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Data Capture
Data capture is the identification and extraction of data from a scanned document, often to be sent to a workflow for routing and action as part of a business process.
Data capture involves and is sometimes confused with optical character recognition (OCR). However, data capture software is more complex and valuable because it captures specific, targeted data – usually from a form – that is required to support a business process. In comparison, OCR is the basic conversion of any scanned alphanumeric information into a machine readable digital form.

Why Data Capture Alone is Not Enough
The basic capture of data from structured forms is a well-understood process. (A structured form is one where both the type of information and its location on the form are known in advance.) However, most companies also receive a large number of forms such as invoices from other organizations; the relevant data on these forms could be almost anywhere on the page.
In the case of invoices, data capture alone does not identify where the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on) are on the page. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders.
Also, data capture results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor OCR results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.

Data Capture Forms Also known as simply capture forms. Typical data capture forms have a fill-in-the-gaps format, often having boxes to enter details of company name, requisition number, etc. The data captured on the forms is then scanned or manually entered into a database.

Data Entry Software Data Entry Software automates your document flow, which results in reduced processing costs, reduced processing time and improved accuracy. Automatic data entry software enables enormous savings in time and money when entering invoices and forms into a computer system. This software also reduces human errors to a minimum and thus increases the data quality. By using data entry software for Automatic Document Capture (or Automatic Data Capture as it is also called), information from forms or invoices is automatically captured, interpreted and transferred into your computer system. The automatic data entry software does this in two ways: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) deals with machine print while ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) allows data entry software to recognize handwritten characters.

Data Management Data management comprises all the disciplines related to managing data as a valuable resource.

Day Forward A document imaging implementation option in which only records received or created after a cut-off date are scanned and converted to a digital format. Under this option, typically there is no backfile conversion of currently stored documents, usually because of cost, volume (too many or too few) or logistical considerations. However, the user can elect to scan documents created before the cut-off date and add them to its digital depository whenever they are needed and pulled from storage.

Density The balance of light and dark shades in a scanned image. A high density setting produces a light image; a low density setting produces a dark image. Contrast determines how many gray shades are scanned and density determines the intensity of those shades. Density is sometimes called brightness or intensity.

Departmental Scanners Scanners that fall between workgroup scanners and production scanners in their page per minute capacity. Departmental scanners typically can scan from 26 to 40 pages per minute.

Deshade The removal of unwanted shaded areas from an image. Removes speckles that make up a shaded area while preserving any text it contains.

Deskew The straightening of an image that appears crooked. Skewed images typically result when a misaligned document passes through a scanner.

Despeckle The removal of unwanted dots or speckles from an image.

Destreak The removal of unwanted streaks from an image. Each horizontal scan line of an image is processed to detect runs of black pixels. Any series of black pixels less than or equal to the specified streak width is removed. Although streak removal processes images horizontally, its primary purpose is to eliminate vertical streaks.

Distributed Capture Capturing documents at geographically distributed locations and automatically transmitting them to a central location for further processing or archiving. The process of scanning documents at remote sites (a.k.a., branch offices), then transmitting their digital images via the Internet or WAN to a central location for additional processing or storage. This eliminates the need—and accompanying infrastructure and cost—to ship paper documents from place to place.

Dithering
The process of simulating a color unavailable on a system or program’s palette by using two or more available colors that, when combined, approximate it.

Document Capture The process of capturing a digital image of an entire document. Most frequently used for archival storage. (see also: data capture)

Document Imaging
Document imaging transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document imaging system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document imaging system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner.

Why Document Imaging Alone is Not Enough
Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also:

convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software);

identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on);

verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly;

match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and

deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format.

Document Imaging System A document imaging system transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document imaging system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document imaging system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner.

Why Document Imaging Alone is Not Enough
Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also:

convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software);

identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on);

verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly;

match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and

deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format.

With a document imaging system alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.

