WHAT IS OCR DATA EXTRACTION?

What Does Ocr Software Do?

Optical Character Recognition, or OCR as it is commonly known, is a type of software that converts scanned images into structured data that is extractable, editable and searchable. When your records are digitized, scanning is only the first step. It creates an image of the document, but that image – and the data that composes it – is neither editable nor searchable. The OCR is the next step that extracts the data from your scanned document.

OCR software is a valuable component in an enterprise content management system (ECM). With OCR, an ECM can extract usable data from the scanned documents in its repository. That data, once extracted, can be used to build databases, eliminating the need for manual data entry. It can also help streamline business processes through automated workflows, and can be analyzed for high-level reporting.

Learn About Ocr Software Integrated Into Ecm

GRM’s records management software is built on GRM’s ECM system with features like ICR, OCR, data capture and workflow automation software to make document creation, editing and sharing a breeze.

How Does Ocr Data Extraction Work?

A scanner merely takes a picture of a document. Whatever type of paper document you started with, it becomes an image consisting of dots and lines – or unstructured data – data that you cannot really use in masses. Without OCR, the scanned document can be stored, retrieved and reviewed, but the data is unusable without OCR data extraction. With Optical Character Recognition software, the unstructured data is converted to structured, usable data the moment a document is scanned or received electronically. The OCR software identifies and extracts letters from the image and assembles them into words and sentences, essentially translating those dots and lines that the ECM couldn’t read into “structured” data in the form of a readable, editable document. These documents include Word, PDF, Excel and other text formats.

Since some industrial scanners can scan up to 120 pages per minute, an ECM with OCR software can process data at a rate significantly faster than a human employee

Optical Character Recognition is Better Combined With a Good Ecm

On its own, OCR data extraction software is not nearly as valuable. You could purchase an OCR scanner, which has a scanner with built-in Optical Character Recognition software, but it does not have the same capabilities as an ECM equipped with OCR software. Yes, an OCR scanner can still convert unstructured data to structured data through OCR data extraction, which you can then edit in a compatible word processing program. However, you’ll need an ECM to actually put that data to use – either by integrating into workflows or providing business insights through advanced analytics.

Likewise, an ECM without Optical Character Recognition software is still useful in the sense that records can be stored, retrieved and viewed. But, those documents cannot be edited and the data they contain cannot be extracted and put to work for your business. Together, OCR and an ECM make it possible for companies to get the most use out of their data.

An ECM System That Fits Your Needs

GRM Information Management has built upon OCR and ICR technology and developed our proprietary advanced capture system that is delivers results in conjunction with our ECM.

Our advanced OCR data extraction technology converts scanned documents and images into editable and searchable document formats, and our ECM’s version control ensures that you work in and save the correct versions of documents. And, our ECM puts extracted data to work by entering it into databases; integrating it into business processes through customizable, automated workflows; and using it to inform real-time business insights through our advanced analytics capabilities.

Document Scanning & Ocr Data Capture

Our document scanning technology integrated with OCR software, ICR data extraction, iForms, document classification and indexing, is built into our records management software.