Scanning Documents
CCH Audit Automation has the facility to allow you to scan documents directly and to index and link them just like any other working paper. The system works with the Windows driver, and you will need to have this driver installed on your computer before your scanner will be visible to CCH Audit Automation. This driver will be supplied with your scanner and installed as part of the scanner installation routines. CCH Audit Automation can be set to either use the scanners standard control dialog, or to bypass this and use the settings that have been stored within CCH Audit Automation for the scanning resolution and page size. By bypassing the standard interface, full use can be made of your scanner’s document feeder, as described below.
If you have more than one scanner attached to your computer, CCH Audit Automation will use the one that is set as the current device within Windows. This will normally be the last device used. If this is not the one that you wish to use, select the scanner before accessing the scanning routines.
Change the scanner source
Select File then the [Source] button and the system will display the Select Source dialog, from which you can select the scanner or driver to use.
File formats
CCH Audit Automation can store files in TIFF, JPEG and PNG format and allows you to set the way in which the data within the files is packed to minimise file sizes. For text documents the most efficient format is a TIFF file storing documents that have been scanned in black and white (known as line art on some systems). Tiff files allow more than one page to be saved in the same physical file and our system also provides the ability for you to add annotations to the face of documents stored in this format. CCH Audit Automation provides a number of alternative compression schemes for TIFF files; however, our experience has shown that FAXCCITT4 compression provides the most efficient packing for standard text documents.
If you wish to scan in colour or greyscale, then JPEG is a much better file format to use. With JPEG, we provide the ability for you to select a quality factor. This is the amount of compression that will be used to pack the file, but in this case compression does result in a small amount of loss of quality. We recommend a quality factor of 15% which is a good compromise between on screen quality for viewing the document and file size.
PNG is provided for backward compatibility for firms that have been using the scanning module in the past and we do not recommend its use for future scans.
The default settings that CCH Audit Automation will adopt will be TIFF and FAXCCITT4, however, you may change this at any time, either from the file menu [Settings] button or the 
(scan settings) button provided on the Client document dialog.
You may change the current settings by selecting File [Settings] and the File format dialog will be displayed.
The File format dialog allows you to determine the graphic format that will be used to store your documents, the TIFF file compression and the JPEG quality. Remember that any change made here will be used for all future scans until the option is changed again.
For text documents, we recommend that you use TIFF and FAXCCITT4, and scan at 150dpi in black and white. With these settings, the storage space for an A4 page will vary from 10 to 25KB depending on the amount of text on the document.
The right half of the dialog allows you to set the way that the system will interact with your scanner.
The settings have the following effect:
Use scanner interface
If this option is ticked, the system will call up your scanner’s standard Twain interface whenever you scan a document. You will then be able to use the dialog to set the scan settings, for such things as DPI, brightness, mode and page size. You will also be able to pre scan to allow you to set the area to use. In this mode, you then click the [Scan] button on the interface dialog to scan the document and return it to CCH Audit Automation. If you have an ADF on your scanner, you will be able to activate that and scan multiple pages, if you are using TIFF file format. In this mode, the other options in the dialog are not used.
If this option is not ticked, the system will bypass the standard interface and scan directly into CCH Audit Automation. In this case, the system will use the other options in this dialog to control the scan, and it will be in black and white mode.
Dots per inch (DPI)
This determines the resolution of the scan. The higher the resolution the longer the scan will take and the larger the resulting file size will be. We recommend scanning at either 150 or 200 DPI.
Contrast
This allows you to set the contrast for the scan. The setting can range from –1000 to 1000 and once the best setting is found, it should not need adjusting. Not all scanners will accept this external setting.
Brightness
This allows you to set the brightness for the scan. The setting can range from –1000 to 1000 and once the best setting is found, it should not need adjusting. Not all scanners will accept this external setting.
