Winston

A custom process automation software for scanning documents and data entry by Dallin Stewart

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Installation
3. Instructions
4. Checkpoints
5. Arranging Your Windows
6. Troubleshooting
7. Code Overview
8. Contact
9. Acknowledgements
10. Notes and Commentary

Introduction

Hello! This is Winston, a function-based program to automate most of the scanning process at a mortgage company. He uses a module called pyautogui (Python Automated Graphical User Interface) to control the mouse and keyboard automatically. Any changes to Byte, the Scanner, or the scanning process will need to be updated in the code and the images if made after the code was last updated on May 17, 2022.

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Installation

Despite the simple nature of Winston, he requires a bit of work to get him set up properly

1. Download Python You need admin authentication, so contact your Senior IT Specialist for help and permission. Python is a coding language, and this software enables the code to run

2. Download PyCharm You need admin authentication, so contact your Senior IT Specialist for help and permission. PyCharm is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Really any IDE that can run Python will work, but I am most familiar with PyCharm.

3. Install Pyautogui Open the Windows Command prompts and type in: 'pip install pyautogui'

4. Install Sub-Modules PyCharm will give you errors, telling you that you are missing certain modules. Click on 'Python Packages' near the bottom-left, type in the module that you are looking for, and install the first result that resembles the error you received.

5. Load this File Make a copy of the ScannerAutomation230 folder and upload it to the folder called PyCharmProjects on your own computer

6. Create New Images I'll explain more about these later, but just know that before this program will work on a different computer, you'll need to update the images that the folder comes with

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Instructions

To scan a document, you will:

1. Open up Byte and the Scanner App
   Make sure the Scan button is visible even when Byte is open, and that the Scan, Save, and Clear buttons are all visible when the Scanner app is open. Make sure Byte is big enough so that you can see any relevant information at one time, but not full screen. Use the gray field, and make the yellow field as small as possible, as Winston will not use that section of Byte.
   
   

2. Arrange your Files
   Make sure that each folder is visible on your desktop, including the one where you would like to save the PDFs you are currently scanning. Make sure there is a space visible at all times where the PDF can appear on the Desktop when saved. Please open arrangementScreenshot.png for an example. I haven't tested this but I think if you move the folders, it will mess Winston up and he won't be able to find them.
   
   

3. Open the PyCharm App
   Once open, click File --> Open... --> Users --> <YOUR_NAME> --> PyCharmProjects --> ScannerAutomation230 then click the OK button. If you are working on the original computer, simply double click the PyCharm shortcut on the Desktop, and it should open to this program. The the file load for a minute or two, then you will see an area at the top that says something like, 'You can change these variables'. Below are the default settings and what each variable does. Any time you want to change these variables, you must stop and rerun Winston in order to apply them.
   
   

   a) goFast = True. This variable will determine how fast Winston runs. It should only be set to false for training or demonstration purposes.
   

   b) complimentOn = True. This variable determines if you will get compliments and fun facts each time you scan. It defaults to True because it's cool and fun, but Winston is a polite guy so you can ask him to stop and he won't complain.
   

   c) permissionRequired = False. While this variable is true, Winston will pause and ask for permission before it clicks the 'Store Documents' button. It defaults to False because Winston runs faster and easier this way, and you should only set it to True if you are not sure Winston will consistently function correctly.
   

   d) resumePosition = 9. This variable tells Winston where to start when you rerun his program. If it is less than zero or greater than seven, then Winston will assume you want to restart where you left off. If that is not the case, simply set this variable to the last step Winston should have completed already. You can find more information about what this means in the Checkpoints sections below. Just don't forget to reset it so that Winston knows where to resume automatically!
   

    resumePosition = ...
    1: skip to searching for a new document
    2: skip to scanning a document
    3: skip to waiting for a document to finish scanning and then save the PDF
    4: skip to inputing document details in Byte
    5: skip to merging the PDF
    6: skip to storing the document
    7: skip the entire process and just view scanning statistics
   

   e) documentType. This tells Winston what kind of document you are scanning. These strings must match the following options exactly:

       i.  Pre Funding Package
       ii. FNMA
       iii.GNMA
       iv. Note
       v.  Final Settlement
   

   f) enterDate = '100721'. This variable tells Winston what to input for the dates of FNMA and GNMA documents. If you are not scanning one of these documents, this value does not matter. As a reminder, you must restart Winston each time you change this value. It must be in the form: 'MMDDYY'
   

   g) userInitials = 'DS'. This variables tells Winston your initials. For example, if Dallin Stewart is scanning, the initials should be DS. Winston only uses this variable if you are scanning a Note or a Pre Funding Package. As a reminder, you must restart Winston each time you change this value.
   
