Overview of Workstation

12 minute read Last updated on May 25, 2023

Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation is a dedicated scan station that supports any manufacturer’s high-speed TWAIN scanning devices. Workstation features the following:

Real-time image display
Auto separation
Scanned image manipulation including:
- drag-and-drop image reordering
- split
- merge
- point-and-click rescan
- more
Many other features

Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation provides a comprehensive batch scanning solution that is completely integrated with the Dispatcher Phoenix application. Once batches have been received and manually manipulated within the Workstation, an automated Dispatcher Phoenix workflow can process them further and/or store them in the appropriate document management system.

Notes:

Konica Minolta HDD TWAIN driver is not supported.
Konica Minolta TWAIN driver is partly supported. It is possible to scan the document, however, the driver UI setting will not be available.
A high speed desktop scanner is recommended, such as Fujitsu 7160.

Workstation Quick Start

Below is a list with links to the major topics in the Workstation section of the Help. For information on installing Workstation, click here.

Step 1: Create and run a Workflow - Create and run a Dispatcher Phoenix workflow that includes the Workstation input node.

Step 2: Configure the Workstation - Configure the Workstation to communicate with the Dispatcher Phoenix server.

Step 3: Create a new batch - Select an existing batch or choose to create a new batch to scan into.

Step 4: Choose the source for images - Choose how you are going to import images into the Workstation (MFP, scanner, folder, files, etc.)

Step 5: Import files - Import files into the Workstation.

Step 6: Manipulate scanned images - Manipulate your scanned images and documents in the Workstation (reorder, split, merge, etc.)

Step 7: Submit the batch - Submit the batch to Dispatcher Phoenix.

Workstation Workflows

The workflow for batch scanning typically follows this process:

Document preparation - A scan operator prepares the documents for the batch scanning process.
Scanning - Batches are placed in the scanner or MFP’s Automatic Data Feeder for scanning.
Quality Assurance - Batches are reviewed for quality. Pages/documents are manipulated and rescanned, etc. if necessary.
Indexing or Classification - Once passing Quality Assurance, index information can be associated with the documents in the batch either automatically via zonal OCR/database look-ups or via manual input. The use of shortcut keys speeds the manual indexing process.
Migration to the document management solution - Once reviewed and indexed, the batch can be stored in a document management system for future retrieval.

The main Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation interface consists of the following areas:

Batch List Area
Image Preview Area
Tool Bar for scan and batch settings.

The following illustration shows the main interface:

Batch List Area

The left side of the Workstation displays all batches, organized in folders. Within each folder, you will see:

The name of the batch(es) within the folder.
The number of documents in each batch.
The number of pages in the batch.
The status of the batch (whether it has been submitted to a workflow yet).

The arrow button at the top of the Batch List area allows you to bring up another menu with the following options:

New Folder - Creates a new folder to organize batches in. You can choose whether to insert the folder at the top or bottom of the Batch List area.
Expand All - Displays the contents of each folder.
Collapse All - Hides the contents of each folder.

Managing Batches

You can right-click on a Batch name to access a context menu with the following options:

Edit… - Edit batch settings in the Update Batch window (which is similar in functionality to the Create New Batch window).
Shift - Move the batch within the folder. Options are: Top, Up, Down, or Bottom.
Move To… - Move the batch to another folder. The Select a Folder window will appear, allowing you to select the folder that you want to move the batch into.
Delete option - Delete the batch.

You can also rearrange batches within folders by drag-dropping batches from one folder to another.

Managing Folders

A folder’s down arrow provides access to the following menu options:

New Folder - Creates a new folder (positioned above or below the folder in the Batch List).
New Batch - Creates a new batch to scan into.
Sort By - Sorts the batches in the folder by either name or status.
Expand Folder - Displays all batches in the folder.
Collapse Folder - Hides all batches in the folder.
Rename Folder - Allows users to enter a new name for the folder in the Folder bar. Once this option is selected, you will be able to type a new name directly into the field next to the folder icon in the Batch List area, as in the following illustration:

Shift Folder - Moves the folder to the top or bottom of the Batch List area or move the folder down or up.
Delete Folder - Permanently deletes the folder and all the batches contained within the folder.

