What is Intelligent Document Processing?
Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) is a software solution that captures, transforms, and processes data from documents (e.g., e-mail, text, Word, PDF, or scanned documents). Using AI technologies such as computer vision, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), and machine/deep learning, the extracted data can be analyzed, categorized, transformed, and exported to external systems in an end-to-end process.
IDP solutions can understand how to extract data from structured documents (pre-defined documents with a set layout like a loan application or tax form), unstructured documents (free-form documents like a memo or contract), and semi-structured documents (documents that combine fixed and free-form structure).
They have a wide variety of applications spanning multiple business functions across industry verticals. Typical use cases for IDP include invoice processing in the financial services industry, claims processing in the healthcare industry, or proof of delivery tracking in the supply chain industry.
Benefits of Intelligent Document Processing
Setting up an IDP solution is a key component of digital transformation in the enterprise for functions that rely on documents to process information. Effectively automating document-based processes can lead to multiple benefits:
- Faster knowledge sharing: automatically categorize and extract key information in documents to find information faster.
- Reduce processing costs: reduce time spent manually extracting data from documents with automated processing.
- Less manual errors: reduce human errors linked to manual data extraction.
- Highly customizable: customize AI models and robotic process automation (RPA) bots to process specific documents in your business function and export data to any system.
- Streamlined process: allow AI to augment human capabilities in a streamlined process that includes human validation station, approval process, and feedback loops to process new document types.
- Improvements over time: AI model performance improves as new documents are processed and added to the model training set.
Microsoft solutions for Intelligent Document Processing
Microsoft has several IDP offerings tailored to specific business needs, all powered by AI capabilities from Azure Applied AI Services. Whether you want to increase knowledge management for documents stored in SharePoint with Microsoft Syntex, setup a document processing workflow in no-code with Power Automate and AI Builder, or develop a highly customizable code-first solution with Azure Form Recognizer, Microsoft has an Intelligent Document Processing solution for all your needs:
When most of your content lives in Microsoft 365
When you have built custom apps and workflows in Power Platform
When you have a highly customized environment with specific requirements
Three ways to organize and secure content, optimize processes and workflows
Microsoft Syntex
Microsoft Syntex is an AI-powered service that allows organizations understand, assemble, discover, and reuse content stored in Microsoft 365. With Microsoft Syntex, content from documents stored in Microsoft 365 can be analyzed, categorized, and extracted – and connected to where it’s needed – in search, in applications, and as reusable knowledge.
Targeted personas: citizen developers, business users, SharePoint users
Why use Microsoft Syntex for Intelligent Document Processing: extract knowledge and information from your documents stored in Microsoft 365
Key capabilities include:
- Classify documents
- Apply appropriate sensitivity and retention labels to classified documents to ensure compliance
- Leverage pre-built AI templates to extract content from invoices, receipts, identity documents
- Prebuilt and custom AI models to accurately extract information such as fields, checkmarks, and tables from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents
- Add extracted content to SharePoint document libraries to facilitate knowledge discovery & sharing, business process automation, and content governance enforcement
AI Builder and Power Automate
AI Builder and Power Automate allow you to build an end-to-end document processing workflow in no-code. You can go beyond extracting content from documents, setup a process to validate the extracted data, and export it into an ERP or any other data storage system.
Target persona: citizen developers
Why use AI Builder and Power Automate for Intelligent Document Processing: build an E2E workflow automation process including human validation and data export
Key capabilities include:
- Leverage pre-built AI templates to process invoices, receipts, and identity documents
- Prebuilt and custom AI models to accurately extract information such as fields, checkmarks, and tables from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents
- Setup human validation station to validate extracted data
- Export extracted data to any ERP or data storage system
- Customizable Document Automation starter kit included E2E workflow components already built-in
- AI Model governance for flexible deployment across environments
- Monitor workflow and AI model performance
Receive documents
Receive documents from your customers
Extract
Extract information from
the documents
Validate
If needed, a human can confirm or correct the extracted data
Export
Export the extracted data to your ERP or to any other data storage of your choice
Monitor
Supervise your end-to-end process with the provided monitoring application
Azure Form Recognizer
Azure Form Recognizer is a cloud-based applied AI service for developers to build solutions that extract content from documents. Form Recognizer applies advanced machine learning to accurately extract text, key-value pairs, tables, and structured form documents. With just a few samples, you can tailor Form Recognizer to understand your documents, both on-premises and in the cloud.
Target personas: pro developers
Why use Azure Form Recognizer for Intelligent Document Processing: build a highly customizable code-first solution to process documents both on premises and in the cloud
Key capabilities include:
- SDKs & REST API to accurately extract text, key-value pairs, and tables from documents, forms, receipts, invoices, and cards of various types
- Prebuilt and custom AI models to accurately extract information such as fields, checkmarks, and tables from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents
Compare solutions for Intelligent Document Processing
| Capabilities | Microsoft Syntex | AI Builder and Power Automate | Azure Form Recognizer |
| Target persona | Business user | Citizen developer | Pro developer |
| Process content | From Microsoft 365 | From cloud | From cloud / On-premises |
| Pre-built models to extract data from invoices, receipts, identity cards | | | |
| Customize models to extract key/value pairs and tables from structured documents | | | |
| Process unstructured documents | | | |
| Classify documents | | In plan | In plan |
| Built-in E2E workflow including human validation and feedback loop | | ||
| Export data to ERP / external data system | Possible to build in low code w/ connectors and RPA automation | Possible to build with custom code solution | |
| Low-code / no-code | | | |
| SDKs and REST API | | ||
| Built on Azure Cognitive Services Capabilities | | | |
| Security and performance | | | |
| Available in government clouds | * | * | |
| Licensing | Per user w/ capacity add-onLearn more | Per user w/ capacity add-onLearn more | Per pageLearn more |
* Click here to learn more about government cloud availability
Find the right solution for your business
Learn more about the different Intelligent Document Processing solutions available and how to get started.
