Embedded system developers face many and sometimes conflicting challenges. To increase efficiency and drive down hardware cost, they must aim for ever higher levels of system integration. But to keep applications  manageable and scaleable, they need solutions that are as general and modular as possible. At the same time, embedded system complexity rises, quality standards go up and evelopment time needs to decrease.

With such opposing forces, how can the development of embedded systems still remain successful, maintainable and reliable?

This white paper gives an overview of how embedded system engineers
can cope with these issues, now and in the future. It does so by showing
what successful strategies we have developed in the past few years.
Taking the development of the fastest duplex cut sheet printer in the world
as a case example, we outline four elements of successful embedded software design:

• Model driven development as the leading method for designing and building real-time systems.
• A standard real-time embedded software architecture.
• Reuse of software as a “company philosophy”.
• Systematic approach to quality control.

The lessons learned from our experiences with embedded design are so general that they can be applied to a wide range of real-time system designs.

Introduction to the Ricoh Process Efficiency Index

This independent study was conducted by Coleman Parkes Research and commissioned by Ricoh Europe PLC. It provides European CIOs with a fresh insight into business critical document processes. It identifies the areas for improvement and the economic return that those improvements could deliver, particularly in light of the challenges facing the future workplace, including changing demographics, an increased emphasis on sustainability, globalisation and new technology.

The Baby Boom generation is leaving the workforce by 2025 and taking valuable knowledge with them.  At the same time the Millennial’s are joining with new ways of working and as mobile work accelerates, it increases the need for organisations to manage the way information is accessed remotely.

It is therefore, paramount that business critical information is captured and easily accessed to ensure European businesses can retain their knowledge and competitive edge. In fact the European Union is also committed to supporting businesses to manage information more effectively into the future with its Digital Agenda. It is seeking to identify the challenges that lie ahead for businesses in effectively managing critical information into the future. This study further unveils some of those challenges.

The Ricoh Process Efficiency Index is an evolution of the Ricoh Document Governance Index, which identified how European organisations controlled and managed documents with regards to cost, sustainability and security. Instead it looks deeper into organisations to understand the specific impacts of processing business critical documents.

OMR / Remark Office OMR Overview

Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) is a technology that has been used for many years in schools, universities, businesses, government agencies and many other institutions. OMR is the process of reading data from “fill in the bubble” types of forms. Typical uses for OMR forms include standardized tests, course evaluations, surveys and many other types of forms. Traditionally, OMR forms have been processed using special scanners, special forms printed using high-end printing presses and number two pencils for filling in these forms. Traditional OMR solutions tend to be expensive and inflexible and are only practical in situations where large volumes of the same form are processed over and over. Gravic set out to change this, and since 1991 has been developing and perfecting our software to bring this useful technology to the desktop. Over the years, Remark Office OMR has become the world’s leading package for collecting data from OMR forms. 

Remark Office OMR is a software package designed to collect data from optical marks (bubbles, checkboxes) on plain paper forms. The software works in conjunction with an image scanner to collect the data. Instead of special forms, users can create their own forms with any word processor, desktop publishing package or form design software. Users are allowed a great deal of flexibility in the design process. These forms can be printed on any laser printer or photocopier and do not need special registration marks or drop-out inks. Respondents no longer need to keep a number two pencil on hand to fill in the forms. Over the years, Gravic has added other technologies such as barcode recognition and OCR (machine printed text recognition) to the product, but the product focus remains to be the easiest and most powerful solution on the market for collecting data from surveys, tests, assessments, evaluations and other forms. 

Image Scanning vs. Traditional OMR

The main difference between the two types of scanning is in the hardware with which they work. Remark Office OMR works with common image scanners. These are the type of scanners that can also be used for scanning pictures or pages of text and are readily available from online electronics vendors or your local computer dealer. Traditional OMR readers are commonly associated with standardized testing, pre-printed forms and number two pencils. Typically, the manufacturers’ sales representatives sell these machines directly to the end user.

Executive Summary

For nearly all lines of personal and commercial insurance, reducing the cost of claims processing is key to profitability.  Reducing cycle time, the elapsed time from opening a claim to its settlement, is key to customer satisfaction. Moving to a fully automated process is a goal for claims processing of nearly all insurance executives. Companies are at various levels of automation and often do not have an appropriate strategy to achieve higher levels of automation. This white paper identifies seven levels of claims automation and provides a roadmap that can be followed to enhance claims processing. This straightforward approach can be used to increase the likelihood of successful automation.

Background

According to International Financial Services Research’s (www.ifsl.org.uk) December 2009 Insurance Report, global insurance premiums were $4.3 trillion in 2008, with the US, Japan, UK, France and Germany accounting for 63 percent of the market. Life insurance accounted for $2.5 trillion and
non-life insurance accounted for $1.8 trillion.

For life insurance, claims processing is fairly straightforward and costs are relatively low. However, claims processing costs are significant for other lines such as health, property & casualty, accident, automobile and workers compensation. Loss ratios, the percentage of premiums paid out in claims, are estimated to be between 60% and 110% of premiums for health insurance, and are typically lower for other forms of non-life insurance. Combined ratios, which include losses, underwriting and claims processing,
are higher and typically over 99% of premiums. It is estimated that claims processing costs range from about 3% to 12% of premiums. Health insurance, which typically has a large number of claims per dollar of premium, often has higher claims processing costs than other non-life insurance lines. Property and casualty claims typically have a longer cycle time than other non-life insurance lines.