Data Capture - ICR Typical Workflow Image Movement /Data Extraction – Processing Centre/s

Data Capture - ICR Typical Workflow Image Interpretation Automated Process Background Task Page Identification De-skew Image Cleanup Predefined Areas

Data Capture - ICR Typical Workflow Character Inspection Tiling High Confidence Operator decision Field Context Tall to short

Data Capture - ICR Typical Workflow Key Correction Low Confidence Operator decision Form Context External Verification

Data Capture - ICR Typical Workflow Data Export ASCII File CSV Format 1 line/form CSPro Import

Data Capture - ICR Typical Workflow ICR

Data Capture - ICR Accuracy This is always the first Question. Handprint Numeric only in isolated fields 98% Numeric only in semi constrained fields 95-96% Alpha upper case only 90% Alpha lowercase only 85-87% Alpha mixed case 75-80% Alpha/Numeric mixed case 50% or less reduce by 5% if there are special characters not a-z and 0-9 The accuracy level post data correction (e.g. the final output accuracy) should be 100% (subject to good operators)

Data Capture - ICR Accuracy Continued… The accuracy of all modern ICR engines are pretty much comparable The major differences with suppliers solutions are the methods and workflow utilised with each offering False positive detection takes 10 times longer than entry of characters recognized with low confidence – false positives (substitutions) are the most expensive errors

Data Capture - ICR Accuracy Continued… Accuracy can be improved by: Restricting the responses to any given question thus using external verification Using multiple ICR engines to ‘vote’ which is expensive Training your ICR engines on local hand writing styles (If possible)

Data Capture - ICR Advantages No Specialist hardware required An Image archive is automatically produced of every form Very high speed scanning can be achieved Both OMR and ICR can be interpreted using ICR software Forms designed for ICR relatively easy to fill in. Locally printed forms can be used. Allows capturing much more complex data than with OMR alone

Data Capture - ICR Disadvantages Significant Hardware/software and trained IT staff will be required Accuracy dependant on manual intervention High calibre IT staff are required to support the ICR system More complex cost/benefit analysis than with OMR alone.

Data Capture - ICR Indicative Costs & Labour For 65 Million Population Census (20M Single Sided A4 household form) Processing period of 12 Weeks (8 hours/day 5 days/week) Hardware $800k-$1M in total Software $700k-$1.3M in total Total Indicative Costs are $1.5M to $2.3M No. of Staff 100-190 in total 6-10 Managers 94-180 PC Operators

Data Capture - ICR Summary The single most important factor for timely and accurate data capture is to make sure ‘the forms are filled in correctly and are returned in good condition’ ICR offers considerable flexibility at the cost of higher skilled IT personnel

Worldwide specialists in data capture from paper