Strategic Planning and Analysis
SYSCOM works with our customers to provide an internal assessment of your current capture system. This includes automated, as well as manual systems. This step can often be overlooked, leaving areas of potential improvement on the table. This initial analysis provides insight into all of the possible areas for improved efficiency, and accuracy. It also allows us to work with our customers in determining the right tools, products, and infrastructure updates that are right for the company and the desired project.
After analyzing and assessing the current environment, we work with our customers to come up with a strategic capture plan. This is often a staged approach, which provides benefits and savings to our customers at each phase of the project. From small systems with only a few users, to large corporate capture system planning, we provide our customers with the right fit and plan for moving into the future.
Agile Development
SYSCOM utilizes a modified Agile Development model. This process involves very short development cycles (typically one week goals), with daily scrums (short meetings). The goals for each phase of the project are planned out using a web based project management tool, and broken down into the small intervals. Daily scrums allow for quick and accurate monitoring of the development process. Both the web based tool and daily scrums also allow our customers to join in the discussion and monitoring of the project. This agile approach allows us to make changes in the development needs of the project as we move forward, allowing for a much more flexible approach to development than more traditional approaches, such as the waterfall model.
Testing
Testing for capture development happens in multiple steps, and is typically done with our customers as a team effort. Unit testing is done as each goal is reached in the development process. As these pieces come together with other development goals, and with the ECM system as a whole, integration testing is done.
System Integration and Migration
One of the keys to system integration and migration from one environment to another is cooperation and teamwork. At SYSCOM we work closely with our customers to make integration and migration a success. Integration is started early in the process in order to find any potential roadblocks. This helps avoid a common pitfall of waiting until all components are complete, and then attempting to integrate all at once. For example, if we can connect the capture system to the back end system early in the process, we put that into our plan early in the schedule and make it happen. We apply that same principal to migration from one system to another, by verifying as much as possible upfront, such as system access and database connectivity.
Production Support and Training
When SYSCOM completes a development phase, and that work goes into production, we do not consider the job done. Production support is always a high priority, and is carefully factored in to every project. SYSCOM also provides training, typically in a “train the trainer” fashion for maximum efficiency. Once the initial customers are trained, they can share that knowledge with the rest of the team on an as needed basis.
Capture Tools and Technologies
SYSCOM has considerable knowledge and experience customizing capture products and services. The following are some specific examples of what we have done, from small customizations, to complete, customized, reusable systems. Customizations are based purely on customer requirements and business needs.
Common Capture Environment
SYSCOM, in partnership with its customer, designed and built a Kofax “Common Capture” reusable environment, using the full suite of Kofax products. This is the template for all of their capture projects going forward, and is built on customized Kofax Capture, KTM (Kofax Transformation Modules), KIC (Kofax Import Connector), custom workflow agents, panels and modules. This allows our customer to add new lines of business quickly to their environment, using the Common Capture template.
High Volume Import Systems
SYSCOM has created customized import systems for electronic documents numbering in the millions per month. Information is capture automatically from the source documents, and then passed through to back end systems. This is accomplished by starting with standard tools available from capture software vendors (such as Kofax and IBM Datacap), and then applying customizations specific to our customer’s needs. Our experience with these tools and customization methods allows us to recreate this for any size environment, scaling as needed.
Custom Export Connectors
SYSCOM has created numerous custom export connectors for large backend systems. While standard export connectors for common back end systems are often available, they often do not completely fit the business needs of the customer. These customizations include inserting specific data into business related database tables, custom delimited file outputs, and calling web services to verify and update data prior to back end export.
Custom Workflow Agents
SYSCOM has developed custom workflow agents for numerous customers. This allows for specific business scenarios, such as bypassing a validation step if a required field is populated, moving documents to a document review queue if data is missing, or sending a percentage of documents to a quality control queue for review based on specific government regulations.
KTM Service Calls
Kofax Transformation Modules utilizes a “WinWrap” scripting language. SYSCOM has written web service calls which can be utilized within this scripting environment. This provides the opportunity to interface with virtually any existing business environment with service oriented architecture.
