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FSTC - check image usability metrics FSTC 6/12 The FSTC announced the submission of check image usability metrics to the Image Test Registry of ASC X9 & publication of a white paper documenting the details. The metrics were developed & documented in a 3 month effort lead by Frank Jaffe, MorSecure, along with 35 participating FSTC member organizations. This was the final initiative in a series of FSTC projects associated with managing the quality of check images which spanned several years. The group involved included a cross-section of financial institutions, technology companies, & payment services companies, along with advisory & rules groups. ‘The industry now has a standard method to directly communicate the usability of a field in an image.’ The group documented the metrics in FSTC Field Usability Tests – Presence & Legibility. This document provides further guidelines to the industry regarding the usability of information within specific fields of a check or check-like item after it has been imaged; building on earlier work developed by the FSTC & ASC X9 Committee on Check Related Transactions X9B. The FSTC Image Quality & Usability Assurance report (10/31/05) discusses image usability in the context of certainty or risk mitigation of a check transaction where ‘information presence’ & ‘information legibility’ of data are key steps in that process. That effort created a conceptual model, which has been updated in this report based on the work in developing these metrics. ‘Financial institutions can use this tool to test the usability of key fields on high risk transactions,’ says David Concannon, Unisys. ‘They have options to protect themselves by performing review or by retaining a higher quality image when the usability of key data fields is in doubt.’ The number of checks being processed as digital images has skyrocketed since the enactment of Check-21. Billions of check images are being processed annually. Image quality & usability is growing in importance. The way images are managed within & between financial institutions requires processes & measurement tools capable of identifying problems & opportunities. These tools will help improve productivity, reduce risks, & ultimately save money for the banks that deploy them effectively.