Area to scan
There are four settings allowing you to set the top, left, height and width of the scan, in inches. You may wish to set the top and left to be 0.1 and, for an A4 page, the height and width to be 11.5 and 8.1 respectively. This provides a non-scanned area of 1/10th of an inch around the page.
Use ADF
If this option is ticked, the system will use an ADF if one is present. If it is not ticked it will use the flatbed. This setting is used in conjunction with the next to control the number of pages scanned when more than one page has been inserted in the ADF. If the option is ticked, the number of pages scanned will be the lower of the next setting and the number of pages present in the ADF. If the option is not ticked, but the scanner is an ADF scanner, only one page will be scanned no matter how many pages are present.
Maximum pages
The maximum number of pages to take from the ADF.
After you have entered the required settings, click on [OK].
Scanning a document
To scan a document, display the Client document dialog by clicking on the [Add] button from the Other client documents or Permanent file data dialog. You may also scan a document as a schedule working paper attached to a test or question, or via the [WP index] button of the Audit document completion dialog. Whichever route you choose, the Client document dialog will appear.
A button appears at the far right of the Type group that allows you to change the scan settings if the current settings are not as required (the current file format is displayed by the scanned document radio button). When you click on this button the File format dialog described above will appear and you may change any of the settings as required. Note that any changes you make here are persistent and will be used until further changes are made.
Fill in the fields of the Client document dialog, select the Scanned document radio button and click on [Edit Document]. The system will respond in one of two ways:
Direct scanning
If the option “Use scanner interface” in the File format dialog is not ticked, the system will open the Scanned document dialog and bypass your scanner’s standard interface, and scan the document using the settings shown in that dialog. In this case the system will display a message asking you to insert the document in the scanner. Insert the document and click on [OK] and CCH Audit Automation will commence scanning the document.
The source used on your scanner will depend on your scanner’s capabilities. If it only has a flatbed, the system will scan using that one page at a time, no matter what the ADF setting shows. If it only has an ADF, the document will be taken from that. In this case, if the ADF setting is not ticked, a single page will be fed in. If it is ticked, either all the pages in the feeder will be scanned, or if the “Maximum pages” setting is lower than the number of pages in the ADF, only the maximum pages will be scanned. If the scanner has both a flatbed and an ADF, the system will use the flatbed if the ADF option is not ticked and the ADF, up to the maximum pages if the ADF option is ticked.
The above assumes that your scanner can accept external control of the settings required.
Use scanner interface
If the option to use the scanner interface is ticked, the system will open the Scanned document dialog and launch your Twain driver to allow you to interact with your scanner. The Twain window will look something like the example below, however, each scanner comes with its own version and yours may look slightly different. If you leave the search key field blank, the system will populate it with a copy of the document title.
Twain scanning window
Scan the document, or the part of it that is of interest, using the routines required for your scanner. If you do not know how to do this please refer to your scanner documentation. (We suggest that you scan in black and white at either 150 or 200 dpi to make best use of the standard CCH Audit Automation settings.)
Both methods
On completion of the scan, the file will be stored and the image displayed in the Scanned document dialog.
If you wish to add further pages to the document, insert the next page or group of pages in the scanner, click on the [Scan] button, which will appear below the [Close] button. The system will proceed to scan the next page or pages. On completion, the last page will be presented on the screen. You may scan any number of pages to form a single document recorded in the client’s file.
Once you have scanned all the pages, click on [Close] to close the scanned document window and return to the calling dialog.
Scanning failures
When scanning documents, it is possible that the scan can fail. This can happen, for example, if you have selected as the source a scanner that is not physically attached, or if the page jams in the scanner.
If a failure occurs, the system will not add an entry for the scanned document to the audit file and document index so you can simply re-scan the document.
The scanned document dialog
You may carry out the following when the Scanned document image is displayed:
Pop up menu
Point to the image and click on the right mouse button to obtain a pop up menu of options. From this you can:
Pop up menu Point to the image and click on the right mouse button to obtain a pop up menu of options. From this you can:
Flip image If you have scanned the image upside down, click on this to flip it 180º to show it the correct way up.
