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De Hypotheker and Hyarchis ready for online future thanks to revived partnership

De Hypotheker and Hyarchis ready for online future thanks to revived partnership

Mortgage service provider De Hypotheker and Hyarchis have decided to revive their partnership. For years, the two companies have been frontrunners in the Dutch mortgage market, in the areas of advice and software respectively. Having digitalised most of their respective services in the mortgage advice domain over the years, De Hypotheker and Hyarchis are now ready for the online future. Both De Hypotheker and Hyarchis have embarked on a large-scale transformation over the past few years, which they are now taking to the next level. De Hypotheker is developing into an omnichannel service provider, while Hyarchis is in the middle of a transition from being a traditional on-premises document management provider to being a cloud-based data management provider. De Hypotheker will reincorporate HDM Cloud (Hyarchis Document Management) into its system landscape, whereby user convenience comes first. The implementation and migration project is well under way and has recently, due to the coronavirus situation, been moved online with teams based in the Netherlands, Portugal and Lithuania. Market leaders join forces “In these unprecedented times, it is important to join forces,” says Andre van der Doelen, CEO of Hyarchis. “Remote working comes with all kinds of challenges that we, together with De Hypotheker, are taking on full of confidence.” “We are pleased to resume our business relationship with Hyarchis,” comments Jasper Cuijten, Business Development Director at De Hypotheker. “Hyarchis has an excellent reputation as a leading player in document management. We look forward to breathing new life into our partnership to be able to offer our mortgage consultants even greater convenience.”

Hiding or retrieving ID information? AI does the job!

Hiding or retrieving ID information? AI does the job!

“Some organisations use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to blur personal information within their archives. Others use AI to retrieve ID information from scanned passports and ID cards, in order to enrich their databases.” This month in AI on the road, Krijn talks about the dual use of AI in processing passports and ID cards. In the column “AI on the road”, Hyarchis Artificial Intelligence expert Krijn talks about the AI-related questions that he encounters during meetings with clients. In other words, very basic questions and answers about this seemingly complex topic. This month Krijn focuses on the use of AI for managing sensitive passport- and ID-card-related data within large archives. Krijn, let’s start with using AI to remove ID information. What questions do you encounter?The questions that arise around removing ID information, or better said: making that information inaccessible, are often based on compliance with GDPR legislation. Various organisations are burdened with large archives containing millions of copies of passports and ID cards. Under the current regulation, it is important that access to sensitive data, such as personal identification numbers (PINs), is restricted. AI offers the possibility to do this while leaving the integrity of the archive intact. The Dutch website InFinance recently published an article on the subject, in which they outlined how to correctly process PINs in line with the regulations of the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch: Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens). AI gives organisations the ability to track down personal identification numbers in documents which are not text-searchable. As a result, organisations can find and subsequently hide sensitive data in an automated manner even in outdated or complex archives. Could you give an example of information that organisations need to blur?Before GDPR came in effect, the PIN of someone who was applying for example a mortgage was recorded and saved in this file. Under current legislation, PINs are not to be disclosed in a this application, unless this is essential to the purpose for which the data is processed. Only when the contract is actually signed, the personal identification number can be recorded and included in the case file. Because of this, many organisations are now wondering “How do I make this number inaccessible?” What role does AI play in all of this?It is impossible to manually remove specific information from scanned passports and ID cards. Passports might be scanned horizontally, vertically, crooked, or two scans could be even combined on one page. Add the wide variety of layouts – every country has their own passport design – and you start to understand the magnitude of this challenge. Step one is automation. However, what do you do if not only the search process has many variables, but the blurring process too? That is where AI comes into play. Using OCR-based technology, our software solutions recognise personal identification numbers within scanned documents with a near 100 percent accuracy. Once found, AI makes sure that these numbers are blurred, making them unrecognisable. What is the difficulty that you address by using AI?It is often unknown where the files containing passports and ID cards are located. Most of the time the files are not named accordingly and located somewhere in a 50-page personal file. AI traces these regardless of the file type or file name and ensures that the PINs are blurred and no longer accessible. If I understood correctly, AI is not only used to remove information from digital files, but also to add information to the database? Tell us more…Indeed, clients also use AI to extend their database. In the past, passports and ID cards were not always registered properly, because there was no need to do so. Nowadays, organisations do need to implement appropriate data minimization measures and store personal information transparently for the customers in order to serve them better and comply with data privacy laws and regulations. Now I’m curious…is that possible?Yes, it is possible, but to do that, you need to use AI. If an organisation would like to recognise the data on an ID card or passport that is in their archive, our AI solutions can help with that. Whether you want to remove existing information from your archive or do the exact opposite, our AI-based software works both ways! Learn more about our Business Intelligence and Governance solutions.

Hyarchis: a new era, a new look! | Hyarchis

Hyarchis: a new era, a new look!

