Preparing for document scanning and indexing

If you know which types of documents you want to process, you can accurately capture the most useful index data from those documents. These optional steps help you plan your document scanning, indexing, and storage.

To prepare for document scanning and indexing:

1. Identify and gather samples of the documents that you want to scan, index, and store by using FastDoc. You can use the Forms Template application for documents that you created and your customers send back to you, like contract paperwork for your services or tax forms. You can use the Learning Template for documents that are created by other users. For example, invoices from different vendors for items that you purchased, confirmations of shipments, or car rental contracts.
2. Group these documents into types and assign a unique Document Type name to each group.
3. For each group of documents or Document Type:
   1. Look at the variations and identify the types of index data in the index fields that you want to capture for each group.
   2. Identify the name that you want the Operator to see for each field.
   3. Determine the sequence in which you want the fields to display on the Verify pane during indexing. This sequence is also the sequence in which the values appear in the exported data file.
   4. Decide whether you want to export the index values to a data file. You use a character delimited value or XML format.
4. For each Index field:
   1. Identify whether you want the data to be located by using a zone. For each unique image, the data is always in the same general location. The customer address is in the same place on your order form. If the data is located by using a list of keywords that match the field label on the image, the invoice number can be located by using the string or INVOICE NUMBERInvoice#
   2. Note the data characteristics of the values that you are capturing. For example, letters, numbers, contains punctuation, date, minimum and maximum number of characters.
   3. Identify whether you want to validate the data that you are capturing. If so, identify the types of validations you want to do for each index field. Such as required/optional, value must exist in an external database, data characteristics must match.
   4. Identify whether you want to use data in an external database to populate more index fields. For example, use the customer number from the order form to retrieve the postal code of the customer.
5. Identify the format (TIFF or PDF) to use for the exported documents and where you want to store the output. When you export documents to the following repositories or file.
   • IBM® FileNet® Content Manager: you need the URL, user ID, and Password of the Content Manager site and the Object Store into which you want to upload the documents. You must know the Document Class to which to map the exported document.
   • IBM Content Manager: you need the server name, user ID, and Password of the IBM Content Manager site and the name of the folder into which you want to upload the documents.
   • File: determine the network folder, local drive, mapped drive, or UNC path information and the folder name you want to use. The Windows user ID of the FastDoc Operator or Administrator must have network permissions to write to this target folder.
   • Box: For information about Box export configuration, see Configuring Box Connector actions.