Document Management
Document management controls the life cycle of documents in your organization — how they are created, reviewed, published, and consumed, and how they are ultimately disposed of or retained. Although the term "management" implies top-down control of information, an effective document management system should reflect the culture of the organization using it. The tools you use for document management should be flexible, allowing you to tightly control documents' life cycles if that fits your enterprise's culture and goals, but also letting you implement a more loosely structured system if that better suits your enterprise. A well-designed document management system promotes finding and sharing information easily. It organizes content in a logical way, and makes it easy to standardize content creation and presentation across an enterprise. It promotes knowledge management and information mining. It helps your organization meet its legal responsibilities. It provides features at each stage of a document's life cycle, from template creation to document authoring, reviewing, publishing, auditing, and ultimately destroying or archiving.
The elements of a document management system

An effective solution specifies:

What types of documents and other content can be created within an organization.

What templates to use for each type of document.

What metadata to provide for each type of document.

Where to store documents at each stage of a document's life cycle.

How to control access to a document at each stage of its life cycle.

How to move documents within the organization as team members contribute to the documents' creation, review, approval, publication, and disposition.

What policies to apply to documents so that document-related actions are audited, documents are retained or disposed of properly, and content important to the organization is protected.

How documents are converted as they transition from one stage to another during their life cycles.

How documents are treated as corporate records, which must be retained according to legal requirements and corporate guidelines.

Document Management Software Document management software generally consists of a repository and client software designed for the storage and retrieval of documents in electronic formats, including TIFF images, PDF files and a variety of office document formats. Document management differs from content management in that it focuses on document formats, while content management systems are designed to handle many other types of information, including graphics, multimedia and so on. Software for document management is often seen as a way to avoid the cost and effort of maintaining paper documents in physical filing systems. This software is often superior to physical storage and manual retrieval because it enables immediate access to stored documents across departmental and geographic boundaries. Document management software can be used to replace filing cabinets as a long term archive, but it is increasingly used in conjunction with workflow software to drive real-time business processes that would otherwise require the physical processing of paper-based information.
Why Document Management Software is Not Enough
Because the files stored in a document management system are electronic, paper documents must be converted to an electronic format for storage in such a system. This is generally done with a document scanner and document capture software, which captures an electronic image of the document and enables the addition of index terms or keywords that make it easier to find and retrieve the document when it is needed

Document Management Systems A document management system (DMS) is a computer system (or set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management systems and is often viewed as a component of enterprise content management (ECM) systems and related to digital asset management, document imaging, workflow systems and records management systems.

Document Scanning
Document scanning transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document scanning system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document scanning system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner.
Why Document Scanning Alone is Not Enough

Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also:

convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software);

identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on);

verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly;

match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and

deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format.

With document scanning alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.

Document Scanning Software Document scanning software transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document scanning system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document scanning system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner.
Why Document Scanning Software Alone is Not Enough

Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also:

convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software);

identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on);

verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly;

match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and

deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format.

With document scanning software alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.

Document Scanning System
A document scanning system transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document scanning system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document scanning system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner.

Why a Document Scanning System Alone is Not Enough
Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also:

convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software);

identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on);

verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly;

match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and

deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format.

With a document scanning system alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.

Double-Sided Scanning A scanning process that scans one side of a page, flips the page, then scans the other side. Compare to: duplex scanning.

Download Process by which published batch classes and settings are transferred from the central site to a remote station.

DPI Dots Per Inch. See resolution.

Driver Software code that enables a computer to communicate with peripheral devices (e.g., scanner, printer).

Duplex Scanning Scanning both sides of a page simultaneously on a single pass through the scanner. Requires a scanner that supports this feature. Compare to: double-sided scanning.

Dynamic Scaling A set of display options that allow scaling factors to be determined by the size of the display window. For example, an image can be displayed so that the entire width of the image fits the width of the display. Or, it can be displayed so that the entire height fits the height of the display.

Glossary compiled from a variety of sources, including Kofax, MS Tech Net and Wikipedia.