Preview Area

The Preview area displays thumbnail image views of all pages/documents in the selected batch and provides the following features/capabilities:

Reordering - Thumbnail images can be dragged-dropped to reorder pages or reposition them from one document to another. In addition, documents can be dragged-dropped to reorder them.
Zoom - Double-click on the thumbnail image to zoom in.
Context Menu - Right click on a thumbnail image to choose from the following options:
- Split:
  - Selected pages - Move all selected pages into a new document.
  - From here to end - Move all pages starting from the selected page to the last page in the document into a new document.
  - From beginning to here - Move all pages from the beginning of the document to the selected page into a new document.
  - Each single page - Move each page in the document into its own separate document.
- Rescan - Scan and replace the selected page with a rescanned image.
- Insert - Scan and insert a new image before the selected page.
- Rotate Right 90° - Rotate the selected page 90 degrees to the right.
- Rotate Left 90° - Rotate the selected page 90 degrees to the left.
- Rotate 180° - Rotate the selected page 180 degrees.
- Flip horizontal - Flip the selected page horizontally.
- Flip vertical - Flip the selected page vertically.
- Reset default - Reset the selected page to its original setting.
- Cut - Cut the selected page to the clipboard.
- Copy - Copy the selected page to the clipboard.
- Paste - Paste the page from the clipboard.
- Shift to - Reposition the selected page to the beginning or end of the document or to the right or left.
- Move to - Move the selected page to a specific folder.
- Delete - Delete the selected page from the document and batch.

Document title bar - Right-clicking on a document’s title bar brings up a context menu with the following options:

Merge – Merge either Selected documents or All Documents.
Rotate All - Rotate all documents
Cut – Move document(s) to the clipboard.
Copy – Copy document(s) to the clipboard.
Paste – Paste document(s) from the clipboard.
Shift to beginning – Move selected document to the beginning of the batch.
Shift up – Move selected document up.
Shift down – Move selected document down.
Shift to end – Move selected document to the end of the batch.
Delete document(s) – Delete the selected document(s).

Additional Controls

At the bottom of the Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation window, there are additional controls/displays that show:

The status of the Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation (Ready, Processing Pages, Select Scanner Source, or Scanning).
The scanner source selected.
The name of the selected batch.
The number of documents in the selected batch.
The number of pages in the documents.
An option to toggle between thumbnail and full page view of the selected document.
Zoom controls to zoom into focus or select the 1 icon to revert back to 100% view.

Tool Bars

The tool bars provide you with access to scanner settings and other Workstation operations.

Home Tool Bar

The Home Tool Bar is displayed when you first launch the Workstation with the following options:

New Batch - Create a new batch.
Scan One - Scan one page into the selected document in the batch. If the batch is set up to separate documents based on a specific page count, the scanned image may be automatically added to a new document.
Scan All - Scan all pages into the selected document in the batch.
Stop Scan - Stop the scan import process.
Rescan - Start the scan process to replace the selected page with a rescanned image.
Insert - Start the scan process to insert an image before the selected page.
New Document - Create a new document to scan into.
Split - Choose to split:
- Selected pages in the document.
- Starting from the selected page to the end of the document.
- Starting from the first page to the selected page.
- The document by each page.
Merge - Choose to merge:
- Selected documents.
- The selected document with the previous document.
- The selected document with the next document.
- The selected document with all documents to the end of the batch.
- Documents from the beginning of the batch up to the selected document.
- All documents.
Delete - Choose to delete:
- Selected pages in the document.
- Pages starting from the selected page to the end of the document.
- Pages starting from the beginning of the document to the selected page.
- Selected documents.
- All documents.
Cut - Cut the selected page(s) to the clipboard.
Copy - Copy the selected page(s) to the clipboard.
Paste - Paste the page(s) from the clipboard.
Rotate Right 90° - Rotate the selected page 90 degrees to the right.
Rotate Left 90° - Rotate the selected page 90 degrees to the left.
Rotate 180° - Rotate the selected page 180 degrees.
Flip horizontal - Flip the selected page horizontally.
Flip vertical - Flip the selected page vertically.
Reset - Revert the selected page back to its original position/appearance.
Submit Batch - Submit a batch to a Dispatcher Phoenix workflow.
Options - Configure the Workstation to communicate with the Dispatcher Phoenix client application and specify other settings.

