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Optical mark recognition
Opticalmarkrecognition How OMR compareswith other data entry techniques by RAOUL
WYNN
I
f computers could understand the spoken word (Voice Recognition) or read our handwriting (Optical Character Recognition), then one of the greatest banes of the DP manager’s life - data entry - would have been eliminated. Sadly, they cannot, at least not in a way which has any impact on the data entry bottleneck. Computers need lots of data to achieve their full potential. Getting the data in is where the problems usually start. The common response is to create armies of people to convert information supplied by others into a machine readable form. The result? Data entry is swallowing up nearly 4O-50% of total data processing resources. Data entry methods Since the birth of computers, three main types of data entry system have emerged: l l l
keypunch keypunch replacements source data entry
Abstract: DP managers need a sensible solution to the data entry bottleneck. Data in machine readable formis a readily available answer. Optical mark reading (OMR) is the art of reading marks and converting them into alphanumeric records to be stored directly in the computer. It is useful where online interactionis not required, or where documents do not have to be produced anyway. Keywords: data processing, data entry, optical mark recognition. Raoul Wynn is commercial director of DRS Data & Research Services Ltd.
26
0011-684x/84/090026-02$03.00
Keypunch This was the first and most basic form of data entry, with keypunch operators producing punched cards from typed, handwritten or printed information. There were several disadvantages. Standard keypunches were very slow and noisy. Any errors had to be sorted out manually, by changing cards. In most circumstances the same data had to be keypunched twice as part of the verification process. Keypunch replacements With such disadvantages, the pressure to find a better solution to the data entry bottleneck was strong. So in the late 1960s and early 1970s improvements in keying technology helped to ease the situation. Information was still being received in the same way as with the basic keypunch operation. The replacement equipment, however, offered more sophisticated format and edit functions. Keyboard to tape systems began to appear, followed quickly by keyboard-to-disc replacements which allowed the operator to edit and check data, validate it during keying and place it on disc or tape rather than punched cards. For a long time data entry was essentially a centralized process, but this has changed with the development of intelligent terminals. Increasing emphasis has been placed on finding ways to bring the entry and, in many cases, processing of data closer to the source of its origination. Online data entry has become possible at remote locations in place of centralized data entry; the processor
@ 1984 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd.
in each intelligent terminal performs verification and validation, storing work for later transmission to the mainframe computer during quiet periods. However, the basic problem still remains. In most cases, even with remote terminals, data entry is still a two-stage process. Information is recorded on documents and then transcribed into the computer by the keyboard operator. As computers entered their fourth generation, the most commonly used data entry methods were still struggling to reach maturity. Source data entry Source data entry is the phrase coined to describe techniques where the object is to capture data at its point of generation. This completely eliminates all unnecessary transcription. The ideal is to create a situation where the data is captured automatically on equipment that does not need manual operation, for example voice recognition. But that is still a hope for the future. In the meantime, the data collected by hand can be converted into machine language by the source data entry device. Optical scanning without keyboards
data entry
A proven source data automation technique with great potential is optical scanning. Data Processing has already featured the latest developments in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in October 1984. Here we are concerned with optical mark reading (OMR).
data processing
applications Optical mark recognition is data entry without keyboards. It is a technique which uses reflected infrared light to accurately detect the presence or absence of marks and spaces on a document. It then decodes this pattern of marks and spaces into a conventional alphanumeric data record and transmits it directly to the computer. One of the problems with the computer industry is that it has a tendency to get carried away by its own claims. Its capacity to make today’s breakthrough look oldfashioned by tomorrow is diverting attention away from some commonsense solutions to real problems. As a technique, OMR has been available for several years. It has gained a technological maturity in sharply defined areas of activity, such as multiple-choice examinations and survey research. But a growing awareness of the cost of labour-intensive data entry methods has brought a sudden increase in the scope and number of applications. In just two years the number of OMR installations undertaken by DRS Data & Research Services, for example, has jumped by nearly 300%.
An OMR systemdetects the presence or absence of marks and spaces on a document and uses reflected infrared light to decode the pattern into a conventional alphanumeric data record.
