ALEX-FORMS
High performance OMR/IMR software
for large volume bureau applications
New: On-line Forms Processing Bureau - click here
ALEX-FORMS is a software package designed to give high speed and high accuracy in reading forms of all sorts - including the most difficult kind of form - the modern 'lifestyle' questionnaire:
This is a small part of a form that may well be double sided and cover 6 A4 sheets of paper with over 1000 very small tick boxes. As far as we know. ALEX-FORMS is the only package capable of processing this sort of material automatically to an acceptable accuracy.
Technology
ALEX-FORMS will take 30 seconds to process both sides of this form, running on an off-the-shelf Pentium; it will read the checks/ticks with 99.7% accuracy or better; it will extract the hand key fields to file for cheap data entry - off shore if desired - and it will remerge the components back together.
No special paper, inks, printing or registration marks are required. In most cases you can start processing forms electronically straight away.
ALEX-FORMS delivers where other packages give up. Why is this kind of OMR so difficult? Because the forms are big and printed on thin paper. The boxes are small (1.5mm square) and very close together. The scanners read two or three forms a second: as the paper rushes through the machine it distorts and wriggles. Naïve software fails to find the boxes, confuses one box with another, does not deliver the accuracy you need. ALEX-FORMS delivers because it uses advanced navigation algorithms to find its way accurately across the image.
Accuracy
If everyone ticked boxes even as neatly as in the example at the top of the page, life would be simple. In reality, people treat forms in a very casual way, which can make it difficult to process them automatically. ALEX is desgined to deal with these problems. Here are some examples: OCR and Post Codes
Problem Description Problem Description 
One tick hits two boxes 
A scribbled message cuts boxes 
A tick is outside its box 
A tick is much too long
Alex will deliver 99.7% accuracy (3 errors in 1,000 tickboxes) running automatically. For users who require very high accuracy there is a special facility to send the few doubtful cases like these for hand checking via key-from-screen. In that case we would expect 99.925% accuracy or better (less than 1 error per 1,000 boxes).
ALEX-FORMS has a built-in OCR engine and can be interfaced to postcode address files.
Market
There is a large and growing market for this kind of data capture. One UK market research house alone has been sending 30 million forms a year like this to the 3rd world for hand keying at a cost of $2M p/a.
As marketing becomes more and more focused on the individual consumer, these forms get bigger, and have more tick/check boxes on them to capture more information. At the same time the paper gets thinner and the scanners get faster. The problem for conventional software gets worse every year.
What Does ALEX-FORMS give you?
Accurate data, cheaper than hand keying and much, much faster. A well organised data capture house using ALEX-FORMS could deliver data within hours of receiving the paper. Contrast this with the days or weeks it can take to get data back from the 3rd world. And even the best organised 3rd world data capture house can be hit by typhoons, floods, revolutions, power failures.
Legal Problems
Data protection legislation in many jurisdictions is beginning to make it illegal to export consumer data for capture overseas. Since hand keying in the developed world is very expensive - even if you can get the people to do it - the only solution is automation.
Installation
ALEX-FORMS runs on off-the-shelf PCs on a standard network. A typical installation:
The hardware consists of: a fast double sided scanner, a network server and 5 PCs. This setup is capable of processing more than 4 million forms a year.
Pricing
Best of all, ALEX-FORMS is available either to buy or on a click-charge. If you prefer the click charge, you pay for preloaded dongles which count down only as you use them. There is no other up front cost.Proccessing a complex image is cheaper than photyocopying the original! While you are not using the software, you pay nothing.
Support
AL Systems can provide all the support you need to get going. Remember: we don't make any money until you do!
New: On-line Forms Processing Bureau - click here
Contact: AL Systems
1 Market St
Abbotsbury
Dorset DT3 4JR
UK
Tel: (44) +1305 871131
Fax: (44) +1305 871132