Scan Settings Tool Bar

Use the Scan Settings Tool Bar to specify the source for your document import as well as settings for your scanner.

Select - Choose an import source for your scanned images. The Select Source window opens, which displays all connected scanners detected and also allows you to select a folder to import images from or select to import images one by one.
Full Color - Scan images in color.
Black and White - Scan images in black and white.
Grayscale - Scan images in grayscale.
Flatbed Glass - Scan images from the glass of a flatbed scanner.
ADF - Scan images from the Automatic Document Feeder of the scanner and/or MFP.
1-Sided - Scan images in one sided.
2-Sided - Scan images in double sided.
None - No rotations are applied to the documents being scanned into the Workstation.
Right 90° - Rotate documents being scanned into the Workstation 90 degrees to the right.
Left 90° - Rotate documents being scanned into the Workstation 90 degrees to the left.
180° - Rotate documents being scanned into the Workstation 180 degrees.
Flip Horizontal - Horizontally flip scanned images being imported into the Workstation.
Flip Vertical - Vertically flip scanned images being imported into the Workstation.
Size - Select the size of the paper documents being scanned into the Workstation.
Feeder Direction icons - Select the direction of the documents (Long Edge / Portrait or Short Edge / Landscape).
Deskew - Automatically deskew documents being imported into the Workstation.
Auto Rotate - Automatically rotate documents being imported into the Workstation.
Save - Save the scan settings for future batches.
Reset - Revert the scan settings back to their original default settings.
Driver Settings - Access/specify additional scan settings for your scanner.

Help Tool Bar

The Help Tool Bar provides buttons for switching the language that the Workstation is displayed in, accessing Help information, and viewing version information.

Language - Select a language to display the Workstation in.
Help - Access online help about the Workstation.
Customer Feedback - Launch the Customer Feedback Agent to submit comments about the application.
About - View version information and copyright information.

Quick Access Tool Bar

The Quick Access tool bar contains a set of commands that always appear, regardless of the tab that is currently selected.

Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation button - Restore, move, size, minimize, maximize or close the Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation.
New Batch - Create a new batch using the Create New Batch window.
Scan One - Scan a single page into Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation.
Scan All - Scan all pages into Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation.
Stop Scan - Stop the scanning process before all pages are scanned.
Submit Batch - Submit the batch to Dispatcher Phoenix for further processing. If a workflow has not already been associated with the batch, you will need to choose which workflow to submit the batch to.

Workstation Metadata

The following scan data can be output as metadata from the Workstation:

workstation:address - The URL of the Dispatcher Phoenix bEST Server.
workstation:batch.documents - The total number of documents in the batch.
workstation:batch.group - The name of the Workstation folder that the batch is included in.
workstation:batch.name - The name of the batch.
workstation:batch.pages - The total number of pages within the batch.
workstation:document.id - The number associated with the document within the batch.
workstation:document.name - The name of the document within the batch (naming conventions are defined in the Naming Format field in the Workstation Input node or the Workstation’s Create New/Update Batch window).
workstation:document.pages - The total number of pages in the document.
workstation:document.size - The size of the document (in bytes).
workstation:id - The unique identifier of the Workstation.
workstation:name - The name of the PC that the Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation is running on.
workstation:user - The name of the currently logged in Windows user or other Windows user specified in the Options window of the Workstation.

Scanner Metadata

When using a scanner as an Import Source, the following metadata is produced:

workstation:scan.output - The output of the scan (either Color, Black/White, Grayscale)
workstation:scan.papersize - The size of the paper being scanned.
workstation:scan.resolution - The resolution used when scanning into Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation.
workstation:scan.source - The name of the scanner used to import images into Dispatcher Phoenix Workstation.
workstation:scan.type - The scan type (Simplex or Duplex).

Batch Level Fields Metadata

Batch level fields metadata will follow this format:

{workstation:batch.fields.variable name}