When it comes to managing contracts there is no doubt your day can take a bad turn. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the increasing volume of contracts or the challenge of keeping up with the changing regulatory and auditing requirements?
If you are not using current technologies in your contract management process, you may be losing valuable time in providing goods and services, which in turn affects how fast your receivables come in. Stop the practice of beginning work on contracts before contract execution. By providing your contract management professionals with the needed tools to automate the process, you will not only stop the ongoing criticism related to delayed contract processing times, but you can also remove the bottlenecks associated with manual processing.
Where Are Your Contracts?From the procurement process of landing a contract to delivery, there may be several people and several steps involved, even before execution, that generate vast amounts of paperwork. This challenge increases even more when multiple delivery partners are involved or the contracts are delivered overseas and require international governing compliance and reporting.
Avoid confusion, delays and loss of control on your contracts with an easy to implement, cost effective web-based contract automation solution. A few basic questions to ask when evaluating a solution:
• Can you easily, search, retrieve and track contracts in each stage of processing?
• Does it provide a check in and check out feature and stores each version in one central location?
• Are there multiple levels of security depending on user access needed?
• How does it avoid duplication of the contracts when edits are made?
• Does it allow you to customize the workflow to relate specifically with your organization, including task assigning capabilities?
• Can stakeholders electronically sign the contract from anywhere?
By asking these questions and more, you can clearly understand the different benefits and functionalities when choosing a document management system for contract management automation.
With DocuVantage On Demand®, staff can access contracts from anywhere, using a web-browser, to complete their assigned tasks. Contracts will move through the automated process that will assign tasks based upon your business rules, track activities to ensure that important tasks are completed in a timely manner, while providing a transparent view to remove bottlenecks and maintain compliance controls.
For more information on automating your contract management process please visit:
http://www.docuvantage.com/contract-management.
You’re working electronically; yet somehow you’re still accumulating paper. You’re keeping the paper, “just in case”. Just in case there’s a computer virus, or an audit, or a business need for the records.
Far from being a safeguard, uncontrolled duplication of records is expensive and risky.
Benefits of Electronic RecordsDigitized or electronic documents require less physical storage, they’re easily searchable, and backup for business continuity can be automated. Although many organizations scan paper records as they arrive, most haven’t implemented a disposition policy to destroy the paper. Today, most documents begin life in electronic format, yet many people continue to print hard copies and add them to paper files.
It’s estimated that the volume of information generated by businesses is growing by 60 per cent each year. At that rate, it’s no longer feasible to keep every document forever, and it’s important to minimize duplication and adhere to legal retention requirements.
Multiple copies lead to unnecessary costs and risks associated with:
• Storage – multiple copies fill premium office space, off-site warehouses, removable media, and network hard drives.
• Mismanagement – multiple copies are more difficult to control, file and retrieve. They increase the likelihood of security breaches or inappropriate disposal. This can result in fines and other sanctions for non-compliance with regulatory requirements; and in the loss of competitive advantage if intellectual property or commercially valuable business intelligence is compromised.
• Litigation – multiple copies mean more places to search during the discovery phase (increasing time and costs). It may also raise questions about the evidential weight of records.
• Business Continuity – multiple copies make it more difficult to identify the subset of ‘vital records’ which must be protected at all costs. This can result in a higher risk of accidental loss, deletion or inaccessibility. Liability insurers are increasingly considering retention policies and discovery-preparedness in their underwriting decisions. Poorly managed records can affect the cost or availability of insurance coverage.
Why then are companies investing time and money to maintain parallel filing systems?
Some companies aren’t sure whether electronic records are legally admissible; or whether paper records carry greater evidential weight. Others are doubtful of the quality and reliability of scanned documents. Many are uncertain about the required retention periods for paper records, email and digital documents.
A records management program can clarify these questions and alleviate concerns – allowing an organization to maximize the value of its business information and minimize the associated cost and risks.
The Solution – a Records Management ProgramGaining control over corporate information can seem daunting. Yet it’s absolutely essential for regulatory compliance. A records management program is a key component to reduce the complexity and cost of any GRC (governance, risk management and compliance) initiative.
Reducing the volume of paper records that must be stored and managed is the first step to moving fully into an electronic working environment. If you don’t take the plunge today, it’ll be twice as challenging next year.
A records management program should include:
• An information management policy which sets out the overarching framework of rules and responsibilities for controlling corporate information. It demonstrates to a court of law that information management is part of normal business operations.
