EDC RC Software is built so you can offer scan on demand services to your customers. This article will help you choose hardware and software that fits your needs. It also gives you tips on how to optimize your scanning process.
Which scanner should I use?
The first thing you will need is a scanner. Prices can range from $400 to $90,000, which also means quality and features are varied.
Here are a few questions you need to answer:
- How many pages a day will I scan? This will help determine the duty cycle.
- What size of paper can the scanner handle? (A4, letter, legal, etc.)
- Do I need advanced features? (E.g. double feed detection, delicate paper handling, etc.)
Remember that preparation is often the most time-consuming part of the process. This means that scanning speed is not necessarily a decisive factor.
Which software should I choose?
Scanning software can be expensive, but is generally worthwhile. Low-end software can be used initially, but you will want to get the best software your budget can afford. Certain software have a per page pricing, which can also be interesting when starting.
Choose software that can be configured for advanced functions (e.g. decoding separator pages used to create folders for importing later.) Good software will generally have tools to do quick visual validations and adjustments to documents.
How do I implement an efficient scanning process?
All scanning jobs are different and need to be analyzed individually. Imaging on demand is not a one size fits all service.
Here are our top 3 recommendations:
- Get sample documents to do an accurate evaluation. This is especially true for batch jobs.
- Determine the indexing strategy. Put yourself in the shoes of the end user that will be viewing the digital copies. Which search fields are they using? Will Optical Character Recognition (OCR) be used to index the documents?
- Determine the importation strategy. Will all documents be put into a single file or do files need to be imported first? If files are imported, will you scan with separator pages and then import directly into EDC Software? Do you have custom rules for importing?