For the past 30 years, Hyarchis has been developing a range of data management solutions for its customers. During its long history, Hyarchis has reinvented itself as a company multiple times and at the dawn of the new decade, Hyarchis will rebrand itself once more. In light of this occasion, we look into both the past and the future of Hyarchis together with the founder and CEO André van der Doelen. Hyarchis has been around for more than 30 years now. You must have had your fair share of experience seeing things come and go. “With Hyarchis, we look back on a turbulent history which runs parallel to what is nowadays referred to as the “digital transformation”. In the 80s, we started out by delivering the first-generation of mainframe computers. During the 90s, Hyarchis helped organizations to digitize their physical archives. Thereafter, now twenty years ago, we developed our first custom-made Document Management System (DMS) for the financial services industry. In 2020, this DMS is still the cornerstone of our company”, says André van der Doelen. What about the present day, yet another challenge in the digital revolution for Hyarchis? “Our services have changed substantially over the years, but the core of our solutions has always remained the same. All of our customers process large quantities of documents on a daily basis. Through every stage of the digital transformation, we have helped them manage those large amounts of documents. For the past two years, we have seen a shift from managing documents to understanding and structuring the data contained within these documents. On one hand, this demand is stimulated by the enforcement of the GDPR while on the other hand, our clients have come to realize the value of their costumer data that has been locked in their archives for years on end”. How does Hyarchis transform this content into usable data? “For the past two years, together with our customers, we have invested in the development of solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI). This year marks a milestone as we will deliver our first large-scale projects in the field of AI. You could say that this year we turn a new page in the long history of Hyarchis. With our new products, such as Blurrify and Search-It, we can offer our customers a way broader range of solutions in the field of data management and help them manage their challenges for the decades to come”. So, once a Dutch company, always a Dutch company? “Ha ha, no. During the past two years we have been busy, not only with expansion of our product suite, but also the internationalization of Hyarchis. At first this started with our expansion into Lithuania, where we now employ more than twenty software engineers and data scientists. This initial step toward an international organization also turned out to be the springboard to supporting customers in both Lithuania as well as the United Kingdom. Most people know us as a truly Dutch company, but in reality, we serve customers in five different countries. With this solid foundation, we want to expand internationally during the coming few years. This will naturally require an adjustment in the way that we present Hyarchis to the world”. Hyarchis gets a new look and feel. What other changes can we expect? “First of all, I’d like to emphasize that nothing really changes for our customers when it comes to the daily use of our solutions. We will continue developing our Document Management solution as that is what our customers are used to and will proceed our migration to a cloud-based system. However, every era calls for different solutions. In our case, this means that we have widened our range of services solely from document management to a broader range of data management solutions. From a technological point of view, this is a huge transformation and therefore requires an entirely fresh look and feel. As a result, our customers will see the familiar look of Hyarchis change. We have rebranded ourselves as a company, presented a new logo and launched a brand-new website as well. So, stay tuned!”.

What will happen in the field of Document Management in 2020 | Hyarchis

What will happen in the field of Document Management in 2020?

When an application has been on the market for so long, are there still any new trends and developments? We at Hyarchis are seeing developments emerge that are breathing new life into document management systems. In this blog post, Claudia Meessen looks ahead to the five main developments in document management for 2020. 1. CloudWhile the world of financial service providers has long kept all their software in-house, the move to the cloud is now truly unstoppable. Apprehension about storing data in the cloud has made way for a desire to spend less time and money on in-house IT applications. Organizations are not only using separate applications hosted in the cloud, they are even choosing to move their entire IT landscape to the cloud. As a result, document management systems (DMS) are being increasingly relocated to a cloud environment as well. 2. User-friendlyApplication interfaces must first and foremost be web-based. They need to be presented in the cleanest and simplest way possible. This will drive the further development of a dynamic and personalized configuration of DMS screens. Features and rights are not the only factors to consider in this respect, as historic use per individual also increasingly plays a role. I expect screens to be presented in a way that best matches individual users’ search and work behavior. It is all about the user experience, which needs to be just as good for business applications as it is for applications that we are used to as consumers. 3. SecurityThere will be no escaping it in 2020: privacy by design. Luckily, the year 2019 allowed organizations to settle into the new data protection reality created by the implementation of the GDPR in 2018. In 2020, data protection will become a given. If they want to make a difference in 2020, DMS providers will have to take the lead in this respect. I am also seeing the role of DMS providers change significantly, as they play a crucial role in offering expert advice and the kind of tooling that makes it easier for organizations to be compliant, i.e. to comply with rules such as maximum data retention terms. 4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)In 2020, AI will play a crucial role in relation to governance, i.e. compliance with laws and regulations. Many of the archives we deal with have grown so large and complex that it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure that your archive and the millions of documents within it comply with legislation. It is impossible for humans to monitor compliance within such a huge archive. This is where AI-based solutions come in, bringing fully automated compliance monitoring. The year 2020 will also see a cautious first step toward using data from the documents for business intelligence purposes. 5. One single DMS as the central archiveWhat we are seeing more often these days is that multiple applications are linked to one single DMS archive. In practice, this means that our DMS increasingly becomes the central data hub of the application landscape. The role of the DMS is changing as a result due to the DMS gradually acquiring more specialist capability in areas such as integrations, interfaces, access and security. Aside from that, documents in our DMS are increasingly shown to the person who is the actual file owner. Customer portals set up based on the customer self-service principle are used as first-line applications to a greater extent, with the DMS fulfilling a key role in the background. Take a look at our Document Management System.

