Forms Processing Design

Forms design techniques to help reduce manual data entry

Forms design is an essential first step to the success of automated forms processing. Every year, companies spend millions of dollars to manually convert information from forms into electronic databases. Manual forms processing is time consuming and expensive, and the data entered is often inaccurate and incomplete.

Today, more and more companies are turning to data capture software and automated forms processing to extract data from forms and reduce the time, costs and errors associated with manual forms processing. Recognition and forms processing software providers now offer advanced technologies that can easily and accurately recognize a variety of fields on a form, including machine-printed, hand-printed and cursive text, as well as marks, checkboxes and barcodes. These forms processing solutions process forms across a variety of industries including banking and financial, government, insurance, mail, and publishing. Forms processing software allows customers to extract more information faster and with higher levels of accuracy.

The automated forms processing is achieved through specialized recognition technology such as hand print recognition (ICR), machine print recognition (OCR), unconstrained hand print and cursive recognition. Since automated data capture does not recognize every piece of detailed information on every form, forms processing software requires human operators to verify or manually enter unrecognized data. The benefit of automated forms processing is defined by the accuracy of the recognition technologies combined with their ability to decrease manual data entry.

While the need for forms processing systems is constantly growing, their performance has reached a plateau level. To improve forms processing accuracy and assure the highest recognition rates, forms design is crucial.

The form should be well designed to reduce illegible, inaccurate, misinterpreted or missing data. Forms processing managers can improve the recognition process by enhancing form design methods. Using special design techniques, companies can make “forms smarter” and improve the amount and quality of data that is filled-in.

Careful forms processing design can eliminate this confusion and ensure that the information requested is completed in a consistent manner enabling it to be processed automatically. For example, the accuracy of forms processing and recognition will increase if multiple fields are present on the application form — one each for first name, for middle initial and for last name. Smart form design incorporates techniques like these to achieve the best forms processing accuracy with least amount of manual entry. The following form design guidelines are written broadly and can be applied to a variety of different types of forms.

Getting your respondents to complete all of the information on a form

The importance of field placement for forms processing
For successful forms processing and form design, key fields should be located near the top of the page whenever possible. Placing the same fields in the same place across different forms reduces the time spent trying to locate the fields on various forms, allowing for ease-of-use and faster forms processing.
The importance of sequence of field data for forms processing
It is important to maintain proper flow from left to right and from top to bottom. To best guide a person through a form, forms processing managers and form designers must make the person feel comfortable with the information flow and the time it takes to complete the form.
The importance of captions for forms processing
Captions tell the respondent what information is required within a particular field. The captions should be placed above, or to the left of, a box or line to eliminate interference. To improve forms processing, it is important to pre-print special characters that are required for a particular field, such as phone numbers, dollar amounts, dates, etc.

Designing your form for automated forms processing and recognition accuracy

Types of recognition
Intelligent recognition technology can capture almost any type of field entry, from check marks and check boxes, to barcode and character recognition. Properly designed forms allow for better image processing so that image quality becomes the only concern with forms processing.
The role of “field anchors” for forms processing
Registration marks are designated “field anchors” that help match forms against the form template. These marks are very important to allow the forms processing software to detect the amount of skew that occurred from scanning the forms. Registration marks play a critical role in aligning information at a field or form level. They are crucial to forms processing.
The use of lines and boxes for forms processing
Lines and boxes can be used as effective boundaries, offering breaks between different sections. Boxes help define the area of a field better than a simple line or open space, making it easier to identify and capture information during automated forms processing.
Specific graphic elements that introduce “noise and intrusion” to your form
An important design consideration when designing a form is the amount of noise or intrusion around the fill in area such as dark background colors, heavy graphics and tight space between fields. These factors can hinder the process of completing the form as well as recognizing the information after it has been filled in, consequently reducing forms processing efficiency.

Other form attributes to consider for automated forms processing

Using special symbols to separate fields
Collected information often can be written in multiple characters: numeric, alphabetic and alpha-numeric. Whenever possible, splitting numeric and alphabetic character by using boxes and different fields helps to improve forms processing efficiency. Slashes and dashes are easy ways to divide information and create a standard format for answers, such as with social security numbers and phone numbers.
The role of color in reducing interference
Drop-out ink, preprinted text in a particular color, is often used to minimize intrusion between pre-printed information and data that is filled in by the respondent. The use of color enables automated forms processing systems to scan the image, identify the pre-printed colored text, and remove it from the image before the recognition begins. This pre-processing technique allows recognition engines to see only the data that was entered.

With more companies turning to forms processing technologies to automatically extract data from forms and reduce the time, costs and errors associated with manual forms processing, smart forms design has become critical. To ensure the highest recognition rates possible, forms processing managers should consider factors such as key field placement, sequence and captions. Forms should be designed using standardized formatting, with field anchors to identify beginning and ending points. Effective use of lines and boxes make it easier to define fields and highlight information that needs to be captured during automated forms processing.

Selecting the right forms processing technology is also an integral part of the data capture process. Variables such as image quality, character and word clarity, font identification, word recognition and language can impact the speed and accuracy of forms processing. Proper form design, along with sophisticated recognition software, enhances forms processing and reduces the occurrence of illegible, inaccurate, misinterpreted or missing data.



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