MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) - MICR are magnetic characters encoded on checks or other documents. The MICR line can be read electronically and contains information such as account number, dollar amount, transit number, and document serial number.

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) - OCR is the ability of a scanning device to recognize characters optically. OCR does not read as a graphics file, the way other scanned images do. It can be edited and formatted just like any other text file.

Image Readiness - Refers to a documents compliance with the ANSI standard on Bank Check Background and Numerical Convenience Amount Field - X9.7. This standard provides the requirements and specifications for the check background and the location of the numerical convenience amount field for any paper document in the payment transfer system

MICR and Image Quality Control
Standards are in place to regulate the quality of the MICR line and "Image Readiness" of checks and other negotiable documents in order to reduce the expense and time spent by financial institutions processing these documents. When a problem arises with the MICR line or the background image financial institutions must manually process these documents and in many cases are passing the costs back to the customer - anywhere from a $1.00 to $7.00 per rejected item.

With the printers becoming more cost-effective and check printing software becoming more readily available the result has been a significant increase in the percentage of rejects being received by financial institutions. It is critical for printers and corporations to establish quality control methods in order to bring print quality within the industry standards and keep their reject cost to a minimum. To facilitate this printers and corporation require automated MICR and Image testing equipment and quality control procedures that comply with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and American Bankers Association (ABA) standards.

RDM's MICR and Image Quality Control Solutions

RDM's MICR and Image quality control solutions allow any size printer or corporation to implement a print quality control process immediately with limited training and integration time. RDM offers products such as the MICR Qualifier GTX which is designed to test for MICR print quality issues and the Image Qualifier which is designed to test "Image Readiness". These two products combined with RDM's training programs and quality control accessories provide small and medium size printers and corporations with a comprehensive quality control solution.

For large scale print operations RDM offers a CheckSheet solution.

How RDM fits into your quality control process

At every MICR printer workstation in a print house or corporations printing operation, RDM's MICR Qualifier GTX should be readily accessible to the operator for MICR line testing and monitoring printer performance. This allows the operator to test MICR line compliance prior to a print run saving time and wasted materials.

The MICR test results can be automatically stored on a computer and filed for future reference. Detailed test data can be sent to an Access Data Base to monitor the performance of a MICR printer and this information can also be used to decide when to do preventative maintenance on the printer. Test files and detailed reports can also be e-mailed to financial institutions for fast turnaround of acceptance of MICR quality control. The recall of these tests can assist with equipment maintenance and issues that may appear in the future from the bank processing centers. Financial institutions are anxious to work with and promote printers that have these high quality control measures

Another key component in an overall print quality control program is image readiness. RDM's Image Qualifier tests all 5 areas of interest outlined in the ANSI standard with respect to image quality control. The IQ will highlight problem areas and produce an easy to understand report that summarizes the issues and provides recommendations for changes. When documents are image ready the reject rate is significantly reduced and legibility is improved. The result is decreased storage and retrieval costs and reduced or eliminated reject related fees.