Optical Character Recognition | Hyarchis

What’s so AI about OCR?

In the ‘AI on the road’ section, our Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert Krijn Logister looks at questions customers ask him about AI during his meetings with them. In this edition: ‘What’s so AI about Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?’ Krijn, what’s so AI about OCR when OCR has been around for years?This is indeed a question that I’m asked a lot by organisations I visit to explain what Artificial Intelligence can do for their archive. OCR, i.e. the technology that converts records into readable and searchable text, is not new, it has been around for years. But what is different today, compared to several years ago, is that the present-day OCR application integrates AI technology for fast searches of even the oldest archives. The OCR engine that we have today has tremendously improved accuracy and speed, because it uses machine learning technology. Could you give us an example to explain this?‘We provide our OCR/AI application called Hyarchis Search-It to various organisations in the mortgage industry. Mortgage cases are always kept on file for a long time, with twenty to thirty years being very normal. The documents in these archives were often scanned in an age when there were fewer technological aids available and there was less quality control. As a result, these documents often have many flaws, such as coffee stains, making it harder to convert them into searchable text. While the human eye will have no difficulty seeing through these flaws, a computer will struggle. So, where does Artificial Intelligence come in?Hyarchis Search-It puts the focus not only on the OCR feature, but also on the preprocessing and postprocessing. The tool recognises documents, automatically determines what is needed for maximum processing, and optimises the documents for OCR. The records are subsequently recognised and a ‘blind’ OCR layer is applied to the documents. Finally, the document is put back together, and all of this without making any changes to the original record. What’s the ultimate purpose of this kind of OCR?AI helps to make the most of the documents’ content. Search-It lets you make smart use of AI, offering a relatively easy and fast way to make your archive fully searchable. This, in turn, lets you use your content in an intelligent way. Knowing exactly what you have in your archive, you can start turning the complex data into insights. Let’s go back to the practical side. How and where do you use this technology?Let’s take Quion as an example, which is a large company that takes care of administrative processes for the mortgage industry. They manage complete mortgage cases for lenders, i.e. archives containing millions of documents. AI is used to convert the still unstructured content of these documents into structured data. The resulting data subsequently offers a wide range of possibilities for further service optimisation. Hyarchis and Quion have put together a roadmap, on which Search-It is the first project, followed by testing of the Hyarchis Classify tool. And what does Quion get out of this in the end?Whether it be adding a home construction account or requesting that a mortgage case be sent, all emails and attachments are opened and the right process is triggered. Our AI tools make all documents searchable, following which Hyarchis Classify classifies these documents and automatically assigns them to the right workflow. The proof of concept with Hyarchis Search-it has meanwhile been approved. It will be taken into production in the second quarter of 2020. Can we conclude that the current OCR tools are definitely a form of AI?Yes, we can. The AI technology in OCR tools ensures even better and faster recognition and reading of document content. Besides, AI lets you turn data into knowledge. So, yes, the answer to the question is that present-day OCR functionality is indeed AI. Author: Krijn Logister

