Revisions and more revisions, where did it end? Who has the final copy and who is the keeper of the final revised copy?
Are the revisions noted and did the final copy become the official record of that document and so noted? Are you aware of the last time someone in the company edited information pertaining to a document? Was the number of the latest revision duly added in sequence and noted? Is there a document trail of all of this?
For a document to be considered reliable and authentic, one of the many considerations to be aware of is that the document is created, managed by the company, and all changes made to the document as a collaborative effort are recorded and tracked.
In recording all revisions, once the final copy is approved and no more revisions are allowed, it becomes the official copy. Any further revisions would need to be approved by the custodian of the official copy, usually the person in the department who is assigned as the keeper of that official copy as an active document. The final copy can be shared with other colleagues while restrictions can be applied. For instance, all documents in finance are available to view by the department only.
Companies who work with an automated system for their document management will most likely have control over the process of identifying each revision and access privileges. This process is easily established along with the workflow processes and is set up from the very beginning in regards to the creation of a document in a department and/or small company. All changes are monitored and identified.
If you are working with paper based documents, assign a new revision number for each edited copy. If sending the revised copy by email to be edited by other colleagues, ensure that the policies are understood in regards to monitoring and numbering the newly revised copy. When the final copy is accepted, the responsibility of safeguarding the official copy will be handed over to a custodian. This can be the department head or other designated keeper and established early in the process of creating the document.
If additional copies are made of the official copy, it is best that employees identify it as a copy and share that information with the custodian. Employees can verify with company policies in regards to the management of copies and the housing of these copies.
Sound tedious? There is nothing worse than working with the wrong edited version or not knowing if the final copy is truly the approved official document. This will also hep you with the inventory and knowing how many copies are held in your company of each official document. If someone leaves, you will be able to identify these documents as copies.
Incorporate this in your procedures for employees to be aware of and to be put into practice. I realize that many of us make copies of documents, from the electronic copy or from another format and file it away. If you have a central repository for documents, everyone can view the documents online, if permissions are in place for all to view, or borrow the hard copy from a central filing system, with control to borrowing privileges for access and retrieval.
Why all the fuss you say? What are the advantages to tracking? You will recognize and store the final revised copy as the official copy and it will be identified as such, tracked, and stored with a custodian who would also have access privileges for you and your staff, if shared online. The document will be stored in a format that is acceptable and readable, with a visible audit trail, the keeper of the document or department identified, and access privileges in place to safeguard the original final copy. This will save you time and money for storage, especially if paper based, and protect the final copy from future changes, unless authorized. This will also save time in trying to assess which, where, and whom has the final copy, and when the last changes were made to the document. If asked to present this document for whatever reason that may be, you are ready.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Five top reasons to organize your documents, paper based and/or electronic records.
1. Litigation risk:
Reduced litigation risk is of prime importance to specific industries, however,I think it is a concern to anyone operating a business. Evidence needed to reconstruct facts is a major reason for managing your business records.
There are guidelines in managing business documents companies can adopt to enhance their regular routines so that their documents can be found in a state that can be presented, if need be. Other concerns such as how long to keep or toss your documents is another facet of document management, which applies to good practices and goes hand in hand with litigation.
Not only will poorly managed documents reflect a relaxed approach to organizing important documents, it may cause a business to become vulnerable to serious legal issues.
2.Regulatory compliance:
Some industries are regulated and must comply with some form of recordkeeping obligations from the time the document is created to its disposal. Therefore, all records, which are maintained and accessible in case of audits, will be readily available.
3.Finding the right document:
Finding the right document for any business activity will bring forth improved efficiency. Working with clients and/ or colleagues on a project requires you to work with all related documents associated with each project efficiently, including revisions and their final copy.
Spending too much time finding any document, no matter the format, including email, will be costly overall. Statistics Canada has documented the findings of lost or misfiled documents. 7.5 % of documents are lost and 3% of the remaining documents are misfiled. The cost to reproduce a lost document is estimated at $250.00
A lost or misfiled document can have serious business consequences for ongoing activities. Being able to respond to queries from any source requesting information is a valid reason for following best practices for managing documents.
4.Increased productivity:
Working in an organized environment with workflow processes and best practices for document management will relieve stress, add security measures, and increase productivity.
For example, borrowing a document, paper based or electronic, can be set up similar to borrowing a book in a library. There is a need to know who has the document, where it is, who has access to the document and when is it due back. When working with electronic documents, the document can be blocked so that no one else can work on the document at the same time. Once the borrower has finished working with the document, revisions can be identified and access becomes available once again to those who have permission to access the document.