• A classification scheme that identifies the different types of records created or received by the organization. It groups similar records together into categories that are easier to find, use and manage. The classification scheme can be used to indicate which categories of records are suitable for scanning (and which are not), based on the regulatory requirements that apply to particular types of documents.
• A retention policy that’s developed through an analysis of the company’s specific legal obligations, business needs for information to support daily operations, and the interests of any additional stakeholders.
• The secure disposal of records should be carried out on a regular schedule, in accordance with an approved procedure. Local and international case law indicates that courts will approve routine destruction of records in accordance with established procedures. Developing a security policy helps to protect the integrity of corporate information and reduce the risk of a challenge to its authenticity.
Legal AdmissibilityLegal recognition and requirements for electronic records are contained in the Electronic Transactions Law and the Evidence Law. Your records management program should provide a framework of policies and procedures to maximize the evidential weight of scanned images, and reduce the risks associated with destruction of paper files.
Where records are required for legal or regulatory purposes, an electronic record is acceptable if it is maintained in an accessible, perceivable form. It must also be accompanied by contextual information (metadata) which substantiates the provenance of the record – confirming the time, place and the person(s) responsible for creating or receiving the record.
Companies should also examine their specific legal or statutory provisions to identify any requirements to keep records in their “original form”. Such requirements can be met by a record that was first generated as an electronic record. If a document was originally a paper record, some industries require that the paper record is safeguarded and retained for a certain number of years.
Organizations should seek legal advice with regard to the types of documents most likely to be disputed in court, and assess the risks associated with maintaining or destroying the original paper records that have been scanned.
Questions about the quality and reliability of scanned images can be addressed by implementing procedures and technical standards for the conversion process, for quality control and IT system administration. It’s necessary to demonstrate that the image is an accurate representation of the source document via:
a) clearly defining the conversion procedure, which explains any changes applied to the image (e.g. conversion from color to black-and-white, de-skewing, cropping, etc.),
b) capturing and managing the image in a system that can control and track its use and prevent any subsequent modification (establishing an audit trail), and
c) maintaining and operating the system properly.
An audit trail of activity for records, users and systems administrators is important for proving authenticity and demonstrating the record’s ongoing integrity.
As a critical corporate asset, information should also be addressed in plans for business continuity and disaster recovery. The classification scheme can be used to identify categories of records that are vital for ongoing operations. Appropriate strategies can then be devised to ensure the backup and long-term accessibility of those records.
ConclusionsElectronic records offer many benefits for business efficiency. However, they may also expose companies to significant risks, if they’re not pro-actively managed.
A robust records management program combined with an electronic document and records management application, with defined policies and implemented procedures, reduces the costs and risks associated with managing corporate information. It can be used to determine whether paper records are suitable for scanning into digital formats, and to enable the disposal of original hard copies – generating a range of potential savings for the organization, and mitigating the risks associated with retaining multiple, uncontrolled copies.
Bob Leonard, our guest blogger, is the managing director of
acSellerant specializing in online, inbound, content and social media marketing for SMB IT providers.
Frustration rings out and tension is mounting for those affected by the Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Industries have halted and hands are reaching out, ready to recoup their losses. Do you blame them? BP has already guaranteed the Federal Government $20 billion dollars to compensate businesses affected and to fund the environmental cleanup.
But how accessible is that money to the local fisherman who is trying to find a way to feed his family? What do governments and business owners need to provide to receive their claim?
The state of Florida has received $17 million dollars in property claims so far and volunteers are emerging to assist business owners with this process. However, this is only the beginning. Many small business owners along the coast of Florida currently may not have oil in direct sight, nor do they have tourists in sight, slowly bringing some businesses to a close.
The oil spill is having a "multiplier effect" on vacation property owners, charter boats, and restaurant owners among others, with customers canceling contracts, says Carmen Sunda, the director of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center in the Greater New Orleans area. Also, local and state government agencies are experiencing an increasing overflow of documents in relation to the BP oil spill. This unfortunate disaster could be worsened if businesses and local and state officials do not implement the proper document storage and record keeping strategies.
The ChallengeDepending on your industry, in order to file a claim to BP, you must provide accurate documentation. In some cases, there may be years that go by until processed claims are complete, and the reimbursement distributed. It is quite possible this process could require years of tracking invoices, financial documents, and stringent record keeping, depending on how long it takes BP to process your claim. With all of these important documents to hang on to, you must find an effective method to manage these documents and keep them immediately accessible for when you need them.