Carefree DMS migration in 8 steps | Hyarchis

Carefree DMS migration in 8 steps

Organizations that are planning to switch to a new DMS often come up against the same challenges. Jean-Pierre van de Kruijs, Senior Consultant and team lead of Hyarchis’ conversion specialists, explains how to go about it in eight steps. Types of documentsAn existing archive often contains millions of documents, ranging from Microsoft Office documents to graphic files such as .eps or .pdf. They also tend to contain industry-related documents such as copies of passports or valuation reports. A migration process from an existing archive to, in our case, the Hyarchis DMS archive involves archives containing as many as 250 million documents which is not something you do on the side - preparation and monitoring are crucial. That is why I always work my way down a list of eight steps for every migration project that I do. I have branded it “The Hyarchis Conversion Method” and I would like to share this method with you as it has more than proven itself in practice. Eight steps to ensure a carefree migration: 1. Talk to everyone involvedI always start a migration project with a personal introductory meeting on-site at the customer’s premises, to which everyone involved is invited. That is when we discuss the customer’s needs, challenges, and the type of archive. We then make the first agreements, such as when and how to proceed to the deep dive. 2. Deep diveShortly after getting acquainted, the next step is the deep dive into the system to explore the existing archive and its structure. This involves assessing the export options and analyzing the existing mapping route. 3. Project planBased on what I have seen and heard in the previous two steps, I put together a project plan. Within it I describe all the possible scenarios and solutions and estimate the turnaround time. I ultimately capture all the activities, the timetable, and the approach in one single project plan, which I then discuss in detail with the stakeholders from step 1. 4. PreparationDuring this important step, I especially focus on the mapping and on adapting queries to the current situation. I use special tools for this, which Hyarchis has developed based on existing technologies. Migration often involves renumbering and mapping or classifying documents. Mortgages, for example, often get a new loan number when they are imported into a new system, which is something that you must be prepared for with your tooling set. Organizations often take a DMS migration as an opportunity to reduce the number of document formats in their archive, generally reducing it down to two formats: PDF and TIFF. If so, I make sure that we are prepared for that. 5. Trial migrationAs per usual, I start the migration process with a trial run. During such a trial run, we migrate a small part of the archive - generally 5% - so that we can detect potential problems and prevent them during the actual migration. Together with the customer, I check the status both during and after this trial migration to ensure that everything is functioning as it should be. 6. Temporary migration (Bulk migration)One fixed part of the process is an export of the existing document management archive to a temporary Hyarchis DMS archive, including the associated database. If this migration stalls at any point, our tools are configured in such a way that the migration resumes from where it left off after a restart. This is also known as the bulk migration. During this temporary (or bulk) migration, work continues, meaning that documents are still added, removed, or edited from and to the archive. I use migration updates to make sure that new documents can be added. 7. Migration to the permanent environmentEverything is transferred to the new system from the temporary archive and documents get dummy ID numbers to hide them from view in the live system. This step includes yet another check to make sure all the data matches up. Everything in order? If so, this is when I give the green light for the actual conversion, which we often schedule to take place during a weekend. We also execute a delta run, which is an additional export with all the new documents and changes since the initial export. Once this export has been completed successfully, the dummy IDs are replaced with the real IDs, and then all documents are visible in the new Hyarchis DMS. 8. Remove the legacy environmentAnd finally, after the new environment has been accepted by the customer, it is time to think about removing the legacy environment. As you can see, migrating an archive is not to be taken lightly. It requires expert knowledge and an expertly crafted action plan. Thanks to the experience we have built over the past 30 years, Hyarchis has the capability to make every migration a success. Take a look at our Document Management System.

Hyarchis and Unit4 DocumentManager cloud-bound in 2020 | Hyarchis

Hyarchis and Unit4 DocumentManager cloud-bound in 2020

For many accounting firms, Hyarchis (integrated into Unit4 DocumentManager) is their central archive system. Hyarchis has been supplying this powerful document solution to Unit4 Bedrijfssoftware for ten years now. Over this period, both parties have acquired a lot of knowledge and experience in the accounting industry, which is set to culminate in the launch of a cloud-based version of DocumentManager in 2020. A cloud-hosted DocumentManager application is something that accounting firms have requested in order to lighten their IT load. There are also other news for 2020; the number of integrations with other applications will be extended further, enabling a range of best-of-breed combinations in accounting firms’ application landscapes. DocumentManager users will also be able to become acquainted with additional AI-based tooling. The artificial intelligence tool Blurrify, which will be introduced, is a tool that assesses whether a document contains personal data and subsequently automatically blurs such data, thus delivering fully automated GDPR compliance. This makes life a lot easier for accounting firms, saving them time and costs by eliminating manual document processing. Herman de Jonge (CEO, Unit4): “With Unit4 DocumentManager, we provide a secure environment where all digital documents and correspondence from customers and the company come together. Unit4 Bedrijfssoftware makes case management, document management (DMS), document composition, customer communications and secure sending of GDPR-proof documents easier than ever before. And with the new cloud-based solution and the addition of AI tooling, our customers will be ready to face the future.”

Hyarchis awarded ISO 27001 certification for information security management | Hyarchis

Hyarchis awarded ISO 27001 certification for information security management

After several years of hard work, Hyarchis received ISO 27001 certification in October 2019. Having been awarded the ISO 27001 certification means that Hyarchis now meets the most important international information security management standard. Securing this certification is a key step that confirms information security being the top priority at Hyarchis. The ISO 27001 standard is a framework of procedures that ensures adequate management of information security risks. In concrete terms, this means that the organization documents all information security risks and minimizes risk exposure. This does not just concern compliance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); it also relates to a broad array of security issues, ranging from office access control to a detailed disaster recovery plan. Adriaan Hoogduijn, Hyarchis’ Chief Operating Officer: “The fact that we have been awarded ISO 27001 certification sends a clear message to our customers that we have the information process under control and that all data is properly secured. We take pride in that. Our document management system is the market leader in the financial services industry and holds over 90% of all mortgage cases in the Netherlands. I would go so far as to say that our customers manage one of the most sensitive databases in the Netherlands, which is why it is so important for our customers to be able to rely on us to have our information security in order.” The urgency behind Hyarchis landing ISO 27001 certification came mainly from the fact that more and more of our customers want their document management system hosted in a cloud environment. “Aside from a virtual cloud, we also provide this service in a what is known as a multitenancy environment, where it is extremely important that information cannot leak between accounts owned by different customers. During the certification process, this separation of environments was submitted to close scrutiny, and we came through that test with flying colors,” says A. Hoogduijn. Obtaining ISO 27001 certification means that we can guarantee that we: ensure optimum protection of your customer data.reduce information security risks to an absolute minimum.prioritize information security in our document management system.ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).give you the peace of mind that your data is in safe hands with us and treated with due care.

Hiding or retrieving ID information? AI does the job!

