What is the difference between Quickfields Real Time Lookup and the Workflow activity “Query Data”? Do they have the same functionality? What are the differences or limitations of each?
Both Query Data and Real Time Lookup do the same thing: match values from a document to columns in a database. Any corresponding information pulled from the database is stored as a token and can be used to fill metadata, or dynamically route and name the document.
The big difference is the time when each occur. Since Real Time Lookup is within Quickfields, it would occur immediately at the time of capture. With Workflow, Query Data would be used sometime after capture, perhaps during QC or after data entry. Both activities perform the same function, it’s just up to you to determine whether it’s most convenient to do at the point of capture, or later in the process.
I should mention that Workflow does have a few other activities to look up and modify databases. The Insert Data and Update Data activities can add values into the database, and alter existing values respectively. There is also the Custom Query activity, which allows for more advanced SQL queries to be scripted.