Document Capture is the act of inputting documents into a system. Similar to using a copy machine, documents are passed through a scanner, digitized and stored as electronic files on the hard drive or network drive of the computer where the scanner is attached.
A single capture station includes: PC, Scanner, SCSI (or other) card attaching the PC to the Scanner, SCSI drivers, Scanning software and a scan operator.
The types of documents, scanner and software being used all affect the speed, quality, and file size of the resulting documents. Each capture solution may be different depending on how the documents will be used and the document life cycle.
Low volume capture stations may consist of one scanner and operator. High volume solutions may involve a dozen or more scanners, operators, and specific tasks to operate each of the following queues or steps below.
There are several steps in a successful capture process:
Document Sorting
Organization of documents into similar batches so they can be scanned at one time.
Document Preparation
Removing of paper clips, stables, rotated documents, sticky notes, insertion of separator sheets, etc.
Scanning
Operation of the scanner and software to capture documents. This includes feeding the documents into the scanner, clearing paper jams, deciding scanner settings and storing documents post scan.
Document Validation
Review of scanned documents to ensure appropriate quality, orientation and number of documents have been captured.
Re-scanning
Correction of errors or missed documents discovered in the validation process.