Hiding or retrieving ID information? AI does the job!

“Some organisations use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to blur personal information within their archives. Others use AI to retrieve ID information from scanned passports and ID cards, in order to enrich their databases.” This month in AI on the road, Krijn talks about the dual use of AI in processing passports and ID cards. In the column “AI on the road”, Hyarchis Artificial Intelligence expert Krijn talks about the AI-related questions that he encounters during meetings with clients. In other words, very basic questions and answers about this seemingly complex topic. This month Krijn focuses on the use of AI for managing sensitive passport- and ID-card-related data within large archives. Krijn, let’s start with using AI to remove ID information. What questions do you encounter?The questions that arise around removing ID information, or better said: making that information inaccessible, are often based on compliance with GDPR legislation. Various organisations are burdened with large archives containing millions of copies of passports and ID cards. Under the current regulation, it is important that access to sensitive data, such as personal identification numbers (PINs), is restricted. AI offers the possibility to do this while leaving the integrity of the archive intact. The Dutch website InFinance recently published an article on the subject, in which they outlined how to correctly process PINs in line with the regulations of the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch: Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens). AI gives organisations the ability to track down personal identification numbers in documents which are not text-searchable. As a result, organisations can find and subsequently hide sensitive data in an automated manner even in outdated or complex archives. Could you give an example of information that organisations need to blur?Before GDPR came in effect, the PIN of someone who was applying for example a mortgage was recorded and saved in this file. Under current legislation, PINs are not to be disclosed in a this application, unless this is essential to the purpose for which the data is processed. Only when the contract is actually signed, the personal identification number can be recorded and included in the case file. Because of this, many organisations are now wondering “How do I make this number inaccessible?” What role does AI play in all of this?It is impossible to manually remove specific information from scanned passports and ID cards. Passports might be scanned horizontally, vertically, crooked, or two scans could be even combined on one page. Add the wide variety of layouts – every country has their own passport design – and you start to understand the magnitude of this challenge. Step one is automation. However, what do you do if not only the search process has many variables, but the blurring process too? That is where AI comes into play. Using OCR-based technology, our software solutions recognise personal identification numbers within scanned documents with a near 100 percent accuracy. Once found, AI makes sure that these numbers are blurred, making them unrecognisable. What is the difficulty that you address by using AI?It is often unknown where the files containing passports and ID cards are located. Most of the time the files are not named accordingly and located somewhere in a 50-page personal file. AI traces these regardless of the file type or file name and ensures that the PINs are blurred and no longer accessible. If I understood correctly, AI is not only used to remove information from digital files, but also to add information to the database? Tell us more…Indeed, clients also use AI to extend their database. In the past, passports and ID cards were not always registered properly, because there was no need to do so. Nowadays, organisations do need to implement appropriate data minimization measures and store personal information transparently for the customers in order to serve them better and comply with data privacy laws and regulations. Now I’m curious…is that possible?Yes, it is possible, but to do that, you need to use AI. If an organisation would like to recognise the data on an ID card or passport that is in their archive, our AI solutions can help with that. Whether you want to remove existing information from your archive or do the exact opposite, our AI-based software works both ways! Learn more about our Business Intelligence and Governance solutions.

What will happen in the field of Document Management in 2020 | Hyarchis

What will happen in the field of Document Management in 2020?

When an application has been on the market for so long, are there still any new trends and developments? We at Hyarchis are seeing developments emerge that are breathing new life into document management systems. In this blog post, Claudia Meessen looks ahead to the five main developments in document management for 2020. 1. CloudWhile the world of financial service providers has long kept all their software in-house, the move to the cloud is now truly unstoppable. Apprehension about storing data in the cloud has made way for a desire to spend less time and money on in-house IT applications. Organizations are not only using separate applications hosted in the cloud, they are even choosing to move their entire IT landscape to the cloud. As a result, document management systems (DMS) are being increasingly relocated to a cloud environment as well. 2. User-friendlyApplication interfaces must first and foremost be web-based. They need to be presented in the cleanest and simplest way possible. This will drive the further development of a dynamic and personalized configuration of DMS screens. Features and rights are not the only factors to consider in this respect, as historic use per individual also increasingly plays a role. I expect screens to be presented in a way that best matches individual users’ search and work behavior. It is all about the user experience, which needs to be just as good for business applications as it is for applications that we are used to as consumers. 3. SecurityThere will be no escaping it in 2020: privacy by design. Luckily, the year 2019 allowed organizations to settle into the new data protection reality created by the implementation of the GDPR in 2018. In 2020, data protection will become a given. If they want to make a difference in 2020, DMS providers will have to take the lead in this respect. I am also seeing the role of DMS providers change significantly, as they play a crucial role in offering expert advice and the kind of tooling that makes it easier for organizations to be compliant, i.e. to comply with rules such as maximum data retention terms. 4. Artificial Intelligence (AI)In 2020, AI will play a crucial role in relation to governance, i.e. compliance with laws and regulations. Many of the archives we deal with have grown so large and complex that it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure that your archive and the millions of documents within it comply with legislation. It is impossible for humans to monitor compliance within such a huge archive. This is where AI-based solutions come in, bringing fully automated compliance monitoring. The year 2020 will also see a cautious first step toward using data from the documents for business intelligence purposes. 5. One single DMS as the central archiveWhat we are seeing more often these days is that multiple applications are linked to one single DMS archive. In practice, this means that our DMS increasingly becomes the central data hub of the application landscape. The role of the DMS is changing as a result due to the DMS gradually acquiring more specialist capability in areas such as integrations, interfaces, access and security. Aside from that, documents in our DMS are increasingly shown to the person who is the actual file owner. Customer portals set up based on the customer self-service principle are used as first-line applications to a greater extent, with the DMS fulfilling a key role in the background. Take a look at our Document Management System.

