Imagine a scenario where you need to collect information on forms where carrying a computer is difficult or prohibited - court personnel collecting information in correctional facilities, construction personnel collecting walk-through information on job sites, or collecting data in a drug clinical trial - but where you want the results to be used electronically. The solution: Capturx for SharePoint Server from Adapx.
I was lucky enough to get a personal preview of Capturx the week before the conference and although I thought the ability to capture forms based information from plain paper forms to SharePoint was awesome, what really has me drooling is the upcoming integration to OneNote, for which I literally begged to be part of the beta test community! But first, the integration to SharePoint. One of the challenges with digital capture of handwriting is that you most often need both a special pad and special pen to capture the information. The combination of requiring two special devices reduces the practicality of widespread adoption and use. Capturx addresses this problem in a terrific way - by allowing you to print your data capture forms on regular paper.
The scenario is the following: you design your forms using their Excel-based forms designer tool. Once created, you then print the form on standard paper. The form has fields in pre-defined locations, of course, and prints with a narrow border that is part of the requirement for interfacing with their special digital pen (a digital watermark). The pen itself is larger than a regular pen - smaller than a typical white board marker, but thicker than most regular pens. However, the form can be printed on any printer on standard paper so that any user can print what they need - just in time, anywhere. The magic happens when you enter data on the form. The pen works just like a traditional pen so a completed form can be photocopied just like any piece of paper. However, the contents captured by the pen can be integrated automatically into SharePoint (or Excel) for immediate sharing, reporting, and workflow automation. After the offline content capture is completed, the pen can be connected to a PC to upload the data or, in my favorite scenario, the pen itself can be pointed at your BlackBerry and sent to the server wirelessly via Bluetooth! Although this week I had my first opportunity to connect to the internet on an airplane, persistent connectivity and electronic information capture is not the only way people conduct business today. This tool recognizes the very real business requirement for paper-based data collection for mobile teams but finds a natural way (in the user's "comfort zone") to speed up capture without the time delay and risks from scanning, transcribing, or losing paper documents. One thing I really loved was that the handwritten information is OCR'd as it is uploaded into the SharePoint columns but the entire document can be saved as a layered .pdf file that allows users to toggle between both the "typewritten" and handwritten form data information easily. Very cool product and for businesses that are dependent on paper-based forms, this is definitely something worth considering.
OK, form data to SharePoint is a real winner, but there is another upcoming integration that is my personal favorite: digital pen to OneNote integration. Although I have long coveted a tablet PC because I want a way to digitally capture and OCR my notes from client meetings, I haven't yet been able to justify the cost of a Tablet PC. Plus, I don't always want to lug around my laptop. Plus, while I type really quickly, I am more comfortable taking handwritten notes and I don't think it's appropriate to use a traditional PC to capture notes in small client meetings where the barrier of the screen prevents the type of human interaction that is the reason we still have face-to-face meetings. When I do telephone meetings, I could certainly be taking notes online, but then I have the problem of multiple sources of information to review and integrate later on - online notes with paper based notes. The challenge I have with some of the other digital pen transcription solutions is that they require special paper. I'm addicted to my Levenger notebooks so the idea of being able to use the notebook system that I already love with a digital pen that can transcribe my notes to OneNote is incredibly appealing. (Yes, I know I will have to print out my note paper and use the special Levenger hole punch, but that's OK. For non-Levenger users, Adapx has a special OneNote spiral notebook that can be used to capture non-forms based notes.) Capturx for OneNote is a dream product for me - and will finally allow me to take a Tablet PC off my wish list, since I really only want it for taking notes!
I hope the Adapx folks will take my "begging for Beta" seriously when it comes to the OneNote capture product and even if I don't get that chance, this is a product I will be first in line to buy when it is released. I bumped in to a bunch of folks from a current pharmaceutical client in the expo area of the SharePoint conference and one of them called Capturx his "best in show" product, particularly for the potential to capture handwritten information and transfer it directly to SharePoint. Both scenarios are pretty awesome and give us all yet another reason to look forward to SharePoint 2010.
Hanley is an independent consultant and president of her own firm, Susan Hanley LLC, where she specializes in the design and development of portal solutions and knowledge management consulting.
She is co-author of Essential SharePoint 2007: Delivering High-Impact Collaboration. Read a free chapter of the book.
The Leader in Network Knowledge
Begging for Beta?
The Sharepoint product is the only beta to beg for at the moment - all the rest of the products are released and being enjoyed by companies from coast to coast. Watch for Sharepoint coming to a business near you within the next several months.
Post new comment