Where can businesses begin? Take advantage of online document management systems. You have already encountered the worst environmental disaster in history, be sure to avoid what could potentially become the worst claim and reimbursement process in history.
Due to poor record keeping and the loss of supporting documents, BP may not approve your claim. So far, BP is doing their part in setting up claim offices and contact centers for those directly affected. BP will most likely pay most of the claims, but clear, visible, well organized documentation must be provided.
Don’t let time and memory interfere with your claim. Use an easy and affordable tool that will provide a single, secure online location to store and manage documents providing fast access and easy retrieval when you need it.
Contact
DocuVantage for assistance on how you can begin tracking your claim documentation. Call (866) 367-3467 ext. 1.
Tampa, FL. – June 29, 2010 - The management teams of non-governmental organizations constantly ask themselves – how can my organization better carry out its purpose and mission?
As they focus their attention on maintaining healthy relationships with the public to meet their goals, the last thing they need to worry about is the back-end operations. These operations may include board management, contract processing and execution, and managing the retention period of documents for compliance.
From an operational standpoint, CFOs, VPs of Finance, Directors of Grants and Contracts, CIOs and COOs must ensure that their staffs are as productive as possible. In order to maintain this efficiency, they continually search for comprehensive and cost-effective technology.
Document Advantage Corporation will be exhibiting its affordable nonprofit NGO software solutions at the 2010 InsideNGO Annual Member Meeting. They will share their experiences on how automated electronic document management and business process automation can assist NGOs to more easily fulfill their purpose.
“More and more NGOs have come to understand that back office operations and compliance should not be a hindrance. This should be the first area they address for improvement. Once they have this solidified, it’s no longer a distraction, and focus can be shifted to carrying out their mission. With online document management, one application takes care of document capture and storage, business process workflow, collaboration between offices, compliance, information management,” says Document Advantage CEO Jana Wiggins.
By streamlining grant and contract processing, funds management and information management, such operations will no longer stand in the way of meeting mission critical goals. Electronic document management allows NPOs and NGOs to eliminate the worry of not meeting compliance regulations or not having enough staff to move information seamlessly through the organization. As execution of operations is sped up, money is also received faster, resulting in the nonprofit more quickly deploying their services and goals to the people who need it.
DocuVantage will be present at the conference July 12 – 14, participating in the Finance, Grants and Contracts Meeting as well as the Cross Operations Day. Visitors to the DocuVantage booth can learn how other organizations have automated their processes and successfully shifted their focus to meeting mission goals.
To see how one NGO is now using DocuVantage technology to more efficiently deliver much needed services globally, please visit http://www.docuvantage.com/non-profit-document-management/contract-management.
About Document Advantage Corporation:
For over 20 years the Document Advantage team has been assisting organizations with their document management and workflow needs.
The company’s flagship product, DocuVantage OnDemand® is an enterprise-class document management solution delivered via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). It is the first subscription-based online document management system to offer document capture, global text searching, rules-based workflow, electronic signature and records management compliance in one platform.
For more information on how DocuVantage OnDemand can help your NGO or nonprofit improve its operational efficiencies, please contact DocuVantage at 866-367-3467 ext. 1, or visit the DocuVantage website.
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Are you getting the help you need to run your government office? With the current doom and gloom surrounding budget cuts and the reduction in work forces, it is no wonder each day becomes more challenging than the last.
Leading the charge to face some of these challenges is the White House CIO, Vivek Kundra. His mission is for agencies to transition from out-dated and expensive-to-maintain hardware and software to more cost-effective, green and vendor responsible technologies.
Will these new initiatives and cheerleading make agencies tasks easier or work smarter and not harder? The key is in the education and mandates. Most of us do not adapt to change. In order for the initiative to be a success, more education is needed. Purchasing agents need more information, and they need a reason to change the way they buy. What’s in it for them they ask? After all, the purchasing agents are not typically in the first line of layoffs- who would be able to fill out all the paperwork if they were gone?
They also must be incentivized to learn about the new technologies that are available and the purchasing contracts that can be used to make everyone’s workday more productive and less stressful. As a department director, will these changes alleviate the pounding in your head and relieve some of those knots in your back? Possibly, especially since the newer cloud computing and software as a service applications put the burden on the vendors instead of the customer. Now your staff can focus on their goals which shouldn’t include troubleshooting their technology tools.
Let It Rain
Kundra spends his time educating agencies on the myriad of new technologies available to them that will allow more efficiency and more transparency in providing services to their customers. Many days, he can be found traveling in order to promote and explain strategies on how cloud computing, Software as a Service (SaaS), and advances in information security are changing the way organizations operate.