Optical Character Recognition | Hyarchis

What’s so AI about OCR?

In the ‘AI on the road’ section, our Artificial Intelligence (AI) expert Krijn Logister looks at questions customers ask him about AI during his meetings with them. In this edition: ‘What’s so AI about Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?’ Krijn, what’s so AI about OCR when OCR has been around for years?This is indeed a question that I’m asked a lot by organisations I visit to explain what Artificial Intelligence can do for their archive. OCR, i.e. the technology that converts records into readable and searchable text, is not new, it has been around for years. But what is different today, compared to several years ago, is that the present-day OCR application integrates AI technology for fast searches of even the oldest archives. The OCR engine that we have today has tremendously improved accuracy and speed, because it uses machine learning technology. Could you give us an example to explain this?‘We provide our OCR/AI application called Hyarchis Search-It to various organisations in the mortgage industry. Mortgage cases are always kept on file for a long time, with twenty to thirty years being very normal. The documents in these archives were often scanned in an age when there were fewer technological aids available and there was less quality control. As a result, these documents often have many flaws, such as coffee stains, making it harder to convert them into searchable text. While the human eye will have no difficulty seeing through these flaws, a computer will struggle. So, where does Artificial Intelligence come in?Hyarchis Search-It puts the focus not only on the OCR feature, but also on the preprocessing and postprocessing. The tool recognises documents, automatically determines what is needed for maximum processing, and optimises the documents for OCR. The records are subsequently recognised and a ‘blind’ OCR layer is applied to the documents. Finally, the document is put back together, and all of this without making any changes to the original record. What’s the ultimate purpose of this kind of OCR?AI helps to make the most of the documents’ content. Search-It lets you make smart use of AI, offering a relatively easy and fast way to make your archive fully searchable. This, in turn, lets you use your content in an intelligent way. Knowing exactly what you have in your archive, you can start turning the complex data into insights. Let’s go back to the practical side. How and where do you use this technology?Let’s take Quion as an example, which is a large company that takes care of administrative processes for the mortgage industry. They manage complete mortgage cases for lenders, i.e. archives containing millions of documents. AI is used to convert the still unstructured content of these documents into structured data. The resulting data subsequently offers a wide range of possibilities for further service optimisation. Hyarchis and Quion have put together a roadmap, on which Search-It is the first project, followed by testing of the Hyarchis Classify tool. And what does Quion get out of this in the end?Whether it be adding a home construction account or requesting that a mortgage case be sent, all emails and attachments are opened and the right process is triggered. Our AI tools make all documents searchable, following which Hyarchis Classify classifies these documents and automatically assigns them to the right workflow. The proof of concept with Hyarchis Search-it has meanwhile been approved. It will be taken into production in the second quarter of 2020. Can we conclude that the current OCR tools are definitely a form of AI?Yes, we can. The AI technology in OCR tools ensures even better and faster recognition and reading of document content. Besides, AI lets you turn data into knowledge. So, yes, the answer to the question is that present-day OCR functionality is indeed AI. Author: Krijn Logister

Carefree DMS migration in 8 steps | Hyarchis

Carefree DMS migration in 8 steps

Organizations that are planning to switch to a new DMS often come up against the same challenges. Jean-Pierre van de Kruijs, Senior Consultant and team lead of Hyarchis’ conversion specialists, explains how to go about it in eight steps. Types of documentsAn existing archive often contains millions of documents, ranging from Microsoft Office documents to graphic files such as .eps or .pdf. They also tend to contain industry-related documents such as copies of passports or valuation reports. A migration process from an existing archive to, in our case, the Hyarchis DMS archive involves archives containing as many as 250 million documents which is not something you do on the side - preparation and monitoring are crucial. That is why I always work my way down a list of eight steps for every migration project that I do. I have branded it “The Hyarchis Conversion Method” and I would like to share this method with you as it has more than proven itself in practice. Eight steps to ensure a carefree migration: 1. Talk to everyone involvedI always start a migration project with a personal introductory meeting on-site at the customer’s premises, to which everyone involved is invited. That is when we discuss the customer’s needs, challenges, and the type of archive. We then make the first agreements, such as when and how to proceed to the deep dive. 2. Deep diveShortly after getting acquainted, the next step is the deep dive into the system to explore the existing archive and its structure. This involves assessing the export options and analyzing the existing mapping route. 3. Project planBased on what I have seen and heard in the previous two steps, I put together a project plan. Within it I describe all the possible scenarios and solutions and estimate the turnaround time. I ultimately capture all the activities, the timetable, and the approach in one single project plan, which I then discuss in detail with the stakeholders from step 1. 4. PreparationDuring this important step, I especially focus on the mapping and on adapting queries to the current situation. I use special tools for this, which Hyarchis has developed based on existing technologies. Migration often involves renumbering and mapping or classifying documents. Mortgages, for example, often get a new loan number when they are imported into a new system, which is something that you must be prepared for with your tooling set. Organizations often take a DMS migration as an opportunity to reduce the number of document formats in their archive, generally reducing it down to two formats: PDF and TIFF. If so, I make sure that we are prepared for that. 5. Trial migrationAs per usual, I start the migration process with a trial run. During such a trial run, we migrate a small part of the archive - generally 5% - so that we can detect potential problems and prevent them during the actual migration. Together with the customer, I check the status both during and after this trial migration to ensure that everything is functioning as it should be. 6. Temporary migration (Bulk migration)One fixed part of the process is an export of the existing document management archive to a temporary Hyarchis DMS archive, including the associated database. If this migration stalls at any point, our tools are configured in such a way that the migration resumes from where it left off after a restart. This is also known as the bulk migration. During this temporary (or bulk) migration, work continues, meaning that documents are still added, removed, or edited from and to the archive. I use migration updates to make sure that new documents can be added. 7. Migration to the permanent environmentEverything is transferred to the new system from the temporary archive and documents get dummy ID numbers to hide them from view in the live system. This step includes yet another check to make sure all the data matches up. Everything in order? If so, this is when I give the green light for the actual conversion, which we often schedule to take place during a weekend. We also execute a delta run, which is an additional export with all the new documents and changes since the initial export. Once this export has been completed successfully, the dummy IDs are replaced with the real IDs, and then all documents are visible in the new Hyarchis DMS. 8. Remove the legacy environmentAnd finally, after the new environment has been accepted by the customer, it is time to think about removing the legacy environment. As you can see, migrating an archive is not to be taken lightly. It requires expert knowledge and an expertly crafted action plan. Thanks to the experience we have built over the past 30 years, Hyarchis has the capability to make every migration a success. Take a look at our Document Management System.

De Hypotheker and Hyarchis ready for online future thanks to revived partnership

De Hypotheker and Hyarchis ready for online future thanks to revived partnership

Mortgage service provider De Hypotheker and Hyarchis have decided to revive their partnership. For years, the two companies have been frontrunners in the Dutch mortgage market, in the areas of advice and software respectively. Having digitalised most of their respective services in the mortgage advice domain over the years, De Hypotheker and Hyarchis are now ready for the online future. Both De Hypotheker and Hyarchis have embarked on a large-scale transformation over the past few years, which they are now taking to the next level. De Hypotheker is developing into an omnichannel service provider, while Hyarchis is in the middle of a transition from being a traditional on-premises document management provider to being a cloud-based data management provider. De Hypotheker will reincorporate HDM Cloud (Hyarchis Document Management) into its system landscape, whereby user convenience comes first. The implementation and migration project is well under way and has recently, due to the coronavirus situation, been moved online with teams based in the Netherlands, Portugal and Lithuania. Market leaders join forces “In these unprecedented times, it is important to join forces,” says Andre van der Doelen, CEO of Hyarchis. “Remote working comes with all kinds of challenges that we, together with De Hypotheker, are taking on full of confidence.” “We are pleased to resume our business relationship with Hyarchis,” comments Jasper Cuijten, Business Development Director at De Hypotheker. “Hyarchis has an excellent reputation as a leading player in document management. We look forward to breathing new life into our partnership to be able to offer our mortgage consultants even greater convenience.”

Hyarchis: a new era, a new look! | Hyarchis

Hyarchis: a new era, a new look!