   

4. Enter the Loan Number
   a) Click the green triangle near the top right to run Winston.
   b) PyCharm will close and a window will pop up.
   c) If he asks for the type of document, use the mouse or the arrow keys to select the appropriate type.
   d) If a window pops up asking for the loan number, enter the loan number. Please ensure that it is correct.
   Do not include an asterisk. Capitalization does not matter. Do not include any spaces.
   e) If a window pops up asking for the type of deed, use the mouse or the arrow keys to select the appropriate deed type.
   f) If you do not enter a loan number, Winston will ask you for for the first name, last name, and property name corresponding to the loan. Enter this information as precisely and fully as possible.
   
   

5. Let Winston Run
   There is a slight flaw in Winston's design that I never bothered to fix. The first thing Winston actually does is close out of the previous loan file because that was the most efficient design. However, this means that if you are scanning something for the first time that day, you won't have any previous loans pulled up, but Winston doesn't necessarily know that. The simplest fix is to open a random loan and let Winston close it. It makes him happy.
   
   

   As he is running, please be sure to:
   a) Double check that the loan he finds and selects is correct. If it is not, stop Winston and finish the scanning process manually. Most of the time, Winston will detect and error and ask if you would like to redo the scan. Winston is not infallible, however.
   b) Double check that the document was scanned correctly. If it was not, stop Winston and finish the scanning process manually. Most of the time, Winston will detect and error, move the mouse to the location where he detected the error, and ask if you would like to redo the scan. Winston is not infallible, however.
   c) Double check that he entered the shipping information correctly. If he did not, stop Winston and finish the scanning process manually.
   d) Before finishing, Winston may ask for permission to store the document. If he loaded the loan correctly, hit 'Enter' to let Winston continue

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Checkpoints

One of Winston's latest features is his new and improved memory. Winston can remember three things: the last loan number you entered, where you left off last time you stopped the program, and how many of each type of document you scan each day.

Scan Progress:

Winston divides the scanning process into seven distinct steps:

    1. Input loan information
    2. Search for the loan in Byte
    3. Scan the file
    4. Save the PDF
    5. Input shipping details in Byte
    6. Upload the PDF to Byte
    7. Store the document

At the end of each step and right before moving on to the next step, Winston records that you completed that step. This way, even if you catch a problem and want to stop Winston so that you can fix it, you can start right where you left off without having to restart the scanning process or finishing the document manually.

If you use this feature, please ensure that you know exactly where in the scanning process you are. If you are not sure, you can open the PyCharms application where Winston prints your progress at each step. If you would like to reset your progress, simply set the 'resumePosition' variable to zero. Just be sure change it back to 9 the next time you run, or Winston will reset your progress every time you rerun him, disabling the ability to resume instead of restart.

Loan Number:

Winston remembers the last loan number so that you don't have to retype it every time you resume. For some reason, this doesn't always work while naming the PDF, but you can fix that while the program pauses without too much of an issue.

Scanning Analytics

This feature is a little more fun and a little less practical. While the scanning machine tracks the number of pages you scan in a day, Winston records the number of documents you scan each day, which I thought was kind of interesting. If you would like to remove this feature, insert a '#' in front of 'incDocCount()' 'storeDocuments' function of the 'store' file in the 'steps' directory. It should be on line 15.