~0126 no 9
november
1984
predetermined structure is sometimes interpreted as a restriction on the technique’s use. In fact, it is this discipline which makes it so suitable for a wide range of applications. In effect, the decision on how to code the data gathered is undertaken before collection, rather than after. Another common characteristic in choosing a data entry system to use is the belief that one system is needed to do everything. The most successful applications for OMR are where it is used to break bulk. Suppose you are collecting drug prescriptions and drugs are listed using a 12 digit alphanumeric code. Marking the complete drug code on an OMR form would use up most of the form and take a long time. This is plainly not the solution. However, in practice, the majority of prescriptions are for a limited range of drugs. So it is possible to design a form with a number of boxes listing the commonly used drugs for doctors to tick, leaving the last one free for others. As the ‘other’ category repre5% of total prescripAt St Ivel staff feed forms into an optical sents around tions, the data entry task has been cut mark reader. The system is used to dramatically. supply 10 000 outletsfrom a 4 500 OMR does not claim to be the ideal product range. Without OMR, St Ivel would have to install 200 keying stations. solution for all data entry problems. If, for example, data is being keyed Like a lot of computer equipment, into a computer directly from a teleOptical Mark Readers are becoming phone, for example, and online intermore efficient and less expensive. As action is important, optical scanning they have done so, the fact that they will not show advantages. Though it will do the work, for some applicais still worth noting that St Ivel use tions, of up to 30 keyboard operators OMR for telephone sales. has become increasingly significant. If data is being keyed in from OMR machines (readers) have also documents, which the organization become more intelligent. They now cannot find a way to design itself, it decode the pattern of marks and will probably be necessary to continue spaces before data transmission. They keyboard entry. carry out a wide range of validation Optical scanning can be actively and diagnostic functions. DRS readconsidered as an alternative to keyers, for example, can be linked to board entry for almost any other almost any computer. The host comapplications, either as the way to puter program to control the reader is break bulk or as the complete data simple and can be written in whatever 0 entry system. language is already used.
But the numbers are still small, leaving enormous potential. In the UK it is estimated that there are around 150 OMR systems in operation, ranging from a single scanner handling educational tests to multisite networks, such as St Ivel, the dairy products coping with a massive, company, time-sensitive sales order processing operation.
Form design The fact that
OMR
forms
have
a
Data & Research Services Ltd, 16 Burners Lane, Kiln Farm Industrial Estate, Milton Keynes MKll 3HB, UK.
27
WYNN
I
f computers could understand the spoken word (Voice Recognition) or read our handwriting (Optical Character Recognition), then one of the greatest banes of the DP manager’s life - data entry - would have been eliminated. Sadly, they cannot, at least not in a way which has any impact on the data entry bottleneck. Computers need lots of data to achieve their full potential. Getting the data in is where the problems usually start. The common response is to create armies of people to convert information supplied by others into a machine readable form. The result? Data entry is swallowing up nearly 4O-50% of total data processing resources. Data entry methods Since the birth of computers, three main types of data entry system have emerged: l l l
keypunch keypunch replacements source data entry
Abstract: DP managers need a sensible solution to the data entry bottleneck. Data in machine readable formis a readily available answer. Optical mark reading (OMR) is the art of reading marks and converting them into alphanumeric records to be stored directly in the computer. It is useful where online interactionis not required, or where documents do not have to be produced anyway. Keywords: data processing, data entry, optical mark recognition. Raoul Wynn is commercial director of DRS Data & Research Services Ltd.
26
0011-684x/84/090026-02$03.00
Keypunch This was the first and most basic form of data entry, with keypunch operators producing punched cards from typed, handwritten or printed information. There were several disadvantages. Standard keypunches were very slow and noisy. Any errors had to be sorted out manually, by changing cards. In most circumstances the same data had to be keypunched twice as part of the verification process. Keypunch replacements With such disadvantages, the pressure to find a better solution to the data entry bottleneck was strong. So in the late 1960s and early 1970s improvements in keying technology helped to ease the situation. Information was still being received in the same way as with the basic keypunch operation. The replacement equipment, however, offered more sophisticated format and edit functions. Keyboard to tape systems began to appear, followed quickly by keyboard-to-disc replacements which allowed the operator to edit and check data, validate it during keying and place it on disc or tape rather than punched cards. For a long time data entry was essentially a centralized process, but this has changed with the development of intelligent terminals. Increasing emphasis has been placed on finding ways to bring the entry and, in many cases, processing of data closer to the source of its origination. Online data entry has become possible at remote locations in place of centralized data entry; the processor
@ 1984 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd.
