FNTI Using Captovation^® Capture to Convert a Multitude of Different Document Types
into 40 Million Images

Customer Profile

*FNTI (formerly known as ATI) of Milpitas, California provides backfile image conversion services to clients serving the title and mortgage, financial services, government, and education sectors.  The company specializes in the conversion of paper, microfilm, microfiche, aperture cards, large-scale drawings, and books to electronic format.  With production centers in California, Oregon, Illinois, Florida and Texas; FNTI represents one of the largest providers of document capture and conversion services in North America.

Business Challenge

The Nassau County Department of Social Services (DSS) in New York had millions of paper documents that needed to be converted to electronic format.  The DSS processes needs-related documents including applications for food and Medicaid assistance.  Because of the time-sensitive nature of such assistance, the DSS needed a faster method to find and access documents necessary to facilitate the assistance process.  The documents were currently stored in a warehouse similar in size to a large home improvement center, and it often took DSS employees two weeks to find the appropriate folder containing any documents needed for review.  This department was moving to a new office location, and they felt that converting their documents to images before the move presented a more efficient method to manage and maintain all documents going forward. 

The DSS outlined two main requirements for their document conversion: the project had to be completed within nine months, and the conversion process had to be completed onsite.  As the winning firm for this project, FNTI would need to implement numerous production-level scanning and indexing workstations to complete the project on time.  Furthermore, the capture software had to be robust enough to handle a high volume of document images, but intuitive enough so that users could easily scan and index documents without much supervision. 

Solution

For this project, FNTI chose Captovation’s Scan and Index modules to perform the document capture and indexing processes.  Before beginning the imaging process however, FNTI worked with the DSS to determine if there were some documents that, due to their age, could be discarded.  They determined that any document older than four years could be purged.  This reduced the amount of documents to be imaged, which also reduced the amount of batch preparation required before scanning. 

For the first six months of the project, FNTI oversaw a two-shift scanning and indexing operation at the DSS.  There were over 100 people on staff that could operate one of twenty-five Canon 9080C high-speed document scanners.  To begin the conversion, employees first had to sort and prep the 100 different document types.  Once sorted, they used Captovation Scan to scan the documents.  The document images are then reviewed to ensure image quality, and indexed (key from image) with Captovation Index.  Lastly, indexing operators commit (archive) the images and data into the DSS document management system providing electronic search and retrieval capabilities for DSS employees.  During the backfile conversion, FNTI successfully completed the creation of 35 million images. 

For ongoing imaging requirements at the DSS, FNTI maintained five Captovation Scan workstations and three Captovation Index workstations.   Today, the DSS is using Scan and Index to process around 125,000 documents per week.  As of May 2007, FNTI had overseen the successful creation of over 40 million images for this client.

Benefits

By choosing Captovation Scan and Index for this project, FNTI was able to complete the conversion process on time.  This was due to how quickly FNTI was able to install the capture system, train the users, and begin the conversion process.  “Captovation’s products provided the necessary features and functionality to effectively convert the documents at DSS,” said Ray Ferguson, Senior Project Manager at FNTI.  “Most importantly however, was the fact that we didn’t have to spend a lot of time installing and configuring the system.  Instead, we were in full production in a matter of days.”

During the discovery phase of the conversion project at the DSS, FNTI initially was going to implement a competitive capture offering.  However, in evaluating the project budget and deadline, they decided that the competitive offering may cause production delays and create additional expenses.  This was due to the model used to license the competitive software, which is purchased by how many “expected” images will be processed per workstation.  FNTI did not want user down time due to workstations exceeding an allotment of images, and they did not want to face upgrade charges.  The fact that the Captovation Capture modules do not meter usage helped confirm FNTI’s decision to implement Captovation Capture.

“With a project of this scope, we need capture software that has three main qualities: easy to use, the necessary list of required features, and a quality support network.  “With the Captovation products, we realized and exceeded all three,” added Ferguson.

*FNTI is a wholly owned subsidiary of FIDELITY NATIONAL FINANCIAL (NYSE: FNF), number 248 on the Fortune 500.

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