Design the workflow

The Workflow tab decides which steps a batch goes through and in what order. Each step is either automatic (DocView does the work) or manual (an operator does it). Each step has its own name, and that name is also its work queue in the Batch Manager and the operator menus.

The steps you can use

The operator side of each manual step is described in Scanning, Quality check, Classification, Correction, Index / Validate and Verify.

Workflow rules

DocView checks the workflow as you edit it and again when you save. Problems appear in a yellow box and Save workflow stays disabled until they are fixed.

• Scan is always first and PDF generation & export always last. They are marked Always and cannot be moved or removed.
• OCR, separation & classification and Extraction & validation belong together. They appear at most once each, and extraction comes after OCR.
• Classification needs OCR, separation & classification before it.
• Correction needs Extraction & validation before it.
• Double-key verify needs extraction or an Index step before it.
• Image enhancement comes before the Image check and before OCR, separation & classification.
• Image check comes before OCR, separation & classification.
• Large format replacement comes before OCR, separation & classification, so the large documents are read too.
• Batch split needs OCR, separation & classification before it, and also Extraction & validation when it splits by field values or problems. Each of its groups must go to a later step.
• QC, Classification, Correction, Index, Verify and Batch split can appear as often as you like.
• Every step needs a name, and no two steps may share a name.

Add, move and remove steps

The Workflow tab lists the steps on the left, in order, one under the other, each with its icon and whether it is automatic or manual. Click a step to see and change its properties on the right: its name, Skip when nothing to do, the operations allowed, four-eyes rules, Design screens, and the settings of QC, Correction, Image check and Batch split steps.

1. Open the Batch Setup and go to the Workflow tab. If the version is released, click Edit (new draft) first.
2. Click Add a step under the list. The badge on the button shows how many step types can still be added. A window lists every step type, grouped as Images, Recognition and routing and Checking and keying data. Each card says what the step does, whether it is automatic or manual, and whether it can be added Once or More than once; step types already in the workflow that can only be used once are greyed out. Click a card to add the step. DocView puts it where it usually belongs — image steps right after Scan, manual steps just before export — and selects it.
3. Drag a step up or down the list to change the order, or use its arrows. Scan (always first) and PDF generation & export (always last) are locked.
4. Type a new name in Step name if you want, for example "Index – header" and "Index – line items".
5. Click × on the step, or Remove step on the right, to remove it.
6. Click Save workflow.

Note: Adding OCR, separation & classification also adds Extraction & validation. Removing either one removes both.

The Scan step

Select Scan in the list to set up scanning for this Batch Setup:

• Scan profile: the profile the Scan screen starts with. Profiles of this Batch Setup and shared profiles can be chosen. With The first profile in the list, the Scan screen uses the first one.
• Edit profile opens the chosen profile in a window, with all its settings. New profile creates one for this Batch Setup and chooses it for the step.
• A summary line shows the chosen profile's settings, and All scan profiles opens the Scan profiles page.

Profiles are saved as soon as you click Save profile in the window, and the profile chosen for the step is saved as soon as you choose it (a notification confirms it).

Separation into documents is on the OCR step (below); continuous scanning and boxes on the General tab.

The OCR, separation & classification step

Select OCR, separation & classification in the list. Its settings are in three tabs, each with a one-line summary of what is set (your last tab stays open):

Image enhancement (deskew, blank pages, despeckle and so on) is set up on the Image enhancement step: select it in the list. The OCR tab says where pages are cleaned up. When the workflow has no Image enhancement step, the enhancement steps already set up run as part of OCR, and Add the Image enhancement step adds the step so you can see and change them. See Image cleanup and separation.

After saving, the page opens on the same step again.

Skip a step when there is nothing to do

Most manual steps have a Skip when nothing to do tick box. When it is on, a batch passes straight through the step if there is no work for an operator. For example:

• Classification is skipped when every document was classified with confidence and no pages are loose.
• Correction is skipped when no value was read with low confidence or failed validation.
• Index / Validate is skipped when every document and batch field is valid and no pages are loose.
• Double-key verify is skipped when no field is marked Double-key.

This is how you get straight-through processing: documents that need no human attention go from scan to export without anyone touching them. Also see Straight-through processing on the General tab.

Send batches to another step with a routing script

By default a batch moves to the next step in the list. A Route script can choose another step after each completed step. For example, it can send batches that need a second check to "Validation 2", send a 10 % sample to quality check, or send clean batches straight to export. Route scripts are Batch event scripts on the Events tab. See Route the batch.

Quality check settings

A Quality check (QC) step has three extra settings:

Correction settings

A Correction step has its own settings:

• Fields to correct (none chosen: all fields): click Add… to add each field this step should show, in the order you want.
• Only values the extraction was unsure about or that are invalid: on by default, so operators only see values that need attention.
• Input width (characters): the width of the input box for fields that have no input width of their own.

Operations allowed in each step

Every manual step has a section Operations allowed in this step. Untick an operation to switch it off in that step:

• Delete pages
• Rotate pages
• Move pages and documents
• Split and merge documents
• Reject documents
• Change document class
• Add and delete table rows
• Discard changes
• Suspend batches
• Delete batches
• Split into new batch (Quality check, Classification, Index / Validate and Verify only; off until you tick it)

An operator can only use an operation when the step allows it and their role has the permission. Roles are set up in Users, roles and permissions.

When Split into new batch is ticked, list under Split into new batch: where the new batch can go the steps or Batch Setups operators may send documents to. See Split batches.

Split a batch into several

A Batch split step sorts the documents of a batch into groups (by document type, a field's value, problems or a script). One group stays in the batch; every other group becomes a new batch, linked to the original, that continues at its own step, with its own priority and name, or in another Batch Setup. Its settings appear under the step. See Split batches.

Tip: Switch off Change document class in a Verify step if verifiers should only re-key values, never change the document type.

Four-eyes rules

A manual step can require a different person from the one who worked on the batch in other steps. Open Four eyes: must be someone else than in… under the step and tick the other steps.

For example, tick your Index step under your Verify step. Whoever indexed a batch may then not verify it, and the other way round. In the queues such batches show as "someone else", and Get next batch skips them.

Design the operator screens

Index / Validate, Double-key verify, Correction and Classification steps have a Design screens button. It opens the Screen designer, where you decide which fields operators see in that step, per document class. A number on the button shows how many forms are designed.

Example workflows

Straight-through invoices

1. Scan
2. OCR, separation & classification
3. Classification (skip when nothing to do)
4. Extraction & validation
5. Index / Validate (skip when nothing to do)
6. PDF generation & export

High-volume keying with quality control

1. Scan
2. Quality check (QC), 10 % of pages
3. OCR, separation & classification
4. Extraction & validation
5. Correction
6. Index / Validate
7. Double-key verify, with a four-eyes rule against Index / Validate
8. PDF generation & export

Changes and batches in progress

Workflow changes, like every other change, take effect when you release the draft. Batches already in progress keep the workflow of the version they started with. See Versions and publishing.