Yesterday, Parascript announced FormXtra® Capture, a fully-functional IDR (Intelligent Document Recognition) solution, capable of capture, classification and recognition of virtually any data-type. FormXtra Capture has an aggressive and exciting roadmap, as mentioned in the press release, here.

We have had a lot of excitement about it so far and wanted to take this opportunity to further address our new technology and its role here, on our blog.

What is FormXtra Capture?
FormXtra Capture is a heavily re-engineered version of FormXtra Enterprise, a capture product that Parascript has had been selling for years. FormXtra Capture rolls in the major product updates that were announced in last year’s FormXtra SDK 5.0, greatly broadening its usability with a highly capable API and semi-structured document processing. And it doesn’t stop there. Over the course of this year we’ll be consolidating many functions currently found in discrete toolkits into the FormXtra platform. Meaning the ability to extract data from a check and an associated remittance will be rolled together into one package, providing greater opportunities for our integrators and partners to better help their customers.

We changed the name from FormXtra Enterprise to FormXtra Capture to better describe and position the product. “Enterprise” is a somewhat elusive name with a lot of different meanings. Capture says a lot more about what the product is—a thorough, high value IDR solution. It also says what the product isn’t—BPM, advanced workflow, etc. And while it will be able to extract critical check information, it doesn’t create all of the files and documentation (such as the X29 file) necessary for Check 21 processing. We rely on our partners to provide this and other application-specific functionality.

Why did we announce a capture solution?
At Parascript we are committed to advancing our technology and its applications to help address our partners’ needs. Over the last year, both existing and new partners have expressed interest in a different type of solution—one that would help them expand their capabilities and provide more document processing within existing accounts. In many cases this is a response to the need to process multiple types of documents without having to integrate multiple engines. In addition, we are receiving more requests from the SMB market. FormXtra Capture is intended to strike a balance between the needs and rigor of a process-intensive enterprise environment while keeping it straightforward enough to have realistic appeal to the SMB marketplace, better equipping our partners.

Isn’t the capture market saturated?
With all of the consolidation going on in the industry, it would seem that the capture market has little life left. Our research with AIIM suggests otherwise: Most organizations (55%) are rekeying their forms data. Only 32% are using OCR, and only 6% are recognizing unconstrained handwriting (advanced ICR). In the race to move up-market, we think that a gap has been left for improving how the capture process is managed. We look forward to exploring this niche, with advancements in our technology, and helping our partners provide greater value here.

What makes this product different?
On its May 15th release, FormXtra Capture will recognize all major data types (machine print, handprint and cursive) on structure and semi-structured forms, from a single solution that is easy to implement. The unique GUI allows for easy setup and testing of form definitions. This can be previewed on our FormXtra microsite.

We’ve also incorporated a few twists inside of the normal workflow process. Most notable are data validation workflows, that can perform snippet-based validation, enabling higher security and efficiency (such as for HIPAA and PCI) by sending a field (such as a social security number) to a skilled validator void of any other context that could make the information usable.

In the coming months we’ll be updating the product with our check reading capabilities, and later this year, signature validation.

How will this product be sold?
As with all of Parascript’s products, FormXtra Capture will be available through our reseller and OEM partner network. If you’d like to learn more, send a note to [email protected].

Stay tuned!
There’s a lot more to come. Be sure to subscribe to the blog to be notified of updates, and stop by the FormXtra microsite. We’ll be updating it with more capabilities found in FormXtra Capture. It will give you a good sense of what FormXtra is capable of.

Is there a capability you’d like to see rolled up into a forms solution? Comment below or drop us a line at [email protected]. View a demo of FormXtra Capture: