FSTC concludes first phase of image quality and usability assurance study
FSTC today announced that phase one of its Image Quality and Usability Assurance project focused on check image exchange has concluded. This effort, begun in March of 2004 with 28 member organizations participating, including 14 financial institutions, clearing houses, and exchanges, involved defining a standard set of terminology and metrics for image quality and usability for image exchange.
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With the recent passage of Check 21 legislation, FSTC members believed that reaching agreement on common mechanisms for describing and expressing image quality and usability was both urgent and important. Phase two of this effort, due to launch later this year, will validate the metrics defined in phase one and establish thresholds that identify images which are of sufficient quality so as to be usable.
"The issues we addressed in this project have been discussed repeatedly over the years but this represents the first time someone has taken steps to deal with them," said Zachary Tumin, FSTC Executive Director. "Having common definitions and measurements will help minimize questionable disputes and check image returns, enable service levels between organizations, and ensure the quality of images delivered to customers. We achieved all of our goals in just 101 days thanks to a monumental effort by all team members. Now we can move to phase two of the project with a clear set of metrics."
There were four primary goals of the project:
Develop a common terminology for describing image quality and usability Develop a set of metrics to communicate image quality defect and usability information between institutions Develop a model to understand the industry cost of poor image quality in an exchange environment Determine next steps to define specific metric values and thresholds for defects and to facilitate industry adoption
Since 1994, FSTC has taken a leadership position in studying the issue of check image exchange and its effect on the industry. This has consisted of six projects: from the initial 1994 Interbank Check Imaging Project that demonstrated the feasibility of check image exchange through the Survivability of Check Security Features and Image Quality and Usability Assurance study of 2004.
"The adoption of standard image quality and usability metrics will greatly improve the industry's chances to realize the benefits of Check 21," said Matt Calman, Senior Vice-President, Process Engineering, Bank of America. "Our next step will focus on testing image quality and usability as well as continuing efforts to refine specific usability metrics."