Terian Image Capture PRO v2.57 was released 10 days ago, unfortunately a hectic schedule has meant this blog entry was delayed a bit. 🙂
Changes (from v2.54):
- Added Search text box to Main Form to link to Data Browser Form.
- Added ‘Auto Close on Selection’ checkbox to Data Browser Form.
- Changed Data Browser Form functionality to NOT reset any data filters.
- Added data filter notification to Data Browser Form.
- Fixed hints displaying incorrectly in Configuration Form.
- Fixed combo boxes in Configuration Form.
- Fixed missing ‘Data Assisted Layout’ option from default layout in Configuration Form.
- Added Filename label to Data Assist Layout.
- Fixed issue with Freeze Frame locking up video stream.
Live Testing Raises Issues:
Currently I have a client testing the system in their production environment, and this has raised a couple of issues (which have been addressed in the changes listed above), however it has been invaluable to have hands on live testing experience.
The changes relating to the Data Browser form were the most important ones, while simple changes in functionality, they provided considerable improvements to the efficiency of the capture process.
The client has been using Terian ICP to capture ID photos for students at multiple high schools in their local area, under ideal circumstances the client is provided an electronic list of all students which is imported, then students can be processed alphabetically by their Class or Year of study. When all things work well, all information is present and students are correctly ordered the process is extremely streamlined taking less than 10 seconds to process a single student.
However, when things don’t quite work to plan (as was the case at a couple of the high schools) the capture operator is sometimes required to manually lookup (using the Data Browser) student details before capturing their photo. Prior to the changes in v2.57 this process could add an additional 5-10 seconds to the time to process each student. While this may not seem like a significant amount of time, it adds up, causing delays and operator frustration when students or even an entire class need to be processed manually.
Simple Changes Increase Efficiency:
- Adding a quick search box on the main form reduced the amount of mouse clicks and movement required to manually lookup student details.
- Adding an ‘Auto Close on Selection’ check box to Data Browser Form also reduced the amount of mouse clicks and movement required. (The custom form shape does not include minimize/maximize buttons so the Data Browser could not be minimized, so previously the operator either had to keep opening and closing it, or moving it off to the side of the screen.)
These two simple changes increased efficiency considerably, and possibly even more importantly reduced operator frustration (which became evident when observing older versions of Terian ICP being utilised).
Live Testing is Invaluable:
Being able to live test in a production environment has provided invaluable feedback and helped to improve the efficiency of the capture system. This is very important as one of the primary differentiators of Terian ICP over other capture systems is the efficiency at which it can capture ID photos of a large group of people. In total over 6,000 photos were captured across a handful of schools with the fastest school able to be captured at over 400 students an hour*.
* Capture efficiency is also dependent on the organisation of the school, simple things like ensuring students move quickly, are ordered correctly (i.e. alphabetically), and reducing delays between groups (i.e. class/year) being processed all combine to increase overall capture efficiency.
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