Rotate If the image is landscape, and you wish to rotate it by 90º, click on this option. You may click on it more than once if required.
Lighten Click on this option to make the scanned image lighter. This will lighten the image by a factor of 10 degrees. For more accurate control, use the Adjust image option. (JPEG only)
Darken Click on this option to make the scanned image darker. This will make the image darker by a factor of 10 degrees. For more accurate control, use the Adjust image option. (JPEG only)
Adjust image This option will display a dialog containing a number of options to provide you with finer control of the image displayed. (JPEG only)
Invert If your scanned picture is inverted, i.e. is shown white on black, selecting this option allows you to switch it to black on white. (TIFF only)
Thumbnails As indicated earlier, with TIFF files all pages of a scan are stored in one file. For JPEG each page is stored in a separate file. For TIFF files, you can view the pages as thumbnails, change the order of pages, delete unwanted pages and jump to a selected page using this option. (TIFF only)
Re scan This option provides the same function as the [Re scan] button described below.
Save as This option provides the same function as the [Save as] button described below.
Print This option provides the same function as the [Print] button described below.
When a document is being created, the options to adjust the image can affect the image stored on disk. The user will be asked if they wish the changes they have made to be saved.
We recommend that you do not rotate landscape documents for storage. If you do, the system will print them in portrait and reduce the size to fit on the page. Leave the image in landscape and anyone who loads it can rotate it for viewing, but it will still be printed in landscape thereby producing a clearer printed document.
The following facilities are available from the panels to the right and bottom of the image:
Change the scanner source
If you have more than one scanner attached to your system, or have multiple drivers for the same scanner, you can change the scanner or driver by clicking on the [Source] button. The system will display the Select source dialog, from which you can select the new driver to use.
An option, called Scanner source, is also available on the File menu to allow you to change the source before commencing any scanning.
Re-scan page displayed
If you are not happy with the quality of the image you have scanned, for example, it may have been a light copy and you need to increase the darkness setting to get an image you can read, click on the [Re Scan] button and the system will allow you to scan a page again which will replace the page displayed. Rescanning can be carried out at any time, while scanning a document, or later when it is loaded to view.
Save the image elsewhere
If you wish to save a copy of the image for use within another program, click on the [Save as] button. The standard Windows Save as dialog will be displayed from which you can select the destination, the file type and enter the name that you wish to give the file.
You can save the file in the following file formats: Windows bitmap, PNG, TIFF, JPEG and PCX. If you save it as a JPEG file, the system uses the setting for JPEG quality shown on the Scanned document dialog.
Resize the displayed image
The system will display the image as large as it can for the screen resolution that you have on your computer. If you wish to vary the size of the image, either enter the display factor to use, or use the Scroll buttons to vary the figure in steps of 1%.
Deskew (TIFF only)
If you have scanned the document at a slight angle, click this button and the system will attempt to straighten the image.
Remove border (TIFF only)
If you have a black border around the scan, due to the size of the paper being smaller than the size of the scan area, click this button and the system will remove the outer edges of the image. You may click on the button repeatedly to remove larger areas.
Enter or edit a comment
When you print the image, see below, the system will head the page with the client's details and the document title. You can also attach comments to the image that will be printed at the top of the page. To do this, click on the [Enter comments] button and the comment box will appear over the image. Enter your comment and click on [Hide comments] to see the full image.
Comment box showing
If a comment has already been entered in respect of a document, the button caption will read “Show comment” rather than “Enter comment”.
As can be seen, there is a [Reviewed] button in the comments display. If the reviewer wishes to document the fact that they have reviewed the document, they click on this button and "Reviewed by: ANO on dd mmmm yyyy" will be appended to the text in the comment box.
Annotating the document
You may place highlights, pointers, notes and stamps on the face of the document. These annotations are stored separately and the document can be printed with or without them. To enter an annotation, click on the [Annotations] button and the annotation toolbar will appear.