in each intelligent terminal performs verification and validation, storing work for later transmission to the mainframe computer during quiet periods. However, the basic problem still remains. In most cases, even with remote terminals, data entry is still a two-stage process. Information is recorded on documents and then transcribed into the computer by the keyboard operator. As computers entered their fourth generation, the most commonly used data entry methods were still struggling to reach maturity. Source data entry Source data entry is the phrase coined to describe techniques where the object is to capture data at its point of generation. This completely eliminates all unnecessary transcription. The ideal is to create a situation where the data is captured automatically on equipment that does not need manual operation, for example voice recognition. But that is still a hope for the future. In the meantime, the data collected by hand can be converted into machine language by the source data entry device. Optical scanning without keyboards
data entry
A proven source data automation technique with great potential is optical scanning. Data Processing has already featured the latest developments in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) in October 1984. Here we are concerned with optical mark reading (OMR).
data processing
applications Optical mark recognition is data entry without keyboards. It is a technique which uses reflected infrared light to accurately detect the presence or absence of marks and spaces on a document. It then decodes this pattern of marks and spaces into a conventional alphanumeric data record and transmits it directly to the computer. One of the problems with the computer industry is that it has a tendency to get carried away by its own claims. Its capacity to make today’s breakthrough look oldfashioned by tomorrow is diverting attention away from some commonsense solutions to real problems. As a technique, OMR has been available for several years. It has gained a technological maturity in sharply defined areas of activity, such as multiple-choice examinations and survey research. But a growing awareness of the cost of labour-intensive data entry methods has brought a sudden increase in the scope and number of applications. In just two years the number of OMR installations undertaken by DRS Data & Research Services, for example, has jumped by nearly 300%.
An OMR systemdetects the presence or absence of marks and spaces on a document and uses reflected infrared light to decode the pattern into a conventional alphanumeric data record.
~0126 no 9
november
1984
predetermined structure is sometimes interpreted as a restriction on the technique’s use. In fact, it is this discipline which makes it so suitable for a wide range of applications. In effect, the decision on how to code the data gathered is undertaken before collection, rather than after. Another common characteristic in choosing a data entry system to use is the belief that one system is needed to do everything. The most successful applications for OMR are where it is used to break bulk. Suppose you are collecting drug prescriptions and drugs are listed using a 12 digit alphanumeric code. Marking the complete drug code on an OMR form would use up most of the form and take a long time. This is plainly not the solution. However, in practice, the majority of prescriptions are for a limited range of drugs. So it is possible to design a form with a number of boxes listing the commonly used drugs for doctors to tick, leaving the last one free for others. As the ‘other’ category repre5% of total prescripAt St Ivel staff feed forms into an optical sents around tions, the data entry task has been cut mark reader. The system is used to dramatically. supply 10 000 outletsfrom a 4 500 OMR does not claim to be the ideal product range. Without OMR, St Ivel would have to install 200 keying stations. solution for all data entry problems. If, for example, data is being keyed Like a lot of computer equipment, into a computer directly from a teleOptical Mark Readers are becoming phone, for example, and online intermore efficient and less expensive. As action is important, optical scanning they have done so, the fact that they will not show advantages. Though it will do the work, for some applicais still worth noting that St Ivel use tions, of up to 30 keyboard operators OMR for telephone sales. has become increasingly significant. If data is being keyed in from OMR machines (readers) have also documents, which the organization become more intelligent. They now cannot find a way to design itself, it decode the pattern of marks and will probably be necessary to continue spaces before data transmission. They keyboard entry. carry out a wide range of validation Optical scanning can be actively and diagnostic functions. DRS readconsidered as an alternative to keyers, for example, can be linked to board entry for almost any other almost any computer. The host comapplications, either as the way to puter program to control the reader is break bulk or as the complete data simple and can be written in whatever 0 entry system. language is already used.
But the numbers are still small, leaving enormous potential. In the UK it is estimated that there are around 150 OMR systems in operation, ranging from a single scanner handling educational tests to multisite networks, such as St Ivel, the dairy products coping with a massive, company, time-sensitive sales order processing operation.
Form design The fact that
OMR
forms
have
a
Data & Research Services Ltd, 16 Burners Lane, Kiln Farm Industrial Estate, Milton Keynes MKll 3HB, UK.
27