To learn more and benefit from the applications that are available visit the Apps.gov website. There you will find information about how Cloud Computing creates sustainable, more cost-effective IT services. Under the Apps.gov portal, a service provided by the GSA, you can find pre-approved Cloud and Software as a Service applications that are available to you and more in-depth information on apps that focus on business productivity, cloud IT services and social media. It’s time to clear out the clutter, shred the paperwork (not to mention, headache inducer), and move the applications that make sense into the cloud as others have already done.
The GSA has already pre-negotiated the contract pricing ensuring all government mandates and requirements have been met and new applications are being used daily by Government agencies, thanks to the one step process.
Look around your office; do you see inefficient paper processes that cause bottlenecks or lost information? The technology is available and won’t take months or years to receive an ROI, won’t take your staff away from their core tasks in order to implement and won’t require your IT services to break away from their core focus.
Visit Apps.gov and explore DocuVantage OnDemand’s productivity platform that includes enterprise level Document Management, Document Workflow, and Records Management functionality delivered as an affordable monthly subscription service. The integrated document capture, imaging and business process automation capabilities and secure platform reduces time spent searching for your documents and information. The days of chasing missing documents and not knowing who is processing what will soon be gone.
To learn more about how DocuVantage OnDemand can help you capture, secure and automate the processing of your documents and information visit: http://info.docuvantage.com/docuvantage-joins-appsgov.
Find out how you too can join other government agencies in the cloud!
What Have You Done to Help?
April 22nd of this year marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Appropriately, this past year has seen endless efforts from a variety of businesses contributing to the Earth Day message, doing their part to become environmentally responsible. Let’s take a look at some of these green companies, and see what they have done to make the Earth more environmentally sound.
Announced in January of this year, the Chrysler Group has saved more than $50 million a year through incorporating almost 50 percent recycled materials into a new factory and reduced their landfill waste to zero. Now in its 16th year of its “pro-environmental thinking” program, the company has been able to reduce its CO2 emissions by 370,000 metric tons a year.
This month, Governor of Nevada, Jim Gibbons, announced a plan to add solar panels to its state buildings and installations. The technology and type of project is a small-scale urban solar development called distribution generation. With no need to build transmission lines, animals’ habitats are not affected, and the need for NV Energy to burn natural gas and coal in its power plants is reduced, helping clean the air and fight climate change.
Burger King is doing its part too! It has opened its first energy-efficient store in Waghäusel, Germany. The store design utilizes the latest eco-friendly technologies and renewable energy to power one-third of the restaurant’s energy consumption. By using solar photovoltaic and wind turbines, Burger King will be saving nearly half of this restaurant’s yearly electricity costs. In addition, the restaurant kitchen uses a batch broiler that maximizes cooking flexibility while reducing gas consumption and related costs by about 52 percent and 90 percent. All Burger King restaurants in North America have also installed this broiler and the international rollout is expected to be complete by 2012. Every little thing makes a difference!
Let’s take another look at the American West where Harrah’s Rincon Casino in San Diego, California is now using energy from a nearby solar farm to power its air-conditioning system. The casino’s plant is expected to supply about 90 percent of the power required by the new AC unit. The resort also has a solar-heated pool, energy-efficient lighting, and refrigerators in guest rooms that only turn on when cooling is needed.
Coca Cola Enterprises is also taking the solar route to do their part. They have installed solar light pipe and is testing other lighting in order to further decrease energy consumption. Through these efforts and other energy saving measures in its fleets, equipment, and buildings reduced Coca Cola’s carbon footprint by 10 percent in 2008 and 2009. The company has a list of 2020 goals, including reducing its carbon footprint by 15 percent, making its operations water sustainable by minimizing consumption and replenishing amount it uses to local communities, reducing packaging impacts, helping consumers make informed beverage decisions and creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.
As these companies have made large changes for large impacts, small changes make all the difference too. If you don't call the shots you can still help in the office by asking yourself these questions before you act:
- Do I really need to print this document?
- Does my computer or my office lights need to stay on all night?
- Can I carpool with a co-worker? If you have to drive to work, do your errands on the way in or on the way home so you don't have to make a special trip.
- Can I get my co-workers to recycle at the office? Volunteer to take it home and recycle if your office building doesn't offer it. Your co-workers will then be encouraged to start recycling on their own.
