional matrix barcodes
• Signature detection to confirm forms have been authorised

Paper documents and forms are still pervasive. In fact, according to Forrester, 80% of all information processed is still paper-based. However, more industries are digitalising their paper forms and moving to intelligent electronic forms (eForms) to collect data and route for review and approval.

In this section, find out about our approach to data capture: