It isn't just 'capture' any more
Image capture solutions are predicated on improving the process of capturing paper or microfilm-based image data more efficiently. Image capture scans batches of documents using inserted sheets known as batch control sheets to provide main indexes and pass any key entry indexing downstream where it can be performed more efficiently.
Forms processing solutions were created to make capturing data from incoming paper-based forms more efficient. Paper forms are mostly keyed directly from the original paper into a company's computer system. Forms processing sets out to reduce that effort by decreasing expensive manual keying through automating the process using recognition technologies.
The synergy
Scanning a document is expensive. An average scanning cost is 8 cents to 10 cents per page. Therefore, some documents that have limited amounts of data on them are not worth scanning and running through a forms processing solution. However, if a document can be stored, processed and found more efficiently electronically, the cost is absorbed by that process.
Likewise, part of the data on a form is probably needed for retrieval, and keying data indexes is expensive. So if a document's data is being extracted and converted for accounting or analysis purposes, it can also be attached to the document for retrieval purposes.
Document capture solutions are capturing paper documents for archival purposes. Therefore the documents may or may not have data value, and it is difficult or impossible to predict all the types of documents that will be captured.
Forms processing applications work best when the system knows what the form looks like--at least in a general manner. When a forms processing system is faced with a form type that it has not seen before or that is unexpected, it does not work well.
The other main differences between the two are:
· in the emphasis--What is the transaction? Is it the image or is it the data? That controls where one's accuracy must be directed.
· in the volumes--the amount of data required to be captured. That affects the complexity of the technologies applied.
Image capture providers are moving into forms processing while forms processing providers are moving into or linking with document storage and retrieval.
Forms processing wins out at the front end. With some exceptions, the data generally must be accurate and the data volumes are much higher than those required for retrieval.`
However when you go beyond storage and retrieval and add document management to the equation, things change. At that point, you are faced with rules-based controls over document distribution and with data or images derived from multiple sources--things forms processing and image capture do not deal with.
Over the next couple of years the term image capture will disappear, with successful image capture vendors becoming forms processing suppliers. The term "forms processing" may well be replaced with something like "automated data entry systems." Today's forms processing solutions will evolve into front-end capture and image indexing solutions, while the document management vendors will build their own or use third-party systems.