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Benefits of a document management system

Faster retrieval of records
More precise retrieval of records
Enhanced security of records
Disaster recovery capability
Improved customer service
Space savings
Enhanced productivity of records management
Central repository for all records

Overview

For many people, the advantages of moving towards electronic content management are obvious. For other folks, this is new, uncharted territory. This section strives to educate the public on what document imaging is, and why it is beneficial for any business.

What is Document Imaging?

Definition:	Document Imaging is the process of converting paper documents, microfilm, microfiche and aperture cards into electronic image files. Once scanned or imported, documents are processed, indexed using one to many parameters and stored in an electronic archive. Images stored in the knowledge base (electronic archive) can be retrieved, viewed, panned, zoomed, rotated, cropped, resized, annotated and redacted. Software applications that enable imaging functionality are known as document management systems (DMS).
Purpose:	To capture information stored on physical documents and facilitate rapid retrieval. Office space is being crowded with bulky, inefficient filing cabinets and there are better ways to manage paper. In some cases, this is being mandated by governing agencies. In other cases, it is mandated by the client's bottom line: Get control of your paper, or lose business!
Benefits at a Glance:	Faster retrieval of records More precise retrieval of records Enhanced security of records Disaster recovery capability Improved customer service Space savings Enhanced productivity of records management Central repository for all records

But do I need Document Imaging? Ask yourself...

Can you find what you need when you need it?

Shrinking budgets, increased demands. Can you do your job when you have to spend hours looking for records and information?

Are you prepared for a disaster?

A sprinkler system malfunctions in the file room. Now what?

Are your sensitive records protected?

An employee gets their hands on salary schedules. Oops. What can you do?

Are your records compliant with regulations?

Regulations pertaining to how we use records are coming out of the woodwork. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Government Paperwork Elimination Act, Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, among others. Are you in compliance?

Learn more about document management. (link to info below)

What is Electronic Document Management?

Electronic document management is a collection of functionality that will allow you to have complete control over your paper and electronic content. The major functional components of an electronic document management system (DMS) are outlined below:

