Capture Joins the E-Content Era

by Adam Throne

ASCENT CAPTURE from Kofax, Irvine, CA, is a popular choice for automated document and data capture, and since 1999 it has included an option for distributed scanning via the Internet. Ascent Capture 5.0, released in April, is now bringing electronic content into the capture stream, and it has added a thin-client Web Validation option for indexing and correcting recognition results via the Internet.

Ascent Capture's core Administra-tion lets users set up document batch classes and define specific types of documents and forms. These batch classes are coupled with an automatic ID feature that spots each document and form type as you scan. This eliminates time-consuming presorting

Different documents, forms and applications call for different processing steps, and a range of modules can be included in a workflow. Options include Quality Control, Recognition, OCR Full-Text, Validation and Release.

In a document-capture scenario, operators either key in index fields or validate OCR, intelligent character recognition (ICR), optical mark recognition (OMR) and/or barcode results from the Recognition module. When this process is completed, indexes and images are released to back-end storage via standard export scripts available for most popular document/content management systems. In a forms-processing scenario, extensive fielded information is captured in much the same way, and data can be released to a database, ERP system or legacy application. The 5.0 upgrade has added support for multiple release scripts, so data from an insurance claim, for example, could be released to Oracle while the images and index data are exported to a Documentum or FileNet system.

Ascent's new electronic document support allows files such as emails, Excel spreadsheets or Word files to be indexed alongside scanned images. This process ensures that related content is indexed in the same way for consistent management and retrieval. This indexing makes sense when, for example, a customer submits a query via email pertaining to an invoice or purchase order that is stored as a scanned image. Similarly, contracts written in Word might provide context for scanned records.

Ascent's existing Internet Server option lets you scan from remote locations and send images to a central site. The idea behind the new Web Validation Server is to distribute indexing and data validation tasks to subject-matter experts, lower-cost home office workers or offshore service bureaus. The latter choice is helpful in accommodating peak demands and large-scale backfile conversion projects.

The Web Validation Server distributes images and recognition results via intranets, the Internet or virtual private networks. Viewing and data entry are handled through ordinary browsers, so client software is not required. Images and data are cached on local clients one at a time to avoid bandwidth constraints, and only the validated index values and data are returned to the central site. When the work is completed, images and data are automatically purged from local memory to ensure security and ease administration.

A Web Validation Server available with Ascent Capture 5.0 supports browser-based indexing and recognition verification via intranets or the Internet.

Among the most useful upgrades in Ascent Capture 5.0 is a Database Validation module that lets you map image index values to Access or ODBC databases without scripting.

Kofax says the Web Validation system can be used with 56K dial-up access, but it recommends DSL-speed connections as a minimum for production-level performance. In our testing on a T1 line, we quickly rifled through OCR data validation tasks. While database lookups can't be performed from remote clients, these calls can be made at the central site before the data is validated.

Lending giant GMAC Commercial Mortgage of Horsham, PA, plans to use a number of the new features in Ascent 5.0. With more than 60 locations, the company expects to make use of the Web Validation option. Larry Hoffman, director of imaging and workflow management, says the feature is particularly attractive for the company's European operations.

"We have a central location [in Ireland] that handles European loans; however, we need the indexing and validation to occur where the loans are originated because the people there are familiar with the language," says Hoffman. "Our testing has gone well, though it is still early in the process. We plan to deploy Ascent 5.0 in any country we accept documents from."

The lender also plans to use Ascent's e-document support, as it often receives Excel spreadsheets, PDFs and multipage Word documents along with images. Hoffman says Ascent has reliably handled GMAC's 100,000-image-per-day scanning volume, but he adds that he'd like more reporting tools suited to production-level workflow management and administration.

Other upgrades in Ascent Capture 5.0 include support for color scanning and a Quick Zones feature that provides instant recognition results for testing without having to go through the entire workflow. A Smart Groups tool links related fields such as a series of fill-in boxes used for a multiple-choice question. An XML Auto-Import feature reads batch information from special-purpose XML files, allowing, for example, the creation of batch classes that contain multiple document classes.

Perhaps most helpful is a new Database Validation module that lets users map index or data fields to Access or ODBC database values without having to write scripts. This simplifies validation and speeds workflow setup.

Adding yet more options, Kofax has opened up the Ascent architecture so that third-party software and custom modules can be integrated with workflows. A custom module program launched in July has thus far certified a general-purpose forms processing system from U.K.-based Neurascript and an annotation and Bates numbering module from Hershey Technologies, San Diego.

Kofax's recent upgrades make Ascent even more competitive with InputAccel, a high-volume, client/server capture system from San Jose, CA-based ActionPoint.

A stand-alone installation of Ascent Capture is priced from $895 for 5,000 pages per month, with several price/volume points ranging up to $14,000 for unlimited scanning. The Internet Server option ranges from $7,500 for 75,000 pages per month up to $25,000 for unlimited distributed scanning. The Web Validation Server option ranges from $3,000 for 5,000 pages per month up to $30,000 for one million pages per month.