Scribe MT Line Count Overview

Introduction

The Scribe MT platform provides total flexibility in determining separate character/line counts for payment purposes for transcriptionists vs. billing purposes for customers.   Formulas for payment and billing can be set down to the individual group level.

Counting Characters and Lines

The MT Platform provides the ability to count several distinct types of elements within documents produced by transcriptionists – from bold and underscore to graphics and images.  These elements include:

Characters are counted throughout an entire document including, headers, footers, text boxes, notes, and tables.  For each of these elements a different weight can be given to derive a total number of characters.  For example for each bold range a weight of 2 would be given to account for the two keystrokes to begin and end bold.

The total counts for each of these elements in the document are multiplied by the weights and then combined into a formula to achieve a total number of characters for a given document.  Formulas for calculating characters and lines can be set down to the individual group level on the platform.  This total character count is then divided by the number of characters per line (default of 65) to come up with a line count for the document.

This is the formula:

[(chars * char mult) + (bold ranges * bold mult) + (underline ranges * underline mult) + (italic ranges * italic mult) + (caps range * cap mutl) + (symbols * symbol mutl)] / (chars/line) – (template lines * template mult)

Documents created from templates have the ability to have an initial character/line count set for each of these categories.  This count can be manually adjusted by the MT administrator.  This allows for the system to figure out how much work was actually produced by a transcriptionist.

Paying Transcriptionists

Each individual MT group has its own formula to determine the total character/line counts.  As each transcriptionist completes (finishes) a document, the character and line counts are updated for that document. The line count displayed for transcriptionists is net of any initial character/line count associated with the template they may have used if the formula for that transcription group has been so set.  All reports in the MT platform administrative section, report statistics based on the “net” character counts that result from their individual formulas.

It should be noted that all lines are credited to the creator of the document. See Example.

Example: A document is created and sent to QA. The responsible QA person proceeds to make the corrections and finish the report. All lines are credited to the original creator of the document.

Billing Customers

Each individual customer group has its own formula to determine the total character/line counts for their documents.  These formulas can either be gross with no deduction for templates or net of template counts.   Pricing for lines can also be set at the individual group level.  All customer reports shown on the MD platform will reflect the character/line count formula for that customer as well as their individual price.

Summary

For more information on the Scribe MT Platform and its capabilities please call Scribe sales at 866-SCRIBE-2 or email sales@scribe.com

Symbols/Special Characters Information

Anything other than the following characters are counted as symbols:

\ A-Za-z0-9 , - . / [ ] spaces, ' = `  and line breaks (paragraphs)

Which basically any keyboard character that requires a “shift” key to be pressed and other symbols that have to be uniquely inserted.

Shapes

Shapes are images, drawings, autoshapes, and other “image-related” items.