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The Rise of Online Document Management Systems

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Stacks of documents
(ceskyfreund36/Pixabay)

14 April 2015. Once upon a time, documents were filed in huge metal filing cabinets and left to gather dust for a few years, before being archived. Or at least that’s what happened in organized offices. Everywhere else, documents were left on desks, or misplaced and lost, and if someone needed to find an important piece of information, invariably it took a lot of searching to be able to locate it.

Effective document management is essential in a wide number of different sectors. Thousands of documents may be generated at any given time, and without an effective document management system in place, it won’t take long for important documents to disappear into a black hole, never to be seen again. Many modern paperless offices do away with paper documents altogether, which presents a whole new set of challenges: how do you ensure you still have access to documents when the hard copies have been destroyed?

Online document management systems are a relatively new approach to the problem of storing thousands of pages of documents. Instead of depositing hundreds of lever arch files in a storage room and expecting junior members of staff to find key documents when inquiries arise, document scanning is undertaken and each file is uploaded to a document management system.

Outsourcing document management

The document scanning process can take time, although it is possible to outsource this part of the process to a company such as Scantronix. However, once the documents have been converted into PDF files or OCR’d to make them more searchable, they can quickly be uploaded on to a secure server. And from there, each document can be located using keywords or other searchable criteria.

Simple document management systems

At its simplest, online document management systems are a basic database held on a third party server. The customer uploads PDF files into the database and completes data fields to help users find the document at a later date. Typical fields include date, reference number, recipients, and a short description of the document’s content. Keywords may also be used to make it easier to find key documents.

Case study: Why effective document management is so important

In the civil engineering and construction industry, document management is vital. Large scale projects generate a huge amount of paperwork: invoices, tender documents, timesheets, purchase orders, etc. If a project lasts two years or more, the amount of paperwork can be staggering. Unfortunately, projects often go awry along the way and there are disputes between contractors and employers. If this happens, forensic analysis of the paperwork is essential in order for the blame to be correctly apportioned. And without an effective document management system in place, it is impossible to determine what went wrong – and why.

Document management systems greatly improve productivity in the workplace. Document management systems need to be secure, however. So, before you engage the services of a document management system provider, make sure there is a suitable level of security in place or you could fall foul of data protection laws and other legislation.

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