SharePoint and Document Scanning October 15, 2008

The number of opportunities using Sharepoint and document scanning software that I’ve seen has increased of the last short while.  With this in mind, I’ve been looking at the solutions out there that provide document scanning into SharePoint in a simple, streamlined manner.  As you might expect, there are a number of solutions out there, some better than others.

The solutions I’ve reviewed are all based on the same principle:
a) Scan the document
b) Use the software to attach metadata and SharePoint document library location
c) Publish to document library

Some of the packages I’ve seen are more integrated that others.  The more integrated ones expose SharePoint doc libraries content types & metadata within the scanning software so it’s easier for the user to allocated the correct identifiers to the document. 
I’ve also seen solutions for use with Multi Function Devices where the user can interact with the LCD screen at the MFD.  Here the user can state where the document is to be stored in SharePoint and input the metadata.

For many clients I talk to, there is almost always a need for an initial bulk scanning process of existing paper documents, followed by an ongoing smaller volume of scans.  For volume scanning, again most of the solutions I reviewed have similar methods of doing this.   The use of OCR is important here to capture the metadata of the documents (this is of course used for non bulk scanning also).  If the documents are hand written (the case with one of my prospects) then the solution involves the use of barcodes. 
Most of the solutions enable you print off barcodes that will identify each document library and metadata for  a document.  The barcode print out is used as a cover page for each document and the software reads the scanned barcode page and directs the document to the correct location in SharePoint.  This is a tedious task when there is a large volume of documents (about 70,000 in the case of my client!).

Here’s some of the packages I’ve had demo’s of are:
Websio - I’d call this a cheap a cheerful solution but will do the job….and I’ll like their innovative approach (who ever thought we’d see barcodes within SharePoint!)
Dark Blue Duck - A solution that caters for most scenarios.  There is a Desktop version, Server version and a plug-in (similar to Websio)
Psigen - The most integrated solution I’ve seen.  One package fits all – no need for a separate desktop and Server versions. Does the most basic to complex stuff.
KnowledgeLake - Again another good solution, but not as integrate as psigen in my view

Other one that I’ve yet to look at:
Kofax

Will update once I’ve had a look at Kofax.

Happy scanning.