Document Imaging Services

IMS provides complete electronic Document Imaging Services to convert paper, microfilm, microfiche and engineering drawings to electronic images.

Some of the many benefits of document imagin include:

• Documents can be retrieved in moments, not minutes or hours
• Fast retrieval in seconds
• Available 24 hrs. a day from anywhere using a Web Browser
• Free up your file storage space
• Images can be shared across a network or the Internet
• File security using User Name, Passwords and encryption
• Archive security
• Save just about any document format in addition to scanned images

Your documents are scanned and indexed so they can be searched and retrieved. Then the images are returned to you on the media of your choice. This includes CDs, DVDs or via FTP uploads back to your image viewing software.

Your images are always kept in a nonproprietary format that can be viewed with all common image viewing software.

After your documents are converted to electronic images, IMS provides advanced services that we can use to help make your information more useful. Some of the advanced scanning services we offer include:

• Electronic Forms Processing
• Signature Cards
• OCR & ICR
• Oil & Gas Well Logs
• PDF & CD-ROM Publishing
• Backfile Conversions

Electronic Forms Processing

IMS provides complete Electronic Forms Processing services. If you have documents from which you manually extract data, IMS can electronically extract the same data from your forms using state of the art OCR/ICR forms processing software.

Your data is returned to you on the media of your choice in the format of your choice- text, Excel, ASCII, DBF, etc. The extracted data can then be used in databases or text documents. We can design forms for you that make it easy to extract the data, or we can read the data from your current forms.

Our Electronic Forms Processing software can automatically extract information like names, addresses, dates, SSNs, times, bar codes, currency amounts, mark sense blocks, numbers and product codes.

After the software extracts the data, our index operators verify its correctness.

The OCR/ICR software is used to capture virtually any information from documents such as medical files, contribution forms, information surveys and questionnaires. Our Electronic Forms Processing services can completely eliminate your in-house overhead for forms processing.

Signature Cards

IMS provides complete Signature Cards Imaging services for Banks, Credit Unions, credit card companies and anyone that uses signature cards. Many institutions have computer systems that support electronic signature image viewers that allow employees to quickly verify a signature without looking at a signature on a paper card.

IMS can convert your cards to electronic images for use in your system.

If you don’t have image viewing software, IMS offers image viewing software that allows you to view the signatures and images of the complete card.

We scan each card and provide the level of resolution you require. If the signature is in the same location on each card, we can crop-out everything except the signature to provide signature images that are in the 7 KB size range. Each card is manually indexed with one index, but multiple retrieval indexes such as new account numbers, SSNs, signature requirements can be added by merging your cross-reference customer account file with the manual indexes.

Your images can be converted to most common imaging system formats and platforms including main and miniframes. IMS is experienced at providing high quality signature images and merging additional retrieval indexes for each image.

OCR & ICR

Optical & Intelligent Character Recognition (OCR/ICR) is the process of converting an electronic image into computer text that can be edited using any common word processor or spreadsheet application.

Electronic images, or pictures, are made when document scanners and electronic fax files create an image file. These images do not have editable text characters but are a compilation of tiny dots that are combined to form a picture. During the OCR process, images of text are converted to an editable document.

The text can then be used by software such as word processors, spreadsheets and page layouts. If the fonts on the original image were common fonts, we can usually provide the text file in the original font format.

Our OCR service not only provides text, but if the original document has graphics or logs, we can also save them as images within the text document.

Intelligent Character Recognition, ICR, is similar to OCR in that software is used to convert an image from handwriting into computer text. But whereas OCR is used to convert typewritten text, ICR is used to convert handwriting into computer text. ICR works best on restrained handwriting and other type applications like mark sense blocks.

IMS uses both OCR & ICR when performing Electronics Forms Processing

Oil & Gas Well Logs

IMS provides full oil well and gas well log scanning. Please contact us at 800-255-3190 for more information. Pricing is contingent on the number of logs scanned.

PDF & CD-ROM Publishing

IMS also provides complete Portable Document Format (PDF) conversion services including Hidden Text and CD-ROM & DVD Publishing.

Call IMS with your CD-ROM Publishing and PDF requirements. If you provide us a sample, we will be glad to put it into the format you request for your review.

Backfile Conversion

If you already have an imaging system or anticipate purchasing one and have a large volume of documents, you may want to have IMS provide the resources to scan and index the "backfile" of documents you have filed and stored.

If you send IMS a representative sample of the documents, we will promptly give you a price to complete your job. Custom indexing, large volumes, and electronic data entry are our specialties.

