OCR Plugin for ITSM - Further Information

ITSM OCR is a plugin for Epicor ITSM (and Clientele ITSM) that integrates an OCR Engine into ITSM to add the ability to extract text from images. In a typical IT Service Desk scenario, various screenshots of error messages and other system dialogs get emailed to front-line support to assist the diagnosis of issues. By adding the option to OCR these images, the richness of the text is unlocked and can be added to a Support Call, or inserted into a Knowledge Base entry. The text is then fully searchable to enhance the Incident and Problem matching and resolving process into the future.

Licensing

ITSM OCR is available under the following EULA. There are two types of use: trial use which is a fully functional and complete version, and also non time-limited. And there is full commercial use subject to a modest license fee. Please contact us for more details on licensing for commercial use.

OCR Engine

ITSM OCR uses the Tesseract OCR engine which was initially developed by Hewlett Packard and released to the open source community in 2005. In 2006 Google voluntarily signed up to handle the ongoing maintenance and support of this package. The Tesseract OCR Engine is completely open source and freely distributable. It has been the subject of an accuracy test in 1995 when it was declared one of the top 3 engines by UNLV.

How It Works

ITSM OCR is integrated within the Attachment module of ITSM. It can be accessed via the Attachments list associated with a Support Call. When viewing the list of Attachments, it is a simple matter of selecting the desired image from the list, and clicking the "OCR" button. This opens the ITSM OCR screen.

From this screen, the process is very easy. The image is displayed on the left-hand side of the form. The whole image can be processed, or, a portion of the image can be selected for processing by dragging the mouse over the image. This means that only the part of the image that is relevant can be selected. A zoom tool lets the user zoom in to create a higher resolution source image, which may improve the accuracy of the OCR process. Clicking the "Run OCR" button executes the analysis and displays the results in the right-hand side text box.

From here the text can be saved directly as an Event against the Support Call that the image was attached too, or copied to the clipboard for another use, such as pasting into a new Answer Book entry. If necessary, the text can be edited before saving.

Install Instructions

The installation of ITSM OCR is very straight forward:

  • Download the files
  • Copy SeqMpAttachment.Client.dll and SeqAttachment.Server.dll into the respective Client and Server deployment folders on the ITSM application/web server
  • Copy the "engine" folder into a location on the application/web server, such as "c:\ocr\engine\"
  • Run the ITSM web config wizard
  • On first run, set the "OCRTesseractLocation" module option to where the engine folder was copied - eg "c:\ocr\engine\"
  • The plugin is accessible via a new "OCR" button on the Attachment Summary grid. Enjoy OCR'ing!