Intelligent Character Recognition for Contract Creation

Costpoint has integrated Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) into the contract record creation process to minimize manual data entry, reduce errors, and improve the speed and accuracy of adding new contract records.

Learning Video

Take a look at this video to see how you can use this feature in Manage Contracts: ICR Integration for Contracts.

Overview and General Process

When you use the Attach & Scan functionality in Manage Contracts, the ICR scans the contents of the file, extracts key fields from the file, and maps these fields to the appropriate fields in Costpoint. You have an option to review and manually change or correct scanned information as needed.

Currently, only PDF files (editable and image-based) are supported by the Attach & Scan functionality. You will receive an error message if you attempt to upload a different file type. In addition, the scanning process is limited to page 1 of the following forms:

• DD1155 (Department of Defense Form 1155: Order for Supplies or Services)
• SF26 (Standard Form 26: Award/Contract)
• SF33 (Standard Form 33: Solicitation, Offer, and Award)
• SF1449 (Standard Form 1449: Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Products and Commercial Services)

Note: Your system administrator must first enable ICR for contract creation on the Manage Application/Content Links screen before you can use it. Refer to the Manage Application/Content Links help topics for more information.

To use this functionality in Manage Contracts, follow this general procedure:

1. Click New on the application toolbar to add a record.
2. Click the Attach drop-down list and then click Attach to open the Choose File dialog box. Alternatively, you can click the Attach button directly, which opens both the Choose File dialog box and the Linked Content Files subtask.
3. In the Choose File dialog box, you can upload a local file from your device or attach a document from an alternate file location in Costpoint. After entering field values, click Attach & Scan to link the contract document to the record and populate the record and automatically populate contract fields with scanned data.
   Note: You may still click the Attach button to simply attach a file without scanning. However, this will not trigger ICR and will not pre-populate any contract fields.
4. After attaching the file, click the Attach drop-down list and then click View Linked Content Files to access the Linked Content Files subtask, if it is not already open.
5. On the Linked Content Files subtask, you can manage, view, or delete attachments. You can also use the Scan button to review the information extracted from the document uploaded via Attach & Scan, and make any necessary corrections to the populated values.
6. In the Scan results table window, you can directly edit field values within the Extracted Data column.
7. For fields containing more detailed information, click the View Details link to open the Details table window.
8. In the Details table window, review and update field values as needed. Edit values directly in the Values column and then click Close to return to the previous window.
9. In the Scan results table window, click Apply to confirm your edits.
10. Save the contract record.

ICR Populated Fields

When you attach and scan a contract document, Costpoint populates the following fields in Manage Contracts, including address details associated with role codes and customer IDs.

Field	Location in Manage Contracts
Costpoint Opportunity	Header
Main Opportunity ID	Header
Prime Contract No	Header
Task Order No	General tab
Anticipated Contract Value	General tab
NAICS (primary)	Classification tab
NAICS (primary) Effective Date	Classification tab
DPAS Purchasing Rating	Contract Info tab
Role Code (Administered By)	Customers/Contacts tab
Customer ID (Administered By)	Customers/Contacts tab
Role Code (Deliver To)	Customers/Contacts tab
Customer ID (Deliver To)	Customers/Contacts tab
Role Code (Issuing Client)	Customers/Contacts tab
Customer ID (Issuing Client)	Customers/Contacts tab
Role Code (Payments By)	Customers/Contacts tab
Customer ID (Payments By)	Customers/Contacts tab
Role Code (Submit Invoices To)	Customers/Contacts tab
Customer ID (Submit Invoices To)	Customers/Contacts tab
Role Code (Ship To/Mark For)	Customers/Contacts tab
Customer ID (Ship To/Mark For)	Customers/Contacts tab
Contract Award Date	Dates tab

ICR Population Logic

Costpoint uses the following logic to populate contract fields via the ICR tool:

1. Scan process: The tool first tries to populate the contract record using data extracted from a scanned document.
2. Opportunity match: If any fields remain blank after scanning, Costpoint checks if there is a matching opportunity record. If a match is found, it fills in the blanks using overlapping fields from the opportunity, such as:
   • Prime Contract No
   • Contract Award Date
   • Task Order No
   • NAICS (primary)
3. Contract defaults: If fields are still unpopulated, default values from the Manage Contract Defaults settings are applied. For example, Costpoint might fill in NAICS (primary) if it is still missing.

MS Teams Integration

If your Costpoint instance is integrated with Microsoft Teams and your system administrator has enabled the ICR tool for contract creation, you can upload and scan a contract document directly from Teams.

To upload and scan a document:

1. Attach the contract file in the Chat window of your Costpoint application in Teams.
2. Review the extracted details that Teams displays from the contract form. When prompted to create a contract record, reply with "Yes."
3. Enter a contract name when asked.
4. Complete any missing required fields by responding to each prompt from Teams. This ensures all necessary information is captured before the contract record is created.

Once the process is done, Teams will confirm the contract creation and provide a link to the newly created contract record.