| Reliably integrating important electronic and paper | | | | Check Sum and various types of encryption. In some |
| documents received by fax such as invoices, expense | | | | cases, implementation of these PDF417 or DataMatrix |
| reports, purchase orders, employment applications, | | | | is more expensive due to proprietary application |
| claims and legal contracts into the daily business | | | | requirements. |
| workflow is a common challenge. These documents | | | | Bar code faxing can be accomplished with the actual |
| are critical to many revenue related business | | | | document itself or with a bar code fax cover page. |
| processes and yet they are commonly misplaced, lost | | | | The bar code is computer generated and added to |
| or misfiled in a never-ending row of filing cabinets. | | | | the actual document/cover page. Another method of |
| In addition, the reproduction of these paper documents | | | | adding a bar code is with a hand held bar code printer |
| decrease productivity and increase daily soft costs | | | | or bar code label maker. The bar code can be placed |
| such as manual labor burden, fax retransmission, paper, | | | | and easily identified in the one of the four corners of |
| toner, and printer wear and tear. | | | | the document. It is recommended to use slightly larger |
| Incorporating bar code faxing into an organization will | | | | font sizes when using bar code faxing because fax |
| improve the business document workflow and mission | | | | documents shrink slightly during actual fax transmission. |
| critical data access to the following departments in | | | | The use of intelligent fax hardware minimizes the |
| your organization: | | | | shrinking and provides the highest quality fax images. |
| - Human Resource Departments | | | | Information captured in a bar code will vary depending |
| - Accounts Payable | | | | on the document type. For invoices the bar code may |
| - Accounts Receivables | | | | contain the invoice number, customer name, and |
| - Sales | | | | account number. It may also contain the name of the |
| - Marketing | | | | department it is being routed. For expense reports the |
| - Legal Departments | | | | bar code may contain the employee ID number, month |
| - Production | | | | of report, total amount due etc. Employment |
| - Manufacturing Bar code faxing will also help eliminate | | | | applications may contain phone number, social security |
| the need to purchase or develop special forms | | | | number, position applying. The information that can be |
| applications and processing procedures, minimize lost | | | | contained within a bar code is unlimited. |
| documents and help with any eDocument initiatives | | | | Once the fax with the bar code is received, the fax |
| your organization may have. | | | | server software has the ability to read the bar code |
| What is bar code faxing? | | | | and extract the information or metadata. This |
| Bar code faxing is a computer based fax | | | | metadata is then used to a) Identify, b) Route, c) Store |
| methodology in which commonly faxed documents | | | | & Deliver and d) Retrieve documents efficiently |
| are given bar codes for identification, routing, metadata | | | | and effectively. |
| and indexing purposes. Bar code faxing is simple to | | | | Summary |
| implement, reliable and depending on the bar code | | | | The use of bar code faxing isn't new by any means. In |
| symbology used, very secure. Bar code symbologies | | | | the past several years however it has gained traction |
| used in bar code faxing include 1D and 2D bar codes, | | | | and acceptance in the fax server, scanning, document |
| most commonly referred to as Code 39, Code 128, | | | | management, content management and imaging |
| PDF417 and DataMatrix. Code 39 and 128 are the | | | | industries due to the introduction of the multi-function |
| most inexpensive and easiest to implement because | | | | devices (scanner, fax, printer, copier), better imaging |
| applications like Microsoft Word support bar code | | | | technologies, more robust computers, operating |
| fonts. Code 39 and 128 fonts are readily available on | | | | systems, intelligent fax boards and the need to resolve |
| the internet free of charge. PDF417 and DataMatrix | | | | compliance and regulatory issues. |
| bar codes can hold larger amounts of data, support | | | | |