ELA by Com Com Systems



A.      What is ELA?

	ELA is a technologically advanced, document automation software 
	product family that combines :

	1.      Imaging

		The easy creation of an electronic image or 'picture' of any 
		type of paper document containing textual or graphical 
		information generated by hand, machine, camera, printer or 
		other devices.  The electronic image is identical to the 
		paper image, and can be viewed anytime on a computer screen, 
		or printed out on paper to resemble the original document. 

		Once an electronic image of any paper based document, 
		drawing, painting or even photograph has been created, the 
		original may be discarded, 'misplaced' or stored in a remote, 
		secured location.   

		Producing an electronic image requires the use of a fax card 
		or a full size scanner which should allow the size and 
		thickness of the document to be processed.  Prices of full 
		size scanners vary from several hundred dollars to tens of 
		thousands depending on the scanning speed, output image 
		quality, size of documents, etc.  A cost effective alterna-
		tive to a full size scanner is a PC with a $40 to $300 fax 
		card, working in combination with a standard fax machine.  
		Faxing a paper document to the PC fax card allows the 
		duplication of the paper image to an electronic format.

	2.      Recognition of hand, machine or computer printed numbers and 
		letters on forms of any size and style 

		This is the automatic translation of forms data to a format 
		readily understood and used by other programs like word 
		processing, accounting, billing, etc.  Examples of forms data 
		'read' by ELA are first and last names, account number, 
		social security number, vehicle ID number and license plate.  
		Normally, these are read by human operators who key them into 
		a computer via a manual data entry process.  

		Because ELA's character 'reading' and data entry capability 
		by far exceeds those of humans, processing of forms is much 
		accelerated while keyboard data entry effort and time 
		expended by operators are greatly minimized.  Examples of 
		forms suitable for ELA processing are bank account applica-
		tion, loan or credit card application, medical billing and 
		automotive maintenance.   

	3.      Recognition of mark/check boxes or circles on forms of any 
		size and style

		The status of forms mark/check boxes or circles is recognized 
		and 'outputted' as either YES or NO (either selected or not 
		selected).  The presence or absence of marks within boxes or 
		circles on forms is accurately detected by ELA.  Examples for 
		the use of mark boxes would be gender, age bracket, ethnic 
		race, civil status, company size, or even a correct answer 
		from several choices to a question.



B.      How does ELA work?

	ELA is easily and quickly installed in a computer through a user 
	friendly automated program.  

	I.      ELA offers two choices of forms processing environment :

		a.      Unattended processing

			The character recognition process and the transfer of 
			electronic images to the desired database for later 
			retrieval are unattended or require no human inter-
			vention.  These could be done overnight.  Scanning 
			paper documents require minimal user intervention.  
			Manual keying in (or validation process) of the few 
			characters not recognized by ELA is still operator 
			attended.  

			The two ELA products offering mostly unattended 
			processing are :

			a.1     ELA StandAlone - using one computer only, 
				executes the three phases of forms processing 
				namely Acquisition, Recognition and Valida-
				tion, in a sequential manner;

			a.2     ELA Network - utilizes dedicated and net-
				worked PCs to continuously run each of the 
				three forms processing phases until a desired 
				volume of forms has been completely processed.  
				This product truly offers a 'continuous batch 
				and pipelined' operation.  Multiple PCs could 
				be used for each phase or station to avoid 
				bottlenecks and at the same time increase 
				throughput. 

				ELA StandAlone or Network costs from $6,000 
				to over $100,000 depending on the volume of 
				forms to be processed and the recognition 
				capability required (for example, capital 
				hand print alone or in combination with 
				machine print or mark boxes, etc.)


		b.      Attended processing

			Practically requires full operator attendance.  Here, 
			each form is acquired, recognized and validated one 
			after the other, under operator attention, until all 
			forms in the batch have been completely processed. 
			True batch processing is unavailable.

