ASP Microcomputers Plays a Crucial Role in the ABS Census

For those of you who completed your Census form on paper on the 10th August 2021, your Census paper form was delivered to the ABS Census Data Capture Centre in the outer South East of Melbourne by Australia Post. The first step in the complex process of the Census Data Capture project was our registration solution. Our very innovative and efficient solution comprised of:

• Industrial envelope feeders
• Fixed barcode scanners
• Bluetooth barcode scanners
• In-house built controllers
• Form ID registration and export software
• Web based management information software

Each form has a unique barcode which is visible through the window of the sealed envelope. A stack of sealed envelopes are placed on the envelope feeder and fed through at around 150 envelopes per minute and each barcode is scanned and recorded into the management information software, therefore a household form is registered as having been received at the Data Capture Centre. Our solution has a number of smarts which have been designed to ensure efficiency and accuracy. For example, should an envelope be placed into the stack wrong way up, the system will automatically stop and the operator picks up the form and places it on top of the pile the right way up and starts the feeder to continue the scanning process.
The various software programs described above have a number of functions. The Web-based Reporting and Management system is designed to provide an overview of the current day’s registrations as well as Counts of Form IDs registered to name a few.

It is expected the Census will be predominantly completed on-line, however millions of paper forms in sealed envelopes will still be registered by our solution.
Every project has its challenges, but the team at ASP has worked tirelessly to overcome every challenge and design a solution which made managing the registration of forms extremely efficient, as the forms move downstream through the many process which made up the Census and the vitally important information which is generated.

More information about this year’s Census can be found here.

This is the fourth consecutive Census which ASP has been involved with. See what we did for the 2006/2011 Censuses here.

You can click here to view this case study as a .PDF file.