1. Scanning
and
OCR
the
Open
Source
Way
Ian
Pope
-­‐
Epheso:

2. “Our goal is to allow everyone to enjoy a fully
featured document and data capture system that
rivals the current industry leaders at a fraction of
the cost”
By 2016, Open Source Software (OSS) will be
included in mission-critical software portfolios
within 99% of Global 2000 enterprises.*
*Source:
Gartner
Predicts
2011:
Open
Source
So7ware,
the
Power
Behind
the
Throne,
23rd
Nov,
2010

4. Legacy Advanced Capture Systems:
• high costs – software and services
• click charges (priced by volume)
• confusing pricing options
• difficult to configure and implement
• thick client deployment
• “bloat ware”
• closed standards /vendor lock-in

5. Ephesoft is the industry’s only Java and
100% browser-based Advanced Capture
Solution that is Cloud ready out of the box.
...no need to install software on every
workstation. Ephesoft supports Firefox,
Chrome, Safari and Explorer.
Ephesoft is based on open standards and is
the first Advanced Capture Solution that can
run on Linux.

6. Scan or import documents from virtually any
source such as fax and e-mail with one
application
Process documents that are stored in the
repositories
Utilize any existing hardware whether it is a
departmental document scanner, high-speed
production scanner or MFP

7. Invoices medical mortgage insurance government energy telecommunication
HR ...

8. ed
A dvanc ion
cat
c lassifi ation
ar
a nd sep gies
olo
techn ed
includ
Learns hundreds of
documents within minutes
and sorts the documents
more efficiently
Separates documents by
identifying where a
document starts and ends
Allows operators to focus
on only the exceptions

9. Bar Code Reading
Fixed Forms Extraction
Mark Sense and Handprint Recognition
PDF + text output
Free Form “unstructured” extraction
Fuzzy Database document matching
Cursive Handwriting Recognition
invoice
date
6/17/2008
account
number
2-­‐1006-­‐475-­‐1
reference
code
22177991
service
code
954381
amount
29.34
due
date
7/7/2008

10. Case
Study
Travelcard

11. The
challenges
• Due
to
moving
to
another
office
building,
the
paper
archive
was
reconsidered
• Digital
archive
should
replace
paper
archive:
– Reduce
space
(costs)
– Documents
are
instantly
accessible
• SoluMon
should
be
embedded
within
current
organizaMon
and
current
staff
• SoluMon
should
be
scalable
without
any
extra
costs
• 50
documents
(200
pages)
per
day,
about
40
different
document
types
–
invoices
(90%),
contracts,
applicaMon
forms
(request
forms
for
ordering
fuel
cards),
bank
statements
and
a
couple
of
standard
forms
including
a
form
to
authorize
payments.

12. The
SoluMon
• Incoming
documents
are
scanned
with
a
muliVuncMon
device
and
picked
up
by
EphesoX
• EphesoX
classifies
the
documents
and
extracts
metadata
• Output
from
EphesoX
(pdf
and
metadata
file)
is
used
to
save
document
to
DMS
• Saved
documents
go
into
workflow
based
on
their
document
classificaMon

13. The
Benefits
• Over
70%
of
documents
is
handled
automaMcally
• Remaining
30%
(mostly
variants)
are
handled
by
employees
aXer
only
a
few
hours
of
training
• No
addiMonal
investment
in
employees
or
peripherals
• All
documents
are
digital
enabling:
– Quick
and
easy
access
– Searching
documents
by
metadata
– Workflows
(without
documents
gebng
lost)

14. invoice
date
6/17/2008
account
number
2-­‐1006-­‐475-­‐1
reference
code
22177991
service
code
954381
amount
29.34
due
date
7/7/2008
CMIS
Multipage PDF/TIFF
XML

17. The
Challenges
• Australia’s
biggest
satellite
company,
also
providing
technical
services
to
the
telecoms
industry.
• 1,000
staff
and
1,400
contractors
–
8
branches.
• MulMple
document-­‐driven
business
processes.
• Looking
for
an
ECM
soluMon
–
for
now
and
the
future
–
as
well
as
a
company
intranet
and
specifically
an
accounts
payable
invoice
approval
soluMon.
• Had
already
evaluated
MicrosoX
SharePoint
and
other
proprietary
products.

18. The
SoluMon
• Zia
was
selected
to
provide
an
EphesoX
&
Alfresco
soluMon
for
Accounts
Payable.
• EphesoX
does
invoice
capture,
creaMng
PDF’s
and
metadata
tags
–
scanning
&
OCR.
• Using
the
CMIS
standard,
the
data
and
all
metadata
tags
are
exported
to
an
Alfresco
repository.
•
Once
in
the
Alfresco
system,
a
workflow
begins
by
triggering
an
email
in
Outlook
with
the
document
URL
to
the
AP
Dept.
The
invoice
is
then
reviewed
and
commented
upon
before
final
approval.

19. The
Results
•Automated
the
accounts
payable
invoice
approval
process
•Developed
flexible
workflows
•Integrated
Alfresco,
EphesoX,
Pronto
ERP
•Incorporated
OCR
extracMon
of
invoice
data
•Reduced
invoice
processing
Mme
•Improved
employee
producMvity

20. Ephesoft includes:
• feature rich, complete Advanced Capture Solution
• easy to use and implement
• browser based and cloud ready
• one application for paper, email, fax documents
• Web-based scanning application
• document separation and classification
• data extraction – fixed and unstructured
• document and data release via XML, CMIS, and more
• no volume counts on users or images
What is the cost?
• Zero License Cost
• All features are included
• Only cost is an annual Support/Maintenance Subscription

21. Ephesoft follows the trend started by Redhat,
Apache, Android, MySQL, Alfresco, ...
Ephesoft is the only open source Advanced
Document Capture solution available.
It is a true Enterprise Solution with full 24/7
enterprise support.

22. Ephesoft Enterprise Edition includes:
• disaster recovery (if more than one Ephesoft server in use)
• load balancing (if more than one Ephesoft server in use)
• high availability (if more than one Ephesft server in use)
• image enhancement
• auto rotation based on text alignment
• blank page deletion
• professional level OCR
• Browser-based scanning

23. Mountain West Financial Services Inc.
• 225 financial documents ‚trained‘
• 95% classification accuracy
• Reduced staff by half
• System implemented in weeks
• 4 million pages a year and growing
• ROI in less than 6 months
• Susan Hartsock, IT Supervisor, says „We‘re saving time,
labor, and money. The solution is very intuitive and our
staff loves it because it is fast and reliable. Ephesoft has
been a sea change for us.“
• A sample of joint Alfresco and Ephesoft customers
include BSA, Trax, Heifer, Gilt Groupe, City and County
of Denver, Colorado, etc.)

24. Questions?
Thank you
Ian Pope
ian.pope@ephesoft.com
Skype: ianpopeportishead
+44 7411 461804