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D
Data Capture	Data capture is the identification and extraction of data from a scanned document, often to be sent to a workflow for routing and action as part of a business process. Data capture involves and is sometimes confused with optical character recognition (OCR). However, data capture software is more complex and valuable because it captures specific, targeted data – usually from a form – that is required to support a business process. In comparison, OCR is the basic conversion of any scanned alphanumeric information into a machine readable digital form. Why Data Capture Alone is Not Enough The basic capture of data from structured forms is a well-understood process. (A structured form is one where both the type of information and its location on the form are known in advance.) However, most companies also receive a large number of forms such as invoices from other organizations; the relevant data on these forms could be almost anywhere on the page. In the case of invoices, data capture alone does not identify where the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on) are on the page. And it does not match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders. Also, data capture results depend on the image quality of the scanned documents. Documents that have colored or patterned backgrounds, that have been marked with highlighter pens, or that are crooked when scanned can yield poor OCR results. Fixing these bad results means either adjusting the scanner settings and rescanning the document (perhaps multiple times) or manually keying in corrections to the electronic data.
Data Capture Forms	Also known as simply capture forms. Typical data capture forms have a fill-in-the-gaps format, often having boxes to enter details of company name, requisition number, etc. The data captured on the forms is then scanned or manually entered into a database.
Data Entry Software	Data Entry Software automates your document flow, which results in reduced processing costs, reduced processing time and improved accuracy. Automatic data entry software enables enormous savings in time and money when entering invoices and forms into a computer system. This software also reduces human errors to a minimum and thus increases the data quality. By using data entry software for Automatic Document Capture (or Automatic Data Capture as it is also called), information from forms or invoices is automatically captured, interpreted and transferred into your computer system. The automatic data entry software does this in two ways: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) deals with machine print while ICR (Intelligent Character Recognition) allows data entry software to recognize handwritten characters.
Data Management	Data management comprises all the disciplines related to managing data as a valuable resource.
Day Forward	A document imaging implementation option in which only records received or created after a cut-off date are scanned and converted to a digital format. Under this option, typically there is no backfile conversion of currently stored documents, usually because of cost, volume (too many or too few) or logistical considerations. However, the user can elect to scan documents created before the cut-off date and add them to its digital depository whenever they are needed and pulled from storage.
Density	The balance of light and dark shades in a scanned image. A high density setting produces a light image; a low density setting produces a dark image. Contrast determines how many gray shades are scanned and density determines the intensity of those shades. Density is sometimes called brightness or intensity.
Departmental Scanners	Scanners that fall between workgroup scanners and production scanners in their page per minute capacity. Departmental scanners typically can scan from 26 to 40 pages per minute.
Deshade	The removal of unwanted shaded areas from an image. Removes speckles that make up a shaded area while preserving any text it contains.
Deskew	The straightening of an image that appears crooked. Skewed images typically result when a misaligned document passes through a scanner.
Despeckle	The removal of unwanted dots or speckles from an image.
Destreak	The removal of unwanted streaks from an image. Each horizontal scan line of an image is processed to detect runs of black pixels. Any series of black pixels less than or equal to the specified streak width is removed. Although streak removal processes images horizontally, its primary purpose is to eliminate vertical streaks.
Distributed Capture	Capturing documents at geographically distributed locations and automatically transmitting them to a central location for further processing or archiving. The process of scanning documents at remote sites (a.k.a., branch offices), then transmitting their digital images via the Internet or WAN to a central location for additional processing or storage. This eliminates the need—and accompanying infrastructure and cost—to ship paper documents from place to place.
Dithering	The process of simulating a color unavailable on a system or program’s palette by using two or more available colors that, when combined, approximate it.
Document Capture	The process of capturing a digital image of an entire document. Most frequently used for archival storage. (see also: data capture)
Document Imaging	Document imaging transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document imaging system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document imaging system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner. Why Document Imaging Alone is Not Enough Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also: convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software); identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on); verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly; match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format.
Document Imaging System	A document imaging system transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document imaging system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document imaging system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner. Why Document Imaging Alone is Not Enough Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also: convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software); identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on); verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly; match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format. With a document imaging system alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.
