1. DWC

Technical information for OCR forms developers

EAMS image

New regulations began on Nov. 17, 2008 that require all filers use optical character recognition (OCR) forms that can be scanned at DWC’s 24 district offices statewide. The scanned OCR forms are uploaded into the Electronic Adjudication Management System (EAMS). Pre-EAMS “legacy” forms are no longer be accepted when an equivalent OCR form is available.

DWC rule 10228 states that a user-generated EAMS OCR form must "function with EAMS in an equivalent manner as the division form." Click here for the text of the DWC regulations.

EAMS forms validation spreadsheet

To facilitate the development of user-generated OCR forms that comply with the regulations, DWC is making the validation spreadsheet available to forms developers. The validation spreadsheet was used in the development of both the OCR forms and the e-forms. Any technical questions regarding the validation spreadsheet that cannot be answered by reference to the OCR forms may be addressed to EAMS@dir.ca.gov.

Potential changes to validation spreadsheet

Changes to some of the mandatory fields in the following forms are currently being considered: 10214(a), 10245, 10214(b), DEU-103, 10133.55, 10120, and 2581. If and when those changes are approved, revised forms and a revised validation spreadsheet will be posted.

OCR form barcode values

At the bottom of the worksheet for each form, the validation spreadsheet contains the barcode value for that form. There is no worksheet for the document separator sheet. The barcode value for the document separator sheet is "PATCHCODE." The EAMS barcodes are "Code 3 of 9" (also known as "Code 39") barcodes.

OCR forms testing

The only way for a forms developer to know whether the user-generated forms work in EAMS in an equivalent manner with the DWC forms is to test the forms at DWC headquarters in Oakland.

To make a reservation to test your forms, e-mail EAMS@dir.ca.gov with “OCR forms test” in the subject line.

OCR forms testing protocol

Because the legal requirement for user-generated EAMS OCR forms is that they work “in an equivalent manner” as DWC’s forms, when testing forms in the OCR forms testing lab developers should come prepared with two sets of forms—the DWC forms from the DWC Web site and their own user-generated forms—completed with identical data. The developers then must test both sets of forms in the testing lab and compare the results. If the results are equivalent, the user-generated forms may be used in EAMS. If the results are not equivalent, the user-generated forms will need to be refined and retested.

Further information

Further information on working in EAMS and the EAMS OCR forms is available on the "working in EAMS" page. Click here for frequently asked questions about EAMS. General or technical questions about EAMS that are not answered on the EAMS Web site can be addressed by e-mail to EAMS@dir.ca.gov.

April 2010