			Our low end product ELA Office currently priced at 
			$599 is designed for this environment.  Multiple 
			networked PCs running ELA Office may support some 
			data entry applications.

	II.     For Imaging, ELA allows two ways to capture, store, manage, 
		and retrieve electronic images of paper documents:

		a.      automatic image database indexing of forms through 
			assignment of forms data as index values, or;
	
		b.      direct entry into image database with manual 
			assignment of index values 



C.      Economics of ELA

	Whether ELA is used to process large or small quantities of forms, 
	the result is almost always true that the investment costs could be 
	repaid by savings realized from the use of manual data entry in nine 
	months or less.  Thereafter, yearly savings which can be equated to 
	additional net income, will be between 70% to 95% of the cost of 
	alternative data entry.

	If for example, manual data entry costs were $10,000, the cost 
	reduction which can be seen as net income from the use of ELA will 
	be from $7,000 to $9,500.

	ELA is indeed a very sophisticated, yet easy to use forms processing 
	and imaging software, providing the best performance and return on 
	investment among products in its class! 



D.      Applications of ELA

	ELA is an excellent imaging and/or forms processing software package 
	that all of the following can use:

	1.      Any type of manufacturer        
	2.      Computer software companies     
	3.      Lawyers, paralegals, etc.       
	4.      Doctors, dentists, chiropractors, etc.  
	5.      Hospitals, clinics, convalescent homes, etc.    
	6.      Churches and other religious organizations      
	7.      Federal, state and local governmental agencies   
	8.      Resellers of any kind or type in any industry  
	9.      Oil companies   
	10.     Chemical & Petrochemical companies      
	11.     Pharmaceutical companies        
	12.     Biological & genetic engineering companies      
	13.     Agricultural and forestry companies     
	14.     Research and survey companies               
	15.     Banks and other financial institutions
	16.     Insurance companies, brokers and agencies
	17.     Brokers of any kind or type
	18.     Agents of any kind or type
	19.     Food and liquor companies
	20.     Engineering & construction companies
	21.     Shipping lines and agencies
	22.     Airlines 
	23.     Train companies
	24.     Social clubs & organizations
	25.     Professional Associations or affiliations
	26.     Exhibitors & trade show management
	27.     Anyone who wants to store and manage electronic images of 
		paper documents, etc.


	Applications for ELA include :

	I.      Imaging

		a.      Setting up of a 'paperless office' - save on filing 
			cabinets, costly office space, manhours and labor 
			costs in filing and then searching for documents, as 
			well as preview on demand and print if necessary any 
			document 
			
		b.      Archiving of volumes of printed documents - save on
			resources as in the preceding especially when very 
			large volumes of documents are involved.  These 
			documents when processed may be taken out of the 
			premises and stored in a secure place.
	
		c.      FAX management - incoming as well as outgoing faxes 
			converted to electronic images for more efficient 
			distribution, handling and filing.

			
	II.     Forms processing for many types including :

		a.      Business reply mail
		b.      Warranty cards
		c.      Registration cards
		d.      Membership application
		e.      Various accounting forms
		f.      Invoices and delivery receipts
		g.      Frequent Flyers account
		h.      Catalogues for books, etc.
		i.      Ordering forms
		j.      Laboratories forms
		k.      Healthcare forms
		l.      All kinds of governmental forms
		m.      Order forms
		n.      Applications of any kind
		o.      Inventory control
		p.      Travel and other expenses
		q.      Tax forms of any kind
		r.      Customer response cards



Summary

	Again, why use ELA?

	1.      To organize and manage electronic images of documents and 
		faxes in a 'paperless office' employing a software of highest 
		quality and latest technology.

	2.      To quickly access key information necessary in making wise,
		intelligent and profitable management decisions.

	3.      To increase net income by dramatically reducing all costs 
		associated with maintaining an in-house manual data entry 
		facility or the contracting out to data entry service bureaus.
