ONE-SCREEN RECONCILIATION OF BUSINESS DOCUMENT IMAGE DATA, OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION EXTRACTED DATA, AND ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING DATA

• US 20090092318A1
• Filed: 10/03/2007
• Published: 04/09/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Esker Incorporated (Esker SA)
• Original Assignee: Esker Incorporated (Esker SA)
• Inventors: Perotin, Nicolas, Berard, Jean-Jacques
• Granted Patent: US 8,094,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/987 with the intervention of an operator

Abstract

Systems and methods of reconciling data from an imaged document. In one embodiment, a business document is scanned to create a business document image. A set of extracted data is extracted from the business document image via optical character recognition (OCR). The set of OCR extracted data is then compared with data in business information management or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. A set of ERP data is retrieved from the ERP system that relates to the set of OCR extracted data. The retrieved ERP data is than assigned to the set of OCR extracted data to create a set of assigned data. The business document image is then displayed in a business document image pane, the set of OCR extracted data is displayed in the OCR data pane, and the retrieved ERP data is displayed in the ERP data pane. The set of assigned data is validated, and the ERP system is updated with the set of validated, assigned data. In other embodiments, data is extracted from text files without using OCR.

Claims

1. A method of reconciling data from an imaged document, the method comprising:

scanning a document to create a document image;

extracting a set of data from the document image using OCR to create a set of OCR extracted data;

comparing the set of OCR extracted data with data from a business information management (BIM) system;

retrieving a set of BIM data related to the set of OCR extracted data;

assigning the set of BIM data to the set of OCR extracted data to create a set of assigned data;

displaying the document image in a document image pane;

displaying the set of OCR extracted data in an OCR data pane;

displaying the set of BIM data in a BIM data pane;

validating the assignment of the set of BIM data to the set of OCR extracted data to create a validated set of assigned data; and

updating the BIM system with the validated set of assigned data.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising displaying the document image pane, the OCR data pane, and the BIM data panes simultaneously.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

checking for one or more missing OCR extracted data fields;

checking for one or more incorrect OCR extracted data fields;

checking for one or more missing BIM data fields; and

checking for one or more incorrect BIM data fields.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising moving the set of assigned data from the BIM data pane to the OCR data pane.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

displaying the document image pane, the OCR data pane, and the BIM data pane in the same window.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5, further comprising:

graphically displaying irreconcilable OCR extracted data fields; and

extracting additional OCR extracted data from the document image.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising:

extracting additional OCR extracted data in response to a user input.

8. A system for reconciling data from a document with data in a business information management (BIM) system, the system comprising:

a user input device;

a monitor;

a computer connected to the user input device and the monitor, the computer configured to

communicate with the BIM system;

receive a document;

extract a set of data from the document to create a set of extracted data;

comparing the set of extracted data with data from the BIM system;

retrieve a set of BIM data related to the set of extracted data;

assign the set of BIM data to the set of extracted data to create a set of assigned data;

generate one or more signals to display the document in a document image pane;

generate one or more signals to display the set of extracted data in an extracted data pane;

generate one or more signals to display the set of BIM data in a BIM data pane;

validate the assignment of the set of BIM data to the set of extracted data to create a validated set of assigned data; and

update the BIM system with the validated set of assigned data,

wherein the computer is configured to display the document image pane, the extracted data pane, and the BIM data panes simultaneously.

9. A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the computer is configured to extract a set of data using OCR extraction.

10. A system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the computer is configured to move the set of assigned data from the BIM data pane to the extracted data pane.

11. A system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the computer is configured to display the document image pane, the extracted data pane, and the BIM data pane in the same window.

12. A system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the computer is configured to:

graphically display irreconcilable extracted data fields; and

extract additional extracted data from the document image.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the computer is configured to extract additional extracted data in response to a user input.

14. A method of reconciling imaged data, the method comprising:

extracting a set of OCR extracted data from a digital image;

retrieving a set of BIM data from a BIM system related to the set of OCR extracted data;

assigning the set of BIM data to the set of OCR extracted data to create a set of assigned data;

displaying the digital image in a digital image pane;

displaying the set of OCR extracted data in an OCR data pane;

displaying the set of BIM data in a BIM data pane; and

updating the BIM system with the validated set of assigned data.

15. A method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising validating the assignment of the set of BIM data to the set of OCR extracted data to create a validated set of assigned data;

16. A method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising displaying the digital image pane, the OCR data pane, and the BIM data panes simultaneously.

17. A method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

checking for one or more missing OCR extracted data fields;

checking for one or more incorrect OCR extracted data fields;

checking for one or more missing BIM data fields; and

checking for one or more incorrect BIM data fields.

18. A method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising moving the set of assigned data from the BIM data pane to the OCR data pane.

19. A method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising:

displaying the digital image pane, the OCR data pane, and the BIM data pane in the same window.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

graphically displaying irreconcilable OCR extracted data fields; and

extracting additional OCR extracted data from the digital image.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20, further comprising:

extracting additional OCR extracted data in response to a user input.

22. A method of reconciling data from a document, the method comprising:

extracting a set of data from a document to create a set of extracted data;

comparing the set of extracted data with data from a business information management (BIM) system;

retrieving a set of BIM data related to the set of extracted data;

assigning the set of BIM data to the set of extracted data to create a set of assigned data;

displaying the document in a document image pane located within a window;

displaying the set of extracted data in an extracted data pane located within the window simultaneously with the document image pane;

displaying the set of BIM data in a BIM data pane located within the window simultaneously with the document image pane and the extracted data pane;

validating the assignment of the set of BIM data to the set of extracted data to create a validated set of assigned data;

updating the BIM system with the validated set of assigned data;

moving the set of assigned data from the BIM data pane to the extracted data pane;

graphically displaying irreconcilable extracted data fields; and

extracting additional extracted data from the document.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22, further comprising:

checking for one or more missing extracted data fields;

checking for one or more incorrect extracted data fields;

checking for one or more missing BIM data fields; and

checking for one or more incorrect BIM data fields.