When you do not have a system in place, the checking in or out of documents is no longer controlled. How frustrating is it to be wasting time and energy finding those documents, be it paper based or electronic.
5.Cost savings:
Having a records management system is not only advisable, it will save you money in the long run. Lost or misfiled documents will be decreased and the cost for recovery of documents will be minimal. Storage costs will be reduced if working with practices as to how long to keep or toss documents.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Reduced litigation risk is of prime importance to specific industries, however,I think it is a concern to anyone operating a business. Evidence needed to reconstruct facts is a major reason for managing your business records.
There are guidelines in managing business documents companies can adopt to enhance their regular routines so that their documents can be found in a state that can be presented, if need be. Other concerns such as how long to keep or toss your documents is another facet of document management, which applies to good practices and goes hand in hand with litigation.
Not only will poorly managed documents reflect a relaxed approach to organizing important documents, it may cause a business to become vulnerable to serious legal issues.
2.Regulatory compliance:
Some industries are regulated and must comply with some form of recordkeeping obligations from the time the document is created to its disposal. Therefore, all records, which are maintained and accessible in case of audits, will be readily available.
3.Finding the right document:
Finding the right document for any business activity will bring forth improved efficiency. Working with clients and/ or colleagues on a project requires you to work with all related documents associated with each project efficiently, including revisions and their final copy.
Spending too much time finding any document, no matter the format, including email, will be costly overall. Statistics Canada has documented the findings of lost or misfiled documents. 7.5 % of documents are lost and 3% of the remaining documents are misfiled. The cost to reproduce a lost document is estimated at $250.00
A lost or misfiled document can have serious business consequences for ongoing activities. Being able to respond to queries from any source requesting information is a valid reason for following best practices for managing documents.
4.Increased productivity:
Working in an organized environment with workflow processes and best practices for document management will relieve stress, add security measures, and increase productivity.
For example, borrowing a document, paper based or electronic, can be set up similar to borrowing a book in a library. There is a need to know who has the document, where it is, who has access to the document and when is it due back. When working with electronic documents, the document can be blocked so that no one else can work on the document at the same time. Once the borrower has finished working with the document, revisions can be identified and access becomes available once again to those who have permission to access the document.
When you do not have a system in place, the checking in or out of documents is no longer controlled. How frustrating is it to be wasting time and energy finding those documents, be it paper based or electronic.
5.Cost savings:
Having a records management system is not only advisable, it will save you money in the long run. Lost or misfiled documents will be decreased and the cost for recovery of documents will be minimal. Storage costs will be reduced if working with practices as to how long to keep or toss documents.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Inventory and safety tips for vital documents for disaster recovery
Emergency document safety.
Begin the process with the assessment and identification of those vital documents, which need to be protected from disaster, in order to resume business with the least delay and distress.
Proceed with an inventory of these documents and identify the documents. For example, include in your report the type of business function they address, why they have been selected, and where they are located including the format. Take into consideration what assets are to be protected, be it legal, financial, your obligations to employees, customers, stockholders, and of importance to marketing and your business plan. Include all work in progress of importance, review and add to the list. Distribute your report to the individual who is assigned for the recovery process and secure it in protective storage.
For the inventory, you may set up a book on Excel and divide the documents into three different categories: crucial, important and useful or use a template for vital records inventory. You will save time, money and frustration in resuming business. It will simplify the whole process and allow for a smooth return to doing business. If you are automated, this will facilitate the process as they will be indentified as such with pertinent details.
Give a description to the documents such as the business function they belong to, why they are selected, add the value of importance, and include the protection method being used.
Protective storage can be either onsite or offsite. Onsite is less recommended and is riskier. Your best bet is to choose another method of storage. Offsite is best suited and is recommended for both paper and electronic files. Dispersal of information is available with many options to consider. You can have the data duplicated or replicated with an alternative site. You can select an offsite record center, which takes into consideration many facets of storage such as the media it is stored in, the conditions it needs to maintain to save the integrity of the material being stored, and who has access to the documents. Choose a center not too far away for ease of access and retrieval. Another popular outlet for storage is to send documents to a third party service such as electronic vaulting. Overall, do some research and inquire about the service, the type of storage you choose, and ensure that all security measures are in place for your company business documents.
