Kofax Rolls Out Major Upgrades To Document Exchange
Server And Transformation Modules
By Jamie Bsales, Associate Editor, March 31, 2009
Kofax plc developers have been hard at work, readying
major releases of two of the company’s document solutions. Last month, the
company unveiled version 2.0 of its Kofax Document Exchange Server, aimed at
enterprises looking for a robust business process automation platform for
document-intensive workflows. Then in late March Kofax announced the
availability of version 4.0 of its Kofax Transformation Modules, for the
transactional capture market.
Improved Usability And Administration
Enhancements to Document Exchange Server (DES) include
a more user-friendly interface and streamlined functionality, making the software
even more accessible to a wider range of users. As before, the DES platform
extends back-office capture abilities to front-office users: Rather than
shuttling paper documents to a central reprographic department (CRD) or
dedicated production scanner for batch processing, employees can capture
documents in the front office (where they originate) via standard MFPs and
scanners.
Kofax also claims DES 2.0 offers improved accuracy as
documents are processed, as well as support for multiple languages.
Administration improvements include support for LDAP and Active Directory to
improve security and make it easier for administrators to add users to the
system. The new version also lets customers use any TWAIN-compliant scanner to
capture documents into DES. In addition, Kofax now offers a Web Services SDK (software
development kit) to let customers or resellers create customized connectors
from other input sources.
“Kofax Document Exchange Server empowers front-office
staff to easily initiate document-driven processes at a desktop scanner or
MFP,” said Jim Nicol, executive vice president of products at Kofax. “This
results in better, faster, less costly and more accurate document processing
and allows employees to focus more time on vital customer-facing activities.”
Kofax said that DES is ideal for large organizations
in document-intensive industries such as financial services, insurance,
government and healthcare. DES 2.0 is available now, and pricing varies based
on a customer’s number of servers, end users, input devices and output
destinations, the company said.
Easier Deployment And Maintenance
The company has also updated its Kofax Transformation
Modules offering, delivering enhancements that increase ease-of-use and application
flexibility, according to Kofax. Used for the automated processing and
data-extraction of forms, invoices, correspondence and other documents, Kofax
Transformation Modules turn a company’s incoming paper documents into
structured electronic files.
New in version 4.0 is the full integration of Kofax’s Xtrata
Pro and INDICIUS technologies into a single, unified platform. This lets
customers use one platform to process structured and unstructured forms and
documents of any type, according to Kofax, resulting in faster deployment of
the solution and less costly maintenance. Another key benefit of the new
offering is the company’s “learn-by-example” technology that can automate the
classification and extraction of information from any form or document type. By
feeding sample forms or documents into the system, customers can train the
software to automatically recognize the document type as well as the specific
location of important information on the form or document. This can result in
much reduced operator interaction.
In addition, version 4.0’s Document Review feature
lets operators verify the results of the software’s automated data
classification and separation prior to extraction, which can increase overall document
throughput rates. An enhanced Verification capability then allows data to be
double-checked, increasing data accuracy.
Kofax said that version 4.0 is scalable and suitable
for departments processing 100 forms a day as well as enterprises scanning
100,000 documents a day. Typical applications include accounts payable automation
to extract invoice information and automatically book invoices into leading ERP
systems, such as SAP, Oracle Financials and JD Edwards. The solution can also
be used for sales-order processing, workflow/mailroom automation and forms
processing for insurance, financial and other industries.