Input	Scanning - Converting your paper documents to digital form by passing them through a scan device such as a desktop scanner or multi-functional Copier/Scan/Fax machine. Scanning your paper will place it in a standard, non-proprietary file format such as TIFF, JPEG, or PDF. File Import - The ability to import your electronic files (of any file format) into the document management system. Print Capture - Capturing a print stream and converting it to an image file format on the fly. This functionality is a huge time saver if there is no reason to print and then scan the paper, you simply print from any application directly to the document management system. Microsoft® Office Integration - Rather than saving and importing files, a document management system can give you the option to save files directly to the system from common applications such as Microsoft Word®, Microsoft Excel®, and Microsoft PowerPoint®. Email Management - Gives you the ability to archive emails, with or without attachments, in order to comply with industry regulations, or simply to make searching your emails a breeze. eCopy® Integration - If you have multi-function copy machines in your organization that are equipped with eCopy® ShareScan workstations, you will be able to send scanned documents directly from the copier into your document management system.
Indexing	Manual Keying - All true document management systems provide a way to "index" (or classify) information that is scanned/imported into it. Index information (or Metadata) are the keywords that you will use to retrieve the specific documents in your system. For instance, if you are entering invoices into your system, you may choose keyword fields of Customer Name, Invoice Date, and Invoice Number for the document's index card. With most system, you will have a method of entering this information manually, that is, keying the information from a keyboard. Database Linking - In most cases, the index information that you want to use in your document management system will already exist in some other line-of-business system. For instance, you want to store the Customer Name, Invoice Date, Invoice Number, and Customer Address with your documents in your DMS. This information already exists in your Accounting System. Rather than re-key all of the information into your DMS, you can link the DMS to your accounting system. This way, you will only have to enter a single field, the invoice number, into the DMS and the rest of the information will be pulled from the accounting system. This will dramatically reduce the time it takes to index documents in your DMS. Auto-Filing - Most DMS systems will display your documents in a folder structure for ease of use. These folder structures typically mimic the same folder structure that you would see in your Microsoft WindowsÂ® operating system. Much of the manual process with any DMS is not only manually keying index information, but also manually creating the folder structure where you want to store the document. Auto-filing will automatically create a folder for you based upon the index information entered. Automated Data Entry - Automated data entry will enter everything in your DMS automatically. Recognition technology, such as barcode and text recognition, is used to automate the manual indexing process. Assume you have a stack of 100 invoices. In a manual environment you would have to key the index data for each of the 100 invoices which would take a large amount of time. With automated data entry, you simply drop the 100 invoices into the scanner and the system will do the rest for you. The system will separate each invoice from the others and pull the index data directly from the page(s).
Processing	Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - OCR is a process that extracts the actual text from scanned images. When you OCR documents in your DMS, all of the document's text, not only the index information, will be available for searching. What does this mean? You will be able to search every word on every page in the entire database and get instant results. This is impossible to do in any manual filing system. Annotations - Annotations are a method of marking up scanned documents. Just as you could with paper documents, you can write notes, highlight, stamp, etc. your scanned documents. The only difference, however, is that with electronic documents, you are never modifying the original file. You can remove the annotations to see what is underneath. Redaction - Redaction is a method of blocking out specific information from a file. For instance, you have a human resources file but want to block out the social security number before the document is printed from the system. Drawing a redaction box over the social security number in your DMS will achieve this.
Search/Retrieval	Browsing - Most document management systems have the ability to browse a folder structure, similar to a manual filing room or Microsoft WindowsÂ® file system, so you can find your documents. Index/Keyword Search - One of the main purposes of indexing information in your DMS is so that you can search on it later. For instance, assume you indexed your bills by Vendor Name, Bill Date, and Account Number, you would be able to search on any of this information. If you wanted to search for all bills from the Local Telephone Company in your DMS, simply key the telephone company's name into the appropriate field and click search. Your results will be displayed immediately. Full-Text Searching - This type of search searches every word of every page in your entire system and is considered the most powerful method of searching. Assume you have over 10 million pages in your system and you need to find any document that contains the word California in it. Simply key the search term in the full-text search feature and all documents with the search term will be retrieved. The documents returned will have the number of total document pages as well as the number of pages containing the search term so that you can see the search result's relevance. With many systems, full-text searching supports the Boolean operators AND, OR, & NOT. Using these operators can help you pinpoint your searches. For instance, your full text search for California returned over 200 results and you would like to narrow it down. You can search for California AND automobile and only documents where both search terms appear on a page will be returned.
Output	Print - Most systems will offer a method of printing documents. Many have the enhanced capability of being able to print only search results rather than the entire document that is pulled up when you have executed a search. Email - This feature will allow you to email information contained within the DMS using your default email system. Fax - This feature allows you to fax directly from the DMS through your fax software or integrated device. Exporting - A DMS will allow you to export the information to a standard Windows file structure. Some systems have the enhanced capability of allowing you to export the data on a CD that acts like a mini version of the DMS itself. A user of the CD will have some or all of the searching capability available in the DMS.
Security	Access Control - A DMS will have the capability to control access to a document based upon the document's category. For instance, the 'Bills' category will be accessible to the Finance Department only and the 'Employee Files' category will be available to the HR department only. If someone from the finance department is access the DMS, all 'Employee Files' will simply disappear from the system. They can only access those categories that they have the rights to access. This type of security controls what a user can see in a DMS. Function Control - Functional level security is very important to any DMS. Assume that a user is granted access to a specific document category. However, that user should not be able to delete the files. This is a great example of functional level security. This type of security controls what a user can do in a DMS. Audit Trail - A DMS' audit trail will show you every action ever performed by any user of the system. This helps keep track of user activity and also is required to comply with certain industry regulations.
Lifecycle Management	Version Control (Check-in/Check-out) - This feature lets you manage multiple versions of a document. A user can check-out an official version to make modifications. The system will ensure that no other user makes modification to the official file version until the original user checks the file back into the system. Retention Scheduling - This DMS feature let's you set specific retention periods (or lifecycles) to a document category in the system. For instance, your accounting documents may have a 7 year life while your legal documents may have a 10 year life. When you set the retention period for a document category, any document that is assigned that category has that period kicked-off when the document is archived. If I archived an accounting document today, based on the example above, the system would track that the documents life is up exactly 7 years from today. Bulk Processing - Any DMS should have bulk processing capability for a number of features. Batch processes like initial file imports, OCR, archiving, and deleting should be able to be performed in a batch mode in order to save time.
Integration with Existing Software Systems	Full Application Integration - Having the ability to control your DMS from your existing system can be very important. Full application integration is where you can control your DMC from disparate system in a completely transparent environment.

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