For the past 30 years, Hyarchis has been developing a range of data management solutions for its customers. During its long history, Hyarchis has reinvented itself as a company multiple times and at the dawn of the new decade, Hyarchis will rebrand itself once more. In light of this occasion, we look into both the past and the future of Hyarchis together with the founder and CEO André van der Doelen. Hyarchis has been around for more than 30 years now. You must have had your fair share of experience seeing things come and go. “With Hyarchis, we look back on a turbulent history which runs parallel to what is nowadays referred to as the “digital transformation”. In the 80s, we started out by delivering the first-generation of mainframe computers. During the 90s, Hyarchis helped organizations to digitize their physical archives. Thereafter, now twenty years ago, we developed our first custom-made Document Management System (DMS) for the financial services industry. In 2020, this DMS is still the cornerstone of our company”, says André van der Doelen. What about the present day, yet another challenge in the digital revolution for Hyarchis? “Our services have changed substantially over the years, but the core of our solutions has always remained the same. All of our customers process large quantities of documents on a daily basis. Through every stage of the digital transformation, we have helped them manage those large amounts of documents. For the past two years, we have seen a shift from managing documents to understanding and structuring the data contained within these documents. On one hand, this demand is stimulated by the enforcement of the GDPR while on the other hand, our clients have come to realize the value of their costumer data that has been locked in their archives for years on end”. How does Hyarchis transform this content into usable data? “For the past two years, together with our customers, we have invested in the development of solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI). This year marks a milestone as we will deliver our first large-scale projects in the field of AI. You could say that this year we turn a new page in the long history of Hyarchis. With our new products, such as Blurrify and Search-It, we can offer our customers a way broader range of solutions in the field of data management and help them manage their challenges for the decades to come”. So, once a Dutch company, always a Dutch company? “Ha ha, no. During the past two years we have been busy, not only with expansion of our product suite, but also the internationalization of Hyarchis. At first this started with our expansion into Lithuania, where we now employ more than twenty software engineers and data scientists. This initial step toward an international organization also turned out to be the springboard to supporting customers in both Lithuania as well as the United Kingdom. Most people know us as a truly Dutch company, but in reality, we serve customers in five different countries. With this solid foundation, we want to expand internationally during the coming few years. This will naturally require an adjustment in the way that we present Hyarchis to the world”. Hyarchis gets a new look and feel. What other changes can we expect? “First of all, I’d like to emphasize that nothing really changes for our customers when it comes to the daily use of our solutions. We will continue developing our Document Management solution as that is what our customers are used to and will proceed our migration to a cloud-based system. However, every era calls for different solutions. In our case, this means that we have widened our range of services solely from document management to a broader range of data management solutions. From a technological point of view, this is a huge transformation and therefore requires an entirely fresh look and feel. As a result, our customers will see the familiar look of Hyarchis change. We have rebranded ourselves as a company, presented a new logo and launched a brand-new website as well. So, stay tuned!”.

Hyarchis and Unit4 DocumentManager cloud-bound in 2020 | Hyarchis

Hyarchis and Unit4 DocumentManager cloud-bound in 2020

For many accounting firms, Hyarchis (integrated into Unit4 DocumentManager) is their central archive system. Hyarchis has been supplying this powerful document solution to Unit4 Bedrijfssoftware for ten years now. Over this period, both parties have acquired a lot of knowledge and experience in the accounting industry, which is set to culminate in the launch of a cloud-based version of DocumentManager in 2020. A cloud-hosted DocumentManager application is something that accounting firms have requested in order to lighten their IT load. There are also other news for 2020; the number of integrations with other applications will be extended further, enabling a range of best-of-breed combinations in accounting firms’ application landscapes. DocumentManager users will also be able to become acquainted with additional AI-based tooling. The artificial intelligence tool Blurrify, which will be introduced, is a tool that assesses whether a document contains personal data and subsequently automatically blurs such data, thus delivering fully automated GDPR compliance. This makes life a lot easier for accounting firms, saving them time and costs by eliminating manual document processing. Herman de Jonge (CEO, Unit4): “With Unit4 DocumentManager, we provide a secure environment where all digital documents and correspondence from customers and the company come together. Unit4 Bedrijfssoftware makes case management, document management (DMS), document composition, customer communications and secure sending of GDPR-proof documents easier than ever before. And with the new cloud-based solution and the addition of AI tooling, our customers will be ready to face the future.”

Hyarchis awarded ISO 27001 certification for information security management | Hyarchis

Hyarchis awarded ISO 27001 certification for information security management

After several years of hard work, Hyarchis received ISO 27001 certification in October 2019. Having been awarded the ISO 27001 certification means that Hyarchis now meets the most important international information security management standard. Securing this certification is a key step that confirms information security being the top priority at Hyarchis. The ISO 27001 standard is a framework of procedures that ensures adequate management of information security risks. In concrete terms, this means that the organization documents all information security risks and minimizes risk exposure. This does not just concern compliance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR); it also relates to a broad array of security issues, ranging from office access control to a detailed disaster recovery plan. Adriaan Hoogduijn, Hyarchis’ Chief Operating Officer: “The fact that we have been awarded ISO 27001 certification sends a clear message to our customers that we have the information process under control and that all data is properly secured. We take pride in that. Our document management system is the market leader in the financial services industry and holds over 90% of all mortgage cases in the Netherlands. I would go so far as to say that our customers manage one of the most sensitive databases in the Netherlands, which is why it is so important for our customers to be able to rely on us to have our information security in order.” The urgency behind Hyarchis landing ISO 27001 certification came mainly from the fact that more and more of our customers want their document management system hosted in a cloud environment. “Aside from a virtual cloud, we also provide this service in a what is known as a multitenancy environment, where it is extremely important that information cannot leak between accounts owned by different customers. During the certification process, this separation of environments was submitted to close scrutiny, and we came through that test with flying colors,” says A. Hoogduijn. Obtaining ISO 27001 certification means that we can guarantee that we: ensure optimum protection of your customer data.reduce information security risks to an absolute minimum.prioritize information security in our document management system.ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).give you the peace of mind that your data is in safe hands with us and treated with due care.

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