Unlocking Data In Public Services with Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)

Over the last 10 years, government institutions and public service providers the world over have committed to digitization, realizing the importance of the data stored inside decades of accumulated paper-based records. However, extracting value from this data remains a challenge.

EDC’s Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) solution helps government organizations unlock this value, enabling them to inform data-driven decision-making, streamline services, and support innovation.

Extracting value from data

Much of the data collected by governmental organizations is semi-structured or unstructured, often stored as scanned documents or images. Extracting usable data from documents stored in this way still requires people to manually find and open documents, locate the relevant information, enter it into other platforms, and verify it. This process can be time-consuming, costly, and prone to human error.

The challenge, therefore, is no longer about digitizing documents but rather in efficiently extracting valuable insights from digitized data. This is where IDP comes into play.

Why Intelligent Document Processing (IDP)?

EDC’s IDP solution incorporates aspects of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) together with Natural Language Processing (NLP) to further automate the extraction of structured data from semi-structured or unstructured documents.

OCR digitizes text from scanned images or physical documents and converts it into machine-readable formats. However, OCR alone cannot interpret or analyze the extracted text, especially when dealing with complex layouts or multiple languages. This is where NLP comes into play.

NLP enables the IDP solution to process and extract information from text by identifying key phrases and patterns within documents such as names, dates, or addresses scattered throughout a document.

Previous generations of document processing technologies, like traditional OCR on its own, rely on fixed templates. While certainly useful, this method struggles with unfamiliar document layouts or formats.

For example, consider a license application, which may require multiple supporting documents such as passports, tenancy contracts, and various forms of user ID. These documents might be scanned in varying quality, with inconsistent layouts or languages, such as Arabic and English. Traditional OCR would have difficulty identifying and extracting the necessary information without extensive pre-configuration.

By integrating advanced NLP, EDC’s IDP "understands" the meaning of the text, rather than simply recognizing it. This means it can actively locate and extract the required information, regardless of layout, structure, or language.

Use cases in the government sector

For government entities and public service providers, IDP offers several high-value applications from accessing historical data to improving processes for ongoing data capture.

• Automating form-based processes: IDP can streamline applications for permits, licenses, and processes by extracting data from identity cards and supporting documents.
• Research and policy insights: By analyzing archived legislative documents and statistics, IDP enables better access to valuable historical information for policymaking.
• Compliance and verification: IDP simplifies and accelerates English and Arabic document processing, providing more reliable data verification.

The benefits of IDP for government and public services

1. Enhanced efficiency: IDP reduces document processing time by 30-40%.
2. Improved data accuracy: Achieving up to 99.5% data accuracy, IDP beats manual processing capabilities comfortably.
3. Releasing data value: By retrieving and storing data from previously unstructured sources, IDP allows governments to make use of historical data for better decision-making and service delivery.
4. Cost control: Operational costs are reduced by up to 20%, freeing resources for other public services.

EDC’s IDP solution transforms static archives into dynamic, valuable resources, allowing governments to achieve more for their citizens. But it’s not only archives, government offices handle thousands of documents and processes every week. With IDP, processing times can drop from hours to minutes, ensuring faster approvals, satisfied citizens, and better public services.

Learn more about EDC’s IDP solution.