As banking transactions are processed by a bank teller, all of the
relevant information with respect to the transaction (e.g., dollar
amount) is captured in an electronic file. Each of the electronic files
from the various branches of the bank are forwarded to a central back
office processing center where the electronic files are combined into a
single Transaction Repository. At the end of the branch day, all of the
paper associated with the transactions is forwarded from the branches to
the back office processing center. The paper transactions are imaged in
the conventional manner and the Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
data is read from the paper. The present invention then automatically
correlates the images and MICR data captured from the paper with the
complete transaction record contained in the Transaction Repository. Most
of the conventional back office processing can now be performed without
the need to perform character recognition and without the need for excess
human intervention.