Offlate , I have been asked by many customers, which is good , a software based OMR or a Hardware Based OMR . Frankly I have my opinion based on over 8 year experience and used various software and the hardware for the same . And in the beginning only I can assure you that I would not like to be biased on any particular product or solution. My experiences are based on the live projects that I have worked on .
Lets discuss whats Image based OMR and what are Hardware based OMR First before we get into the exact comparison of them . Image based OMR is the software approach to read the data from the OMR Sheets , while Hardware based OMR , is not using any software for capturing the data but uses the hardware intelligence to capture and supply the data , software is less important as its function is only to manage the data in human readable format . Normally OMR , whether connected to hardware or software based uses PC to operate the same
There are lot of manufacturers and developers around the world but still the world is dominated by Manufacturers like Scantron , Sekonic , DRS etc . They are the leading and I suppose having most of the Hardware based OMR share in the market. Scantron which has acquired NCS Pearsons Data Management Group . A Hardware approach is often pointed by the Software Developers as very constraint approach and users have to buy expensive forms etc etc . While Hardware sellers says that there are software accuracy issues and the speed with consistency is not there .
Let me have a very neutral appraoch to these arguments . A Good OMR Hardware is as good as good OMR Software , But OMR Software approach is always dependent on the scanner like HP or Document Scanners from others . So at the end of the day you need to have a good documetn scanner to have a good accuracy with any OMRSoftware available in the market
Said and done we have low quality hardware manufactures from China who people feel that are yes not consistent with the accuracy what OMR is meant for .Similarly some local made software from even in India ( known for quality softwares) are not as accurate and as it should be . Just compare them as OMR Hardware made in China is as same as OMR Software made in India ( They both are manufactured and Developed under NO QUALITY Norms) .And said and done they all provide no support . They are cheap but suffers in long run . Yes but if they both developers and manufacturers are regularised by the Compliances then definitely they would be of use .
Sekonic manufacturers all its equipments in Japan and even the parts are manufactured in Japan under strict quality norms and thereby you do not expect high Failure rate and long duty cycles . Scantron regularises its systems with their high Selling model , even though the failure rates are being noticibly high .
Remark Office OMR is one such software which uses a normal document scanner to capture the data and produce the results . Now this is one quality controlled software with over 50000 Users in world is a MS Office of OMR system . Recommended system for small volumes and people who have capital budget constraints.
articles -- HARDWARE BASED OMR V/s SoFTWARE OMR