Barcode Cover Sheets and SharePoint

So, in my quest for the ultimate scanning application for SharePoint, I continue to test new technologies, but there are just so many companies jumping on the SharePoint Bandwagon. The most recent technology is one that i have been testing quite a bit lately, and I have mentioned it quite a bit in this BLOG (PSI:Capture).

Imagine users from all over your organization walking up to Multi-Function Devices (MFDs or Copiers), and scanning their documents. Only they are using barcode separator/cover sheets. How do they work? Well, the sheet can serve two purposes: separation and data. The separation function allows you to take a stack of 10 documents, put the separator sheets between each, and then scan the whole stack. The software finds the separator sheets and knows when one document begins and another ends. The data in the barcode can also be read, and populated into columns within the SharePoint application. An example?

Take this paragraph:

“Early on in his life as a midshipman at the Naval Academy, the most important lesson John McCain learned was that to sustain his self-respect for a lifetime it would be necessary for him to have the honor of serving something greater than his self-interest — service to his country. John McCain has always put his country’s interests before any party, special interest and even his own self-interest. He has always and will always do what is right for our country.”

I know, I know, a technology BLOG is no place for political innuendo…sorry. ; )  Needed a quick paragraph and the covention was on.

Now take this barcode:

The entire barcode is the paragraph above encoded.  It can be read, and entered into a column in SharePoint.  Now this is an extreme example, but these 2D barcodes allow over 1000 characters in a thumbnail sized symbol.  Barcode generators will also allow a separation character, so you can embed multiple pieces of data for different columns within the symbol.  So think of the possibilities…

Each user assigned to a project within SharePoint could have their own cover sheet that has their name, project, location embeded.  All they need to do is scan their documents with the cover sheet on top, and the next thing they know, their paper document is on the SharePoint site with their name attached, and all the fields filled in.

No, not science fiction and very affordable.  Their are several applications that support this function, most notably, PSIGEN products and Kofax products.  Some good additional info on ScanGuru.

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