What ever storage solution you choose to adopt for your documents, ensure that it is suitable for ease of access and protection. The sensitivity of material protected is also of concern to your business and employees.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Begin the process with the assessment and identification of those vital documents, which need to be protected from disaster, in order to resume business with the least delay and distress.
Proceed with an inventory of these documents and identify the documents. For example, include in your report the type of business function they address, why they have been selected, and where they are located including the format. Take into consideration what assets are to be protected, be it legal, financial, your obligations to employees, customers, stockholders, and of importance to marketing and your business plan. Include all work in progress of importance, review and add to the list. Distribute your report to the individual who is assigned for the recovery process and secure it in protective storage.
For the inventory, you may set up a book on Excel and divide the documents into three different categories: crucial, important and useful or use a template for vital records inventory. You will save time, money and frustration in resuming business. It will simplify the whole process and allow for a smooth return to doing business. If you are automated, this will facilitate the process as they will be indentified as such with pertinent details.
Give a description to the documents such as the business function they belong to, why they are selected, add the value of importance, and include the protection method being used.
Protective storage can be either onsite or offsite. Onsite is less recommended and is riskier. Your best bet is to choose another method of storage. Offsite is best suited and is recommended for both paper and electronic files. Dispersal of information is available with many options to consider. You can have the data duplicated or replicated with an alternative site. You can select an offsite record center, which takes into consideration many facets of storage such as the media it is stored in, the conditions it needs to maintain to save the integrity of the material being stored, and who has access to the documents. Choose a center not too far away for ease of access and retrieval. Another popular outlet for storage is to send documents to a third party service such as electronic vaulting. Overall, do some research and inquire about the service, the type of storage you choose, and ensure that all security measures are in place for your company business documents.
What ever storage solution you choose to adopt for your documents, ensure that it is suitable for ease of access and protection. The sensitivity of material protected is also of concern to your business and employees.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Monday, January 31, 2011
Earthquake document safety drill
Earthquake document safety drill.
Whether it is an earthquake, a fire, or flooding, are you ready in case of a disaster? Are your vital business documents protected?
There was an earthquake drill on January 26th at 10:00 am organized by BC Earthquake Alliance called ShakeOut BC. Even though earthquakes do not occur often in the North Okanagan, according to North Okanagan Emergency Management (NOEM), there is some significant risk.
Three basic steps were outlined: Drop, Cover, Hold. As we know, practice is important.
Do you have a vital records emergency plan in place for your business documents? For some companies, this may not cause any disruptions while it may be of serious consequences to others who are not prepared.
Are you vital records organized and protected? What are vital records? These are the business documents, which are vital to the recovery of your business in case of disaster. Not only is it costly and time consuming to find and recreate those documents, it is crucial to your organization to be able to do business. It is about the protection of your assets, human resources, and priorities associated with business functions. As for your clients, your reputation as a reliable company may also be at risk, and this may impede on how they do business with your firm.
Do you have a plan for disaster recovery? Are you waiting for a disaster to happen? Are these documents safeguarded in-house and/or protected elsewhere? Are they saved in an acceptable format? Microfilm is one option for storage.
Who is involved in the process? Assign someone to become responsible for this area of critical business in coordination with senior administration and/or the owner to lead the project. Align the plan with the company's mission and objectives and create a committee. If you are a sole proprietor, get some input from other colleagues in your field of business or ask for assistance from a professional service.
Start with a plan. First of all, determine what type of documents fit this category. Critical business functions, financial, human resource, and legal considerations are all vital to your organization.
Do the inventory and save your documents in the best format or consider other technologies available for storage of data. Be aware of new technology, the benefits and drawbacks, and select what is best for your business.
Other considerations include allocating a temporary location for staff to meet as soon as business resumes. Have an emergency telephone list and a call plan to advise staff. Decide who has the permission to access all vital documents in your plan and who is to show up as the first emergency responders. Enforce regular drills. Adjust, review and be ready.
For more information on earthquake preparedness for personal safety, visit www.shakeoutBC.ca.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Whether it is an earthquake, a fire, or flooding, are you ready in case of a disaster? Are your vital business documents protected?
There was an earthquake drill on January 26th at 10:00 am organized by BC Earthquake Alliance called ShakeOut BC. Even though earthquakes do not occur often in the North Okanagan, according to North Okanagan Emergency Management (NOEM), there is some significant risk.
Three basic steps were outlined: Drop, Cover, Hold. As we know, practice is important.
