Key Concepts
In Vantage, documents are processed in transactions. As opposed to batches, transactions are not assigned a type. The processing flow and OCR settings for a transaction are defined by the skill that handles the transaction. Generally, you will need to replace Document Definitions with built-in or manually configured Document skills, create a Process skill, and set up its processing flow to route documents to appropriate Document skills and other processing stages.Key Concepts Mapping
| Concept in FlexiCapture | Equivalent in Vantage |
|---|---|
| FlexiCapture project | A Process skill that references other skills developed in Vantage and Advanced Designer: OCR, Classification, Document, Document Splitter |
| Batch | Transaction (partial equivalent) |
| Batch type, project properties | Document processing workflow configured in the Process skill, skill settings and activity settings |
| Classification batches | Document set of a Classification skill |
| Training batches | Document sets in Document skills (partial equivalent) |
| Test batches | Test document sets in a Document skill in Advanced Designer |
| Document Definition | Document skill |
| Workflow | Document processing workflow in a Process skill |
| Auto-learning for field extraction | Online Learning for Document skills |
| NLP models | Activities for unstructured documents in a Document skill in Advanced Designer |
Import of Documents
FlexiCapture 12 Scanning Stations can be fully replaced with ABBYY Vantage Scanning Stations. Import from a hot folder (which is referred to as shared folder in Vantage) or from emails can be configured in the Input activity of a Process skill. The source type, source file name and information about the email are all saved to the registration parameters automatically. You can also import documents and set custom registration parameters](/vantage/documentation/developer-guide/registration-parameters via the Vantage API or use connectors to import documents from a variety of third-party applications.Workflow Setup
To recreate the batch processing workflow, configure a Process skill. In Vantage, Process skill activities act as the equivalent for processing stages. A document set is referred to as a collection of documents within a transaction.Workflow Stages Mapping
| Workflow stage in FlexiCapture | Equivalent in Vantage |
|---|---|
| Scanning | ABBYY Vantage Scanning Station (not integrated into Process skill activities) |
| Rescanning | Not supported |
| Recognition | A workflow that may include OCR, Classify, Extract and Assemble activities of the Process skill. OCR settings can be configured for each Classification and Document skill separately. An OCR activity of a Process skill can be used to specify general pre-recognition options for all documents. A Classify activity can be used to determine the type of document and to route the document to an appropriate Document skill mapped to an Extract activity, where the data is extracted. An Assemble activity can be used to assemble documents. |
| Document assembly check | Verifying the integrity of a collection of documents is not supported. To assemble documents, you can use Assemble activity of a Process skill. |
| Batch integrity check | Scanning Stations perform automatic batch integrity checks before the documents are sent to Vantage. An operator can also run a manual check on the Scanning Station. |
| Data verification, verification, export confirmation | Manual Review activity of a Process skill. |
| Export | Output activity or Custom activity of a Process skill. |
| Processed, Exceptions | Transaction statuses which are assigned automatically by Vantage. You can view the transaction statuses in the Transactions section of the Skill Monitor. |
| User type | Condition activity or Custom activity of a Process skill. |
User Roles
Vantage supports creating several Manual Review activities in a Process skill. A Manual Review Operator can have restricted access to specific manual review stages. To create users and edit their permissions, navigate to the Users tab in Vantage.Roles Mapping
| Role in FlexiCapture | Role in Vantage |
|---|---|
| Scanning Operator | Skill User |
| Data Verification Operator | Manual Review Operator (with the possibility to restrict access to certain skills and manual review stages) |
| Verification Operator | Manual Review Operator (with the possibility to restrict access to certain skills and manual review stages) |
| Senior Verification Operator | Processing Supervisor |
| Project Settings Editor | Skill Designer |
| Monitoring Operator | Processing Supervisor (also has access to manual review) |
| Administrator | Tenant Administrator |
| Web Capture Operator | Skill User + Manual Review Operator |
| Operators Manager | Tenant Administrator (this is the only role that allows managing user permissions) |
Classification
Classification models can’t be reused in Vantage directly. For identifying documents of different types, create a Classification skill. To that skill, you can upload documents used to train the classification model in FlexiCapture, create identical classes, and train the skill in Vantage. You can further use this skill in a Classify activity of a Process skill and map the classes to Extract activities. Each Extract activity will use a Document skill that can be regarded as an equivalent of a Document Definition section. Clustering is always enabled in Vantage, so different variants of documents of the same type may be identified automatically. However, if the layouts vary significantly, consider creating a Document skill in Advanced Designer, adding a Classify activity to its workflow, and training it accordingly. You can set up an Extraction Rules activity (which is more or less an equivalent of a FlexiLayout) to be selected automatically based on the document variant by placing a set of Extraction Rules activities after the Classify activity. For separating documents in a stream of input pages, add an Assemble activity to a Process skill. You may also need to create and configure a Document Splitter skill in Advanced Designer.Document Definitions
Generally, you will need to replace Document Definitions for different types of documents with appropriate Document skills. Document Definitions for different variants of documents of the same type must be replaced with separate activities in a single Document skill. If a Document Definition contains several sections, each section must be replaced with an appropriate Document skill. OCR settings and handwritten text recognition are configured in the scope of a Document skill. If you use a Process skill to route documents to different Document skills, you can also configure general pre-recognition settings (languages, handwritten text recognition, and barcodes) in an OCR activity. Note that handwritten text recognition is enabled by default in Document skill settings and disabled by default in the OCR activity.Tip: The data extraction technology in Vantage has been substantially changed and improved compared to FlexiCapture. The way Extraction Rules and other activities available in Vantage function differs from that of their FlexiCapture equivalents, meaning that in some cases the results may differ. Make sure you are satisfied with the extraction results after replacing your Document Definitions with Document skills.
