Blog > The document processing problem most teams haven't solved

Multifunction printers are incredible productivity tools. They are an all in one device. But the default output of a scan-to-folder workflow is a frustrating source of friction in document management.

Here's what typically happens: a document gets scanned. The MFP generates a generic filename and puts the file into a network folder. Then a person has to go and find the file, rename it, move it to the right location, open it, read it, pull out the key information and enter that data somewhere else.

This process works, one document at a time. But multiply it across a team, across dozens or hundreds of documents a day and the cumulative cost in time and errors becomes very real.

The same issue plays out in email. A dedicated inbox receives supplier invoices, delivery confirmations, order forms as PDF attachments,... Someone monitors that inbox and opens each email, downloads the attachment and moves on to the next.

It's a full-time task disguised as a routine. And because it has to happen every day, it tends to hinder the more valuable work.

The core shift with intelligent document processing is that the arrival of a document, whether in a watched folder or a monitored email inbox, automatically triggers the processing workflow. No human intervention needed.

From that point, the system takes over:

• It identifies what type of document it is
• It extracts the data that matter: e.g.: supplier name, amount, reference number, date
• It checks that data against validation rules or looks it up in a database
• It renames and files the document with a meaningful name, or exports it directly to a business system

The only time a person needs to get involved is when something genuinely requires human validation because of an unusually formatted document or for example a field that couldn't be read clearly.

One of the practical challenges in document automation is that real-world documents aren't clean. A stack of invoices scanned through an MFP's automatic document feeder arrives as one large multi-page PDF. Pages might be skewed. Some might be blank. The individual documents need to be identified and separated before processing can begin.

Good IDP software handles this automatically: detecting where one document ends and another begins, rotating pages based on text orientation, removing blanks, and treating each separated document as its own discrete item in the workflow.

The result is that the person at the scanner simply loads a mixed stack of documents, presses the button on the MFP panel and walks away. The system handles separation, classification, extraction and export.

The end state looks quite different from where most businesses start. Documents that used to sit in inboxes waiting for someone to process them are handled within moments of arrival. Data that used to be manually retyped is automatically extracted and fed into the systems that need it. Files that used to be named generically and buried in shared drives are named meaningfully and stored exactly where they belong.

For businesses processing significant document volumes, that difference in operational efficiency compounds quickly.

MetaServer by CaptureBites includes demo workflows so you can explore the full range of automation possibilities before you commit.
No coding required and a free tutorial gets you up and running quickly.
For a quick look at how some of the newest and most popular features of MetaServer work in action, you can also check out our MetaServer demo videos.

Keywords: MFP document automation, scan to folder automation, email inbox document processing, PDF automation software, automatic document classification, document management automation