Do you have a vital records emergency plan in place for your business documents? For some companies, this may not cause any disruptions while it may be of serious consequences to others who are not prepared.
Are you vital records organized and protected? What are vital records? These are the business documents, which are vital to the recovery of your business in case of disaster. Not only is it costly and time consuming to find and recreate those documents, it is crucial to your organization to be able to do business. It is about the protection of your assets, human resources, and priorities associated with business functions. As for your clients, your reputation as a reliable company may also be at risk, and this may impede on how they do business with your firm.
Do you have a plan for disaster recovery? Are you waiting for a disaster to happen? Are these documents safeguarded in-house and/or protected elsewhere? Are they saved in an acceptable format? Microfilm is one option for storage.
Who is involved in the process? Assign someone to become responsible for this area of critical business in coordination with senior administration and/or the owner to lead the project. Align the plan with the company's mission and objectives and create a committee. If you are a sole proprietor, get some input from other colleagues in your field of business or ask for assistance from a professional service.
Start with a plan. First of all, determine what type of documents fit this category. Critical business functions, financial, human resource, and legal considerations are all vital to your organization.
Do the inventory and save your documents in the best format or consider other technologies available for storage of data. Be aware of new technology, the benefits and drawbacks, and select what is best for your business.
Other considerations include allocating a temporary location for staff to meet as soon as business resumes. Have an emergency telephone list and a call plan to advise staff. Decide who has the permission to access all vital documents in your plan and who is to show up as the first emergency responders. Enforce regular drills. Adjust, review and be ready.
For more information on earthquake preparedness for personal safety, visit www.shakeoutBC.ca.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Organizing your business receipts for taxes
Organizing your business receipts for tax time.
Whether you are preparing to do your own taxes or sending them off to a professional service, it is always a good practice to keep all of your receipts in order on a regular basis as this will save you time, money, and the agony of doing this at the last minute. Develop a method and follow it diligently, this will ease the burden at the end of the year or around tax time.
You have many options today to help you organize those receipts and time and effort will be the deciding factor as to what system you will adopt. You can set up a manual filing system, create an electronic document filing system and scan your documents, or outsource the task.
Small receipts are unavoidable such as cash register slips, store receipts, or credit card slips. They are not always clearly defined as to what was purchased and the dates can cause some concern over the month and day depending on the convention used such as 2011/07/08, is it July or August? Most retail stores in Canada work with day, month and year. Begin with writing the date on the receipt and the item you purchased. If you are folding the receipt, fold it with the printed side open to view especially when traveling, it takes very little to mistake it for just an old piece of paper. I always put all my travel receipts in an envelope and take care of writing down the information immediately until I scan them. You can also take a photo of the receipt and send it to your office in case of loss. However, the copy should be clear and easily read. Keep all your paper receipts. You may want to verify that all is entered in your system properly.
Basic System:
To organize a manual filing system for your receipts, you can do this by purchasing coloured hanging folders with each category written on each tab, which can help you with quick filing or you can also slip them in an accordion file by main categories under each tab. Add up your receipts monthly and attach the subtotal to the receipts by month.
EXCEL:
If using Excel, create the main categories and enter your receipts with all pertinent information, date, item, store or company, notes, category and sub total for every month or at the end of the year. You can simply file them in their appropriate folder by category with the monthly sub total. A bit more tedious and does require discipline.
Scanning and creating electronic folders:
If creating electronic folders, create the categories, scan the documents, rename the image and drop them into the correct folder. Keep the paper copies and calculate the monthly or quarterly total. Send the attachment to your email or mail your lists organized by category with total amounts for each category.
Categories:
Major categories to consider when developing your folders: assets, associations/memberships, auto/fuel catering , bank/checks, CD and books, conference and meetings, entertainment/restaurants, invoices paid, gifts, marketing material, office equipment, professional courses and training, professional services, purchase for resale, seminars and workshops, shipping and postage, travel expenses, utilities etc.
Outsourcing:
For the small business owner, time can be a factor and for others, it may simply be that they prefer to put everything in a box and leave it to someone else to work on it.
You can select a service and outsource the task. The documents are usually mailed to be scanned and returned to you within a short period of time. However, inquire as to what type of tracking system is in place, does the company provide a tracking file of your parcel or envelope or is it tracked by the postal service? If you are concerned with the loss of receipts and documents by sending them off in the mail to a service, find someone who may be able to do this for you in your own business community.
