Automating Document Management



As in every other area, computers and software have also impacted document management practices.

?Instead of paper documents, you store information in a digital form in computer ?files?.

?Instead of unwieldy paperboard folders, you have digital folders on the computer disk in which the digital files can be stored.

?Instead of heavy filing cabinets occupying valuable floor space, you have compact computer disks the size of a book or less on which incomparably greater numbers of digital folders can be stored.

?Instead of locking up sensitive documents in safes, you could just restrict access to sensitive digital data by means of passwords.

Document management has indeed come a long way. Younger staff members might not even have come across rolodexes, segmented folders and such archaic document management solutions.

Computerized Document Management: Pros and Cons

The discussion in the previous section might have painted too rosy a picture of digitized document management. Actually, this option brings its own dangers.

?Data Corruption: Digital data could get corrupted and become unreadable more easily than paper documents. System crashes, application malfunctions, erroneous operations and malicious viruses are common causes for data corruption. Recovering corrupted data is a time consuming, unreliable and costly process. You try to guard against this danger by backing up all data in a different location.

?Virus Attacks: Even before the spread of the Internet, standalone systems were open to virus attacks through removable media such as floppy disks. With Internet connectivity, the danger has become manifold. Computer viruses could be harmless irritations at best or extremely dangerous entities capable of destroying all your data. You guard against viruses by using anti virus software

?Spy Ware: Whereas viruses seek to damage your data, spy ware seeks to steal it. They try to collect such sensitive data as your credit card & bank account numbers, passwords and confidential business information. A number of spy ware detection and removal programs have come into the market to protect you against these attacks.

?Hacker Attacks: Even without knowing your passwords, expert computer professionals could ?hack? into your sensitive data and either steal or damage your data. Firewalls and other kinds of software seek to block such intruders into your system.

?Spam: If you use email, you know what spam is. It has become such a widespread menace that practically every Internet user is aware of it. Spam wastes your time, while anti spam software could block even legitimate, friendly mail. As yet, there is no real solution that prevents spam while letting in all legitimate mail.

You might have begun to wonder why, with all the above threats, anyone would choose a computer-based document management system.

The answer is rather simple. Despite all its drawbacks, automated document management systems offer overwhelming benefits. Few are willing to forego these benefits and go back to the days of paper documents filed in paperboard folders stored in bulky filing cabinets.

Computerized Document Management Systems

In the beginning, these DMS consisted of independent software tools like word processors, spreadsheets and presentation aids. And computer operating systems like Windows or even DOS.

With the help of these tools, you created digital documents and arranged them in meaningful categories using the facilities for creating folders, subfolders and sub subfolders.

Often, these tools came in ?suites? that allowed interoperability.

Networked systems brought a new dimension to collaborative document management. These networks also improved security using password-protected access to documents and different levels of ?permissions? for working with documents.

With the spread of Internet and Web protocols, it became possible to put the Document Management task on the Web, and access it from anywhere. For example, you could now go out into the field and yet access the documents that are stored at your headquarters, using a laptop or public computer.

What Do Modern DMS Do?

Modern Document Management Systems make all documents related tasks far easier. They also attend to the issues of authorized access and data security. Below, we look at the essential tasks that the DMS manage.

?Capture, Maintain and Retrieve: In a modern DMS, even data on paper documents can be captured through scanning and OCR. The image then becomes an editable document that can then be edited, or searched by word content or otherwise. Documents created using your word processors, spreadsheets and other applications could all become part of the DMS document repository, facilitating retrieval, review and editing.

?Speedy Access and Secure Storage: These Document Management Systems allow far speedier access to any document you want, from a single interface that could access the entire corporate information store. And they protect the corporate database from unauthorized access and malicious intrusions.

?Remote Access From the Field: These days, Document Management Systems tend to be Web browser based. That means you could access your company data from across the globe during a business trip, provided you enable Internet access.

?Search, Not Browse: Instead of browsing through all the directories and folders, you could simply search for documents by the unique words they contain, or by such key fields as addressee name, invoice number or document type and date range.

?Work With the Documents: Print, email, add or change the documents, all from somewhere far from your office.

?Work Collaboratively: Collaborative work on the same document is facilitated by the Document Management Systems, which also protect data integrity by such features as Check Out and Check In. This means that if more than one person accesses the same document at the same time, only one of them can change the document. Until that person is finished, the others can only read the document. Otherwise, the changes made by one person could be lost when another person simultaneously makes other changes.

Modern Document Management Systems do indeed transform your work environment.