Data entry clerk

A data entry clerk, is a member of staff employed to enter or update data into a computer system. Data are often entered in to a computer from paper documents using a keyboard, optical scanner, or data recorder. The keyboards used can often have specialist keys and multiple colors to help in the task and speed up the work. While requisite skills can vary depending on the nature of the data being entered, few specialized skills are usually required, aside from touch typing proficiency with adequate speed and accuracy. The ability to focus for lengthy periods is necessary to eliminate or at least reduce errors. When dealing with sensitive or private information such as medical, financial or military records, a person's character and discretion becomes very relevant as well. Beyond these traits, no technical knowledge is generally required and these jobs can even be worked from home.

The invention of punch card data processing in the 1890s created a demand for many workers, typically women, to run key-punch machines. It was common practice to ensure accuracy by entering data twice, the second time on a verifier, a separate, keyboard-equipped machine, such the IBM 056. In the 1970s, punch card data entry was gradually replaced by the use of video display terminals.

For a mailing company, data entry clerks might be required to type in reference numbers for items of mail which had failed to reach their destination, so that the relevant addresses could be deleted from the database used to send the mail out. If the company was compiling a database from addresses handwritten on a questionnaire, the person typing those into the database would be a data entry clerk. In a cash office, a data entry clerk might be required to type expenses into a database using numerical codes.

Due to the advancement of technology, many data entry clerks no longer work with hand-written documents. Instead, the documents are first scanned by a combined OCR/OMR system (optical character recognition and optical mark recognition,) which attempts to read the documents and process the data electronically. The accuracy of OCR varies widely based upon the quality of the original document as well as the scanned image; hence the ongoing need for data entry clerks. Although OCR technology is continually being developed, many tasks still require a data entry clerk to review the results afterwards to check the accuracy of the data and to manually key in any missed or incorrect information.

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Wikipedia