Portable scanners:
Today, there are wonderful choices for scanners with a software program included, which saves a lot of time with setting up categories. Find out if they allow you add and tailor the categories for filing. In most cases, the software program is compatible with various accounting software programs. Ask your accountant or bookkeeper for the accounting software program they consider to be the best.
You can also purchase a small scanner if you prefer and scan each receipt immediately at your office. If you have a small portable scanner, you can scan your receipts and send immediately to your office when traveling or after meetings outside your office.
Portable scanner:
Visit this Website for some of the tips and more information on selecting a portable scanner.
Source: http://www.squidoo.com/travel-scanner#
Francine Renaud Records Management Consultant http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Whether you are preparing to do your own taxes or sending them off to a professional service, it is always a good practice to keep all of your receipts in order on a regular basis as this will save you time, money, and the agony of doing this at the last minute. Develop a method and follow it diligently, this will ease the burden at the end of the year or around tax time.
You have many options today to help you organize those receipts and time and effort will be the deciding factor as to what system you will adopt. You can set up a manual filing system, create an electronic document filing system and scan your documents, or outsource the task.
Small receipts are unavoidable such as cash register slips, store receipts, or credit card slips. They are not always clearly defined as to what was purchased and the dates can cause some concern over the month and day depending on the convention used such as 2011/07/08, is it July or August? Most retail stores in Canada work with day, month and year. Begin with writing the date on the receipt and the item you purchased. If you are folding the receipt, fold it with the printed side open to view especially when traveling, it takes very little to mistake it for just an old piece of paper. I always put all my travel receipts in an envelope and take care of writing down the information immediately until I scan them. You can also take a photo of the receipt and send it to your office in case of loss. However, the copy should be clear and easily read. Keep all your paper receipts. You may want to verify that all is entered in your system properly.
Basic System:
To organize a manual filing system for your receipts, you can do this by purchasing coloured hanging folders with each category written on each tab, which can help you with quick filing or you can also slip them in an accordion file by main categories under each tab. Add up your receipts monthly and attach the subtotal to the receipts by month.
EXCEL:
If using Excel, create the main categories and enter your receipts with all pertinent information, date, item, store or company, notes, category and sub total for every month or at the end of the year. You can simply file them in their appropriate folder by category with the monthly sub total. A bit more tedious and does require discipline.
Scanning and creating electronic folders:
If creating electronic folders, create the categories, scan the documents, rename the image and drop them into the correct folder. Keep the paper copies and calculate the monthly or quarterly total. Send the attachment to your email or mail your lists organized by category with total amounts for each category.
Categories:
Major categories to consider when developing your folders: assets, associations/memberships, auto/fuel catering , bank/checks, CD and books, conference and meetings, entertainment/restaurants, invoices paid, gifts, marketing material, office equipment, professional courses and training, professional services, purchase for resale, seminars and workshops, shipping and postage, travel expenses, utilities etc.
Outsourcing:
For the small business owner, time can be a factor and for others, it may simply be that they prefer to put everything in a box and leave it to someone else to work on it.
You can select a service and outsource the task. The documents are usually mailed to be scanned and returned to you within a short period of time. However, inquire as to what type of tracking system is in place, does the company provide a tracking file of your parcel or envelope or is it tracked by the postal service? If you are concerned with the loss of receipts and documents by sending them off in the mail to a service, find someone who may be able to do this for you in your own business community.
Portable scanners:
Today, there are wonderful choices for scanners with a software program included, which saves a lot of time with setting up categories. Find out if they allow you add and tailor the categories for filing. In most cases, the software program is compatible with various accounting software programs. Ask your accountant or bookkeeper for the accounting software program they consider to be the best.
You can also purchase a small scanner if you prefer and scan each receipt immediately at your office. If you have a small portable scanner, you can scan your receipts and send immediately to your office when traveling or after meetings outside your office.
Portable scanner:
Visit this Website for some of the tips and more information on selecting a portable scanner.
Source: http://www.squidoo.com/travel-scanner#
Francine Renaud Records Management Consultant http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988
Monday, January 10, 2011
Selection of a document management software program
Check list for the selection of a document management software program
If you are thinking of converting to a paperless environment, it is important to assess various software programs for document management and your business needs.
A few tips on what software to select for your business documents. I would like to present to you 5 major points to keep in mind when purchasing a document software program.
First of all, access and retrieval are key components.
1. Searching
Searching is vital and quick access and retrieval to documents for a specific purpose in every day activities is crucial to saving time, money and increasing productivity.
