Here are some of our most frequently asked questions, we are always happy to receive your questions so if you cannot find the answer you are after, just get in touch using the form below and one of the team will be happy to help.
What is an electronic document?
An electronic document is a digital picture of the original paper document. When a piece of paper is run through a scanner it makes an electronic image of the document, similar to a digital camera.
How do I access an electronic document?
Yes. Documents scanned can be held in our secure digital repository, giving the security of off-site storage and viewed using our Webview remote system. All the communications are carried out using the same secure server technology that many banks use for on-line transactions, ensuring that all confidential information is transmitted in an encrypted form. Each document type can be protected with further levels of passwords.
How do I use an electronic document?
There are several possibilities for your use:
• You can read the document on your computers monitor.
• You can fax the documents using your computer’s fax-modem.
• With Internet access, you can email the document.
• Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, you can convert the document images into editable text for use with word processing and spreadsheet software. MSI can perform the OCR service for you and provide editable documents along with the document images.
• You can use your printer to print the entire document, or only the pages you need at that time
How are documents indexed?
Documents are indexed based upon customised search criteria set by you.
Scanned files can be indexed by client name, ref number, invoice number etc, as pre-defined by you.
Full Text indexing can be performed using an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) method. We can create a text file of your complete image. This allows the user to find any word (or part of a word ) that occurs in a document! In other words, using this technique you can search for document images by their content.
Can you scan old or fragile documents?
Using flat-bed scanners, greyscale and colour scanning, even the most delicate or poor quality documents can translate into good electronic images
Can you scan documents full of staples, clips and bindings?
Yes, by removing the staples etc. as part of our preparation process. Documents are usually “Deprepped” after scanning to replace clips, staples etc. so they can be returned to our client exactly as they arrived.
Do you offer a searchable database of my documents?
A searchable database can be supplied. The creation of a searchable database of document content is also called “indexing”. There are many types, and therefore costs and effectiveness vary greatly. MISL can output your images and data in many different formats, some of which are listed above.
In which formats can I export documents?
It depends on the imaging system but we are sure we can help you get the file format you need. Common graphical formats you may need include TIFF III, TIFF
Do imaging systems support audit trails?
An imaging system’s audit trail product should record a user name, date, time, document name and action whenever a user accesses a database or document. Various levels of audit-trail logging detail and activity tracking should be available. The system should also support a viewer for sorting and filtering these logs.
How does it store the documents?
Documents may or may not be stored in their native format or file type. Some systems use proprietary file structures while others treat everything stored as a single document type like TIFF image. Storing documents in the same way as they were created is useful if you are going to use the documents again or want them to retain their special properties.
Somewhere on a local drive or network device the document will be sent and stored. The imaging system retains a pointer or address where this image might be. Even if the document needs to be in several places at once, some systems can support a hierarchical search that locates the nearest match in a tree search. The storage medium determines the speed and reliability of access plus the overall cost.
What is the difference between OCR and indexing?
OCR is the process of converting scanned images to text files. Full-text indexing is the process of taking a text file and adding each word to an index file that specifies the location of every word on every document. Well designed imaging software can make this a fast and easy procedure, providing rapid access to any word in any document.
How much Server space do I need to store the documents?
A. Scanned images are stored using industry standard Group Tiff file compression. This is white compression, which means the white is thrown out and the black plotted in binary code. So a page with a lot of writing on it or a grey or coloured background will have less white space and will be greater in file size. Having said that, on average you can get in the region of 25,000 A4 images on 1Gb of hard disk storage which, in plain terms, is about two and a half four drawer filing cabinets. PDF images take about the same amount of storage space.
Can I re-sequence pages?
If pages are out of order and need to be re-sequenced;a well-designed imaging system will allow “thumbnail” views of pages to be simply dragged to the required position. In the same way, individual pages can be selected and deleted, subject to appropriate security access control and privileges.
What type of processing do the images undergo?
Images go through extensive quality control for straightening, de-speckle, and visible page edge removal before being scanned.
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