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Solutions 4 Data, a supported
business run by Nottinghamshire
County Council, has upgraded its
scanning equipment and Kofax
capture software in a project
delivered by Data Capture Solutions,
a Neopost company.
The investment has enhanced
productivity of the bureau, resulting in an
immediate 20% improvement in scanning
throughput and is also paving the way for
future developments such as the possible
provision of electronic mailroom services to
the council.
Solutions 4 Data last purchased
scanners in 2007 when two Kodak
i280 and one i1440 were installed.
Manager Ivan Rockley said: “In a bureau
environment, scanners have a lifetime and
it was time to refresh what we had after
seven years of reliable service.”
After a competitive tender, Data
Capture Solutions was selected as
Solutions 4 Data’s implementation
provider, given that it is a Kofax platinum
partner and part of the Neopost group
of companies which already supplies
Nottinghamshire County Council with
mailroom services.
The organisation has installed Kodak
i3450 and i4200 series low volume
production scanners along with the latest
release of Kofax Capture software. In
addition the project included the addition
of a new Kofax module, PDF+, which
enables basic OCR to be applied to PDFs.
Solutions 4 Data has also migrated away
from legacy Microsoft Windows XP and
installed Windows 7 as its standard
operating system.
Rockley said: “We provide and operate
Nottinghamshire County Council’s in-house
scanning solution. This involves delivering
a range of daily functions such as invoice
capture and processing, HR document
scanning, adult and social care financial
paperwork digitisation, as well as services
to third party organisations in the local
area.”
The demands placed on the Solutions
4 Data team to meet tight service level
agreements are considerable. For example,
the council receives between 600 and
1,000 invoices each morning which need
to be scanned and released by 3pm. OCR
software is used to extract invoice data
which is then imported into the council’s
finance system for accounts payable staff
to then match against purchase orders so
that the process of payment can start.
The new i3450 and i4200 low volume
production scanners come with the latest
Xenon LED bulbs for crystal clear image
quality and have throughput speeds of
90 pages per minute (ppm) and 100 ppm
respectively.
Able to process paper sizes up to A3,
the rotary i3450 scanner also comes with
built-in A4 flatbed with book edge feature,
perfect for processing bound documents,
books or pamphlets. The higher
performance i4200 scanner comes with a
500-page front loading feeder with Sure
Stack technology which stacks documents
properly on the exit tray so that paper
doesn’t get mixed up or cause jams.
Data Capture Solutions has delivered
IT project management services, handled
the upgrade from Kofax Capture 9
to 10, supported the Kodak scanner
selection and installation, implemented
new production and disaster recovery
servers, and is delivering ongoing service
and support for Solutions 4 Data’s
Kofax environment. Kodak Alaris itself is
providing service and support for its own
equipment.
Nick Scarff, Managing Director, Data
Capture Solutions, said: “Businesses
like Solutions 4 Data present a different
implementation challenge when new IT
upgrades occur. The roll out needs to be
handled carefully so that you bring people
along with you, everyone understands
and can cope with the subtle changes
between the software versions and the
new hardware. We’ve had a consultant
on site to ensure that this process has run
smoothly and been successful.”
Looking to the future, Solutions 4
Data is exploring implementing digital
mailroom technology for the council to
open, scan and share all incoming mail
electronically around its County Hall
site and several other buildings within
Nottinghamshire. Currently 30-40 sacks
of post are received each week which is a
considerable overhead for the council to
manage from a time and cost perspective.
Editor’s Choice Awards
– 01732 759725
Nottinghamshire County
Council’s scanning bureau
achieves 20% improvement in
performance
What we liked:
• fast processing speeds
• compact design that provides
both rotary and flatbed
scanning
• 250-sheet automatic document
feeder
• post scan imprinter
• bundled imaging software and
compatibility with scanning
applications