Is it easy to find those important documents? Does it have an advanced search option? Can you search by fields such as client name and/or file number, type of document, keywords, notes or description of document, title of document, format such as PDF, paper, or microfilm, by geographic location, or other fields of interest to your industry? Are you able to search both file content or properties, or by metadata? Find out how you can search for your business documents.
The filing system may or may not be customized. If you have a program, which offers a customized filing system, it is advisable that it can be tailored to suit your industry needs. Can you add extra codes for filing? Which system is being used for filing? Will you be able to categorize your documents according to your day to day business activities, such as invoicing, purchasing, specific types of reports, drawings, legal documents and more?
2. Tracking of revisions
Tracking is also important. With each document, revisions are made over time and must be tracked. You need to know which revision is the latest and which document will be the final copy. Is there a document trail of your revisions?
3. Check-in and check out
How much time does an employee spend searching for a document, which has been borrowed? Similar to your local library, there can be a loans component for this purpose. Who has what, where the document is located at the time of borrowing, when is it due back or when was it returned.
A software program can also remove access to other employees once a document has been checked out by an employee for purposes of editing the document. No one will have access to the document until it is checked back in. This will ensure that not more than one person can edit a document at the same time.
4. Security
It is important to have a security level set up for access to documents. Some documents can be viewed by all employees and other documents should not be available for viewing. Some documents can be set up for reading only while others may be set up for editing only. In some cases, some groups of documents may only be available to the department such as HR employees.
5. Reporting
Do you have the choice to select a reporting system? Can documents be sorted by date or by type of document report? Can you generate reports from your search?
Automation:
Additional functions are available to software programs for document management. These check points are valuable to your selection and should not to be considered as a comprehensive list.
Francine Renaud Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988 Toll Free: 1-888-763-3988
Monday, December 6, 2010
Document management outsourcing
OUTSOURCING FOR DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
Outsourcing services have been in effect for some time, especially for business operations.
Companies choose to outsource specific tasks for many reasons. Sometimes, they are involved in new projects, which require additional expertise outside of their services or may be dealing with lack of support staff, need additional help for a short period of time, or are working with time constraints.
What ever the reason, outsourcing can bring your company many benefits to your busy schedule. If you are a small firm, outsourcing can bring you some relief in getting the project started and/or completed. The learning curve in acquiring new skills for a specific task may cause inconveniences and encumber business activities at that time. It is important to weight factors prior to deciding if outsourcing is right for your company. The financial commitment versus productivity can be the biggest factor. If efficiency and productivity are a concern, will you consider this option to be worthwhile?
In regards to document management, consultants can be hired to assess your business documents, the classification system required for access and retrieval of documents, analyze the workflow, the existing system for the management of documents, and provide you with a report with recommendations. A plan for the implementation of a management program can be tailored to suit your needs and launched according to the process for delivery of the program.
There is still a significant amount of paper in most offices and some companies choose to become paperless. This requires time and knowledge of working with a software program for scanning and indexing and understanding the implications of adding new documents to the program. Document preparation, inspection and quality checks of scanned documents and post document checks, rejects and the added time involved in starting over are time consuming for the average office to commit to. Indexing documents, which includes data entry, establishing the metadata structure for similar document types and description of documents, is part of the process, depending on the software program. If there is a budget to hire and outsource, the conversion process is less painful. While other companies may decide to work on their own and accomplish this venture over time and train staff, if that option is best for your needs, most vendors will provide training and support with the purchase of their document software program.
The inconvenience caused to the business and to staff can be resolved in working with documents, which are not referred to as often and starting with less important files. This process can be done in batches and depending on the volume, within a reasonable time frame. Also, some companies prefer to continue to work with paper and electronic documents and would require a system, which would handle both formats and create a relationship between these formats. This can be accomplished and many other options are available to them if they prefer to convert over time and work with a hybrid environment of both paper and electronic documents. As a consultant, I understand the need to discuss all of the options available to you in regards to document management.
What are some of the questions, not exclusively, you may want to ask the service provider in regards to an automated document management system? What is the turn around time? What is the process used to ensure quality control of documents being scanned? What are the indexing features and the class or category for identifying business documents being used? What other features are available for searching documents when using the software program? Access and retrieval of documents are key components to document management as well as access rights. Document management requires a good system and program to work effectively and efficiently.
Francine Renaud
Records Management Consultant
http://www.timeouttoorganize.com/
Tel: 250-763-3988 Toll Free: 1-888-763-3988
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