what exactly is document management?
Document management refers to the handling and processing of documents throughout their creation, distribution, and destruction. Documents can be hard-copy paper forms or, increasingly, electronic forms and data. Typically, paper documents are scanned at a scanning station remotely or on-site with document scanning software and are sent to a document imaging server where the documents are stored for viewing and retrieval. With proper techniques and tools for an effective document management system workflow, your system will not just capture, store, and archive your documents; it will also make retrieval faster with indexing tools, export documents to other parties quickly, securely protect documents from unauthorized access, provide audit tracking, and much more to improve the workflow and productivity of your business without the piles of paper.
why create a document management system?
It is estimated that employees spend about 33% of their time searching for and handling documents. In addition, it costs about $20 to file a document, $120 to search for misplaced documents, and $250 to recreate a lost document. On average, there are 19 copies made of each document. With an effective document management system and workflow, you could be spending less time and money searching for and handling disorganized paper files and more time on revenue-generating business processes. It is also much easier to be in compliance with document retention and destruction guidelines with a document management system, saving you from costly fines from not following regulations. And with less paper, you can also reduce your offsite document storage costs.
making your document management system work for you
For you document management system workflow to be most efficient, you first need a good scanner for data imaging. If you’re using your own on-site scanner, it should have both a flat bed and an automatic document feeder and be able to handle 10 to 200 pages per minute, depending on how many documents you need to scan. For the best image quality, scanning at least 200 or 300 DPI is recommended.
You will also need proper optical character recognition (OCR) software for printed materials and intelligent character recognition (ICR) for handwritten materials. For increased productivity, zone OCR enables automatic document indexing that places information into the appropriate index fields. If your documents contain highlighting, stamps, sticky notes, black-outs, or white-outs, then annotations will permit authorized users to append or remove this information without permanently changing the original image. Having the right storage system for storing your digital documents is also an important consideration, as you’ll want to choose a storage system that has the capacity and security options that are right for your business processes.
contact us for more Techniques & Tools for an Effective Document Management System Workflow
Southwest Solutions Group® provides information management consulting, software, and document scanning services. To learn more about effective document management and how we can help you and your business, visit our information management page. If you’d like to speak with an information management specialist, call us at 1-800-803-1083 or send us a message today.
