I am often asked what I mean by “batch processing” when speaking to prospective and new Breezers.  The term batch processing is used when referring to a group of information being processed in one pass or batch.  For example, if you send a group of documents to the printer using one process, this is batch processing.  Of course, there are many good reasons why you would want to process your information in a batch processing method.  I am going to discuss Saving Time, Uniformity and Organization of Information as the three key benefits, I see, of using a batch processing method.

Save Time

The key benefit of batch processing the amount of time you can save.  Typically, before you begin a process you will first enter one or more parameters.  Let’s look at the first example of printing.  Before anything else, you might need to begin by selecting the documents you would like to print.  After that, you would most likely select your printer.  Are there any settings with that printer you need to adjust?  Then, you can begin printing.  Now, let’s think about the amount of time you would have to spend setting up the same print for each document.  If you were able to batch process the print job, you would only need to enter in the documents to print, select the printer, configure the printer settings and begin the process one time.

Uniformity

Another benefit for processing information in one batch is uniformity.  What??  Yes, uniformity.  If you process documents or images in multiple processing sessions, you run the risk of varrying outputs for each processing session.  Let’s say that you processed your first document with OCR, eStamp, Trial Director .OLL and a Summation .DII.  Then, you get a phone call.  When you get back to your project, how do ensure that you process the next document the same way?  Of course, you could write down the settings, but what if you use a different size font on the eStamp?  What if you forget to include the EndDoc# token in the .DII?  All of this room for error can be avoided if set up the documents to be processed in one batch.  The output OCR, eStamp and load files are all the same. 

Organization of Information

Organization of data or information is the last benefit.  Since you are processing information in batches, you can easily identify what information is saved or processed to different locations.  Let’s go back to our example of batch printing documents.  If you send a folder of exhibits in PDF format to the printer, you know that all of your documents printed to that printer.  Looking at the second example, if you processed a group of documents to a single load file volume with OCR and eStamp, you know that all of those documents are in one load file volume.