Not long ago, most small and medium-size companies could not afford to hire someone to come in and set up a document imaging or automated document processing system.  Now, however, Office Managers have a number of inexpensive and easy to implement solutions that make document imaging not only possible, but a necessity to help their company remain competitive.  And, the new systems go beyond organizing just scanned paper documents.  Today’s solutions also organize any form of electronic information including text files, graphics, emails and attachments.  They also incorporate retention policies, enable internal and external file sharing with teams and clients, and streamline business processes.

Office Managers, particularly as their offices grow, face a number of challenges when it comes to document and information organization and processing:

• An ever-increasing volume of data in a wide variety of formats (paper documents, electronic files, emails, digital photos, etc.)

• Data becomes difficult to locate, stored in numerous places using numerous media (on-site, off-site, network, desktop PC's, CD's, etc.)

• Security risks related to protecting valuable corporate knowledge (fire, criminal activity, employee attrition, etc.)

• Meeting legal requirements regarding document retention

• How to efficiently and inexpensively process forms

• How to efficiently collaborate on documents and information

• How to enforce information editing and approval rules

Electronic organization of your documents and information processes may prove the best and most cost effective method for you to meet those challenges. 

Electronic Information Organization Systems

“Electronic information organization” encompasses a number of document and information technologies in three primary categories: imaging, managing, and processing. 

Imaging

Imaging involves scanning paper documents and storing an electronic image.  The image might be just an image, or you might convert the image using OCR (optical character recognition), depending on your needs and legal requirements (legal documents might be better stored as an image so they are less likely to be altered).  It is important to index the documents when scanned so they can be retrieved and viewed as necessary.

A typical document imaging system usually includes the following components:

• Imaging : the scanning of paper documents.
   
• Indexing : categorizing documents using appropriate tags or keywords.
   
• Storage : creating electronic versions of the documents in a database, typically in image form, but possibly including an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) version to allow for search and editing of document text.
   
• Conversion : converting documents from one electronic format to another (e.g. Microsoft Word to PDF).
   
• Retrieval : retrieving documents in a simple method if necessary.

·     Destruction : purging or destruction of documents if necessary.

Managing

Managing electronic documents and information involves establishing security and access permissions for the stored images.  It also involves establishing rules for retention of the electronic documents and a process by which they will be archived or destroyed.  To get optimum use of the electronic files, it is necessary to develop an efficient system to view the documents.  For example, if you maintain data in a Microsoft Access database, you might design a button to open a window and display the electronic documents associated with a record.  This avoids the need for users to learn a separate proprietary query and viewing program.

Processing

In addition to imaging paper documents, electronic information processing is becoming popular for data collection, submission, and review.  This process does not involve paper at all.  Instead, an electronic form is used to collect and submit the data.  The data is stored in a database.  When a form is submitted, the system generates an email message to the reviewer who views the data as an electronic form attached to the message.  The reviewer takes action on the data (approve, reject, etc.) which generates another email message to the person submitting the email and to the person responsible for further processing.  For example, perhaps an electronic expense form is submitted by an employee, delivered electronically to their supervisor for approval, and when approved, it is delivered electronically to accounts payable for payment.  Such electronic document processing systems avoid errors caused by retyping data, streamline the review and processing tasks, and create a permanent, electronic, record along the way.

These electronic information processing products are the latest generation of information gathering and management programs and combine the features of web form development, database development and email processing into a single, easy to use package. 

Systems and Devices

To give you an idea of features and uses, several systems and devices are described below.

Microsoft Office Document Scanning and Imaging

If you already use Microsoft Office, you may not know it but you have a scanning and imaging system right under your nose.  Microsoft Office comes with Microsoft Office Document Scanning and Microsoft Office Document Imaging (icons for these appear in the Microsoft Office Tools folder).  Microsoft Office Document Scanning provides scanning presets for specific purposes that optimize scanning (such as a black and white preset that is ideal for scanning pages of text).  In addition, the program defaults to perform OCR on text documents immediately after scanning.  Microsoft Office Document Imaging is used to view scanned documents, rearrange pages in multi-page documents, select and manipulate text, and send documents by email or fax.

Digital Senders

HP’s LaserJet 4345 MFP and Lexmark’s X632s are not only multifunction devices that print, copy, fax, and scan, they both also can send scanned documents to an email address as an attachment (provided the device is connected to a network with an email server).  The scanned document can be formatted in JPEG, TIFF, MTIFF, or Adobe PDF at a variety of resolutions and sizes.  This feature is ideal for individual documents and could be incorporated into a document imaging, processing, and storage system.

Document Management and Retention Using the Microsoft Office System

The Microsoft Office System is another option for information management and retention.  It offers a platform that is familiar to users and information workers and has a broad partner network to assist with development of a system. For a document management and retention solution, these are the common technologies that could be used:

• Microsoft Office Professional 2003,
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003, and
• Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies

Microsoft’s website provides solutions and examples of how to set up, automate and organize these systems.  There is also a video to watch and “showcases” highlighting how leading companies are solving critical business problems using solutions built with the Microsoft Office System.

ZyIMAGE by ZyLABS

ZyIMAGE is another soup to nuts solution comprised of modules for every conceivable purpose:

ZySCAN: converts paper documents and images into searchable online information.

ZyINDEX: creates and manages searchable archives of scanned and electronic information.

RMA: Records Management and Archival Plug-in enables storage from standard applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, etc.

Exchange Connector: enables archiving all information from a Microsoft Exchange Server including email and newsgroups.

ZyCLIP: enables scanning of a complete newspaper and “clipping” all articles into searchable documents.

ZyCOLD:  automatically converts digital spool files, splitting them into separate files and adding key fields.

ZyIMAGE for Forms: interprets machine print and handprint characters in paper forms and barcodes.

ZyFIND: allows you to search, find and organize documents in your ZyINDEX archives.

ZyFIND for Outlook: allows you to search through multiple Outlook PST files, including attachments.

ZySEARCH: allows you to search archives that have been published on CD or DVD.

ZyPUBLISH: copies archives to CD or DVD and makes them searchable using ZySEARCH.

ZyIMAGE Webserver: Using any common browser, connect to and view archived information.

ZyIMAGE Enterprise Webserver: Adds write access through a standard browser.

ZyALERT: Searches archive data at set times to detect relevant information and send it to users by fax, email, diskette, or printout.

ZyIMAGE Federator: enables browser searches over multiple ZyIMAGE webservers.

Other modules include advanced security, Bates stamping (giving each document a unique identifier which can be placed on the original image), database and XML integration, application integration, and text-mining tools.

Conclusion

Office Managers need to consider how their office can image and organize documents and information to streamline processes and implement safeguards using these latest generation technologies.

By providing you with suggestions and direct links to information management solutions, we hope your quest for a “paperless” office and a more efficient way of doing business is a little easier to achieve.