All forms processing products let you enter data by typing from images displayed on the screen.
This capability is called key from image (KFI),
and it is the modern replacement of the older "key from disk" or "manual
data entry" systems. KFI is important because it is the data entry method
of last resort. In some cases forms may not be OCRable. If all automated
methods fail, then KFI is used to manually enter the information.
Vendors who produce systems focused on applications with a heavy KFI
requirement include Captiva Software, a new company formed in July with
the merger of well-known forms processing vendors FormWare and Wheb
Systems. Also strong are Viking Data Systems, Southern Computer Systems,
Recognition Research, and TIS. In another recent development, TIS, an
Israeli company with strong international sales, struck a partnership
with Dakota Imaging to sell its systems in North America.
While all the products examined in this article support key from
image, there are a number of areas you should examine in evaluating
competing products.
Performance:
If your application has a high key-from-image
requirement, the raw speed of the KFI module is very important. The best
KFI products now shipping claim speeds as fast or faster than traditional
paper based key entry products - or about 12,000 keystrokes per hour.
Recognition Research reports that one of their end users measured a 30%
speed improvement when the time required to move from one page image to
the next improved from about 1 second to 1/4 of one second. With this in
mind, you should measure the "flip rate" of the KFI module you are
evaluating.
Data Presentation and User Interface:
Different applications
are faster or slower depending upon how the images are organized and
presented to the data entry operator. The KFI module should therefore
support a variety of presentation options including:
View only specific characters, grouped independently from the
field they come from. This option, called the "ribbon editor" by some
vendors, can be the fastest method of completing data entry for forms as
long as the OCR is reasonably accurate (about 98% or better). It does not
work as well if the OCR is working poorly because the character images
are likely to be incomplete. Vendors including NCS, MTI, TIS and
Recognition Research take this feature one step further by sorting the
character images into groups prior to display. This permits the operator
to type a series of identical characters, speeding up throughput.
View one field of data at a time. This feature might be used
to display the zip code or customer ID number. You should be able to
retype the entire field; in most cases this is faster than attempting to
retype only the isolated characters the OCR is not sure of. Many
products let you organize the fields so that one operator receives the
same field over and over, producing much higher throughput, especially if
the data is all alpha or all numeric.
View the entire page image. In this mode, the entire scanned
image is displayed with selected data entry zones blocked out in
different colors. This is usually the entry method of last resort used
for resolution of problem images that were "kicked out" of the data entry
process. Operator throughput is typically slower than other modes, but
the availability of the full page image provides more context.
Compliance With Accepted Practices:
The KFI module should
observe the same basic data entry rules developed for high-speed key
entry systems, namely:
Don't ask the operator to read or make decisions. If they are
reading they will slow down. Some vendors contend that foreign language
speakers are faster key entry operators precisely because they don't read
while they are typing.
Do let operators "read ahead." Key entry operators should be
able to view several characters and/or fields ahead of what they are
currently typing.
Provide a single keystroke to "kick out" problem images.
Images that are difficult or impossible to enter are called "exceptions."
These should be queued separately so that a supervisor or exception
processing operator can view them one by one and decide what to do to
resolve them.
Operator Statistics:
Statistics can be used to identify
areas of the system that need to be tuned. They can also be used as the
basis for operator pay or performance incentives. One end user reported
that they saw an immediate 30% productivity gain from their data entry
operation when they began to post operator throughput statistics and
reward top performers. TIS, Captiva Software and Recognition Research all
have very complete operator statistics functionality.
Key Verification:
KFI is sometimes used to re-enter data
that has already been recognized using OCR or ICR, thereby ensuring its
accuracy. Look for products that support this function without requiring
custom development on the part of the supplier or your internal
programmers.
Customizable Interface:
Operators should be able to arrange
data and image windows in different ways to adapt to the type of form
being key entered. Operators also should be able to enlarge characters
and data entry windows; this will help them deal with small print or
hard-to-read forms.
