Challenge

RWS' business is a document-intensive operation, producing millions of pages per year in translation work for its customers. In addition to the patent translation service RWS performs, in recent years it has seen a rapid expansion of its business in the commercial translation field. Specifically, the business has grown to include the translation of larger documents such as instruction manuals, company brochures and web sites.

Traditionally RWS stored documents as multi-page TIF images. In 2007, RWS decided that this method of storage was no longer sufficient. In order to get a better handle on these documents, RWS needed a solution that could convert scans of newly translated documents into searchable PDF format and then deposit the output in a digital archive. RWS has always put a strong emphasis on finding technological solutions for its everyday business needs and set out to find the best solution to help with the large scale conversion of its documents.

Solution

After thorough discussions of the challenges facing RWS, ABBYY recommended Recognition Server as the most appropriate solution. Recognition Server is a robust and powerful server-based solution, designed for mid- to high-volume document processing across large departments and enterprises. It can be deployed as both a standalone program and an integral part of a third-party system such as DMS, RMS and electronic archiving system. Routine document conversion processing occurs automatically and unattended.

Recognition Server is ideal for use as a centralised service for the everyday OCR needs of company employees who need to process printed documents to searchable formats such as PDF and PDF/A for digitising archives or records creation. Once installed on a server in the organisation's headquarters, the program will deliver OCR functions 24/7 to all employees, including those in the remote branches or working at home over an intranet connection. Powered by ABBYY's award-winning OCR technology, Recognition Server is particularly adept at working in international environments delivering unprecedented recognition accuracy in more than 190 languages.

Recognition Server is integrated into RWS' systems via a bespoke application that RWS developed in-house. A user simply scans a document with a barcode on RWS' existing multi-function copiers. The application then drops the files to be converted into a hot folder that the Recognition Server is monitoring and the rest of the system is automated. In typical usage scenarios processing demand runs at roughly 5000 pages per day.

Recognition Server processes each image file according to a workflow - a set of processing parameters predefined by the administrator. Recognition Server can handle several workflows with different parameters, with each corresponding to a unique input source (a folder or a mailbox). All images that appear in the source folder/mailbox are processed using the parameters of the associated workflow. If several workflows are set up, ABBYY Recognition Server will process files from all the workflows simultaneously, according to their creation time and priority levels.

Although RWS initially purchased Recognition Server to convert newly created documents, the demands changed because the company decided to convert its entire collection of archived/ searchable documents into a new format. For RWS this most recent large scale conversion project was a one-off to move from their legacy TIF storage method. The plan was to convert all existing documents to searchable PDF, and then store the resulting file with meta-data in EMC Documentum. In total, 28 million pages from document types such as Word, PDF, TIFF, HTML, JPG, XLS and CSV were converted in only seven months. In order to achieve this goal in the allotted time, RWS processed just over 3500 multi-page documents, or a total of one hundred thousand pages, per day.

Outcome

The benefits to RWS of deploying Recognition Server have been numerous. Recognition Server allows RWS to store all of its documents as PDFs, with each document available to the user in a consistent manner. Storing the files in searchable PDF format allows RWS to index each document in a document management system and make it available for internal search.

"The installation process was straight-forward and quick with no dependency issues or headaches," notes Alan Price from RWS. "Best of all, there was virtually no user training necessary, which meant employees were able to change over to the new system in no time at all."

ROI on the first rollout of Recognition Server was achieved within a 12 month period. Additionally, RWS estimated an initial savings totalling approximately £100,000, half of which was from labour savings alone, and the rest from a combination of factors including reduced licensing expenses. The level of scalability of Recognition Server has allowed RWS to expand the scope of its document conversion process. The solution adapts to the growing business, providing an automated process as demand increases.