Annotation toolbar showing
The cursor will change to the selection cursor, an up arrow, and the selection cursor button will be depressed. The four annotation buttons to the right of this are:
1. Highlight. Selecting this will allow you to highlight text in the colour of your choice. Click on this button and the cursor will change to a cross. The current colour will be shown with the letters “FG” in the colour grid. If you wish to change the colour, click on the colour to use with the left mouse button. Position the cursor at the top left of the area to highlight, hold down the left mouse button and drag to the bottom right of the area. Release the button and the selected area will be highlighted.
On completion, the cursor will be changed back to the selection cursor. If you click on the highlight it will be selected, evidenced by the four corner markers that will appear. You may now move the highlight by dragging it to a new position, or resize it by dragging one of the corner markers. If you right mouse click on the selected highlight, you will see a pop up menu that will offer options to delete the annotation, change the presentation order if more than one annotation overlaps, and change its properties. (Apologies for the American spelling of Hilite).
2. Draw a pointer. Selecting this will allow you to place a pointer on the page in the colour of your choice. Click on this button and the cursor will change to a cross. The current colour will be shown with the letters “FG” in the colour grid. If you wish to change the colour, click on the colour to use with the left mouse button. Position the cursor where the pointer is to start, hold down the left mouse button and drag to the text to point to. Release the button and the pointer will appear.
On completion, the cursor will be changed back to the selection cursor. If you click on the pointer it will be selected, evidenced by the two end markers that will appear. You may now move the pointer by dragging it to a new position, or move one of the points to resize it by dragging one of the end markers. If you right mouse click on the selected pointer, you will see a pop up menu that will offer options to delete the annotation, change the presentation order if more than one annotation overlaps, and change its properties.
3. Note. Selecting this will allow you to place a note on the page. Click on this button and the cursor will change to a cross. The current font colour will be shown with the letters “FG” and the background colour with “BG” in the colour grid. If you wish to change the font colour, click on the colour to use with the left mouse button. To change the background colour, click on the colour to use with the right mouse button. Position the cursor at the top left of the area where the note is to appear, hold down the left mouse button and drag to the bottom right of the area. Release the button and the Enter note text dialog will appear. Enter the text, using the [Spell] button to check your spelling, click on [OK] and the note will appear.
On completion, the cursor will be changed back to the selection cursor. If you click on the note it will be selected, evidenced by the four corner markers that will appear. You may now move the note by dragging it to a new position, or resize it by dragging one of the corner markers. If you right mouse click on the selected note, you will see a pop up menu that will offer options to delete the annotation, change the presentation order if more than one annotation overlaps, and change its properties. Selecting the Text property will allow you to change the text of the note, however, the spell check button is not available in this edit dialog.
4. Stamp. Selecting this will allow you to place a stamp on the page. Click on this button and the cursor will change to a cross and the stamp text will be completed. The current font colour will be shown with the letters “FG” and the background colour with “BG” in the colour grid. If you wish to change the font colour, click on the colour to use with the left mouse button. To change the background colour, click on the colour to use with the right mouse button. Select the stamp to use, using the drop-down list and position the cursor at the top left of the area where the stamp is to appear, hold down the left mouse button and drag the mouse. Release the button and the stamp will appear. It does not matter how far you dragged the mouse pointer as the system will calculate the size of the box required to contain the stamp.
On completion, the cursor will be changed back to the selection cursor. If you click on the stamp it will be selected, evidenced by the four corner markers that will appear. You may now move the stamp by dragging it to a new position, or resize it by dragging one of the corner markers. If you right mouse click on the selected stamp, you will see a pop up menu that will offer options to delete the annotation, change the presentation order if more than one annotation overlaps, and change its properties. Selecting the Text property will allow you to change the text of the stamp.