How The Document Imaging Process Works

The goal of a document imaging system is to take a document, feed it through a scanner and convert it into an electronic document that can easily be searched, retrieved or shared with other people. Using various kinds of scanners, any kind of paper or filmed document can be converted to an electronic image. The stages a document goes through to be converted to an electronic images are:

Document Preparation

Prep is performed to make the documents ready to go through a document scanner. Prep usually consists of removing staples & paper clips and arranging the documents to facilitate their movement through a document scanner.

Document Scanning

The type of scanner used must match the types of documents and the volumes being scanned. Compressed TIFF or PDF format is the most common image format for business documents. Although some documents may be best scanned in color or gray scale. Whether using IMS’s imaging services or purchasing your own system, IMS matches the documents to the scanner. Scanner prices run from a few hundred dollars to in excess of one hundred thousand dollars, the price depending on a scanner’s speed and the advanced features it offers.

Document Indexing

After a document is scanned, it is generally indexed to facilitate searching for and retrieving the image. The indexes can be any kind of alpha and/or numerical set of characters. Typical indexes include:

• Name
• Address
• City
• SSN
• Customer Number
• Document Type
• Dollar Amount
• Date

What can be scanned? The following is a list of the various types of documents and records scanned by IMS.

• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Authorization Letters
• Bank Records
• Bank Statements
• Bankruptcies
• Benefits Enrollments
• Billing Tickets
• Board Minutes
• Cashier Packets
• Certification Letters
• Credit Files
• Charge Offs
• Closed Accounts
• Contracts
• Corporate Records
• Credit Union Statements
• Customer Files
• Deceased & Retiree Benefits
• Delivery Tickets

• Employee Files
• Explanation Of Benefits
• HR Files
• Invoices
• Journal Entries
• Legal Files
• Loan Files
• Oil & Gas Well Files
• Drawings & Logs
• Paid Loans
• Pick Tickets
• Project Drawings
• Project Files
• Project Reports
• County Property Files
• Purchase Orders
• Signature Cards
• Student Records
• Title Company Records
• Voter Registration Cards

If scanning film or large format documents, specialized scanners are required that are quite different from those used to scan most small paper documents.

Image Hosting, Search & Retrieval

Searching and retrieval of records is made using common software such as your Web Browser or other common MicrosoftTM based software. Although, client/server software is used in some circumstances.

Often the scanned images are made part of a more comprehensive Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) where the system is also capturing, indexing and storing common document formats such as Word, Excel, Access, WordPerfect, faxes and e-mails. In addition to scanned images, EDMS systems can typically store any one of hundreds of kinds of PC based documents, e.g. Word, Excel, faxes, e-mail. Images are generally stored on servers, which gives you fast dynamic access to documents.

The EDMS offered by IMS is PaperVision. The images are also stored on optical media for archive and backup purposes.

Would you like to see what some of your documents look like when they are scanned? Send us samples of your paper documents. We will scan and index them with key words, show you how it works and give you pricing for converting your documents to electronic images. Just call us at 800-255-3190 and make arrangements to ship them to us.

FAQs about Document Imaging

What would IMS charge to scan & index my documents?

IMS charges by the number of pages scanned and any advanced services requested. Many factors influence the cost per page. Some of the primary considerations are:

• Type, number, size, and condition of the documents
• Document preparation required
• Number of indexes requested
• Final disposition of the documents
• Post processing services required- OCR/ICR, PDF, export to another format, etc.

We have scanned virtually every kind of business, school, governmental and institutional document type but will need to see a sample of your documents. If you send IMS a representative sample of the documents, we will promptly give you a price to complete your job. At no charge, IMS will scan the documents, put the scanned images along with viewing software on a CD-ROM and send it to you with your sample documents. We will then call you to discuss your options and give you a price per document. Please call 800-255-3190 for complete details.

How do we get our documents to IMS?

The number and type of documents will dictate the best way. We generally received them via all of the common carriers and parcel services. Some kinds of documents are best faxed to us using the new generation of high-speed fax machines. We convert the fax images to the image format that works best for you. It’s probably best to call us at 800-255-3190 to discuss your options.

You can also utilize our Shared Imaging^SM System by connecting a scanner to a high-speed telecommunications line that is used to send your images to IMS for processing. You will only need to scan the documents, which is the easy part of the imaging process. At the end of a scanning session, you transmit the raw images to IMS over a dedicated line, dial up line, frame relay or the Internet. The distance between you and IMS is not crucial, but line speed is. IMS then processes and indexes your images and writes them to the media of your choice or transmits them back to you to be uploaded into your image viewing software. Or, as an ASP, we can host them for you.