Using Scanning
There are many ways to use the scanning function of Amsoft. We suggest one of the following methods:
1. Create a separate item for each document scanned. For instance, if you are scanning a homeowner's application, click on insert and type 'Homeowners Application' for the description. Scan in all pages of the document under this item. The next time you have a document to scan for this client, you will click on insert again (even if it is another Homeowner's application) and scan all pages for that document under the new item. This will create a very specific list of items and the images will be easy to retrieve. You are also creating a transactional file which should make your hard copy filing simple. Since you have all of a client's images listed by date, you can file all hard copies for all clients by date without having to file for each client. Should you need to retrieve a hard copy, you would simply look up the client, find the document that you scanned, and note the date it was scanned. If you only need a copy of the document, you can print the image. If you need the original, simply find the file for the day that the document was scanned. Most agents have found this to be a great timesaver!
2. Create separate items for each type of document. For instance, all Homeowner Applications for one client would be scanned under the same item. The advantage of this method is that it reduces the number of items you have listed in the browse box therefore reducing clutter. You may only have 3 items listed if the only documents you have are Applications, Endorsements, and Dec Pages. The disadvantage is that as you add more images under each item they will become more and more difficult to distinguish between.
Backing Up your Images
You will definately want to make backups of your images. This should be done regularly (when you backup the rest of your data would be a good time). The images are stored wherever you set the path to. It would be a good idea to create a folder on your hard drive (perhaps under HCSDATA) just for images. You may also want to create sub folders for each year. This way, you can only continue to backup the images for the current year.
DPI
The DPI setting of your scanner affects the quality of the scan but also affects the size of the file. The most important thing to realize is that the size increases exponentially with the DPI setting. On average, we have found that:
At 100 DPI, images are same quality as older faxes and size is around 50K per page.
At 150 DPI, quality improves considerably but size is about 100K per page.
At 200 DPI, quality is great but size is around 200K per page.
We suggest 150 DPI
Scanners
Most scanners support some level of twain - make sure that your scanner is twain compliant. If you are looking for a heavy-duty scanner with a page feeder, we reccommend Fujitsu ScanPartner 15C. It is one of the more inexpensive of this type of scanner, has good tech support, and other agents seem to like it a lot.
Troubleshooting
Our scanning module uses OCX imaging drivers. The imaging OCX has been shipped free with all versions of Windows since 95B and they are available as a free download for 95A. This means that most computers running Windows 95 or higher already have this driver installed. However, if your computer is missing this driver, the following error message will appear:
Unable to load the Imaging OCX. Please make sure the control is
installed and registered.
If you have received this message, never fear. You can download the control free from Kodak's imaging site: http://www.eastmansoftware.com/products/Imaging/pr_img_index.htm
If you click on 'Scan' and the wrong scanning software is activated, you may have more than one scanning driver installed on your computer. To select the correct driver, from the scanning screen, click on the 'Source' button located at the bottom of the screen.
If you click on 'Scan' and nothing seems to happen, check that the path specified on the description screen is valid. If not, choose a valid path and set it as the default.