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Arrangements

Before you begin scanning please make sure that the following conditions are met:

1. All four folders are visible are the left-hand side of the screen and the icons look like folders with PDFs in them. Make sure they are labeled 'SLP', 'Notes', 'settlement', and 'FNMA' respectively
2. The Scan button on the Fujistu scanner app is visible at all times, even when Byte overlaps part of the scanner app
3. The note labeled 'Winston' is open on the right side of the screen so that it never overlaps with Byte
   
4. When a loan is open in Byte, the gray sections predominates the window. In addition, the 'Shipping' shortcut should be right above the 'Scanned Documents' shortcut, and visible even when the scanner app is open
   
5. Don't change the size or resolution of the PC or any of the applications unless absolutely necessary. Most changes will not affect Winston, but some will so it's better to just avoid that problem entirely
   

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Troubleshooting

The first thing you need to know is that if you want Winston to stop, he has a failsafe. If you move the mouse to the upper-leftmost corner of the screen and hold it there for a few seconds, Winston will stop. If that does not work, you can open PyCharm and double-click the red box near the upper-right hand corner. In addition, if there is a pop-up from Winston open, Winston has paused and is already waiting for you, so you can safely stop the program by double-clicking on the red box without worrying about Winston trying to move the mouse and type. You are in control.

If you don't know the first thing about coding, all I can tell you is to restart Winston each time he messes up, finish scanning the current document manually, and restart Winston for the next document. In order to start the program anywhere except from the beginning, you need to know a little about coding. If you do, I'll explain more about how Winston works in a later section so you know what to comment out if you need. All the functions for pyautgui are available here: https://pyautogui.readthedocs.io/en/latest/quickstart.html.

If you don't know what one does or why it is doing what it is doing, check there first. If you do make changes, the mouseInfo() method is very useful. If there are minor problems or updates and you don't know how to fix them, I'm happy to help walk you through how to fix it. Just shoot me an email.

The most common error is that Winston will try to save a PDF that has not finished scanning. Fortunately, this does not cause any problems. You can simply click the Save PDF button once you see that the document is done scanning and Winston will take things from there.

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Code Overview

Everything in this section is still true, but since I refactored the code in 2023 with more of an emphasis on the single responsibility principle, there are a lot more methods and moving parts than described here.

I've divided the scanning process into six major steps, reflected by six of the files in the steps folder: start, search, scan, inputDetails, mergePDF, and store. The 'run' function in main calls everything else in the correct order. The rest of the functions are simply shorter helper functions for the six steps. You can read through the comments in each of the six steps along with the code itself to understand what is going on. If you are having a problem where Winston seems to stop for no reason, or does the wrong thing, that is the best place to look.

- Run
        Calls each of the steps in the correct order with a little bit of logic to handle specific restarts
        and cancellations

- OpenApps
        A function that is only useful once at the beginning of the day, or if your computer crashes I guess.
        It just opens the Scanner app and Byte so that you don't have to

- ConvertDoc
        Converts the type of document as seen in the GUI to the simpler keywords that I used when I first wrote
        Winston

- AddChar
        This method formats the loan number. This method adds the character sent as a parameter in the method call,
        hence the name. I use it to add an asterisk to the search query, and capitalize the pdf name. Two things to
        note here. It will actually make them lowercase if CapsLock is turned on. It also will not capitalize
        letters at the end of the string.

- EnterByName
        This method could be part of the start step, but I made it separate because if performs a more niche role
        of getting all the personal information from the loan, and it looks better to just call it.

- WaitToClick
        This is probably the most useful method in the whole program. At the time of writing this file for the first
        time, Winston calls it about fourteen different times. It is a short function that keeps looking for
        the image file sent as a parameter until it finds it. This method allows Winston to handle variable
        wait times quite well.

Image Files

You might have noticed that this program comes with a lot of image files. These are the images that Winston looks for to know where to click. From what I can tell, even though they look nearly identical between different computers with different sizes, they look very different to the computer. For example, my computer can find the clear button in Byte very well, but as soon as I change the display size from 100% to 125%, Winston can't find the button to save his life. That is why if you install this program on any new computer, you will have to save a similar version from your new computer screen for each of the image files. It should not take longer than a half hour.

Contact

Dallin Stewart - dallinpstewart@gmail.com

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Acknowledgements

I worked on a lot of this project while clocked in at CMG Financial. This program is custom-made for their exact process and preferences, and hence relies on the Byte software they use for storing loan information. While I did not sign an NDA, this GitHub repository does not contain any sensitive or proprietary information.

Thanks to Katie Stewart for her role as a beta tester.

Notes

Please feel free to include other notes and comments, including helpful hints, oversights in the code, and common mistakes for your own benefit and the benefit of other future users below.

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