The Production Document Handling Pattern (Not Just Demo-Quality Files) 🔥
Templates work great on clean demo PDFs. Client's production documents: rotated, low-quality scans, mixed formats. Built preprocessing branch that handles real-world mess before main workflow. THE DEMO vs PRODUCTION GAP: Template testing: Clean PDFs, perfect orientation, clear text, consistent formatting Client reality: Phone photos of documents, 90° rotations, coffee stains, mixed Word/PDF/images, varying quality Template broke immediately on production data. THE PREPROCESSING SOLUTION: STAGE 1: QUALITY ASSESSMENT Check document quality before expensive processing → Flag or fix issues → Route accordingly STAGE 2: AUTO-CORRECTIONS - Rotation detection and correction - Quality enhancement for low-res scans - Format normalization (all to PDF) - File size optimization STAGE 3: PROCESSING BRANCH Clean documents → Standard workflow Questionable documents → Enhanced processing Unreadable documents → Human review queue THE PREPROCESSING NODES: NODE 1 - QUALITY CHECKER: Analyzes document: resolution, orientation, format, readability score Output: quality_score (0-100), issues_detected array, processing_recommendation NODE 2 - AUTO-FIXER (IF needed): Rotation correction: Detects text orientation, rotates to 0° Enhancement: Increases contrast, sharpens text, removes noise Normalization: Converts all formats to standard PDF NODE 3 - ROUTER: High quality (>80): Standard processing Medium quality (50-80): Enhanced processing with higher confidence thresholds Low quality (<50): Human review with original file attached WHAT THIS HANDLES: Phone photos, rotated scans, mixed formats, poor lighting, tilted documents, multi-page variations THE NUMBERS: Documents monthly: 180 Perfect quality: 95 (53%) Auto-fixed: 68 (38%) Human review needed: 17 (9%) Processing accuracy: - On demo-quality docs: 98% - On production docs (without preprocessing): 76% - On production docs (with preprocessing): 96% Cost impact: Preprocessing adds: $0.03 per document Failed extractions prevented: 40 monthly