Managing the Pitfalls of Data Entry with OCR Software

In the finance and accounting world, costly time and resources must be devoted to searching for, updating, and managing select lines of information from masses of financial documents when those processes involve manual data entry. In addition, the manual nature of the labor—specifically, the risk of human error—can skew results, delay completion of data entry items. Manual data entry can also place strains on highly paid employees, such as accountants and other financial professionals, diminishing morale and draining productivity on tedious work. In the face of rote manual tasks, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) offers a substantially swifter alternative because it automatically recognizes text in scanned financial documents. This allows users to search for information quickly and easily using keywords rather than spend time searching desperately by eye.

Zonal OCR Enables Data Extraction

Zonal OCR refers to a type of Optical Character Recognition technology allowing users to apply targeted recognition to specific zones of an image document. Through zonal OCR, document inputs can have certain portions pre-determined by the user to be scanned, and those chosen coordinates will be rendered indexable. Designating specific fields of entry for conversion through Zonal OCR offers an expedient means of extracting data with mitigated risk for your financial data entry processes.

Compatibility of Zonal OCR for Structured Documents

For managing forms and other structured documents, Zonal OCR can adapt to and automate your data entry workflows. Establishing a recognition zone to seek specifically-placed information creates valuable time savings. For iterative tasks within structured documents, zonal OCR offers a method of predictive processing. Time-consuming manual intervention can now be swapped by automation and sped up processes.

Especially with forms like Schedule K-1/Form 1065, which are often handled manually in financial data entry environments, zonal OCR can hone into specific data within checkboxes and prioritize conversion of those targeted allotments. Capturing and extracting data within semi structured or structured forms adds a valuable asset to your repository of files: with added search capabilities comes a realized use value in interpreting, processing, and handling now easily-retrievable data entries.

For even greater accuracy, zonal OCR is often complemented with dictionary-aided OCR, a technology that has the ability to define the scope of which characters are to be converted. If, for instance, you know that the characters within a designated textbox will only be in a given language, limiting outputs to that subset of characters adds an additional layer of accuracy to your conversion. With dictionary-aided OCR, the software will bias itself towards predisposed languages, yield better recognition rates, and sidestep issues of OCR errors.

Targeted OCR for Your Financial Data Entry Workflows

In conjunction with highly accurate OCR software, zonal OCR can unlock data previously hindered by a lack of search capability for use in processing and interpretation. Enabling simple, instant information search reduces strain on employees. When effectively used, a zonal OCR software permits a repurposing of recovered time and resources: be it speedier auditing through indexable files, updating inputs and filing documents, or exporting now searchable data into a cloud storage system.

Can zonal OCR expedite your data entry workflows, facilitate data extraction, and enable more accurate processing? Activate your free trial of our Zonal OCR-enabled software Maestro today to find out.