Banking & Financial Services White Paper Hybrid systems improve check retrieval productivity By Glenn W. Magnell, Vice President and General Manager Marketing and Product Planning Division Minolta Corporation For decades, companies and governmental organizations have used microfilm to store documents. This medium met their needs well, and continues to do so today. This is especially true in banking applications such as check storage and retrieval, where billions of checks have been captured on microfilm. The cost of capturing a check image on film is relatively inexpensive, the medium is safe and stable and microfilm provides a legally admissible document. Now, however, banking and financial organizations realize that the information contained on filmed documents, is not dynamically available when and where people need it. In the banking business, where enhanced customer service is critically important, the service provider must be able to access items in a timely manner and transmit them electronically. This situation is leading to the proliferation of hybrid imaging systems. Hybrid imaging system types A hybrid imaging system allows the integration of microfilm-based images with electronic image processes, such as E-mail display, faxing, laser printing, masking, and merging with other files. The kinds of hybrid products on the market today range from relatively inexpensive digital scanners, to more costly proprietary workstations, to PC-based electronic microfilm image processing systems. The differences in these products are--as you move up the scale--increased functionality, flexibility and integration capabilities. Employing a hybrid system in a manually-intensive application such as bank check retrieval can improve productivity dramatically. Usually, to comply with a request to provide check images, a clerk searches through several rolls of microfilm to locate the checks required and makes prints of them on a microfilm reader-printer. Since more than one check may appear on the print, the required check is cut out and pasted on a page along with the other requested checks, or the checks may be pasted into a cover letter. Either way, this is a tedious and time-consuming process. Allied Irish Bank Allied Irish Bank (Dublin, Ireland) has employed a hybrid imaging system to improve productivity in their check retrieval application. Working with Minolta's reseller in Ireland, IMS (Dublin), the bank has installed a Minolta MicroDAX 3000 hybrid imaging system in its subsidiary, First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland. With Minolta's MicroDAX 3000, checks are retrieved from microfilm, scanned on a microform scanner and displayed on a PC. The operator can verify that the correct check image has been located, that the scan is good, the information legible, and perform any image enhancement required. The operator can now mask the requested check and merge it into a prepared word processed document. The combined letter and check image can then be printed, faxed or E-mailed. This entire process can be handled completely in electronic form in a matter of minutes. Allied Irish Bank also uses a more sophisticated hybrid check retrieval system at its Dublin headquarters. In the Branch Services Department, a Minolta MicroMaster 3000 hybrid imaging system is interfaced to a host computer-based customer service workflow program, Pegasystem's PegaREELAY workflow software. The PegaREELAY software electronically receives, organizes, and optimizes the retrieval requests from film. MicroMaster 3000 allows PegaREELAY to communicate directly with a digital microfilm workstation. This automates the processes of locating checks on microfilm, and scanning, labeling, collating, printing, faxing and electronically mailing them to branch offices for rapid customer response. PegaREELAY software provides a work list or "pick list" to a MicroMaster 3000 workstation equipped with a Minolta MS 3000 microfilm scanner. The operator loads the correct roll of film and PegaREELAY drives the scanner to the requested check images. The operator verifies the images, scans and distributes them. Although the Allied Irish Bank system is relatively new, early reports are that the department is experiencing significant gains in customer service. Selecting a hybrid system Keep in mind that one of the primary benefits of a hybrid system is the electronic distribution of documents stored on microfilm. On this basis, a hybrid system must have the ability to be integrated into an information processing environment. Avoid proprietary systems that can't be connected, scaled or have no upgrade path. The system should be based on a PC hardware platform and have a familiar look and feel to its operation, reducing operator training needs. Aside from the microfilm scan function, the system should be able to display the digitized image for quality verification. It should also be able to create batches of images, print, fax or E-mail the scanned image. Beyond that, it should be able to merge the image with text files and to extract or mask data. The Business Products Group of Minolta markets digital and analog office equipment. Products include electronic image and information management systems, black and white copiers, plain paper laser facsimile machines, digital color copier/printers, micrographic systems, hybrid imaging systems and related office equipment. Phone: (201) 825-4000 or Web: gmagnell@minolta.com Glenn W. Magnell is vice president and general manager of Minolta's Marketing and Product Planning Division of the Business Products Group Corporation.
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