First Looks: Captiva Offers Entry-level Capture Software

Genesis is the first entry-level capture/ forms processing package from Captiva Software (www.captivacorp.com). Well known for its key-from-image and recognition technology, Captiva has historically addressed high-volume applications with its FormWare software, which starts at $8,000 for a stand-alone workstation (See “Data Capture MVPs,” page 18).

This entry-level software was conceived with simpler applications and lower budgets in mind. Surveys, time cards, order forms, enrollment forms, resumes and business reply cards are among the targeted uses, and the company says up to 2,500 documents per day or up to 25 data fields per document (e.g., name, address, zip, social security number, price, etc.) is the upward limit of expected use. The product will handle higher volumes and as many fields as you’d like, but you’d likely opt for FormWare if you routinely expect both higher volumes and more data per page.

Genesis is priced at $4,000 for stand-alone workstation software. It is bundled with Adobe Acrobat Capture for $5,000, giving you integrated PDF conversion capabilities. A separate bundle with NCS DesignExpert (also $5,000) gives you a way to create your own forms from scratch. You can get everything $6,500.

I tested Genesis in stand-alone mode on a 333 MHz Pentium II workstation. (The software can be networked by placing it on a server and mapping to different workstations.) Genesis, Adobe Acrobat 2.01 and DesignExpert all installed without a hitch from the single installation CD-ROM. Genesis itself has no licensing limitations, but the Acrobat Capture bundle is limited to up to 20,000 conversions to PDF Normal, PDF Image+Text or PDF Image Only files. Additional “clicks” can be purchased at $1,000 for 20,0000 pages, $5,000 for 200,000 pages or $15,000 for unlimited conversions.

Genesis shares technology with Captiva’s FormWare package, albeit in a simplified form. The primary user interface presents a single workflow incorporating Processing, Completion, Export, Cleanup, Rescan and Results. You can add or omit any of these processes from the simple “Start” menu. You can also customize image processing and specify quality control and PDF conversion steps. Unlike FormWare, however, you can’t add steps or rearrange the workflow sequence without scripting.

Before you can begin capturing images or data, you prepare document “applications” from a separate Setup window. You start by defining data/indexing zones on a scanned or imported image. I used a sample IRS 1040EZ tax form, and I “zoned out” 20 separate data fields with a combination of alpha and numeric machine-printed text as well as hand-printed income and deduction figures. This presented a mix of OCR and ICR challenges for the product’s AEG recognition engine. Genesis also recognizes mark sense (OMR) and barcode.

The design tools were a little slow-moving at first, requiring patience as I outlined fields. I increased the workstation’s RAM from 64 MB to 128 MB and the problem cleared up.

Like most data capture solutions, Genesis has predefined field properties (area code, zip code, social security, etc.), data types (alpha only, numeric only, etc.) and format options (e.g., word, line, paragraph). These menu selections help improve recognition accuracy, but they’re not as extensive in Genesis as they are in FormWare or in some competitive products. For example, TeleForm Elite ($5,995) from Cardiff Software has more formatting options as well as wizards and dialog boxes that let you add check sums and dictionaries without scripting.

To its credit, Captiva is on the cutting edge in implementing Microsoft’s Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), an integrated development environment that can be accessed from within Genesis. The company includes a complete VBA library containing a drop-down choice of processing events, methods and instructions. This will make it easier for programmers to rapidly develop, test and apply customized validations and business rules. Still, this is no replacement for canned functionality that ordinary users can apply.

Once you’re finished designing and perfecting your form/document applications, you can get down to business. You can walk scans or imported images through each of the workflow processes using either a manual “Ad Hoc” mode or an automated “Polling” mode. The latter lets you work in hands-off fashion throughout the day. You can then perform tasks such as completion (i.e., data entry/repair) whenever you are ready.

Once I adjusted data fields and recognition confidence rates, Genesis delivered near flawless OCR results. Questionable ICR results were flagged in the completion stage, and the system automatically took me from repair to repair. Visibility is improved with a light blue box around the field and a yellow highlight under the questioned letter, but you can’t line up multiple fields, match image fields against data fields or otherwise customize your view as you can in FormWare. This is less than ideal if you’re handling high volumes.

Genesis has a variety of data and image export options, including ODBC, but you can’t export full-text OCR (unless you do it through Acrobat Capture). If you need this option and you’re primarily capturing and indexing images, you might consider Kofax Ascent Capture 3.0 ($5,000 for a 75,000 image-per-month license). Ascent excels at image capture, but it is not up to Genesis’ data extraction prowess.

Despite its shortcomings, Genesis packs a lot of sophisticated technology under the hood. It has an extensive image and zonal preprocessing tool set, which helps improve recognition accuracy. The company’s form ID technology is also highly regarded. Genesis can actually “learn” to better recognize your forms—even subtle variations and multi-page documents. Form ID helps you automate mixed documents, saving document prep time.

Genesis is fairly easy to use, but it is not quite a plug-and-play solution for data and image capture neophytes. Captiva is counting on its VARs to do a little initial hand holding with customers. If those VARs are VBA-savvy, they’ll be able to customize your applications and add powerful enhancements to Genesis with a minimum of programming time.

— Doug Henschen

At a Glance

Product:

Genesis 1.0

Supplier:

Captiva Software
San Diego, CA, 619-320-1100

Description:

Entry-level data and image capture software. Ideally suited for handling up to 2,500 forms per day with up to 25 data/indexing fields.

Platforms:

Workstation installation on Windows 9X/NT; Network server installation on NT Server/NetWare.

Scanner support:

ISIS and Kofax Adrenaline. No TWAIN support

Strengths:

Competitive price. Best-of-breed image processing and form ID technology. Fully integrated VBA library for rapid programmer customization.

Weaknesses:

Split-screen repair interface is hard to use. Field formatting is basic, lacking menu-/wizard-driven validations. No full-text OCR except through Acrobat.

Pricing:

$4,000; $5,000 for Acrobat Capture or NCS DesignExpert bundles.

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