Information Planning and Management Services

Where is Your Paper Pain? Start small by choosing a single area of focus for your document management strategy. Which department, project or business process is the most paper-intensive and hampers the flow of business? For many companies, that’s Accounts Payable, Human Resources or the area handling proof-of-delivery documents. By implementing this service in a single area, you have the opportunity to fine-tune the process with your document scanning services provider before increasing the scope of your document management strategy.

Who Needs Access to Your Documents, and When? Just as you wouldn’t leave ordering, billing or management documents laying about for everyone to read, access to scanned documents should be thoughtfully planned. The key is finding the balance between security and accessibility, so as not to interrupt mission-critical functions. You’ll have the ability to control access at the document, folder or project level. By deciding in advance which employees need access to documents to perform their job duties, you can strengthen your document security immediately. Another important question: will staff need round-the-clock access to stored documents, or only during business hours? One last area to consider when planning access to scanned documents: some firms also allow access to specific documents to clients, vendors and contractors. Let your document management company know about those situations so they can be included in your strategy.

Where and How Do Your Employees Work? As you’re deciding who should be able to access scanned documents, consider your workplace locations. Will most of the document scanning services center on one office, or will your document imaging vendor pick up paperwork from several locations? Determine which documents are required to remain on-site due to regulatory requirements. Is there a need to access billing, ordering or legal records at all branches? What departments should receive training for document scanning, indexing and retrieval if you plan to do the scanning yourselves? Map out which buildings, departments and key personnel have the most need to access indexed documents as you plan your implementation with your document management specialist. Companies with employees, who work remotely, share files with others or travel between multiple sites must build in easy file access for those people. Because a good document scanning services provider crafts solutions that fit the client’s needs, they’ll work with you to provide that access.

Will You Scan On-Site or Outsource Your Document Scanning? Deciding whether you can allocate staff for document scanning is a key decision you’ll be asked to make. Your document imaging consultant can give you an idea how much time it will take to scan and index your documents. She can also quote costs for equipment, software applications and technical support needed for an in-house document management system. Many companies realize it is more cost effective to have their staff focus on their core competencies, and have the “document scanning” experts handle the scanning and indexing. A document imaging company is also better equipped to seamlessly handle volume increases. It’s a matter of whether it is more cost effective to reassign job duties to make time for scanning, or have your document scanning vendor handle the entire process. As you’re deciding, keep in mind you’ll need adequate IT support to implement a document management process in-house.

Is Your Budget Stressed? If your (budget is already stressed, (and whose isn’t in today’s economy) it may be more economical to have a document imaging company provide web-based document management services that do not require capital expenditures, as opposed to an in-house solution. You may also realize that an all-inclusive off-site document management solution is far less work and expense. Whether it is web-based or housed on your internal infrastructure, a document management system allow you to store, retrieve, distribute and manage all your documents-from digital images and electronic files to e-mails and e-forms– from any computer, any time.

How Does the Work Flow? A key element in a successful document management solution is the ability to scan, index and retrieve documents without interrupting core business processes. Work with department heads to learn at what point business documents should be scanned, what turnaround time is required and how those documents should be indexed for easy retrieval. Some of the more experienced document management companies provide Mailroom Services – scanning documents and uploading them into a document management solution or automated workflow process directly from a PO Box.

The paperless office offers security, easy accessibility and greater efficiency when the appropriate document management program is put in place. By assessing your office in these six areas, you can provide valuable information to be used in creating your best electronic document management solution.