an automated method of capturing HO/RT1 and HO/RT2 data in a simple to search and view CYCLOPS system

The current paper system for HORT Forms is cumbersome, resource intensive and subject to abuse.  It involves two or three HORT Forms (Force dependent), which enables plenty of opportunities for lost pieces of paper, in that a policeman stops a vehicle and requires the driver to produce vehicle related certificates and documents within seven days at a police station: he issues form HORT1 (Home Office Traffic Reporting).  When the driver arrives at the designated station and time, the documents are checked and the final Form, the HORT2 is filled out and sent back to the originating Officer. The decision of whether to prosecute or not is made based on the HORT Form information.

The End to End process of CYCHORT Forms Data Capture and Mailing

Different Forces have different HORT forms including ones for HGV's, but the CYCHORT system is quickly adapted to each form.  A well designed layout prompts the Officer to complete the Form correctly and easily.  Our design ensures:

• Each form is easy to fill in:
  • The form uses our copyright box design to subliminally focus the writer to enter the character in the centre of the box.
  • In addition we use eye signals, for example, colour coding of mandatory fields.
  • All our forms use drop-out colours for the background to give a clean black & white image to aid recognition & reduce the stored image file.

For forms production, we work with our print Partners, Clearsons Print Management Ltd who are specialists in ICR and OCR forms production.

Quality Data Capture Options

CYCLOPS Business Solutions also offer a number of different Data Capture Devices including:

• CYCEform - a dynamic electronic form that can be used on-line from any desktop, or remotely using the off-line version on any PDA or Laptop.
• Digital Pen Technology -the new data capture technology using special paper forms.  The data can be transferred using Blue Tooth technology or a docking station.
• Blackberry Technology -use to electronically correct and submit Encounter forms.

The data captured through any of these devices, hard copy, PDA, Digital Pen and Blackberry will be validated through the normal CYCEncounters Data Capture process, utilizing automated WorkFlow corrections, officer lookups, Gazeteer and errors or omissions are returned to the reported Officer for correction.  Click here to view our web page on Mobile Data Capture.

Completed forms are scanned:

• Single and multi-page documents may be handled as single documents or batches of documents using a flexible naming convention.
• Automated image analysis and pre-processing can be applied to achieve the optimum image quality and document presentation for the capture processes.
• The document identification option (SORT) allows for the scanning of mixed documents thus reducing the task of manual sorting.

Automated data capture and hand-writing recognition is finally a technology upon which Forces can make significant business efficiencies. Put simply our software achieves something which many humans fail to do, it reads Police officer’s hand-writing! The process runs in the background but is made up of the following features:

Recognition Process

Our solution uses a superior best of breed Recognition engine that ensures the quality capture of information. Cyclops Xtract provides the ability to read machine-print, handprint, optical mark-sense, or bar-codes. Recognition can be configured with a number of options such as Dictionaries, Constrained Field Masks and different Character Sets.

Business Rules

Each document logic is subject to both application-specific rules and common business rules which, when applied to the extracted data, creates relevant information. This capability to read in context also provides data purification during the capture process to ensure its accuracy. This includes invalid data or omissions often introduced in the original documents. Many of these standard business rules and methods are inbuilt within Cyclops Xtract or supplied within functional libraries that may be readily applied within the document definition file. The CYCLOPS DESIGNER program is utlilised in this design area.

External Validation

Our Business Rules engine has a configurable capability to integrate with existing Force applications and already has a number of standard interfaces defined. For example our interface to the widely used Compass Gazetteer can be used for address validation.

CORRECTION Program

Our CORRECTION workstation application provides an image assisted check/correct facility for exception items raised during the Recognition Stage. The check/correct mode automatically navigates to the field and characters requiring attention and applies the associated Business Rules to purify the resulting entries.  During the correction process the image of the document is displayed and the current field under consideration highlighted. All the data captured from the form is automatically shown in tabular form on the right.  Many Forces utilise Gazetteer and Mapping technologies for Spatial Analysis.

All Form Batch types that require Correction are displayed in a list for processing by any number of concurrent users. The system can be operated either centrally (via an input bureau) or distributed within the organisation.  The system automatically sorts and recognises the different Form types such as HORT1, HORT2 or Street Encounters.

As soon as a HORT Form is checked and corrected in the CORRECTION program the data and image are saved in the CYCLOPS VIEWER.  Subject to user permissions, the form and data can be searched for and viewed anywhere in the Force.  The VIEWER provides a long term Storage mediurm for the Data and Document Image and it also enables the generation of Statistical Returns, for example Home Office returns. 

The VIEWER application provides intuitive Free Text and Meta Data Search facilities that permit the easy retrieval of Encounter information. The accompanying document image can be quickly and readily displayed giving access not only to the front side of the form but also to the Officers Report on the reverse.

EXPORT

Data can also be exported to a range of other Applications including automatically routed to the Intelligence system or data exported to the Force Warehouse.

The HORT1 form is stored in the CYCHORT system.  It is available for any permitted user to view.   When the motorist turns up for their appointment at the Station, the Enquiry Office staff are able to search for and open the HORT Form on the CYCHORT system, check the required documents and certificates and update the details on the system.  If the motorist walks into a different Police Station or arrives at a different time, Enquiry staff can simply check the details in the CYCHORT system. 

When Forms are completed, inevitably mandatory information is sometimes omitted or form completion errors are made. During the checking and correction Stage, operators where a Field ommission or error has been made, can generate an email back to the originating Officer with the click of one Key.  CYCHORT Forms utilise the WorkFlow solution in which the email contains:

• A copy of the scanned Form image
• The data which has been captured from the Form
• The Field or Fields where data is missing or needs correcting
• If relevant, the options available to complete Fields are also detailed. 

The Officer selects the correct response for the Form and clicks SEND.  The corrected data is automatically updated in all system information.

Where forms are unreadable or there are serious problems with the Form data, then with the press of one Key, the Form is sent to an ADMIN Program for the issue to be dealt with by a Supervisor User.  The ADMIN Program also enables the CYCHORT Forms process to be monitored and managed. 

This solution utilises CYCLOPS Business Solutions Record & Document Management system (EDRMS) with Cyclops Xtract Data Capture.  CYCFlow provides the background WorkFLow system and CYCMail provides the initial sort function.  CYCLOPS XTRACT is fundamentally a power tool to assist with the overall data entry process, control the quality of the data extracted, and significantly increase the throughput performance achievable per user. Cyclops Xtract helps to capture and manage information into databases, workflow & case management, document and content management systems.  Click here to view a technical summary of Cyclops Xtract. 

Additionally GSA offer their SCANIT Bureau Service, which utilises our CYCEncounters solution, in a complete Data Capture service which commences with collecting Forms to ending with delivery of a CD of Data and Images and the safe return of the original forms.