Fixed Document Definitions
Document Definitions for forms can’t be reused directly in Vantage. If none of the built-in skills suit your needs, export the corresponding batch of labeled documents from FlexiCapture and import them into a newly created Document skill in Advanced Designer. Then you have two options:- Add a Fast Learning activity to the processing flow of the Document skill and train it using the uploaded documents. This activity doesn’t require a large set of documents to be trained. To start training the activity using the technology for forms, you only need to add three documents that can be identified as instances of the same form.
- Add a Forms activity to the processing flow of the Document skill and upload an image of a blank form. Label the fields on the blank form and train the activity. Test the results on the uploaded documents.
Document Definitions Based on Flexible Descriptions
In many cases, you can easily replace an existing Document Definition with a built-in skill or train a new skill in Vantage or Advanced Designer using your labeled documents. However, there is also a quick option to create in Advanced Designer an equivalent of an existing FlexiLayout. You can import a FlexiLayout into a Document skill in Advanced Designer. You can either create a new Document skill based on the FlexiLayout project or import a Flexilayout to an Extraction Rules activity. OCR language settings are inherited from the FlexiLayout settings, but we recommend that you check the OCR settings of a skill after importing. Training results can’t be transferred to Advanced Designer, but you can import the labeled documents from a training batch and use them to retrain the activity in Advanced Designer.Document Definitions Using NLP Technology
Trained models can’t be imported to Advanced Designer. However, you can choose one of the NLP models available in Advanced Designer as skill activities, upload sample documents, and train the activity. To train your own NLP model, use a Segmentation and/or Deep Learning activity in a Document skill in Advanced Designer. Extraction scripts can’t be reused in Advanced Designer or in Vantage.Rule Validation
Rules can be recreated either in Vantage or Advanced Designer. Script rules must be rewritten to be compatible with the Vantage JavaScript interpreter.Document Assembly
Use an Assemble activity of a Process skill. To add a document assembly script, create and configure a Document Splitter skill in Advanced Designer. The script must be rewritten in order to be compatible with the JavaScript interpreter.Export Settings
You can export processing results via the Vantage API or use connectors to export processing results to a variety of third-party applications. Export to a shared folder can be configured in the Output activity of a Process skill. Use the same activity to configure export formats. You can configure export with the help of a script in an Output activity or Custom activity of a Process skill. The script must be rewritten in order to be compatible with the Vantage JavaScript interpreter. Vantage supports storing credentials for third-party services in environment variables. These variables can be accessed from these scripts.Data Form
The field structure is automatically recreated when you import labeled documents or FlexiLayouts to Advanced Designer. You can then use Vantage or Advanced Designer to edit the data form layout.ABBYY FlexiCapture for Invoices
Vantage offers a large number of built-in skills for processing various types of documents including invoices, receipts, purchase orders, and commercial invoices. These work out of the box and can replace projects created in ABBYY FlexiCapture for Invoices.Tip: We recommend that you test built-in skills on your documents first. If you are not satisfied with the extraction results, read on for advice on creating or customizing the skills.Datasets used in the project can be uploaded to data catalogs in CSV format. The necessary data catalogs with a set of columns equivalent to that of datasets are automatically created for the Invoice, Commercial Invoice, and Purchase Order skills. If you were using a FlexiCapture for Invoices project that was trained on your documents, but had no manually customized settings or custom fields, you won’t need to configure any additional settings in Vantage. Simply derive a skill from the desired built-in invoice skill, import the labeled documents, and train the derived skill on the resulting document set. If you were using a custom FlexiLayout, we recommend that you derive a skill from the desired built-in invoice skill and create an Extraction Rules activity by importing the custom FlexiLayout. Add the Extraction Rules activity you created after the
Base: <Base Skill Name> activity. This method can be used, for example, to capture additional invoice fields.
Tip: If you have multiple FlexiLayouts, you can add several Extraction Rules activities. For example, if you had a dedicated FlexiLayout for each vendor, import each of the FlexiLayouts as an Extraction Rules activity and map the vendor ID values (extracted by the base invoice skill) to the corresponding activities.The FlexiLayouts you were using in FlexiCapture may have included many additional settings, such as currency formatting, regional settings, or tax rates. These settings are usually not needed in Vantage, because its built-in skills already include all the relevant information.
Monitoring and Reporting
You can monitor productivity and processing data in Skill Monitor. Information about processing events and errors is available in Transactions and Error Log sections of the Skill Monitor. To generate business processing reports, you can use Business Processing Reporting Warehouse included in Vantage. Information about activities not related to business transaction processing is available in the Security Log.List of Features Not Supported in Vantage
The following FlexiCapture features are not supported in Vantage:- SLA control
- Batch priority
- Rescanning
- Document assembly check
- User attachments for imported images
- Description files for batches from a hot folder
- Double verification
- Distributed verification
- Processing interface events
- Skin settings (you can only remove the Vantage logo when integrating Manual Review client in your own system)
- Custom recognition script
- Service fields
- Links to existing fields (field values of all documents in a transaction can be accessed via script)
- Dictionaries for OCR languages
- Rule chains (can only be set up using an Advanced Script rule)
- Redacting sensitive data when exporting documents
- Localization of data form, rules names, and script messages