AI OCR and structured field extraction

1. Overview & Business Value#

This comprehensive operational guide details the architecture, business workflows, configuration parameters, and execution steps for AI OCR and structured field extraction within SmartERP.

SmartERP Documents Enterprise eliminates manual data entry from scanned invoices, receipts, and contracts via an integrated AI-powered OCR engine.

{screenshot:ocr-and-field-extraction-overview-dashboard}

2. Prerequisites & Security Access Groups#

• Required Modules: documents, smarterp_dms
• Security Groups:
  • Documents User (Technical ID: documents.group_documents_user)
  • Documents Administrator (Technical ID: documents.group_documents_manager)
• Master Data Dependencies: Workspace hierarchies, document tags, automated actions, OCR rule definitions, and retention policies.

3. Step-by-Step Configuration & Execution#

Step 1: Navigating to the Module Interface#

1. Log into your SmartERP instance at https://smarterp.et/odoo.
2. Open the main App Switcher (grid icon in the top-left corner).
3. Select the Documents app icon.
4. From the top navigation bar, open Documents → Workspaces → Finance / Legal / HR / Operations.

{screenshot:ocr-and-field-extraction-app-switcher-navigation}

Step 2: Creating and Parameterizing Records#

1. Click the New button in the top-left control panel.
2. Complete the mandatory fields in the record form:
   • Document Title (Mandatory): Clear descriptive document name
   • Workspace Category (Mandatory): Target departmental archive workspace
   • Attachment File (Mandatory): Uploaded PDF, image, spreadsheet, or scan file
   • Document Owner (Mandatory): Employee or department responsible for custody
3. Configure optional operational parameters and localized tags as required:
   • Document Tags (Optional): Tax, audit, or confidentiality classification labels
   • Facial/OCR Extraction Template (Optional): Automated field mapping profile
   • Expiry Date (Optional): Statutory document retention expiration date
4. Click the Save icon in the control bar to commit the record.

{screenshot:ocr-and-field-extraction-record-creation-form}

Step 3: Validating and Processing Transactions#

• State Transitions: Execute operational state progression (Uploaded → Indexed / OCR Processed → Tagged → Approved / Locked → Archived).
• Ledger & System Impact: Document metadata tags and financial attachments link directly to general ledger journal items and vendor bills for instant audit recall.
• Audit Verification: Automated recording of author ID, timestamp, and immutable revision history.

{screenshot:ocr-and-field-extraction-transaction-processing-state}

Optical character recognition pipeline#

flowchart LR
    A[Scanned PDF / JPEG] --> B[Image Preprocessing & Deskew]
    B --> C[Tesseract / Multimodal AI Engine]
    C --> D{Script Detection}
    D -->|Latin| E[English Text Extraction]
    D -->|Ethiopic| F[Ge'ez Fidel Extraction]
    E --> G[Regex & Semantic Entity Extractor]
    F --> G
    G --> H[Populate Vendor Bill / Partner / Tax Fields]

Ethiopian fiscal calendar & currency extraction#

Unlike standard global OCR engines, SmartERP Documents is specifically tuned for Ethiopian commercial documents:

1. Pagume (ጳጉሜን) Calendar Support: Correctly recognizes the 13th month of the Ethiopian calendar (ጳጉሜን 1-6) without throwing invalid date errors.
2. Dual-Calendar Date Conversion: Automatically maps Ethiopian dates printed on supplier receipts (e.g., ጳጉሜን 3 ቀን 2017 ዓ.ም) to Gregorian accounting dates (September 8, 2025).
3. ETB Currency Normalization: Accurately recognizes Birr currency symbols (ETB, ብር, Br.) and parses standard Ethiopian number formats (e.g., 125,450.00 ብር).
4. TIN & Tax Recognition: Extracts 10-digit Ethiopian Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) and 15% VAT breakdown lines directly into the accounting invoice draft.

4. Advanced Configuration Points#

• Automated Actions & Scheduled Tasks (Crons):
  • Documents: Run OCR field extraction (documents.ir_cron_ocr_process): Runs every 15 minutes to process incoming scanned document text
  • Documents: Archive expired records (documents.ir_cron_retention): Runs weekly to enforce statutory document retention schedules
• Custom Print Templates & Reports:
  • Document Audit Trail & Access Log
  • Workspace Document Storage & Activity Ledger
• Multi-Company Rules: Record-level security isolation under Company 1 (Ashewa Technology Solutions S.C.), preventing cross-company ledger leakage across parent and subsidiary legal entities.

5. Comprehensive Troubleshooting Matrix#