Example Annotations
If you right mouse click on the document while the annotation panel is displayed, the pop up menu has one item New. Selecting this allows you to create other images on the form.
To hide the annotation panel, click on [Hide panel].
Note re stamps: The text of the defined stamps is stored in a file called STAMPS.FLE in the data set directory. This file can be edited using notepad to change the wording of the stamps, or to add further stamps as required. Each line in the file contains the text for one stamp.
Cross references on scanned documents
The facility is provided to allow you to drill down to working papers referred to in annotations placed on the face of scanned documents.
To use the facility, create a note annotation and enter the reference of the working paper relating to the item being annotated. For this to work, you must only include the reference in the annotation and no other text, other than the prefixes referred to below. When you display a scanned document with annotations, the mouse pointer changes to the drill down pointer as you pass over a note annotation to indicate that you can drill down to any working paper referred to therein. Double click on the annotation and, if it contains a valid cross reference, the working paper will be loaded. The Scanned document dialog containing the original document will be closed when the working paper is loaded.
The logic applied to test for a cross reference is as follows:
• If annotation contains a straight reference, say “5”, the system will look to see if a document 5 exists in the audit area to which the lead schedule relates.
• If an area reference followed by a full stop and a reference is included, e.g. “D.5”, it will look for the document in the audit area stated.
• If a full stop is included but not preceded by a letter, e.g. “.5” or “.ENG”, it will look for the document in the permanent file section.
• Optionally, references can be prefixed by “Sch” or “Ref” which may also be separated from the reference by a “: ”.
If you load a scanned document and edit annotations, you will not be able to drill down by double clicking on a note annotation until you close the document and open it again.
Printing the document
You may produce a printed copy of the scanned image at any time using the [Print] button on the Scanned document dialog. If the Annotations checkbox is ticked, the printed report will show your annotations, if it is not checked, the annotations will not be printed. On pressing the [Print] button, the system will present the Page range dialog, if there is more than one page in the scanned document.
If you wish to print all pages, click on [OK], otherwise enter the range of pages to be printed. The standard Windows print dialog will appear to allow you to select the destination printer. The system will produce a copy of the image headed with the client's details, and any comments made will also be shown on the first page printed. If the checkbox Scale to page is ticked, the system will scale the image to fit in the space available after printing the heading.
If the checkbox is not ticked, the image will be printed without scaling. TIFF images will be printed at their original size and the size of JPEG images will be based on the current setting for the scan resolution. In both cases, if the image is too big for the space available some of it will be lost. For JPEG images, if you have scanned the document at 100 dots per inch and the current DPI setting is 100, the system will print the document at its original size, no matter what the resolution of the printer. If the current setting is 200 DPI, the image will be printed at half its original size.
Thumbnails
To display the pages of a TIFF file in thumbnail format, press the right mouse button and click on Thumbnails. The Document pages dialog will be displayed showing the first five pages of the document.
To view subsequent pages click the large button to the right of the display, to scroll to previous pages click the one on the left. Highlight a page, by clicking on it and proceed as follows:
Delete page To delete the selected page, click the [Delete] button.
Move page left or right To move the position of the page in the file, click on the [Move page left] or [Move page right] buttons.
Jump to the page To display a page in the Scan dialog, either double click on it, or select it and click on [Jump to].
To close the dialog, click on [OK].
Display enhancement
When you display a TIFF image at anything other than its full size, the image can lose definition and be difficult to read. An option is provided to allow you to enhance the image and this can produce significant improvements in readability, even when the document is displayed at smaller zoom factors. Six enhancement modes are provided and we suggest that you experiment to find the one that produces the best image on your monitor. We have found that “Graphic mode 2” provides the best results on our system.
Other options
The other options shown when a TIFF file is displayed are the same as those shown in the File format dialog and any changes that you make here will be applied to a re-scan and all subsequent scans.
After you have finished viewing the image, and adding any comments or annotations, close the dialog by clicking on the [Close] button.