The Simple Act of Document Scanning – It’s Not So Simple…
Many people think that scanning documents only requires putting it in the feeder tray and pressing “scan”, but there are many steps that need to be followed when scanning documents into your Document Management System. Documents come in many shapes, thickness, sizes, and conditions, so the first step is to properly prepare the documents for scanning. “Document prep” is a highly important step before scanning, this assists in achieving the rated speed of the scanner and to avoid damage to its components. This includes removing staples, paperclips, or any metal fasteners that might be attached to the documents so that you do not cause damage as the paper is fed through the scanner. You also want to remove any post-it notes or small receipts and attach to a regular size piece of paper to avoid miss-feeding or jamming. Any crumpled or folded document will need to be flattened out so they feed correctly through the scanner. This seems a time consuming first step but it actually makes the scanning process more streamlined and efficient.
Once your documents are properly prepped, it is time to scan them. Often scanner operators will use separator pages to separate the batches of documents, to index the batches together correctly. This saves time with data input on the operator’s side. Scanning software functionality such as Kofax VRS, allows the operator to either manually alter the document to improve quality, or set up settings automatically to do this and speed up the quality assurance (checking the image) process. Once the batch of documents is scanned, Capture Software such as ILINX Capture or Kofax Capture allows the operator will use specific index fields to associate metadata with the documents. These metadata fields will accompany the image once released into repository software so that the document can be searched for and found in the future.
If done correctly, scanning documents can be an efficient business process that will save your company time and money….it is as simple as that! For a demonstration of document scanning (even bring your own documents), attend Nexus. Call Inside Sales at 360-943-9273 and mention this blog for a registration discount!
Andrea Latham, CDIA+
Inside Sales
ImageSource, Inc.
Phone 360.943.9273