A technique is disclosed for programming instructions into a system including a scanning device. The instructions are defined by machine and human readable indicia on an instruction support sheet. A document is associated with the instruction support sheet and may be processed with the instructions. Desired instructions may be selected by annotations on the instruction sheet. The instruction sheet is then scanned to encode the selections. Data sets corresponding to the composition of the instruction sheet are accessed to interpret the selected instructions. Based upon the selected instructions, operations are performed on the document. The operations may include scanning, transmission of facsimiles, transmission of electronic messages, archival storage, and so forth. The instruction sheet may be composed and configured in accordance with needs of individual users. The scanning device may be associated with a computer system or may be a stand-alone device.