Electronic Document Management December 2009 News

Are Your Employees Working Like Elves?

It’s that time of year. The stores and malls are filled with shoppers. Christmas specials are on the television and everyone is busy getting ready for the holidays.  Best of all, it’s the season of the unspoken corporate rule. Nothing gets done. 

That’s right; your employees are busy buying gifts on the Internet or planning a trip to see family. And as the boss, you calmly look the other way because you realize all employees are like Santa’s little helpers; they are just not helping your business at all. It doesn’t have to be that way. This year help your employees get less done. That’s right. Help them shop, plan travel or get in the holiday spirit.

How you ask? That’s simple; get them a document management system. Not just any system, but a document management system that automates the tedious process of finding, reviewing and approving documents.  Maybe those documents are pesky sales orders, invoices, contracts, or legal documents. You know the type of documents that just keep getting in the way of celebrating the holiday.

Imagine how much free time your employees will have if the documents get routed by an automated system. Imagine how many orders, contracts or other documents might be handled quickly and efficiently if a system was in place to apply your business rules to your business documents. Think about how much free time your employees will have to do the things they really want to do this holiday season.

Now imagine the beginning of the year. Your documents are easily found, not under an eggnog stain, but in a secure online repository neatly organized by type, customer, or any other category that is important to you.  Now imagine happy productive employees who, thanks to you had a great holiday, and are now ready to move your organizations business forward.

Best of all, now that they are focused, they can focus on real issues, not just paper problems. Imagine an organization where contracts were reviewed and approved quickly, where sales orders were processed efficiently, where invoices were never lost or paid twice.

Now look out at your employees all gathered around their PC’s.  Are they really working on your business?  Or are they getting ready for the holidays?  Make it so you don’t care.  With the right system in place, and employee productivity at its peak, a little holiday cheer won’t negatively affect your end of year.

You don’t really have to imagine this at all.  Give yourself the gift of a document management system this year.  Both you and your employees will be jolly all year long because, just like elves, they really will be productive-all year long.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes!

Turning Bureaucracy Into Effective Governance 

All government agencies have to balance fulfilling their mandates with ensuring that they spend tax dollars correctly. That is why agencies, big and small, federal, state or local, have process, oversight and compliance issues.

It's the balance between getting things done efficiently and getting things done that can be audited or tracked. Most people think of this as government red tape, or government bureaucracy, when in reality it is the check and balance system that helps ensure that your tax dollars are spent on the programs they were allocated to.

These systems can frustrate both the general public and the government employees that live by these rules. Yet everyone can agree that we need to be able to track government spending. Without processes, oversight and compliance, it just would not be possible. So how can we ensure efficiency without sacrificing accountability? How do we turn perceived bureaucracy into effective governance? The answer is automation.  

Automation can mean many, many things. For government agencies however, automation that turns paper processes into electronic processes are usually the most productive. In reality though, paper is not going away. At least not for our government agencies and not any time soon. So the key to balancing efficiency, paper and oversight is to automate paper processes.

As an example, local governments have housing authorities. States have agencies that are responsible for the same thing and of course, the federal government has HUD. In the end, one of the mandates for all of these agencies is to ensure affordable housing for everyone.  There is the State Housing Initiatives Partnership, or SHIP program, which provides grants to local housing authorities so they can help those in need with home ownership. There is also a HUD program for First Time Home Buyers which also targets these same people so they can afford their first home.  

Both of these programs, along with all the other programs, require applications and supporting documents. The people applying for this assistance fill out paper forms, make copies of supporting documents, and submit anywhere from 50 to 100 pages. The local housing authority has to review and process all of this paper. It doesn’t take someone in government to know that reviewing paper documents, and then passing them along to the next person in the process for further review, acceptance and compliance takes time.  Every organization has the same paper problem, not just government agencies.

By automating these processes with a document and workflow management system housing authorities can accomplish multiple goals. When you turn paper documents into electronic documents, they can be routed for immediate review. Further, based on government rules which can be automated, the documents can be processed and on the correct path without any wasted time or effort. Best of all, electronic documents and electronic processes leave an audit trail. This is perfect for oversight and compliance.  With a document management system that provides reports on the documents and processes, most compliance issues can be easily accommodated. Even more, with automated processes, any document or application not in compliance can be automatically flagged.

Turning paper into electronic documents with an electronic document management system, coupled with automating the processes behind the paper, yields efficiency and enables agencies, both big and small, to meet their mandate.  That’s why some government agencies aren’t bureaucratic, but instead provide effective governance.  It’s because they are efficient.

With over 10 years implementing these systems for companies, nonprofit organizations and, various government agencies, DocuVantage has the knowledge on how to turn paper processes into a source of pride and efficiency.

And for government agencies, we’ve made it even easier to get started.  DocuVantage is a pre-approved GSA vendor.  You simply purchase the service, at a discount, using the Apps.gov portal or your GSA contract.

DocuVantage has implemented electronic document management systems for all industries, from one to thousands of users. Download our free document management whitepaper to learn more.

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