Forms processing for large international bank

CUSTOMER CHALLENGE

Our client, a large international bank serving over 4 million customers in Asia, just like most large financial institutions had a constant struggle with processing incoming paper forms. These forms included credit card slips, merchant summary tickets, sales slips and other client forms containing confidential data. All of these forms needed to be scanned and processed into a into a well-organized digital information on a daily base. Using their existing capture solution, the bank was been able to set up 70 form types over the span of three years, from which only 30 could be processed with automated recognition. The data from the remaining 40 form types were entered using a custom manual data entry solution, while the remaining hundreds of business documents were entered fully manually into the banks’ workflow.

Business issues in need for potential development:

SOLUTION – AUTOMATED FORMS PROCESSING WITH MPS INTELLIVECTOR

MPS addressed these business issues by implementing MPS IntelliVector and creating a new workflow. First the solution automatically identifies the type of scanned forms using document fingerprinting technology, then, breaks down the full page images into small fields of information (microtasks). These microtasks are automatically processed using character recognition engines (OCR/ICR), and at the same time, sent out to manual data entry users to type in the data through an easy-to-use web interface. The data entry users receive only small pieces of information, out of its original context and have no access to the original scanned images, therefore the confidentiality of the initial data is preserved.

The results of the automated recognition and the manual data entry are then cross-checked against each other to validate the results. If the two results don’t match (10-15% of the cases) an additional data entry user is involved in the processing. In the odd case (1-2% of the cases) when there are still no matching results after the second data entry a quality controller is included to guarantee the 100% data accuracy.

Beside the improved accuracy, the microtask-based approach allows for much faster processing, as users work with small pieces of information instead of full page images of text. Furthemore, microtasking allows the secure outsourcing of the data entry process without the risk of exposing confidential company or customer information.

RESULTS

Today MPS IntelliVector allows our customer to easily process up to a 200.000 forms per month. Within the first 3 months 500 document types with 4 variants each – altogether 2000 document types – were set up, all with automated recognition included.

The combination of automated processing and outsourced, snippet-based manual data entry proved to be 54% faster and as a direct consequence, cheaper to perform. Furthermore, there is no need to utilize expensive internal resources for the processing realizing massive cost savings.

During the realization of the project, all business issues were addressed and resulted in:

• Faster processing. Data entry users work with microtasks instead of full pages of text. Data is entered through fast, web based application.
• 100% secure without clearances. Data entry users see small, anonymous pieces of information, while some microtasks are visible only to operators.
• Flexibility. Form design changes are performed by Operations staff; including dynamic adjustment of form changes.
• Usability. No training required for the typists. Separate screens for data entry, supervisor and site admin users with a user-friendly UX design.
• Secure access control. The solution resides within an internal cloud, web-based clients are available within the client’s entire network.
• Extensive monitoring. Real time monitoring functions are integrated to the site admin module.