Document Management	Document management controls the life cycle of documents in your organization — how they are created, reviewed, published, and consumed, and how they are ultimately disposed of or retained. Although the term "management" implies top-down control of information, an effective document management system should reflect the culture of the organization using it. The tools you use for document management should be flexible, allowing you to tightly control documents' life cycles if that fits your enterprise's culture and goals, but also letting you implement a more loosely structured system if that better suits your enterprise. A well-designed document management system promotes finding and sharing information easily. It organizes content in a logical way, and makes it easy to standardize content creation and presentation across an enterprise. It promotes knowledge management and information mining. It helps your organization meet its legal responsibilities. It provides features at each stage of a document's life cycle, from template creation to document authoring, reviewing, publishing, auditing, and ultimately destroying or archiving. The elements of a document management system An effective solution specifies: What types of documents and other content can be created within an organization. What templates to use for each type of document. What metadata to provide for each type of document. Where to store documents at each stage of a document's life cycle. How to control access to a document at each stage of its life cycle. How to move documents within the organization as team members contribute to the documents' creation, review, approval, publication, and disposition. What policies to apply to documents so that document-related actions are audited, documents are retained or disposed of properly, and content important to the organization is protected. How documents are converted as they transition from one stage to another during their life cycles. How documents are treated as corporate records, which must be retained according to legal requirements and corporate guidelines.
Document Management Software	Document management software generally consists of a repository and client software designed for the storage and retrieval of documents in electronic formats, including TIFF images, PDF files and a variety of office document formats. Document management differs from content management in that it focuses on document formats, while content management systems are designed to handle many other types of information, including graphics, multimedia and so on. Software for document management is often seen as a way to avoid the cost and effort of maintaining paper documents in physical filing systems. This software is often superior to physical storage and manual retrieval because it enables immediate access to stored documents across departmental and geographic boundaries. Document management software can be used to replace filing cabinets as a long term archive, but it is increasingly used in conjunction with workflow software to drive real-time business processes that would otherwise require the physical processing of paper-based information. Why Document Management Software is Not Enough Because the files stored in a document management system are electronic, paper documents must be converted to an electronic format for storage in such a system. This is generally done with a document scanner and document capture software, which captures an electronic image of the document and enables the addition of index terms or keywords that make it easier to find and retrieve the document when it is needed
Document Management Systems	A document management system (DMS) is a computer system (or set of computer programs) used to track and store electronic documents and/or images of paper documents. The term has some overlap with the concepts of content management systems and is often viewed as a component of enterprise content management (ECM) systems and related to digital asset management, document imaging, workflow systems and records management systems.
Document Scanning	Document scanning transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document scanning system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document scanning system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner. Why Document Scanning Alone is Not Enough Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also: convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software); identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on); verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly; match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format. With document scanning alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.
Document Scanning Software	Document scanning software transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document scanning system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document scanning system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner. Why Document Scanning Software Alone is Not Enough Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also: convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software); identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on); verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly; match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format. With document scanning software alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.
Document Scanning System	A document scanning system transforms paper documents into electronic images that can be used in computer-based business applications and archives. A document scanning system includes a document scanner, multifunction peripheral (MFP), fax machine or other scanning device, plus software to handle the image produced by the device. A successful document scanning system also includes image enhancement or image processing software such as VRS (VirtualReScan) to automatically improve the images produced by the scanner. Why a Document Scanning System Alone is Not Enough Companies that rely on a document driven business process must do more than simply convert paper documents to electronic images. For example, a company that wants to automate its invoice process must also: convert printed or hand-printed text from the invoice into electronic data that can be used in a computer system (using OCR software or ICR software); identify the important pieces of information (vendor, address, items, prices, payment terms, and so on); verify that the OCR software has converted the information correctly; match the invoices with the corresponding purchase orders; and deliver the validated information into the appropriate business system in the correct format. With a document scanning system alone, these important steps require time-consuming and costly manual effort.
Double-Sided Scanning	A scanning process that scans one side of a page, flips the page, then scans the other side. Compare to: duplex scanning.
Download	Process by which published batch classes and settings are transferred from the central site to a remote station.
DPI	Dots Per Inch. See resolution.
Driver	Software code that enables a computer to communicate with peripheral devices (e.g., scanner, printer).
Duplex Scanning	Scanning both sides of a page simultaneously on a single pass through the scanner. Requires a scanner that supports this feature. Compare to: double-sided scanning.
Dynamic Scaling	A set of display options that allow scaling factors to be determined by the size of the display window. For example, an image can be displayed so that the entire width of the image fits the width of the display. Or, it can be displayed so that the entire height fits the height of the display.