Kofax Capture
Kofax Capture™ automates and accelerates business processes by capturing all types of paper and electronic documents and forms, transforming them into accurate and actionable information, and delivering it all into core business applications, processes and workflows.
This can significantly reduce retrieval costs while improving regulatory and compliance efforts. Kofax Capture is flexible and scalable, enabling customers to define where and how images are captured and indexed, whether in a home office, remote branch or back office data center.
Kofax Import Connector
Kofax Import Connector automates business processes with information capture and triggers from electronic documents. As the use of email becomes increasingly common, organizations with a lot of inbound customer communication are experiencing a 70% increase in email traffic from their customers every year. In addition, fax is also still important. The ability to respond and act quickly to all such communications is key to a positive customer service experience.
Capturing email, fax and other documents received in files shares or through web services as soon as they enter the organization, turning them into actionable digital information, and routing that information to workflows, processes and applications is the key to automating document driven business processes and achieving operational excellence and sustainable cost reductions.
Kofax Monitor
Kofax Monitor™ enables real time monitoring and performance measurement to ensure the operational health of the entire Kofax software suite. Kofax Monitor provides service level metrics, historical performance data and real-time processing status of Kofax Capture™, Kofax Transformation Modules™, Kofax Import Connector™, Kofax Front-Office Server™, Kofax VRS® Elite, Kofax Communication Server™ and Kofax Reporting. It also monitors the system’s components, including scanners supporting Kofax VRS, and its business service viability, providing real time access to operational information so immediate corrective action can be taken if needed.
Kofax Transformation Modules
Kofax Transformation™ adds automatic document classification, page separation, data extraction and validation capabilities to Kofax Capture™. It eliminates the time and human effort required to understand the large volumes of documents and the related information. Once data is extracted, it is routed to the appropriate systems and staff within the organization.
By automating what were previously error-prone and time-consuming tasks, the system can significantly reduce labor costs, improve information quality and accelerate business processes. It replaces expensive document sorting, filing and data entry processes to significantly increase productivity and accelerate throughput of data collection.
Kofax Front Office Server
Kofax Front Office Server™ extends existing Kofax Capture™ business processes to customer facing employees seeking to initiate transactions, workflows and capture processes at the earliest point of contact. It leverages existing resources in remote or branch locations, reduces process delays and eliminates the time and cost of shipping documents to centralized processing centers. Front Office Server provides an integrated link between intelligent devices like multifunction peripherals (MFPs), network scanners, mobile phones or tablets and Kofax Capture and Kofax Transformation Modules™.
Kofax TotalAgility
process applications (SPAs) are a new category of software that provide an essential link between systems of record such as ERP and ECM, and systems of engagement to help improve the way customers interact with an organization.
Kofax TotalAgility® is the world’s first unified smart process application development and deployment platform. TotalAgility provides an essential link between an organization’s systems of engagement and systems of record to help increase responsiveness to customers, improve service levels and gain competitive advantage in order to better manage and grow businesses while greatly reducing operating costs.
IBM Datacap
IBM Datacap enables organizations to streamline the capture, recognition, and classification of business documents and to quickly and accurately extract important information from those documents for use by business users and in applications. Datacap supports multichannel capture by processing paper documents on scanners, mobile devices, multifunction peripherals (MFPs), or fax. IBM Datacap also supports digital files such as PDF, Microsoft™ Office files, and image format files that are created by users, as output from applications, or that are digitally faxed or emailed into your organization.
Datacap Connector for Fax Input
Gathers images received via Fax over IP, desktop email fax, and fax by multi-function peripherals (MFP) and delivers to Datacap for processing.
Datacap Connector for Email and Electronic Documents
Collects and processes documents entering your enterprise digitally
Datacap Rulerunner Enterprise
High performance orchestration of capture applications and processes
Datacap Connector for ECM Repositories
For solutions that require image and data input to Micrsoft SharePoint, OpenText LiveLink and EMC Documentum.
Datacap Connector for Parascript FieldScript
Add the ability to recognize hand print, cursive fields
Datacap Connector to IBM Content Classification
Apply highly accurate IBM Watson technology to document classification.
