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Last November, Fujitsu took the bold
step of introducing a new architecture
and driver for its new generation of fi
series scanners.
Klaus Schulz, manager of product
marketing for EMEA at PFU Imaging
Solutions, told
Business Info
that Fujitsu
was introducing the Paperstream IP driver
so that users wouldn’t have to waste
time with scanner settings but could
just get on with their jobs. He also said
that, as market leader, it was Fujitsu’s
responsibility to encourage broader
adoption of scanning.
“We believe it will start changing
the dynamics of the market because
we are providing an integrated solution
that can serve as an immediate on-ramp
for paper-based document information
into knowledge repositories, workflows,
archiving systems and the like,” he said.
“The business world relies on digital
information. Yet today, more often than
not, information is still handed over
printed on paper, especially in mid-sized
companies. Even in large enterprises,
document scanning and document
management are not being deployed on
a cross-departmental basis. More often,
you have small departments or single
functions that are looking to archive their
information and share that information
within a department or functional
area, but not necessarily beyond its
boundaries,” he said.
This, says Schulz, suggests there is
pent-up demand for an easier way to
digitise paper-based information and feed
it into something that could become an
enterprise knowledge repository.
“Especially in mid-sized
companies, we see that not
having a uniform basis of
retrieving information in a digital
way causes business delays. These
business delays are increasingly
attributed to the fault of an
individual who might not be in a position
to digitise paper in an appropriate manner
and in the right time-frame.We built
this scanner and new platform so that
the individual and knowledge worker can
actually deliver results.”
How does Fujitsu’s new platform
make this possible?
Paperstream IP
The secret is new driver software,
Paperstream IP, which Fujitsu is shipping
with all Fujitsu fi series scanners including
the new 7000 series. This offers a number
of enhancements that can be used by any
document management solution or other
TWAIN or ISIS compliant application.
Paperstream IP uses intelligent
scanning algorithms to recognise the type
of document being scanned and adjusts
settings accordingly. Even when scanning
mixed batches of documents, the user
should not have to make changes.
The driver comes with three predefined
profiles for monochrome, colour and auto
colour detection, which means that users
can start scanning the instant they have
installed the scanner and driver. In addition,
an administrator can quickly and easily
define other profiles for specific workflows
and routines that a user can choose from
when starting the scanning process.
There are six defined steps an
administrator should follow when setting
up a profile: naming the profile; specifying
the scanner type to be used; defining
where captured information should be
stored or routed to; stating whether
separation capabilities should be applied
using patch codes, barcodes or zonal OCR
capabilities; defining what should be done
with the index information – it could be
used for file-naming for example; and,
finally verifying that the profile actually
works.
The administrator can then import the
profile to individual workstations one-by-
one, or use the fi scanner central admin
console to push the profile to hundreds or
Scanning
A better profile
Fujitsu PFU Imaging Solutions has developed a new driver
designed to speed up and simplify scanning
thousands of workstations with document
scanners attached.
Once the profiles are embedded in the
Paperstream IP layer, they are available
from every ISIS or TWAIN application
used in an organisation. This is true, too, of
barcode recognition, which is embedded
in the Paperstream IP driver and therefore
available for every application that
supports barcode recognition.
Another big time-saver is Paperstream
IP’s new Assisted Scan feature.When the
scanner encounters a page that might be
coloured or textured, resulting in a poor
quality image, the driver gives the user the
ability, there and then, to clean the image.
A user can either correct the scanned
image by making adjustments manually
or he can select and save his preferred
option from nine cleaned up versions
automatically created by Assisted Scan.
Paperstream IP Capture
In addition to Paperstream IP, Fujitsu has
brought out a batch scanning application
– also supplied with fi series scanners –
that is designed to accelerate document
capture through the use of pre-defined
capture profiles and to facilitate routing of
documents to other applications without
the need to install application software at
every seat.
Schulz said: “In Paperstream Capture,
I can define a file folder as a destination
that could be monitored as a hot folder
by a document management application.
Everything that is transferred to it would
be picked up by the DM solution, so it
would act as a kind of inbox. You could
go further and target an FTP site or
Sharepoint or a library in Sharepoint
to which multiple people in different
locations, including remote offices, scan
pre-defined classes of documents.”
He added: “Because I am using profiles,
... more often
than not,
information is
still handed
over printed
on paper,
especially
in mid-sized
companies.
Continued...
Klaus Schulz, manager of product
marketing, EMEA, PFU Imaging Solutions,
