Data capture can be defined as the collection, interpretation, and storage of the information into the computer. Data capture solutions are available so as to reduce the burden of data entry and also to save money and time. Before designing the data capture solutions, the needs of the organization have to be assessed since each organizational need is different from the other. This will help in building a successful system also.
The main advantages of the data capture are that it helps in the speedy processing in spite of the huge volume of data and lower financial and human resource processing costs resulting in greater accuracy. It also helps in better error identification and its recovery, better quality control and process control, fast turnaround of data, secure document handling, and also ease of project management. It gives more importance and more access to online export of data and images, customized export, archive, backup, and retrieval of data.
Using the data, multiple language data can be processed. It has got a flexible capacity and has the ability to produce management information systems and other statistical reports, which can be used for further references in the future. Data capturing technology is used in many fields of operations like manufacturing, industrial, and warehousing, where bulky data are available.
There are different forms of data collection from paper, which include Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR). The OMR technology identifies the presence and absence of marks. OMR paper contains small ovals, which are called bubbles, which will be filled by the respondents according to their responses. OMR sheet cannot identify machine-printed characters. This OMR sheet will be scanned using Pearson NCS software which reads the output from that paper and is translated to the desired ASCII output. The OMR scanner can handle more than 10,000 forms per hour, which is controlled and developed by a single computer unit.
This single terminal will handle any volume of output that the scanner may generate. OMR is the most precise and fastest data collection technology available. Its accuracy depends upon the darkness of the mark made in the forms. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology converts the machine-printed characters into machine-readable characters. OCR has got many uses, and its use is not limited to a full-text representation. The accuracy of the OCR is relatively low compared to OCR; even then, it has got many advantages like full retrieval of the text, full-text representation, and also full-text representation with XML mark-up.