If you are in a position to have an influence on the document management practices of the business, start making an environmental impact by going paperless!
Sources:
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/01/26/chrysler-saves-50-million-with-environmental-efforts/
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/jun/11/inviting-solar-boom/
http://www.qsrweb.com/article.php?id=18585&na=1&s=2
http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/03/19/harrahs-rincon-casino-uses-solar-energy-to-power-ac/
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/06/17/coca-cola-sips-less-energy-and-water-boosts-recycling#ixzz0rDF5X7XK
It’s World Cup time! Time for hard work, teamwork and dedication. With the combination of these important ethics and the addition of technical skill, success is achieved.
Just as a soccer team creates and executes a strategy, a document management system is about strategy, organization and execution. If executed correctly, the game, or document management system, runs smoothly. So how is document management like the game of soccer?
The document management vendor plays the assistant coach role. Just as the assistant coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team, Lubos Kubik, has 20 years experience at both the professional and international level, the team of your document management vendor will include experts in the field. The vendor will have worked with organizations across various industries. As the assistant coach has dedicated his time and efforts to training the team to its best ability, the document management vendor will train your organization’s employees to make sure your document management implementation and on-going use is successful and effective. The key is to get everyone on the same page.
As the whistle signals game time kick-off, or in other words, once the system is implemented, the show is on. The soccer ball can be compared to your important business document(s). The purpose of soccer is to get the ball from one end of the field to other, to its final destination, GOAL!!! With a document management system, your document is entered into the system through scanning, uploading, or browsing. Once the document enters the workflow, it is moved from employee to employee, through the approval process, just as the soccer ball is passed from teammate to teammate. Anticipation is absolutely vital. Team players know where the ball is headed next. As one player releases the ball, it is sent on to the next person, just as once the employee has completed his or her task with the business document, it is automatically pushed through the workflow onto its next task.
Meanwhile, the head soccer coach decides who takes the field. He decides who plays where and when. He directs strategy and movement. Similarly, the management team of the company decides who has access to what documents. Through secure login settings, management regulates which documents are accessible to specific authorized people.
As the soccer team works together to get the ball to where it needs to be, the business document goes through its entire life cycle, until it has reached the end of its retention period. The forward takes the ball to the goal and shoots, SCORE! Your document management system alerts you that it is time for a specific document to be purged. Now, you are able to dispose of the document after it has fulfilled its business purposes. Done and done.
A soccer team dedicates time and practice to be able to perform to the best of its ability. With committed preparation, the team’s execution can be flawless. A document management vendor strives to continuously make improvements to make its system of highest quality and effectiveness. As the vendor dedicates its time and efforts to a successful implementation, your organization will be streamlined, more effective and organized, and in result, more profitable. Nothing beats a winning team!
To learn more about our Document Management Special Offers, visit http://www.docuvantage.com/document-management-special-offers.
This blog post is dedicated to Sarel.
As Florida County Budgets Shrink, County Departments and Agencies Turn to DocuVantage to Maintain and Improve Services.
Tampa, FL. – June 1, 2010 – Budget cuts can cripple departments. Don’t let this happen to you. Learn how automating the manual processes that consume so many of your resources can save your department.
With decreased funding, government agencies must improve their business processes as a way to reduce costs. By automating many tasks that have been performed manually, departments can lower their costs to avoid further cuts in services.
“Learning how to identify the manual processes that can be automated and using technology to automate non-value add tasks will save a department,” commented Jana Wiggins, CEO of DocuVantage. “With our county customers, we've seen that the departments that automate tend to be spared from drastic cuts. By being proactive and adding a continuous process improvement initiative they are able to reduce costs before they lose funding.”
At the Florida Association of Counties 2010 Annual Conference and Educational Exposition (June 29 - July 2, 2010), DocuVantage will discuss and demonstrate how counties can reduce their costs without the pain associated with forced budget cuts.
Understanding the steps needed to automate manual processes is the starting point. Visitors to the booth can discuss how to create a strategic plan for process improvement and automation. By learning more about how other agencies have automated their processes, they will see how they too can continue to provide improved and more efficient services to their communities.
To read how government agencies and departments have benefitted from a DocuVantage solution, please visit www.docuvantage.com/document-management-for-government.
About Document Advantage Corporation:
For over 20 years the Document Advantage team has been assisting government agencies with their document management and workflow needs.
The company’s flagship product, DocuVantage OnDemand® is an enterprise-class document management solution delivered via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). It is the first online document management system to offer document capture, global text searching, rules-based workflow, electronic signature and records management compliance in one platform.
