Kompania Węglowa Implemented OCR into Comarch ECM

In November 2012, the centralization of accounting services in Kompania Węglowa, brought to an end the implementation of the Comarch ECM Capture & OCR solutions for data entry automation of finance and accounting information. After a month of operating, the main objectives of the project – the optimization of data registered from documents and lowering costs in this area have been achieved.

The implementation included scanning, OCR and the registration of financial data, such as: purchase invoices, adjustments, bills, accounting notes, interest notes, payment requests and bailiff seizures. Scanned documents are subjected to the processes of data extraction (OCR), categorization (automatic indexing), verification, and then imported into the internal systems. A plan to support processing 1 million documents annually is now in place.

 In setting up the project and inviting tenders, our aim was to choose an efficient tool, one which we had to make based on real comparisons of different solutions available on the Polish market, for the specific data of our company. Given our goals - that is, the automation of data entry, reduction of human error, improvement of data quality and streamlining processes, we focused on the analysis of speed and efficiency of content identification in competing systems. Comarch won the contract and in June an agreement was signed for the implementation of the project. In mid-November, the implementation of the system was successfully completed - according to schedule and to our exact specifications. The project‘s goals were achieved resulting into significant savings for our company, and regarding the process of implementation and cooperation with Comarch, we would like to highly recommend them - says Adam Mańka, Director of Accounting Kompania Węglowa.

The project included the provision of scanners and Comarch ECM Capture & OCR software. We prepared four scanning stations and twenty verification stations. In the space of one minute it scans about 500 documents from which individual financial data is subsequently read, categorized and transferred to the financial and accounting system of Kompania Węglowa. The speed and accuracy of the data additionally increases the verification of data on the basis of dictionaries derived from other systems of the client. The average invoice processing time, from scanning to introduction into the F/K system - is about 2 minutes, but can be as low as 60 seconds - notes Marek Lejman-Gąska, Director of Production and Implementation Centre of Comarch ECM in Katowice.

The tender in Kompania Węglowa, carried out by way of Proof of Concept, required effective preparation for both the product and the team. The choice of solution was on the basis of competition between suppliers at the registered office of Kompania Węglowa. Comarch offered a tool that facilitates the recognition of specific fields of business and gathers information while actual work on a document, without having to prepare a template, which is often necessary for other solutions on the market is being carried out - adds Maciej Dudek, Business Solution Manager, Comarch ECM.

Comarch ECM is a comprehensive system for document management and all business processes associated with them. One of the solution's modules - Comarch ECM OCR - is responsible for the efficient processing of OCR scanned documents and automatic indexing based on dedicated learner mechanisms. In contrast to tools based on predefined templates, the Comarch ECM OCR module intelligently identifies individual fields and facilitates gathering data while work on a document, without needing to prepare a template for each customer, is being carried out.