System and method for providing a distributed decisioning environment for processing of financial transactions

Abstract

A system and method for providing one or more client systems for communicating with a host system over a network. The client systems use a scanner to convert a paper form of a check, coupon, or other paper document to a digital representation and then the client systems send the digital representation over a network to the host system for storage. The host system archives the digital representation and determines the appropriate processing stream for a transaction related to the paper document (e.g. coupon, check), via a decisioning engine, based on a set of predefined stream selection rules. The host system then communicates the transaction to a back end transaction destination, according to the selected processing stream. Examples of the transaction destination can include ACH, Reproduce Paper, and Remittance.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for coordinating digital storage of captured paper transaction data based on an original paper transaction, the captured paper transaction data including at least a digital image of the original paper transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
 receiving the captured paper transaction data from a network;   storing the captured paper transaction data in a first storage, the first storage suitable for facilitating the transfer of the captured paper transaction data from the network to a second storage;   determining representative information of the captured paper transaction data including at least a storage status indicator for indicating when the captured paper transaction data is stored in the second storage;   storing the storage status indicator in a data structure configured for access by a transaction processor;   transferring the captured paper transaction data from the first storage for subsequent storage in the second storage, the second storage configured for accommodating requests for access to a selected storage record by the transaction processor, the storage record for storing the captured paper transaction data in the second storage; and   updating the storage status indicator in the data structure to reflect the storage status of the captured paper transaction data as stored in the selected storage record of the second storage.