Data capture

Create control over your data

In the work with the digitalization of the company’s processes, it is absolutely crucial to establish a control over all the communication and the data that the company receives daily. Typically, the received information is passive, understood in the sense that the received document only provides the recipient with information about a specific situation, entity, person, financial condition, etc.

But in order to support the desire to digitalize the company’s processes, it is a prerequisite that the company sets the passive document in motion, ie. brings the document’s information and message into the right context, for example by automatically transferring the document to the company’s defined process.

The document is archived together with other relevant documents. Information is made searchable on all relevant data. The document is provided with the necessary policies – including requirements on when or how the document should be deleted and accessed. A basis is created for a unique audit trail, versioning, etc. The information is displayed to the right person, at the right time, with the current and complete information, in the preferred client.

Put in a slightly different way: to transform a document from a passive format to form an active element in the company’s digitalization strategy. Data capture is a prerequisite for success with digitalization.

It turns out that companies receive a myriad of documents daily. From all possible channels, and in many different formats.

There is a huge difference in formats/file types, the readability of the information in the document (from handwritten notes to automatic transfer of electronic documents in a fixed format). At the same time, there is great variation in the structure of the document (main section, the content itself and a concluding section). Is the document attached to additional appendices, and/or does the document consist of many different sub-documents that need to be separated? Are the documents received as physical paper, in an email client, or are pictures/drawings uploaded in a portal or on an FTP server?

The modern company is still very far from the paperless and perfect digital world, and once the realization of the complexity of the data capture has taken hold, the work of digitizing the documents can begin, and it begins with:

• A mapping of the landscape of the received documents (where, how, who and the frequency)
• A mapping of file types (photos, pdf, drawings, etc.) and/or the need for scanning physical papers
• Incorporation of desired validations/checks of content
• Embedding process and politicians for each document
• Adding access rights and corporate governance to each document
• Monitoring the document throughout the life of the document, from cradle to grave

The realization of gain by establishing a well-thought-out data capture affects the organization in several ways:

• The organization becomes more data driven, ie. users are given the opportunity to make decisions on a more factual basis
• The basis is created for greater automation and thereby higher productivity in case processing, document management, and customer service
• The data quality is prepared. It provides fewer errors, which optimizes the bottom line
• The silos are broken down as data is collected centrally, which provides a basis for better internal collaboration, and thereby a better end customer experience.

Solutions

OnBase embraces all document types and has several suggestions on which module in the platform the company should consider. From the more pragmatic data capture solution to the use of algorithms in reading/processing documents. All modules are connected to the entire OnBase platform.