DocuVantage products and services can be procured off of GSA, the Florida State Term Contract for IT Consulting Services, and a Hillsborough County Blanket Purchasing Contract. Counties can subscribe to one application for all their document management, business process automation, collaboration and compliance management needs and can be up and running the same day.
For more information on how DocuVantage OnDemand can help your county improve its operational efficiencies, please contact DocuVantage at 866-367-3467 ext. 1, or visit the DocuVantage website.
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Special Offer to Jump-Start Workflow Mapping.
Tampa, FL. – May 26, 2010 – With organizations striving to improve their efficiency and make an impact on their bottom line, DocuVantage has made it easier to get started with a business process mapping jump start.
Once an organization decides to improve their business processes, the first step is to determine what the current state is and to create a current state process map. This first step can be overwhelming for some organizations, especially if they have never done it before.
DocuVantage knows how impactful business process mapping can be and will help organizations jump-start their process mapping initiatives. For a limited time, one of DocuVantage’s senior BPM analysts will map one process for only $1,200. Once a company has one process mapped, it’s much easier to see how to map out additional processes.
“While many companies know that there are ways to improve processes that may be outdated, they are just not sure where to begin,” said Jana Wiggins, CEO of Document Advantage Corporation. “Usually the first step is to map out existing business processes, but not always. The best way to begin is to schedule a conversation with professionals who do this every day. That’s why we make our senior analysts available for these conversations.”
Find out how to quickly improve your business processes and have an immediate impact on your bottom line by visiting our document management special offers page.
About Document Advantage Corporation:
For over 20 years the Document Advantage team has been assisting businesses with their document management and workflow needs.
The company’s flagship product, DocuVantage OnDemand®, is an enterprise-class document management solution delivered via Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). It is the first online document management system to offer document capture, global text searching, rules-based workflow, electronic signature and records management compliance in one platform. DocuVantage OnDemand is used by commercial, non-profit, healthcare, financial services and government organizations worldwide.
Customers can subscribe to one application for all their document management, business process automation, collaboration and compliance management needs and can be up and running the same day.
For more information on how DocuVantage OnDemand can help your organization improve its operational efficiencies, please contact DocuVantage at 866-367-3467 ext. 1, or visit the DocuVantage website at www.docuvantage.com.
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From implementation to daily use, software as a service document management is as easy as searching with your Internet browser.
Your online document management vendor will first speak with you to gather the key information needed to assess your needs, set up and activate your account. Your organization can be worry free, since the implementation is the vendor’s responsibility. They will take care of this for you!
From then on, you only need to worry about logging into the system. To do this, you simply pull up your browser and login to the online portal.
To find a document, you can navigate to the search tab and search for the file according to file attributes such as document title, date, author, etc. OR you can do a text search, by simply entering keywords that may be included in the document.
Are you a key person in the process of creating and filing documents? Your life has just gotten so much easier.
You will now drag and drop the electronic document from your computer right into the document management system and it will present the key fields to enter the “metadata” or information about that document. Once you save that document, it will be available to anyone that has permission to access that type of document. There are other ways to insert the document into the system such as through importing and browsing, but we have covered the most basic here.
Are you managing paper documents too? Not a problem! In that case you will use your scanner or multi-function device to scan and image the document right into the system for other users to access and view. Now you can do the work that really matters instead of pushing paper around the company.
What else could you do? How about if when you put the document into the system it would automatically route to the people who needed to review and possibly sign off on the document? If you are in the healthcare industry, you might be receiving faxes, and you are required to be HIPAA compliant. Now those faxes can be captured electronically and routed to the appropriate person without ever being printed. Only now, they are secure and protected.
To ensure your company is compliant in its records management policy, add the document management records retention functionality and have the system tell you when you are legally required to purge that document. Do not retain documents forever, thinking it is easier that way and on the safe side. Bad things could happen when you retain longer than required just as bad things can happen if you are not retaining documents correctly.
So, why is a web-based document management solution beneficial to your organization? Time savings across many areas are increased i.e. implementation, user adoption, access from anywhere, return on investment and new functionality is deployed seamlessly. Costs are reduced from many perspectives i.e. no hardware or software costs, no IT resources are needed, increased security, and new users can use the system immediately without the traditional learning curve. What is the biggest advantage? You have immediate access to your documents and information.
Thinking about a paperless or more streamlined office? Learn more about easy and affordable document management by visiting our Resource Center.